By Lasisi Olagunju Ph.D

“Nigeria as a state has moved from fragility to failure. It is panting, helpless and rolling in what Rotberg calls “a maelstrom of anomic internal conflict.” And it is scary. Criminals make demands which must be met. Last week, we exchanged one bandit for 29 students of an agric school in Kaduna. Fair deal, good bargain? Is that our new exchange rate? How many more of such trade-by-barter are in the works? Everywhere you turn, the plaintive questions you hear are: How did we get here? What do we do now? Where is the Federal Government in all these? We see meetings and eating; we see designer caps and shoes. We hear presidential appeals to bandits to have mercy on the state. We read lamentations about arms still flooding markets and forests despite presidential decrees. We read of felons attacking security formations, murdering cops and escaping calm and collected. So, we ask: What is a ‘failed state’? If state failure and state collapse still mean a country losing “authority over its territory and peoples, and, cannot protect its national boundaries,” then, sadly, we are there. The pot is broken.”

We used to boast that no matter what we do to our country, something always pulled us back from the brink. Now, it looks like we’ve lost that magic. We should be worried at what may be coming. The world appears to have an idea too. Robert Rotberg, with whom Campbell is co-authoring Nigeria’s report card, is the President Emeritus of the World Peace Foundation and the founding director of the Program on Intrastate Conflict and Conflict Resolution at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is further described as “a frequent commentator on conflict and conflict prevention in the developing world, especially Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, on failed and fragile states, on good governance and encouraging good governance, on genocide and ethnic cleansing, on corruption, and on specific civil wars and other contemporary issues in Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Somalia, Burma, Sri Lanka, and Haiti.” Take a deep look at that resume and at those countries and their history of conflicts and wars. We have done enough to ourselves to get seated with Sudan and Somalia in the same club house of failure.

You go out, bandits get you; you stay at home, they come for you. The world is alarmed at what we have made of our country. We are shocked too that it could be this bad. The United States in April described Nigeria’s security problems as extraordinary. To be extraordinary is to be more than ordinary, to be very unusual, very big. UNICEF, in a December 2020 video documentary, told a troubled world that “big problems require big solutions.” And big solutions come only from ‘big’ brains, not from ratty, resource eaters. Our country is in a very big mess; it is in a turmoil because we are an incredible people, towing the truck of Nigeria with a Volkswagen Beatle. We do not need Americans to tell us that it is finished. We don’t have to be told that the solution to our “extraordinary” security problems lies beyond the capacity of the present ‘ordinary’ leadership we have blessed ourselves with. We have a ‘big’ presidency that begs bandits, fires abuse, not at terrorists, but at “disgruntled religious leaders” and at teary bereaved women and men. We have a federal government that thinks, seriously, that banditry and kidnapping are not its responsibility. We ask what is the definition of state failure? Check.

Is our case completely hopeless? Once in a season of famine, Tortoise was found cooking stones. He told his critics that he was at least, doing something to keep hope alive. No bread is stale in the mouth of famine. In the absence of big solutions from big Abuja, where do we turn? Some talk of breaking down the problems into “manageable, time and resource-dependent steps.” Nigeria is not completely an orphanage. Regions and states are stepping in to contain the flood from Nigeria’s collapsed dam. In the South West where I live, I know serious-minded elders stopped sleeping long ago; they are working. Obas have gone back to their ancestors to save them from the shame of failure. They hold a trove of facts and information, method and means that may calm the sea and pull the land back from the precipice. I hope the state taps them. Some governors are also awake and we can talk to them without the fear of insults. They are the reason we still speak about government and governance in Nigeria. Just on Saturday, speakers of South West Houses of Assembly met in Ibadan. They asked their governors to invest in drones and surveillance helicopters to battle insecurity. In the absence of the pilot, Nigeria’s cabin crew members are scrambling to avert a crash. That appears to be what the governors and the obas are doing at the moment: each taking his bits and working on them to stop the crash.

