Unmasking the silent rise of ritual killings in Nigeria

Nigeria is grappling with an alarming surge in ritual killings—a trend that has left many citizens in shock and fearful of what seems like an unrelenting menace. The country has witnessed a rise in these heinous crimes, with young people, particularly young girls, becoming frequent victims, Ruth Tene Natsa writes.

These ritual killings have spread across all regions of the country, sparing no one. From the South-West to the South-East and even the capital city located in Nigeria’s North-Central region, no area appears immune.

Just a few weeks ago, social media users were shocked by the arrest of a well-known herbalist from Enugu State, suspected of being involved in ritual killings. Eyewitnesses claimed that several bodies were discovered buried in a secret soakaway in his house. He was eventually apprehended while attempting to cross the border into the Republic of Benin.

Similarly, a recent incident in Gwarinpa, an Abuja suburb, sparked national outrage when a young woman was found tied, gagged, sexually assaulted, and murdered in a hotel. In response, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command launched a manhunt for those responsible.

This came shortly after a disturbing case in January 2025, where a man was apprehended during a church service in Orozo for carrying the decapitated head of his alleged girlfriend in a polybag. Despite the gruesome evidence, there are growing fears that Timileyin Ajayi’s case may eventually fade into obscurity like many others.

These appalling acts have raised serious concerns about the safety and security of Nigerians, particularly women and children.

Many experts attribute the rise in ritual killings to a toxic pursuit of wealth, power, and perceived protection. Some individuals believe that human sacrifice can guarantee good fortune or success, leading them to commit unspeakable atrocities.

According to President Muhammadu Buhari, the increasing cases of ritual killings and deadly attacks against innocent Nigerians are matters of urgent national concern requiring immediate intervention.

The consequences of these killings are devastating, inflicting deep emotional trauma on victims’ families and fostering a culture of fear and distrust. Nigerians are now more cautious, often suspicious of those around them, especially strangers.

In Abuja, some residents attribute the surge in such crimes to the indifferent “mind your business” attitude among neighbours. Others blame the excellent road networks, which, while a sign of progress, unfortunately make it easier for criminals to flee the scene of their crimes.

Beyond ritual killings, Nigeria is also witnessing a rise in “One Chance” criminal gangs. These gangs pose as commercial vehicle operators, only to rob and sometimes kill unsuspecting passengers. One such victim, Madam Bolanle, recounted being held captive for over four hours, during which she was driven around the city and coerced into handing over large sums of money.

Experts warn that the relentless pursuit of wealth and social validation is fuelling these crimes. Reports have implicated a diverse range of individuals, including medical professionals and politicians. The growing “get-rich-quick” culture, especially among the youth, has contributed to a dangerous trend that now threatens the moral foundation of Nigerian society.

To address this crisis, security agencies must be strengthened, properly equipped, and held accountable in tracking and dismantling criminal networks. Community-level efforts are equally crucial, building trust between local populations and law enforcement and establishing early warning systems to prevent crimes before they occur.

Some stakeholders have proposed stringent penalties, including the death sentence without the option of imprisonment, for anyone found guilty of ritual killings.

The Nigerian government has been repeatedly urged to take immediate and decisive action. According to media executive Sunday Oyinloye, “The federal government and other tiers of government, as well as relevant stakeholders, must urgently confront the alarming rise in the ritual killing of girls for money-making purposes.”

In a rare move, the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, has also weighed in on the matter, instructing Imams across the state to preach against ritual killings during Friday sermons.

Ultimately, combating ritual killings requires a united front involving government institutions, security agencies, religious and traditional leaders, and the general public.

Nigeria must return to its moral compass, where hard work and integrity are recognised as the true paths to success. Parents must instil in their children a strong work ethic, while religious leaders must teach values that promote honesty and diligence, not materialism.

Only through collective action can Nigeria build a safer, more secure society. The government must prioritise the safety of its citizens and take bold, sustained measures to reverse this deadly trend.

In conclusion, the rise in ritual killings in Nigeria demands urgent attention and concrete action. By confronting the root causes, strengthening law enforcement, and reviving core societal values, Nigeria can begin to restore hope and safety for all its citizens.

By Ruth Tene Natsa, Business Day

Nigeria Arrests 76 Vessels, Seizes 171,000 Barrels Of Crude Oil To Combat Oil Theft

Over the past two years, the Nigerian Navy has detained 76 vessels and more than 242 individuals linked to oil theft. During this period, the Navy destroyed over 800 illegal oil refining sites.

Widespread oil theft from pipelines and wells has severely impacted Nigeria’s oil industry in recent years, reducing government revenue and hindering export activities. The Navy has been working to stop these losses by targeting criminal groups operating in oil-producing areas.

At a briefing in Abuja, Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla said that since June 2023, the Navy had seized around 171,000 barrels of stolen crude oil. He also stated that millions of litres of illegally refined fuel were recovered during various operations.

