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RITUAL KILLING: HARDWORK IS THE ONLY RITUAL THAT WORKS, DANGOTE, ALLEN ONYEMA AND COSCHARIS ARE EXAMPLES -HON TOBY OKECHUKWU

Enugu: Rt Hon Toby Okechukwu, Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives has once again spoken against the current menace of ritual killings which is becoming endemic in Nigeria.

According to Okechukwu, “Money rituals don’t work. The only money ritual that works is hard work.

He made the assertion today, while speaking as a guest on NTA Network program, Weekend Deal.

“Look at Dangote, Otedola, Coscharis and Allen Onyema of Air ; I don’t believe any of them got rich through ritual killing. The ritual they make is hard work. That is the kind of advocacy we need for our people to have a better perspective regarding wealth and success”

Recently, the lawmaker representing Aninri /Awgu /Oji River in the Green Chamber moved a motion at the floor of the House of Representatives urging the House to take urgent steps to curb the scourge of Ritual killing which was becoming endemic across Nigeria.

Okechukwu explained that his immediate motivation for moving the motion was an incident that occurred recently in Ogun State where a young man and three of his friends butchered a girl for money ritual.

“The young man said he learnt that the social media, particularly on Facebook.

“Then, I also had a personal experience of a young lad who had gone missing in my Village. Eventually, when he re-surfaced, it was discovered that he had gone off with some boys to embark on such a scheme”

He also recounted several gory tales of ritual killings across the country in recent times, where women and girls were killed and sensitive parts of their body cut off for money rituals.

“It (news of ritual killings) was already in the public domain, what we wanted to do, as a Parliament was to draw attention so that the critical agencies of Government will begin to pay attention”

On the issue of actions being taken by the House of Representatives to remedy the situation in the aftermath of his motion, Okechukwu said : ” It was followed up by the Minister of Culture and Tourism who stressed the need to be modest and not to glamorize ritual killing in our films. We also called up the National Orientation Agency, NOA, to ensure that Nigerians are enlightened on the issue, we also spoke to the National Film and Video Censorship Board, NFVCB to take appropriate measures to vet Nigerian films. We also called on relevant committees of the House to begin to interrogate some of these Government Agencies regarding what they are doing. We also called on parents to do better parenting. We called on schools as well to be effective in character formation of the students under their care”

Going further, he explained that the House called on the Committee on Police Affairs to investigate what the police has done regarding particular cases.

He also asserted that everyone should be involved in the campaign against ritual killing since “there is some level of dysfunction in the society”

On the perceived notion that politicians are also to blame for the upsurge in ritual killings by their flamboyant lifestyles and alleged involvement in ritual killings to acquire political power, Okechukwu stated that such was not true, “That is not true. To make an assumption that there is a proclivity towards ritual killing by politicians is misplaced.

“It does not work, I have never visited any native doctor. I’m a politician, I’m a practicioner, the only native doctor I visit are my constituents and doing the needful and canvassing for the common good in the Nigerian Parliament”

“In societal development, people tend to ascribe witchcraft and the supernatural tendencies. It happened Europe and other parts of the world. These things do not work. There is no politician that is as rich as Dangote. The native doctor doing rituals for you lives in a hut, doesn’t he want to get rich? We need to interrogate these things logically.

He also stressed that ritual killing was sadly being glamorized on social media, urging the various media platforms to remove such posts.

Okechukwu asserted that the upsurge in ritual killing was taking away the drive for industry and genuine enterprise among the youths, “What is the business of an eighteen year with getting rich? If he gets rich, what will he do with the money? That takes you away from industry and the things that should make meaning to you”

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