The timeliness of the Amotekun initiative did so much to scare the enemy, rouse and help Western Nigeria. The West is the only zone so far without the orgy of upscale violence we see in other zones. The West is the only region that has not donated its powers and space to criminals who daily attack security forces, murder policemen and raid schools. Some states have enacted laws banning open grazing of cows to stop herdsmen’s atrocities. Has it worked? Not really. Benue is one example. We heard the cries of Governor Samuel Ortom two weeks ago. Unfortunately those he was crying to don’t hear anything. They carefully choose what to hear and whom to listen to. The problem of Ortom’s people is not the biblical wall of Jericho. Noise cannot defeat the enemy of the people of Benue. The enemy is without ears. The governor needs to cook something better than what he has in his pot.

If there is a southern state that needs to be really worried about getting the Benue experience, it is Oyo State. Its geography, history and current demographics lay it out as a state very vulnerable to attack from Fulani bandits beyond the present episodic cases of ambush and kidnap. The Ibadan-Ijebu Ode road is almost as deadly as the Abuja-Kaduna road. The vast swathes of forested plains from Ibarapa to Oke Ogun has a history of bandits incursion dating back to the 19th century. It was between Oyo town and Oke Ogun area that Samuel Ajayi Crowther, his mother, grandmother, sisters, cousin and everybody in his village were, 200 years ago, literally hunted down and sold into slavery by the Fulani. In his 1837 letter to Rev. Williams Jowett, then Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, Crowther told his gripping story: “The morning in which my town, Ocho-gu (Osogun), shared the same fate which many others had experienced, was fair and delightful; and most of the inhabitants were engaged in their respective occupations. We were preparing breakfast without any apprehension; when, about 9 o’clock a.m. a rumour was spread in the town that the enemies had approached with intentions of hostility. It was not long after when they had almost surrounded the town, to prevent any escape of the inhabitants…the enemies entered the town after about three or four hours’ resistance…Your humble servant was thus caught — with his mother, two sisters (one an infant about ten months old), and a cousin…” Crowther said the attackers were Fulani actively assisted by some Yoruba felons, who tied them, “with a noose of rope thrown over the neck of every individual” like goats. They were then led through the town by their captors. He added that “before we got half-way through the town, some Foulahs (Fulbe or Fulani), among the enemies themselves, hostilely separated my cousin from our number.” These horrific details came in the first quarter of 1821, exactly 200 years ago. That was a moment of state failure in Yorubaland.

Now, the felons have reincarnated. We are back to the past. That Oyo area has lived up to that reputation. Tales of woe from residents and visitors blight lives and living there. So, when I read the Oyo State governor recently launching a new technology-driven security initiative deep in the kidnappers den along Ibadan-Ijebu Ode road, I said we may be getting there. It was cheering that in a week that President Muhammadu Buhari’s Katsina State announced using untrained ancestral hunters’ dogs to protect schools and students, there was a state government elsewhere that knew we were in the 21st century. Governor Seyi Makinde told the media at the Ibadan- Ijebu-Ode road event: “This particular place has been in the news for kidnapping, people coming across the border to perpetrate evil here. This is a pilot project, we want to secure all the entry and exit points to Oyo State. This is the border with Ogun State. We have CCT cameras here that are being monitored from the control room in Ibadan. If anything is going on here, we will get alerted for the security agencies to quickly deal with the situation appropriately. If any crime is committed inside the state and the criminals want to run, we will activate the process and get them arrested.” I pray this works. If it works, replication by other (neighbouring) states will be a viable expectation. You see why we ask for a decentralized, unbundled Nigeria?

Nigeria as a state has moved from fragility to failure. It is panting, helpless and rolling in what Rotberg calls “a maelstrom of anomic internal conflict.” And it is scary. Criminals make demands which must be met. Last week, we exchanged one bandit for 29 students of an agric school in Kaduna. Fair deal, good bargain? Is that our new exchange rate? How many more of such trade-by-barter are in the works? Everywhere you turn, the plaintive questions you hear are: How did we get here? What do we do now? Where is the Federal Government in all these? We see meetings and eating; we see designer caps and shoes. We hear presidential appeals to bandits to have mercy on the state. We read lamentations about arms still flooding markets and forests despite presidential decrees. We read of felons attacking security formations, murdering cops and escaping calm and collected. So, we ask: What is a ‘failed state’? If state failure and state collapse still mean a country losing “authority over its territory and peoples, and, cannot protect its national boundaries,” then, sadly, we are there. The pot is broken.