Ogalla said the Navy started inspecting oil cargoes at Nigeria’s five main export terminals in January to stop oil theft and smuggling. This step was taken to track shipments and prevent smuggling from the point of origin.

The Navy has added new patrol boats and three new ships to its fleet to boost its operations. It has also acquired three AW 139 Trekker helicopters for better aerial surveillance. Additionally, two seaward defense boats are currently under construction.

Ogalla also said that the Navy will soon receive two 76-meter-long offshore patrol vessels from Dearsan Shipyard in Turkey. These new assets are expected to help the Navy improve its presence and patrol ability across Nigeria’s coastal waters.

Reuters

Related story: Nigerian navy navy shuts down seven illegal refining sites in Delta

Firm unveils greenhouse to boost smart farming in Jos

A food processing firm Teva Food, has unveiled a new greenhouse and planted 12,400 seeds of bell pepper and cucumber to boost organic and smart farming in Jos. The facility was officially inaugurated on Thursday, June 18.

Speaking at the event, Mr Chima Christian, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co Founder of the company, said that the initiative aimed at promoting a climate-resiliant farming. Christian added that the initiative would create job opportunities for residents of the state, particularly for the youths.

"Teva foods is a food production company that started as a result of the fatigue, that people are actually fed up with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and inorganic food. So we felt we should do something about it, and we started developing multiple projects across the country.

"We are doing a lot in the food industry and this is why we were here today to officially launch this greenhouse. In this facility, we have planted 12,400 bell pepper and cucumber seeds; this is all in a bid to boost smart and climate-resiliant farming," he said.

Christian also said that the greenhouse would serve as a training ground for residents of the state who wish to learn about smart farming.

He particularly called on the youths to embrace smart farming, particularly as farming has now become a business and not just for subsistence purposes.

"As you can see, in each of our facility we have a training center and there are interns that we are training.

"The goal is to provide young people with the knowledge; and again, agriculture should leave the hands of the aged.

"So we want to put agriculture back in the hands of young people who are enterprising, who will see it as a business.

"This is why we are also motivating people to just come and learn and replicate it in their small spaces," he added.

Christian explained that his initiative would complement President Bola Tinubu's and Gov. Caleb Mutfwang's drive for food security.

VON

Going door to door to beat diphtheria in Nigeria

On a hot Saturday afternoon in May, Maryam Umar left her small drug store in Bosso Low-Cost, a locality in Nigeria’s Niger state, and headed out into the community. “Visiting [homes] to create awareness of diphtheria disease and to vaccinate children is part of my duty,” she explained.

Umar pushed open a small red gate and was greeted by familiar faces. “They are children I have administered vaccines to,” she said. A few steps on, Umar called out their mothers, requesting the children’s immunisation cards. After reviewing the cards, Umar explained to the mothers the ways diphtheria could sicken their children, and the dangers of not taking the vaccine.

Diphtheria is caused by a bacterium called Corynebacterium diphtheriae, which targets the mucous membranes of the nose, throat and, sometimes, the skin. The disease spreads through infected respiratory droplets, physical contact with an infected individual, or contaminated objects, explained Iyare Osarhiemen, public health physician at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki. It’s frequently deadly: even with medical care, one in ten people with respiratory diphtheria is expected to die. Without intervention, as many as half succumb.

But the infection is preventable through vaccination, and the vaccine is available publicly through Nigeria’s routine immunisation programme. While the country has made gains on basic vaccination coverage over the years, movement restrictions and lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it difficult for health workers to reach people, especially those in far-flung communities with vaccines, caused significant and dangerous declines in vaccination rates. Nationwide coverage with the basic diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis-containing vaccine (DTP) dipped from 66% in 2019 to 62% in 2020, at which level it remains.

In pockets of the country, protection levels are far lower still, raising the risk of disease spread. In Niger State, just 43.8% of children had received the necessary three doses of the diphtheria vaccine when the 2023–2024 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey was conducted, meaning the northern state significantly lagged the national average.

Not coincidentally, over the past three years, Nigeria has been battling its worst diphtheria outbreak in decades. The epidemic, which began in May 2022 and peaked in 2023, had sickened a suspected 44,000 people and caused 1,376 deaths by May 2025. Eleven of those suspected cases occurred in Niger State.

News of those suspected cases prompted quick action in her area, Umar said. “We enlightened [the people] on preventive measures and also [encouraged] them to come for preventive care. The reason for this is to ensure that the rate at which people are infected is reduced,” she added.

To many health workers and parents, diphtheria had become an unfamiliar threat. Between 2003 and 2017, Nigeria recorded no cases of the disease at all, according to World Health Organization data. But decades of suboptimal vaccination coverage, followed by increased vulnerability after COVID-19, meant large populations of susceptible children had accumulated in many places. All that was needed for a major outbreak to begin was a spark: a single infection reaching a group of unimmunised children would set off a wildfire chain-reaction.

