House urges IGP to form elite squad to expose ritual killing syndicate

The House of Representatives has ordered the Inspector General of Police to establish a special team to carry out a thorough investigation with the sole purpose of exposing the cartels behind ritual killings and prosecuting them.

The House made this resolution on Wednesday after adopting an urgent public importance motion moved by Awaji-Inombek Abiante under Order 8 Rule 4 at the plenary.

The motion was brought by the lawmaker to draw attention to the recent surge and persistence of killings of young girls, mostly undergraduates, by their supposed boyfriends for ritual purposes.

Abiante emphasised the need to protect young girls and indeed every Nigerian, as stipulated in Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

He cited the murder of Augusta Osedion, a final-year student at Leads City University, in July 2023 by her boyfriend, Benjamin Best, nicknamed Killaboi in Lagos, and the murder of Miss Oghenefejiro Ochuko, a final-year student at Ambrose Ali University, who was also killed in August 2023 by her boyfriend, Victor Ochonogor in Benin, and several other unreported cases.

The lawmaker expressed shock at the recent murder of 20-year-old Miss Justina Otuene, an undergraduate student of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Port Harcourt, by Damian Okoligwe, who is also an undergraduate student at the same university, last week.

He said these killings have almost become a daily phenomenon, with several other reported cases of missing females whose whereabouts are still unknown.

Abiante added that the culprits of these atrocious crimes are young boys who might not be working alone but with powerful cartels, while lamenting that young girls have become an endangered species.

The lawmaker further expressed concern that a few of the reported missing victims are often found dead without traces of the culprits.

Abiante stressed that the killings follow similar patterns of mutilating the bodies of the victims and removing their vital organs.

The House, therefore, urged “the Inspector General of Police to set up a special team to conduct a comprehensive investigation with the sole aim of revealing the cartels behind these killings and bringing them to justice.”