[email protected]

By S.O. Akobe, Esq.

On the 6^th of April, 2021, JUSUN (an umbrella association or union of all Judiciary workers in Nigeria) embarked on an indefinite industrial action. The reason for the strike is to ensure that the Governors of all the States of the Federation implement the much talked-about financial autonomy for the judiciary.

In an ideal democratic clime, three Arms of Government thrive: The Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary. See sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). By constitutional provisions under the 1999 Constitution, the three arms of Government ought to be independent of each other but without prejudice to certain stipulated checks and balances amongst them as provided by the Constitution itself. The independence and/or or autonomy envisaged under the Nigerian Constitution includes control of finances by the respective arms of Government. For the State Judiciary, section 121 (3) of the Constitution provides, “Any amount standing to the credit of the Judiciary in the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the State shall be paid directly to the heads of the courts concerned.” (Emphasis ours). Equivalent provision is contained in section 81(3) of the Constitution for the Federal Judiciary.

The above constitutional provision is supreme and same is binding on all persons and authorities in Nigeria including all the 36 Governors in Nigeria and their non-juristic Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF). What is more, the word “shall” is used in the said section 121 (3) of the Constitution, and by judicial authorities, the use of the word “shall” in an enactment connotes mandatoriness which does not give room for discretion. The Supreme Court of Nigeria in General Muhammadu Buhari v. Independent National Electoral Commission (2008) LPELR – 814 (SC), held thus; “When the word “shall” is used in a statute it connotes the intendment of the legislator that what is contained therein must be done or complied with. It does not give room for manoeuvre of some sort, or evasiveness. Whatever the provision requires to be done must be done, and it is not at all negotiable…” (per MUKHTAR, JSC (as he then was, at pages 276 – 277, PARAS. E –D). On the mandatory connotation of the word “shall” in a statute, the Court of Appeal per Owoade, JCA in Mr. Udak Etim Okon v. Mr Ekaette Udak Okon (2016) LPELR – 42056 (CA) at page 9, paras. D-F, held thus: “As a general rule the use of the word “shall” connotes and conveys a mandatory message in a statute. See Melaye v Tajudeen (2012) 15 NWLR (Pt. 1323) 315. Fidelity Bank Plc v Monye (2012) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1307) 1, Adeosun v Governor Ekiti State (2012) 4 NWLR (Pt. 1291) 581, Dantata v Mohammed (2012) 8 NWLR (Pt. 1302) 366”.

Unfortunately, rather than simply obey the above cited mandatory Constitutional provision on financial autonomy for the Judiciary, the Nigerian Governors under the aegis of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) have decided to constitute themselves into a clique of stumbling blocks against the enforcement and implementation of the letters and spirit of the Constitution. Rather than being concerned with public good, the NGF is only determined to build their members’ (the Governors) selfish interest for as long as they remain in office.

Without mincing words, I hold the firm view that having regard to the use of the word “shall” in section 121(3) of the Constitution, the Nigerian Governors and their Forum thereof have no say let alone an approval to give as far as financial autonomy for the Judiciary is concerned. As a matter of fact, even the President has no power or discretion to exercise on the issue of financial autonomy for the Judiciary. Hence, we dare say with every sense of responsibility that even the so-called Executive Order No. 10, 2020 signed by President Muhammed Buhari was not only superfluous but also a clear case of a militarily-inclined mockery of the Constitution. The Executive Order No. 10 of 2020, in my humble assessment, is a veiled monster cynically designed to subject the financial autonomy of the Judiciary to the control of the Attorney-General of the Federation. It is like granting financial autonomy to the Judiciary with one hand and taking same away  from them with another hand. That is a gift of the devil!

On the issue of financial autonomy for the Judiciary, the provision of the Nigerian Constitution is enough to be relied upon for its full implementation! No Executive Order is needed to implement and/or enforce the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution especially where there is no ambiguity in the constitutional provision(s) sought to be enforced. Even where there is ambiguity in the Constitution or any other law, it is the courts that are constitutionally empowered to interpret same.

