Every now and then, we have been inundated with reports of ritual killings in our communities, every strata of age groups are culprits of the act. Adults, youth and teenagers who should be more concerned about their educational pursuits is the most depressing part of the negative trend.
In December, news broke out of a Benin-based man simply identified as Osas, who was on the run for alleged ritual killing of his girlfriend, Elohor Oniorosa which Edo state police command said was reported by the father of the deceased. Like it usually occur in a movie script, a 20-years-old man was arrested by the police for allegedly killing one Jennifer Anthony, a 300-level student of the University of Jos for suspected ritual purposes.
The most depressing of the negative trends is the four teenagers recently arrested by the police at Abeokuta, Ogun state capital for killing the girlfriend of one of them for money-rituals purposes.
The above reports are mere child play in comparison to the one that happened over the weekend in Lagos to a girl named Bamise who was allegedly killed in BRT by the driver in connivance with other people. What makes this more depressing and surprising, is the audacity and effrontery involved in the act. The act was committed in a Lagos state owned mass transport vehicle, if such can be done in such place, where else is safe in the land?
The summary of the above negative trends raises concerns and questions. How did we get here? When did the whole society lose it?
Everyone from the top echelon to lowest level of society no longer see hard-work as a way out of poverty, the youth now see internet fraud (Yahoo Yahoo) as the only way of survival. And if such failed to give them the desired financial independence, they resort to money-rituals as the way out. Why you may want to ask, they want to bam bam and chill with the big boys right?
Why will it not be so, when the street is littered with songs encouraging fraud and getting rich by any means are being promoted across all media platforms (conventional and social). It has even reached a stage where in the streets illegality has become a new normal.
We have completely lost our value system in this country. Our moral standards has been left in the hands of celebrities in the entertainment industry and rogue politicians. The era where Nollywood stars with no particularly hit movie are seen living an extravagant life by buying porche cars, the youths simply reacted by shouting “God when?”, even when it is obvious that such person can not afford such luxury with the cumulative of his or her 10-years earnings.
Meanwhile , such extravagant life is not limited to the celebrities alone, politicians and civil servants are culpable in the act of amassing properties that are not in tune with their earnings. We are now in the era of the ends justifies the means.
We need to find a way to fight the menace through collective effort. We need to strongly condemn getting rich by all means syndrome ravaging our value system and encourage frugal means of living . Another way to put a stop to the menace is to postulate a severe punishment for the perpetrators of grime crimes such as internet fraud and rituals killing to serve as deterrent to anyone intending to embark on such barbaric act.
