By Lillian Okenwa
“Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.” – Jesus (Matthew 7: 20-21)
The Gallup International (2012) placed Nigeria as the second most religious country in the world. This was based on a survey that showed that 93 percent of Nigeria’s population leaned towards religion. The fact is —Nigerians are highly religious. Interestingly, abductions and ritual killings have emerged as major security concerns in Nigeria. This is notwithstanding the multiple churches and mosques which compete for space on nearly every street and neighbourhood.
An odd depiction of this religiosity played out when one Pastor Erinmole Adetokunbo and one Adedoyin Oyekanmi killed a seven-year-old boy for ritual purposes. On 7 June 2017, at No. 6, Oke Oniburokun St., Odokekere, Ikorodu, Lagos, ‘Pastor’ Adetokunbo and Oyekanmi cut off the child’s head, buried it under a ‘church’ altar, and threw the body into a canal.
Retribution came days ago when the ‘holy’ man and his partner who later changed their pleas from not guilty to guilty were sentenced to death by Hon. Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of an Ikeja Special Offences Court.
According to Justice Taiwo, “The defendants have committed a heinous crime and deserve no mercy. They have cruelly and intentionally killed a seven-year-old boy. This deprived him and his family of a bright destiny. Section 222 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State imposes the death penalty for premeditated murder, and I have no hesitation in imposing the said punishment.
“I hereby sentence Adedoyin Oyekanmi and Erinwole Adetokunbo to death for killing Kazeem Rafiu. May God have mercy on your souls.”
Similarly, a pastor and his son were arrested months ago by the police at Kubwa in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) over the mutilated corpse of a female identified as Anita dumped in the area. The corpse which was cut into nine parts, alongside a dead goat and a dead dog, was discovered in a refuse dump in Kubwa.
The pastor and his son were arrested after a tricycle rider approached the police and told them that he conveyed the three sacks used in concealing the remains of the victim and those of the animals. The tricycle rider reportedly told the police that the pastor’s son met him around Gbazango junction on the Kubwa Expressway, took him to their Freedom Chapel Int’l Church, located in the same Gbazango, Kubwa between 9 and 10 pm on a Sunday, and requested his service in conveying the sacks to a refuse dump.
A source narrated that: “The son lied to the Keke rider that the sacks were scraps and asked him to take them to the PW Bridge dumping site. The rider charged him N1,000. It was the following morning after the baban bola (scavengers) broke the bags in their usual search for items that they discovered the contents and alerted people. The information got to the Keke rider and he voluntarily led the police to the church.’’
Some time ago in Lagos state, shock, chaos, and profound fear enveloped the residents of White Sand area of Isheri-Oshun in Ejigbo, following the murder of a three-year-old child, Chiagozie Okereke, by a Muslim cleric, Kazeem Alimson, popularly known as Alfa.
The incident, which was described by security operatives and neighbours in the area as “the most bizarre occurrence in the neighbourhood” sent shivers down the spines of residents. A 15-year-old boy, Simon Kanu, confessed to having been paid N500 by the said Alfa in order to lure the baby, adding that the baby was killed with a heavy stone in his presence.
Explaining how the deceased, Chiagozie Okereke, got missing, his distraught mother, Mrs. Chinasa Okereke, said: “Around 7:00 p.m., I brought my children out to bathe them. When I finished bathing the younger one, I went inside to get the wrapper to strap him in order to enable me to bathe the other child. But on getting outside, I didn’t see my baby again. The sister said he went into my neighbour’s house but I didn’t see him there and when I asked, they said he went out with Simon.
“I called my son’s name but there was no response. Later, we saw Simon that night, I asked him about the whereabouts of my son, and he said he did not see him. Simon took my son, strangled him with his shirt, and stoned him to death. He is my third child. I feel hurt. My heart is broken. I need justice.”
The Isheri Osun Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Emeodi Camillus, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), who got a tip-off, rushed to the scene and arrested the two suspects.
During interrogation, Simon confessed that he was given N500 to lure the missing child to where the Alfa was waiting for him. He disclosed that the Alfa took him and the child to an uncompleted building where the boy was murdered with a heavy stone.
Simon, a primary six pupil made further disclosures. “I went to the site and I saw how he killed Chigozie. He tied him up and was making incantations before hitting him with a stone three times. He said he would kill me if I told anybody. He also showed me his juju knife and that he would use it to kill me if I told anyone.”
However, on his part, the cleric denied the allegation, claiming that he is not a ritualist but a cult member. He said: “I was in my house sleeping when I heard people shouting. When I came out, I saw some policemen and when I asked, I was told that they saw a dead child. I went back inside, and 30 minutes later, the police came back and arrested me. I don’t know the boy and I have never spoken to him.”
At this point, the teenager interjected and said, “You are lying. He was giving me signs with his eyes not to talk. I saw you when you were using the stone to hit him until he died.”
But for the police intervention, angry residents would have summarily executed the Alfa in another incidence of jungle justice. At the scene was the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Isheri Oshun, who prevailed on the crowd not to take laws into their own hands.
Speaking to The Guardian, the DPO said: “When the police became involved, I directed that all the persons involved be arrested, including the boy. It was after he was picked up that he confessed. He led us to the Alfa and we arrested him. We searched his house and the environs. We found the boy dead in the uncompleted building. He said they tied his hand and leg with red clothes and while muttering incantations, stoned the deceased three times before he died.”
However, Kene Obiezun in his article “Nigeria and the fallacy of false religion” published by The Nation newspaper on 24 December 2021 nailed Nigeria’s story. Here are excerpts.
“Sir: Which God do Nigerians serve? Who or what do they really bend the knee to? Nigeria is a country of mosques and churches. It is a country where God features in every conversation. Yet, as an Igbo adage aptly puts it — what has been crying continues to cry. If anything, it is crying even harder.
“It is in the name of Islam, in the name of a God who is the very antithesis of all they pronounce and project, that Boko Haram and ISWAP hasten to cut down innocent villagers and sack entire communities in the Northeast. In Nigerian markets, the cheating trader invokes God even as he abandons all injunctions to fairness in his dealings with patrons. In court, many swear with books sacred to the world‘s biggest religions before they go on to tell lies that even the father of lies would be ashamed of.
“At their swearing-in, many public and judicial officers place their hands on the holy books while swearing oaths they have absolutely no intention of keeping. In Nigeria‘s cut-throat politics and economics, religion is a measuring rod, a ticket to the party. So, for decades, a devoutly religious country has remained steeped in deep rot…
“As Nigeria continues to dangle on the edge of the precipice, it is no use counting religion as a problem. What remains a problem is the bottomless wickedness, hypocrisy, and utter lack of compassion of many who supposedly practice religion.”