The above having been said, the begging question therefore is, from which legal source did the Governors under the auspices of NGF draw their strength and powers of opposition against the full implementation of financial autonomy for the Judiciary? Obviously, the Nigerian Governors and/or their umbrella Association (NGF) are arrogating to themselves powers which in law they do not possess and while enjoying the pleasure of this brazen impunity, they have magnified themselves over and above the Nigerian Constitution which carries a mandatory provision on financial autonomy for the Judiciary.

In my view, President Muhammed Buhari has not lived up to expectation on the ongoing JUSUN strike as he appears to be lacking the needed political will for the full implementation of financial autonomy for the Judiciary. Thus, it is either the President is secretly behind the rebellious Governors or he has become too weak to the extent that Governors are now more powerful that the President on constitutional issues of public importance. If it were not so, what will it cost the President to put necessary measures in place and direct the Minister of Finance and/or the Accountant General of the Federation to deduct from source and pay directly to the heads of courts any amount standing to the credit of the Federal and States’ Judiciaries as contemplated under sections 81(3) and 121 (3) respectively, of the Constitution? Is the Minister of Finance answerable to the Governors or the President? I understand that there may be lacunas in the Constitution as to how the provision of section 121(3) of the Constitution may be enforced or implemented but that should not be a justification for the resistance of financial autonomy for the Judiciary by the Governors more so, as there is an unappealed judgments of the Courts in favour of financial autonomy for the judiciary as a constitutional ordinance. (See the following cases: Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria v. National Judicial Council and Governors of the 36 States in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/667/13; Olisa Agbakoba v. FG, the NJC and National Assembly in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/63/2013; and Olisa Agbakoba v. AG, Ekiti State & 2 Ors. in Suit No: NAD/56/2013). In all these cases, the Courts held that financial autonomy for the judiciary is a constitution provision. Unfortunately, the Governors are not ready to obey the decisions of the courts on this point.

Well, beyond the current JUSUN strike, one undisputed fact is laid bare as far as the Nigerian Governors vis-à-vis matters of public interest are concerned. That undisputed fact is that when it comes to issues affecting their political interests with less importance to the good of the masses, the NGF will be divided along party lines to the applaud of some gullible Nigerians but when it comes to issues of public importance, the NGF will be very much united in opposing same. On the ongoing JUSUN strike, all the Governors are speaking with one voice in opposition to it except the Bauchi State Governor who has openly expressed his readiness to implement financial autonomy for the Judiciary in his State. There is nothing like PDP Governors or APC Governors on the current issue all because their selfish interest is at stake. This is the provocative situation we find ourselves as a nation and it is indeed, a very sorry spectacle.

The Judiciary and the Legislature are arms of Government just as the Executive is. No arm of government should be superior to others just because it exacts unconstitutional monopoly of the money meant for the other arms. If the Executive Arm of Government cannot obey the Nigerian Constitution as well as court judgment, what other good can one expect from them? One would ordinarily expect some Governors like Nyesom Wike Rivers State, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) of Ondo State and Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who are Legal Practitioners to lead the struggle for financial autonomy for the Judiciary but that is not the case at the moment as they appear to be the most relunctant and docile Governors on the issue of implementation of financial autonomy for the Judiciary in Nigeria.

Sincerely speaking, I know not of any democratic nation in the world that would allow its courts to be grounded for one month and still counting without its leaders being bothered at all as it is in Nigeria. Even under the military regime, the courts function. Ironically, under a supposed democratic dispensation the courts are dispensed with for more than a month now and no one cares to solve the problem. What a tragedy!

As JUSUN strike continues, many inmates awaiting trials are in various prisons in the Country with no certainty as to when the strike would be called off. One of the dangers of this is that disgruntled inmates may embark on jail break if the strike continues to linger. Apart from the inmates in prisons, a lot of fortunes have been lost as a result of this strike. There are several cases of wrong Bank transfers which would have been remedied through court order but for the current strike. Several rights are violated daily with no place to go for redress. Lawlessness abound as people now resort to self-help since courts do not exist in Nigeria anymore! As a matter of fact, nothing is left out to certify Nigeria as a Failed State! Show me a country where there is leadership failure and I will give you a perfect picture of a failed State.

