Reps Ask Buhari To Declare National Emergency Over Ritual Killings

President Muhammadu Buhari has been asked to declare a national emergency on ritual killings across the country.

Naija News reports that the House of Representatives made the call during its plenary on Wednesday.

The development was part of the resolutions reached by the lawmakers on a motion of urgent public importance entitled ‘Need to Curb the Rising Trend of Ritual Killings in Nigeria’.

There have been several cases of ritual killings in Nigeria recently, Naija News understands.

The most recent of the disturbing ritual killings that generated reactions in the country is the case of four teenagers who allegedly killed a 20-year-old girl identified as Sofiat Kehinde.

The teenagers were last week ordered by an Abeokuta Magistrates Court sitting in Isabo, Ogun State to be remanded in prison for two months.

The suspects, Balogun Mustaqeem, 20; Majekodunmi Soliudeen,18; Abdulgafar Lukman,19; and Waris Oladeinde,18; were arraigned on Thursday on two counts of conspiracy and murder.

The teenagers were apprehended days ago after burning the head of Sofiat in a local pot for ritual.

Inspector Lawrence Balogun, police prosecutor, while speaking in the court noted that the defendants committed the offence around 11 pm on January 28 at the Kugba area in Abeokuta.

He further stated that the suspects conspired among themselves to kill Sofiat, who was Soliudeen’s girlfriend.

The prosecutor added that the defendants murdered the girl by cutting off her head with a cutlass, adding that they had plans to use her for money rituals.

According to Balogun, the offence contravened sections 324 and 316 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State 2006.

He said, “They unlawfully killed Sofiat Kehinde, aged 20, by cutting off her head, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable Section 319 of the Criminal Code Laws of Ogun State, 2006.”

The Magistrate, I. O Abudu, who did not take the plea of the defendants, ordered that they be remanded in prison.

Abudu ordered that the defendants be remanded in the Oba Custodial Centre pending legal advice from the Ogun State Directorate of Public Prosecutions.

She, however, adjourned the case till March 14 for mention.