Akure—TWO young girls have reportedly been killed in the farm by suspected ritualists at Iju in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State.
The community has subsequently been thrown into mourning, following death of the two girls, identified as Oyinkansola Owoeye and Folasade Bello
Police sources told Vanguard in Akure that both girls, aged 12, reportedly went to the farm to fetch firewood but never returned.
A search party was organised by their parents and relatives after waiting endlessly for their return
Their lifeless bodies, inflicted with machetes cuts, were later found by the road side on the way to the farm.
Sources added that beside the machetes cuts all over their bodies, it was also discovered that their blood had been allegedly drained by their assailants suspected to be ritualists.
Contacted, Police image maker, Wole Ogodo, confirmed their death, but however said they were killed by unknown assailants in the town.
He said: “We received information that the two girls, Oyinkansola and Folasade, went to the bush to fetch fire wood where they met their untimely death last Saturday.
“ Our detectives have visited the scene of the crime, while photographs of the corpses were taken as the corpses had been removed and deposited at the mortuary of the State Specialists Hospital for autopsy “.
The police image maker said no arrest had been made by the police as regards the death of the girls
“ We, hereby, appeal to the people of the state to field the command with any useful information that could lead to the arrest of the criminals. Such information will be treated with utmost confidentiality,” Ogodo said.
•‘I belong to Dey-Well cult, skull is that of Victoria’
A 41-year-old suspected cultist, kidnapper and ritualist, Onwuzuruike Nwakaogwu, has confessed to his involvement in a cult group popularly called Dey-Well at Igwuruta village, Ikwerre Local Government area of Rivers State, just as he revealed the identity of the deceased whose skull was found with him as Victoria.
The suspect claimed his efforts at getting money from the skull yielded fruit before his arrest as he said that it used to spew out N10, N20, N50 notes whenever he poured ‘kain kain’ (alcoholic drink) on the skull before reciting incantations.
But his efforts at repeating the same act in the presence of Sunday Tribune after alcoholic drink was given him yielded no result as the skull remained as it was without bringing out money.
Speaking with Sunday Tribune on the arrest of the suspect, the Commissioner of Police in State, Mr Tunde Ogunsakin, said that SARS operatives, headed by Tunji Disu, a Chief Superintendent of Police, received an intelligence report on the activities of some ritualists at Igwuruta vilage in April, 2014. He disclosed that the Officer-in- Charge raised a team, led by Inspector David Ameh, and assigned it the duty of gathering more information on the activities of the suspected ritualists.
The commissioner said the operatives were able to get information about the leader of the suspected group in the person of Nwakaogwu in May but efforts to arrest him proved abortive as he was always on the run.
However, the security agents’ moves yielded fruit on Monday, June 23 when a combined team of Metro Intelligence, Metro Storm and Bomb Squad of C4One section went to the suspect’s hideout at Omuwenyi in Igwuruta village and arrested him, Ogunsakin added.
He said that items recovered from Nwakaogwu included a local pump action gun, four live cartridges and human skull surrounded by bitter kola and neatly kept in a corner of his one-room apartment.
“Upon investigation, it was discovered that the skull was that of a lady who was murdered by the suspect and his gang. The suspect also admitted to using the skull as a medium to get rich, claiming that the skull talked whenever he performed libation on it, and would give him naira notes in N10, N20 and N50 denomination. The suspect also confessed his membership of a brutal cult group ‘Dey-Well’, the police commissioner stated further, saying that investigations were still ongoing.
Speaking with Crime Reports at the premises of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nwakaogwu said he went for the head two years after Victoria was killed so that it could yield him money. The commercial bus driver told Crime Reports: “It is true the police found the human skull in my room. I was the one who kept it there. The gun and live cartridges that they also found in my room belong to me. I am a hunter so I use them for hunting.”
On how he came about the skull, Nwakaogwu said: “I saw it in the bush about two weeks before my arrest. I was in the bush on ‘patrol’ when I came across the skull by luck. I know the lady to whom the skull belonged. Her name was Victoria and she was a tenant in our village. She was from Imo State. I learnt she went to steal cassava in the farm and she was beaten to death, after which she was roasted. The incident occurred over two years ago.
“I was not around on that day but learnt about it when I returned to the village. When I stumbled on the skull two weeks ago, I decided to pick since nobody was in need of it. I took it to my room and kept it there. Anytime I had alcoholic drink, I poured it on the skull, waiting for it to bring money that I could use.