The ongoing JUSUN strike was avoidable assuming we have good leaders in Nigeria. JUSUN is not asking for too much; they are only fighting for the implementation of what the laws of our land have provided. The NGF has no authority in law to dictate otherwise! It is a sad commentary that an arm of government is asking for financial autonomy in the hands of another arm of government! This is not what democracy contemplates and neither is it what our Constitution envisages. The Governors are guilty of constitutional rape on issue of financial autonomy for the judiciary which led to the ongoing JUSUN strike. Just because of 36 Governors in a Country of above 200 million population all the courts in Nigeria are locked up indefinitely and the rights and interests of millions and millions of Nigerians are trampled upon daily without redress for the past one month. If indeed this is what democracy is all about, then I pray the Military to take over because under the military, the courts operate!

Sadly, the Nigerian State is bleeding at the behest of the bad leaders in the helm of affairs. In Nigeria, it is one problem, too many. What we have are leaders who fight against the common good of the people they profess to lead. Constitutionally, a Governor cannot stay beyond eight years in office. Hence, Governors come and go like the nomads of this world but government and its various arms and institutions abide always. Thus, instead of supporting policies that can make our government and its institutions better off for centuries to come, our Governors are all saying in unison, “Though it may be, but certainly not in our own time”!

The struggle for the implementation of financial autonomy for the Judiciary is a long-term agitation for the good of our judicial system but for their own short-term pleasures, greed and selfish interest, the Nigerian Governors are opposing same. They will surely fail!

Dear JUSUN, hold unto your agitation(s) and do not give up for I sure know that the Pharaohs and Herods of this nation shall soon collapse and fade away!

     (S.O. Akobe, Esq. can be reached via [email protected])

Iniobong Umoren was a young woman in her early 20’s who lived in Uyo, the  Akwa  Ibom  State capital. She shared, on Twitter, her need for a job, and one Twitter user named Uduak Akpan asked her for a private chat concerning her application.  According to police reports, Mr Akpan asked Ms Umoren to meet him at a particular location in Uyo. 

When the unsuspecting lady got there, the sinister man raped her, killed her, and buried her in a shallow grave. Unfortunately for the serial rapist and murderer, the lady gave her friend the phone number of the person who invited her for an interview. This number led to the apprehension of the culprit after the lady was declared missing for days.

There were reports that Ms Umoren’s gruesome murder was not just a case of rape and murder but that it also involved ritual killing. Mr Akpan’s entire family is  said to be involved in the barbaric business of ritual killings.

Two weeks ago, a report indicated that in Kwara State, a next-door neighbour allegedly murdered a groom-to-be for ritual purposes. According to the account in Vanguard, the deceased, who was said to be a devout Christian, did not know that his neighbour with whom he used to eat together was a serial killer and ritualist who has twice served jail terms. This wolf-in-sheep-clothing neighbour allegedly killed his victim, removed some sensitive body parts, poured acid on his remains for speedy decay to prevent it from fouling the area. 

Last February in Port Harcourt, a suspected ritual killer was arrested while attempting to sacrifice a nine-year-old girl in the Ibaa community in  Emuoha  Local Government Area of Rivers State. According to a report in Punch newspapers, the girl’s parents had raised the alarm over her sudden disappearance after she went to dispose of refuse in a nearby bush. It happened that the suspect had taken the minor to an abandoned compound, tied her with white cloths, applied white clay on her body with a coffin already stationed for the ritual purpose. He was in the process of performing the ritual when he ran out of luck.

In 2019, Port Harcourt made international headlines in ritual killings with the case of Gracious David-West, Nigeria’s most celebrated ritual killer in recent times. From July to September 2019, David-West killed at least 15 women, mainly in the Rivers State capital city. After his arrest, he confessed to at least 15 murders.

Official statistics indicate that there has been an increase in the number of missing persons all over the country in recent times. Some are found, while others are not. There is speculation that majority of those who disappear perpetually without a trace are often victims of ritual killings.

