- Ask IGP to arrest, prosecute perpetrators
- Task NOA, parents, heads of schools, religious leaders, media to lead campaign against killings
The resolutions of the House came after it considered a motion, entitled: “Need to Curb the Rising Trend of Ritual Killings in Nigeria”
The Federal House of Representatives on Wednesday asked the Federal Government to declare a national emergency on the social vice following chains of reports of incessant ritual killings across the country.
It also asked the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Usman Baba Alkali, to take urgent steps to increase surveillance and intelligence gathering with a view to fishing out, arresting and prosecuting the perpetrators of the killings, Vanguard reports.
The parliament also called on the National Orientation Agency, NOA, parents, heads of schools, religious leaders and the media to undertake a campaign to change the negative narrative bedeviling the society.
The resolutions of the House came after it considered a motion, entitled: “Need to Curb the Rising Trend of Ritual Killings in Nigeria,” presented at plenary by the Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, under matters of urgent public importance.
Presenting the motion, Okechukwu noted that the incidents of ritual killings had assumed an alarming rate in Nigeria in recent times.
He said there was an upsurge of reported ritual killings with increasing cases of abductions and missing persons in different parts of the country, which in most cases, the culprits also rape, maim, kill and obtain sensitive body parts of unsuspecting victims for rituals.
He said: “The Red Cross Society in 2017 reported that it received 10,480 reports of missing persons in Nigeria.
“On January 22, 2022, three teenage suspects and a 20-year-old reportedly killed one Sofiat Kehinde and had her head severed and burnt in a local pot in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
“Ogun State Police Command on Monday, February 7, 2022, reported that one of the suspects confessed that he learned the act of ritual killing from a video he watched on Facebook.”
The lawmaker recalled that the death of Sofiat had attracted national outrage and condemnation, considering the ages of her killers.
He said: “Merchants of such wicked acts often use the social media as a ready tool to advertise their evil behaviours.
“The grievous killing of Iniubong Umoren, a young woman in her 20s, after being lured to a particular location in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State for a job interview, was widely reported in the national dailies.
“The gruesome killings and heinous activities of Badoo Boys in Lagos State, which was also reported in the national dailies.
“Ritual killing has become a predominant theme in most homemade movies, which if not checked, our younger generation may begin to view it as an acceptable norm.”
Okechukwu expressed worry that while youths in other climes were embracing science and technology as a way of maintaining pace with the dynamic world, some youths in Nigeria seemed stuck in the mistaken belief that sacrificing human blood was the surest route to wealth, safety and protection.
“Such cruel and barbaric acts should no longer be promoted in our society, given the demands of today’s world,” he said.
Adopting the motion, the House called on the Executive Director, National Film and Video Censors Board to rise to the mandate of the agency as the clearing house for all movies produced in the country.
It also mandated its Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values to ensure compliance of the resolution and report back to the House within weeks.
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