By Augustine Aminu
The House of Representatives on Wednesday has asked the Inspector General of Police to set up a crack team to conduct a holistic investigation into the rising cases of killing young girls for ritual purpose.
The House resolution followed a motion of urgent public importance by Awaji-Inombek Abiante
on the need to unmask the cartel behind the killings with a View to bringing them to justice.
The Lawmaker said there was a recent wave and sustained killings of our young girls who are mostly undergraduates by their supposed boyfriends for ritual purposes;
Abiante sadly disclosed the recent murder of 20 years old Miss Justina Otuene an undergraduate student of the Department of Biochemistry, University of Port Harcourt by Damian Okoligwe who is also an undergraduate student of the same university, the murder of Augusta Osedion, a final year student of Lead City University in July, 2023 by her boyfriend , Benjamin Best who goes by the nickname killaboi in Lagos; the murder of Miss Oghenefejiro Ochuko, a final year student of Ambrose Ali University who was equally killed in August, 2023 by her boyfriend, Victor Ochonogor in Benin and several other unreported cases.
He expressed concern that these killings have almost become a daily occurrence with several other reported cases of missing females with their whereabouts still unknown; Also worried that few of the reported missing victims are often found dead without traces of the perpetrators;
According to him, these killings take similar patterns of dismembering the bodies of the victims whereby their vital organs are removed.
He said the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are young boys who might not be working alone but with strong cartels, while saying that “our young girls have become an endangered specie”.
He said the need to protect our young girls and indeed every Nigerfan as enshrined in section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Repu lic of Nigeria (as amended).