Incidents of ritual killings have assumed an alarming rate in Nigeria. There seems to be little or no effort by concerned government agencies to checkmate the trend. We expect that such cruel and barbaric act would no longer exist in our society given our level of exposure, enlightenment, and civilisation. Ironically, as our communities seem to be getting more religious given the proliferation of churches and mosques in all nooks and crannies of the country, it seems these heinous acts are increasing as the quest for filthy lucre pervades our society.

It is disheartening to point out that as developed societies invest in science and technology to keep abreast with a dynamic world, ours are still stuck in the mistaken belief that sacrificing human blood is the surest route to wealth, safety, and protection. 

No doubt, ritual killings are performed to obtain human body parts for rituals, potions, and charms. Ritualists search for ‘human parts’ at the request of herbalists, who require these to make sacrifices or prepare various magical potions to give power and wealth to an individual. Some people engage in ritual killings to obtain charms that would make them invincible and protect them from business failure, illness, accidents, and spiritual attacks. Whether they succeed or not is open to debate. However, it is not easy to prove a link between such sacrifices and financial success or any type of success empirically. 

Amongst a large group of Nigerians, including the well-educated and people from different faiths and social backgrounds, there is a strong belief in the supernatural and the effectiveness of rituals. This belief has a direct correlation to the prevalence of ritual killings. It is a well-known fact that some elite in society indulge in ritual killings. Some people apprehended for ritual killings, and witch doctors who perform the sacrifices accused politicians, government officials and wealthy businessmen  as their  sponsors. They are said to use human beings for rituals to sustain their affluence and remain in positions of power. 

Therefore, it is not surprising that there are usually  increased cases of mysterious disappearances and ritual killings during elections. Some desperate, fetish and superstitious politicians always consult herbalists and native doctors during elections to help them overcome their opponents. These spiritualists usually demand human heads and other body parts to perform hedonistic rituals. 

Given the rate of increase of ritual killings, no one is immune from becoming a victim. But some people are at greater risk. People with mental illnesses and virgins are unique targets as the ritualists allegedly believe that their eccentrics and purity make for a more viable sacrifice. Also, people living with albinism have equally become victims of ritual killings, fuelled by the belief that their ‘body-parts’ could allegedly make one wealthy or prolong one’s life.

Sometimes, it is difficult to understand the mind of the ritual killer. How can someone take another person’s life in the quest for wealth, protection, and power? More worrisome is that sometimes it is not just an issue of a depraved mind but also a depraved group of minds. 

Sometime in 2017, Lagos State, the country’s commercial hub, was gripped by Badoo ritual killings. According to news reports, over 50 people were killed by a Badoo Boys group, who moved about with an air of invincibility until the Nigerian Police routed them. 

The Vanguard newspaper reported about the activities of the group thus: “Before the raid and subsequent arrest of over 200 suspected members of the cult group by the Police with the support of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress, OPC local vigilante and the Neighbourhood Watch Corps, Badoo Boys had been unleashing an orgy of killings, during which they crush the skulls of their victims. Their modus operandi included storming victims’ residences while they are asleep”. 

People suspected that they usually hypnotise their victims, as none of them had ever been conscious of their presence. After that, they would smash the heads of their victims with a grinding stone and use a handkerchief to clean the blood and brain before leaving the scene. 

During interrogation, one of the suspects confirmed that “they sold each handkerchief stained with blood for N500,000. He further revealed that they were mere errand boys for rich politicians within and outside Lagos State. But in their case, the blood and semen-stained handkerchief were used to prepare the spiritual defence for  some wealthy Nigerians.”

What are the root causes of ritual killings? How can society tackle this menace? What role should the government and relevant agencies play in ameliorating the negative impact of these dastardly acts? 

Poverty and economic hardship in the land are reasons for ritual killings. However, these are not justifiable reasons to commit ritual murder.  Impunity encourages ritualists to commit murders because they believe they will not be apprehended or punished.

Another reason for ritual murders is the collapse in our moral values, ignorance and superstition, and lack of an adequate punishment system. We should also consider poverty and unemployment as a significant risk factor. If Nigerians have equal opportunities to earn income legitimately, there will be a reduction in horrific crimes such as banditry, human killings for ritual, and terrorism. 