“Since I got the skull, I had been able to get N4,000, but not at once. It used to be in N10, N20, N50 notes. I did not know how and from where the money used to come because I would have locked my door. I usually met the money on the floor in the corner of my room where I kept the skull. I surrounded it with bitter kola so as to prevent ants from destroying it.”
The suspect also confessed further: “I belong to Dey-Well cult group which I joined in 1995. I am an ordinary member. I joined the cult group so that I could get help from other members anytime I had problem. We help one another during ceremonies like burial. That doesn’t stop me from going to church as a Christian.
“I started smoking marijuana since five years ago but I am not a kidnapper as is being said. I was once arrested by Elembu Division over a goat stolen by my friend. I had no hand in the stealing.”
Saying that modern day security was his command’s benchmark, Mr Ogunsakin reiterated his determination to secure the lives and property of law-abiding citizens of Rivers State, warning that his administration would not condone any shoddy dealings in the interest of a few.
The General Overseer of Holy Family Ministry, a.k.a House of Mercy, located in Ogolonto area of Ikorodu, Lagos, Pastor Ernest Nwankwo, who was alleged to have sent a member of his church to kidnap a boy for ritual purpose last week has been arrested by the police.
Nwankwo, 50, an indigene of Nsugbe, Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State is now being held at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba, Lagos.
It would be recalled that a ritualist’s den was uncovered in a building owned by the suspect last Wednesday, with at least eight victims said to have been kidnapped from different parts of the country, rescued.
The den was uncovered following the apprehension of a mother of four, Mrs Rosemary Chukwu, who hid a seven-year-old boy inside a box. She confessed to have abducted the boy, identified as Emmanuel Emeka, on the instruction of her Pastor (Ernest Nwankwo) for ritual purpose.
The police had since been on the trail of the pastor, who was reportedly nabbed at Ebute Metta yesterday, following a tip off.
Police sources hinted to Vanguard that the Pastor denied that the building on 7, Oshodi Street, where some victims were reportedly rescued, was not used for ritual purpose but was used to keep lunatics.
Commenting on the issue, Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide confirmed Nwankwo’s arrest. “Yes, the Pastor has been arrested today around Ebutte Meta,”
A suspected ritualist, yesterday, beheaded a two‑year‑old boy and raped his mother in a bush in Ofada town in Obafemi‑Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The suspect, Momodu Bashir Ibrahim, was said to have trailed the mother, who had her boy strapped on her back, as she went to ease herself in a bush in the area.
An eye witness told Vanguard that the victim went into a nearby bush to ease herself, not suspecting that she was being trailed.
According to the source, the suspect suddenly pounced on the woman, dragged her along with her baby into an uncompleted building and raped her.
“The suspect after raping the woman, stabbed her and killed the boy before he severed his head.
“Luckily, someone, who suspected the suspect’s movement, trailed him to the building but escaped and was able to rescue the woman with the headless body of the boy,” the source said.
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi said the suspect was arrested through the help of some community leaders after he fled the area to Ibafo after committing the crime.
Adejobi added that further interrogation of the suspect revealed that he had sold the head of the boy to a woman in Ibadan, adding that the detectives from the state police command was on the trail of the suspected buyer and that the command had commenced investigation into the matter.
The suspect led men from the Criminal Investigation Department of the state police command to the scene and the knife with which he perpetrated the act was the only item found at the scene.
Speaking at the scene of the crime which was smeared with blood, the suspect confessed to have raped the woman, killed her son and severed his head which he said he had thrown away into the bush.
He also informed the detectives that there was a woman in Ibadan whom he was working with.
Efforts by the detectives to recover the head of the boy at the scene of the crime, as claimed by the suspect, proved abortive and an attempt to lynch him by the people of the area was prevented by the police.
It was learnt that the remains of the boy has been buried while the mother was responding to treatment in the hospital.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/04/ritualist-beheads-two-yr-old-boy-rapes-mother-ogun/#sthash.T1WCe1oA.dpuf (0)
The suspect claimed his efforts at getting money from the skull yielded fruit before his arrest as he said that it used to spew out N10, N20, N50 notes whenever he poured ‘kain kain’ (alcoholic drink) on the skull before reciting incantations.