One household at a time

The fire is still smouldering, so in communities across the country, including Bosso Low-Cost, health workers like Umar are defending against renewed spread of the disease by redoubling their vaccination efforts. A lot of that has to do with simply making it easier for parents to stay on track.

Every Monday and Thursday, Umar provides routine immunisation services at Bosso Low-Cost Primary Healthcare Centre, where she is based as a community health worker. During the immunisation session, the health facility collects mothers’ information such as name, phone number, and address, principally to help them stay on track with their children’s vaccines. But even with reminders, some families still fall off schedule. Protection against diphtheria requires a full primary series of the vaccine – three doses, spaced weeks apart – so falling off schedule can spell mortal danger.

To get as many children as possible protected, Umar and her colleagues now take vaccines closer to people in their communities every week during outreach, going house-to-house with their vaccine boxes.

Umar said her team visits a minimum of five households at every outreach and in a week, they vaccinate at least 20 children at home. Two-year-old Suleiman Jibrin is one of the children Umar vaccinated. Namana Umar, his mother, says she feels happy knowing her only child has received all three vaccine doses.

“When I see my boy, I feel happy because my child is fully vaccinated. He has been healthy since he took the vaccines [and] I am satisfied,” she said. “This vaccine is for his health so that he can be protected from diphtheria and other diseases.”

Like Jibril’s mother, Happy Nambala, who just had her seven-month-old child vaccinated, said she was confident that vaccines contribute significantly to a child’s health. “Vaccines build children’s immune system; I have never doubted this,” said Nambala, who has had her three children fully vaccinated. “I take health information during outreach very seriously because it has to do with the health of my children.”

Tackling hesitancy

But pockets of resistance to vaccination – often traceable to circulating rumours or traditional beliefs about health – remain, and in those places, efforts to boost vaccination coverage can prove frustrating.

Community health worker Karima Muhammad blames this attitude on lack of awareness and explains that in an effort to tackle that, Niger state outreach workers have made a policy of always showing mothers visual resources, like posters, during visits, to more clearly explain how the disease manifests and how the vaccines work.

“We explain the signs and symptoms to them and we tell them it’s not a spiritual problem,” Hajiya Rabi Yusuf, the director of primary healthcare in Niger State’s Chanchaga local government area, told VaccinesWork. “We explain in their local dialect.”

And in cases where mothers still aren’t convinced, Yusuf said they deploy a “rapid response team”, which might include the local imam, pastor, youth leader, ward health development committee, women leader, security agent and health worker.

“If we have such non-compliance, we go in a team to speak with the person,” she said. “This strategy has helped to deal with diphtheria cases.”

Osarhiemen, the public health physician, adds that besides poor compliance with routine immunisation, the insecurity in the north is also limiting vaccination efforts.

Luckily enough for the families of Bosso, they have Umar, who has taken community engagement and vaccination as a personal, as well as professional, mission. Her reason is simple: “I feel bad when there is mortality due to some [preventable] diseases like diphtheria,” she said.

By Ekpali Saint, VaccinesWork

President Tinubu orders crackdown on gangs after 150 killed in conflict-hit north

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday directed security agencies to hunt down the perpetrators of a weekend attack that killed at least 150 people in the country's northcentral, as he faces growing pressure over a worsening security crisis.

Tinubu visited Benue state, the site of the recent deadly attacks, seeking to calm tensions and promise justice for the victims. “We will restore peace, rebuild, and bring the perpetrators to justice. You are not alone.” the Nigerian leader said on X.

Assailants stormed Benue state’s Yelewata community from Friday night till Saturday morning, opening fire on villagers who were asleep and setting their homes ablaze, survivors and the local farmers union said. Many of those killed were sheltering in a local market after fleeing violence in other parts of the state.

Authorities in Benue state blamed herdsmen for the attack, a type of violence frequently seen in northern Nigeria's decadeslong pastoral conflict.

Opposition leaders and critics have accused Tinubu of a delayed response to the killings, noting his office issued a statement over 24 hours after the attack. His visit to the state occurred five days later.

The Nigerian leader traveled to Makurdi, Benue State’s capital, where he visited a hospital to see those injured in the attack and met with local leaders to discuss how to end the killings. He did not visit the Yelewata community.

He also appeared to reprimand the police for not making any arrest yet more than four days after the killings.

“How come no arrest has been made? I expect there should be an arrest of those criminals,” Tinubu asked as he addressed senior police officers during a gathering in Benue.

Analysts blame Nigeria's worsening security crisis on a lack of political will to go after criminals and ensure justice for victims.

“In the end, the result is the same: No justice, no accountability, and no closure for the victims and their communities," said Senator Iroegbu, a security analyst based in Nigeria's capital Abuja. “Until this changes, impunity will remain the norm, and such tragedies will continue to occur.”

By Dyepkazah Shibayan, AP

Related story: Video - Persistent clashes in Central Nigeria over land and resources