Besides, the inordinate quest and pursuit of quick wealth are said to be driving some people to resort to the use of human parts for rituals. And some usual suspects include fake clerics and herbalists who carry out the ritual practices for their clients.

Some analysts have recommended that government should investigate suspected pastors and imams and checkmate their activities because what they do under cover of being religious leaders sometimes leaves much to be desired.

To curb the increase in ritual killings, the government should thoroughly explore the intelligence-gathering approach and prosecute arrested culprits. Timely arrest and prosecution of arrested suspects would serve as a deterrent to anybody contemplating perpetrating ritual killing. Record of successful prosecution of ritualist is not in the public domain. When there are no consequences for deviant behaviour, it is incentivised.

For the public, commuters should always write down the identification markings of public conveyance vehicles they enter and make phone calls to loved ones to pass on the information. In the case of  Iniobong  Umoren  mentioned earlier, the fact that she confided in her friend about the phone number of the person that invited her for an interview was instrumental in apprehending the culprit. 

Most ritual murderers always wish to be unidentified.  They want to kill people but do not wish to be apprehended. Once information about them has been exposed to someone else, it becomes difficult for them to remain anonymous and perpetrate evil. 

Commuters should also assess public transport vehicles before boarding in order not to board vehicles occupied by hoodlums. I advise ladies to carry whistles on them to raise the alarm if there is an attempt to abduct them.

In addition to these, people should avoid staying in isolated areas where criminals can quickly attack without being noticed, and everybody should be conscious of their immediate environment. 

The spate of ritual killings has become so problematic that our political leaders should declare a national emergency on the crises. I call for stiffer jail sentences to deter potential perpetrators from engaging in ritual killings. Citizens should have trust and confidence to motivate them towards providing credible intelligence for security operators.

We should also make good use of whistleblowers. These are invisible law-abiding citizens whose primary function is to disseminate information that provides details towards the arrest of suspected ritual murderers. They should be anonymous, and the law-enforcement institution should not reveal them as their link persons.

The fight against ritual killings and other menaces in our society is for all. We should not rest until we create a culture where we always uphold the sanctity of life at all cost and the safety of everyone is guaranteed irrespective of social status, religion, or ethnic background. This task calls for authentic leadership. We must swim or sink together. Our only option is to swim to survive the social disaster we are becoming as a nation because of the collapse of morality, ethics, and law.  

Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka, Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu, has condemned the invasion by protesting youths and women of Bishop’s Court at Igboeze street Independence Layout and Holy Ghost Cathedral Enugu last Wednesday.

Mbaka, who kneeled down while celebrating mass at adoration ground on Sunday in Enugu, begged for forgiveness from Bishop Calistus Onaga and all Catholic Church worldwide.

Recall that there was tension in Enugu on Wednesday as Mbaka’s followers poured into the streets after they declared him missing.

They marched from the Adoration ground in Emene, Enugu, to the Bishop’s Court at Igboeze Street, Independence Layout Enugu where they destroyed some parts of the building.

The protesters did not stop at that as they also headed for the Holy Ghost Cathedral where several church facilities were vandalised.

Mbaka, later appeared, addressed his followers and said he would have been kept incommunicado by the Bishop for 30 days but for their protest.

Mbaka, who warned his followers against the destruction of Catholic Church properties, said he never sent his followers to embark on such destruction.

He said: “I want to plead with my Bishop and Catholic Church Diocess over the ugly incident which occurred last week Wednesday. I will never disrespect my Bishop because I’m under him.

“Bishop and I never had any misunderstanding and we will continue to work together to win souls and preach the gospel to the people,” he said. (Daily INDEPENDENT)

By Stephen Azubuike

A heartbreaking news had it that a popular socialite, Kayode Badru, recently lost his life in an avoidable religious tragedy. Mr Badru was a member of Celestial Church of Christ (CCC). He was based in Dubai. He was said to have returned to Nigeria to celebrate with some members of the Church whom were beneficiaries of his scholarship awards. The unfortunate incident reportedly took place at CCC Imole parish, Nureni Yusuf Way, Alagbado area of Lagos. 

According to Celestialnewsonline, a brief account of the tragedy resulting in the death of Badru was that:

While kneeling down, a prophet began to spray perfume on his body and he also held one candle in his hands surrounded by seven elders. Within a few minutes, his body was on fire due to his closeness to the candle sticks and strong attraction from the perfume…

The name of the alleged presiding prophet was Prophet Felix Alebiosu. 

The above scenario is one of the numerous risks some Nigerians take in the name of practising their religious beliefs. We have witnessed situations where people dressed in the regular attire of members of CCC would move their praying activities to the bank of Lekki Beach, Lagos, at night praying for subjects as they appear to be invoking the powers that control the waves. They often do this with little or no precautions. 

Apparently, Prophet Felix Alebiosu and the seven elders never contemplated the inflammable tendencies of the perfume being applied on Badru while he was surrounded by a circle of candlelights. The seven elders didn’t live up to expectation. It is said that an elder does not sit at home and watch the she-goat suffer the pain of childbirth tied to a post. How about the deceased Badru? He was probably not ignorant of the risk. The only possible explanation is that being a religious subject could rob one of every capacity to reason. After all, one is not expected to approach spiritual matters from the realm of the physical. While this general understanding has its merits, it is also true that the point has been so ignorantly exploited and applied to bring about unexpected results.

Should the law take its course?

Celestialnewsonline reports that there was the possibility of a conspiracy leading to the death of Badru. The prime suspects (Prophet Felix Alebiosu and the seven elders) are now cooling off with the Police for allegations bordering on conspiracy to kill and murder. It will be an upheal task proving the mental element needed to secure their conviction. For instance, Section 24 of the Criminal Code states that a person is not criminally responsible for an event which occurs by accident. For an event to qualify as an accident, it must be a surprise to the ordinary man of prudence, that is, a surprise to all sober and reasonable people. The test is always objective. Audu Umoru v. State [1990] 3 NWLR (Pt. 138) 363. Was it a surprise that the body of the Late Kayode Badru caught fire after the application of perfume on his skin and he was made to draw close to the candlelights around him? Is it not common knowledge that perfumes often contain inflammable elements? 

Criminal negligence also negates the defence of accident. For an act to constitute criminal negligence, it must not be a simple lack of care or mere inadvertence but gross negligence. Killing of a person through act of gross negligence constitutes manslaughter. Samson Uzoka v. State [1990] 6 NWLR (Pt. 158) 680; Akeem Idris v. State [2006] 2 FWLR (Pt. 311) 2360.

Meanwhile, Prophet Alebiosu and the seven elders also have to struggle with the principle of criminal responsibility which holds that a person is said to intend the natural consequences of his act.

Is it necessary for the law to take its course by delving into dangerous religious affair in order to restore sanity in the society? Yes. The incident should be thoroughly investigated. Few years ago, the Court of Appeal held in the case of Ezeugo v. State [2013] 9 NWLR (Pt. 1360) 508 at 588 that it is an abomination to kill innocent people in God’s name. 

Posers

The statement found on Celestialnewsoline is even more troubling. The author, Alonge Michael, stated that:

To so many people who have violated the order of the church by using their human knowledge to carryout out order of service, this should be a big lesson to them.

Clearly, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact point being made by the author. Too many questions begging for answers. Whatever the case, the real lesson is that people should not let down their thinking faculty in exercising and demonstrating their right of worship. It would hardly be the expectation of the Late Kayode Badru that he would become a burnt offering allegedly sacrificed by Prophet Felix Alebiosu and the seven elders.

This article was originally published April 9, 2021 on https://stephenlegal.ng/kayode-badru-allegedly-roasted-in-a-cele-church-by-a-prophet-and-7-elders-why-the-law-should-take-its-course/ by Stephen Azubuike  a lawyer with expertise in Commercial Dispute Resolution and Technology Law practice. He is a Partner at Infusion Lawyers. He has successfully argued cases from the High Courts of various jurisdictions to the Appellate Courts on behalf of financial institutions, other corporate bodies and multinationals. He has worked with a number of startup tech companies. He tweets @siazubuike.