– Philomina Christopher-Oji
Philomina Ngozi Christopher-Oji is the chief executive officer of Phil Chris Media Company, Lagos, Nigeria, and publisher of Cornerstonenewsng.com. The former banker-cum-interior decorator turned journalist has linked the ritual killings and sudden disappearances of citizens to the government and its agents. In this telephone interview with journalists, as she has gone underground for fear of being killed by those after her life, she said that, despite her challenges, she would continue to speak out on the injustices being done to citizens by the government and political office holders. She challenged the Nigerian government to use its security agencies to fish out those involved in ritual killings if it doesn’t have any role in the atrocities.
My take on ritual killings
I have decided to talk about the so-called ritual killings going on in the country. It is becoming too alarming. When you open the pages of newspapers or you listen to electronic media or, better still, you go to the new media, you learn of sudden disappearances of citizens or ritual murder. I stand to be corrected, but my investigation has shown that there is nothing like money-making rituals. What we are seeing or hearing about are stories told by the government and its security agencies to cover up their crimes. There is nothing like money-making rituals, as the government and its security agencies are making us believe. What we have is a cartel of organ harvesters being sponsored by the government. It is a booming business. I have gone to a place in Jankara, Lagos, where human body parts are sold. It is the same thing in Borno, Kaduna, Kano, and Ogun states, where human parts are sold, and our security agencies are aware.
Remember that a contractor discovered, at least, 24 corpses under the hitherto abandoned Sango-Ota Flyover when it returned to the site in June 2009.
Deputy Director of Highways, South-west, in the Federal Ministry of Works, Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Robert Agwusiobu, disclosed this to newsmen at Sango-Ota, Ogun State.
Again, remember how a commercial motorcycle operator escaped ritual killing at Obadare Bridge, Iba, Lagos. When the police went for an investigation, they saw dead bodies everywhere under the bridge. What happened, up til today, no one was arrested or held accountable for the deaths, because the powers that be ordered that the police should stop investigation. How about the recent alarm raised by Abia State Governor, Alex Otti of no fewer than 50 decomposing, 20 headless bodies uncovered around Lokpanta Regional Cattle Market in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State? The Federal Government or the police have not done anything about it today. If a governor could raise the alarm over such a magnitude of crime and nothing is done, you can see how precarious the situation is in Nigeria. We are doomed.
The government works with some health workers, including doctors, who do the hatchet jobs for them.
How did you know that the killings were not for ritual purposes?
I am not saying that some of the killings are not for ritual purposes, after all, big-time government officials belong to one cult or the other where human blood is sacrificed to their gods, but what I am saying is that they are not for money-making rituals. Is it logical and scientific for a human being to turn to money? It is not possible, and even the police and lawyers will tell you that it is not possible, yet the police are being used to promote the belief that people make money through rituals. The other dimension is that our political leaders, from the President down to the local government category, are involved in secret societies that believe in rituals. Outside organ harvesting, our politicians believe in using human beings for rituals to secure political power.
If you doubt what I am saying, cast your mind back to the electioneering era, you will see that the number of missing persons, especially virgins, tripled. Every day, an average of 20 people go missing in Nigeria, yet no one is saying anything about it. Go to our police stations and see reports of missing people, yet the police and other security agencies cannot do anything about it because they have been bought over by the government. I stand tall to speak unequivocally that the government and its agencies are involved in the killings all over the country.
The government employed some people who do organ harvesting for them. The cartel is so powerful that security agencies cannot touch them.
But some young people are involved in ‘Yahoo-plus’ driving big cars and building mansions…
That is what I am saying. Are you saying that the human body makes money, does it turn to a ghost to print money? Not really, the young boys you see driving big cars have been recruited into the cartels; so they give them oaths to swear and arm them with tools to work. The cartel is well organized and comprises health workers, security agencies, and top politicians. In fact, outside of the ones that terrorists are doing, the greatest challenge is youth involvement in organ harvesting. A senior police officer confided in me that, besides killing people for organ harvesting, top politicians use human blood for rituals. He told me that they foolishly worship some idols, which they believe are the source of their power. He told me that I should look at the statistics of missing persons during the electioneering period. He said the number of missing persons always skyrockets. The bad news is that the officer told me when they arrest the criminals involved in ritual killings or organ harvesting, calls would come from the IGP or big politicians to release the suspects. He told me that when any one fails to comply with the directives from the top, such a policeman would be roped into one crime or the other and thereafter dismissed from the force or killed. You can see that the government is involved.
Why are you always against the government?
I am not against the government but against the injustices being meted to the ordinary man. The poor masses can no longer breathe. The APC-led government under President Muhammadu Buhari promised us change and we saw the ‘change’ they gave us. A change that brought sorrow and tears. A change where a bag of rice, which was at the rate of N8,000 under former President Goodluck Jonathan, became N25,000. President Bola Tinubu, who was the leader of the APC, took over from Buhari and brought untold hardship to us. We thought that Tinubu would perform better, but Buhari is better than Tinubu. A bag of rice is now N55,000. The prices of drugs are outrageous and expensive and my people are dying every day. Many students can’t go back to school, and you expect me to keep quiet? I thank God for the new media because the traditional media companies have been bought over with money, especially with advertorials. Nobody is criticizing the government anymore. Many times, I have been warned to stop talking or I would be killed, but I wasn’t perturbed until I started seeing strange things. I have been warned to stop saying or writing anything about APC led government, but I was not worried, until some people started attacking me on the road and even tried to abduct me. My life is really in danger, but I have to do the needful, I must do my job.
There are serious concerns about the soaring prices of goods and services, depreciating currency, volatile exchange rates, illiquidity in the foreign exchange market, high interest rates, and high trade costs. There are also fears about weak and declining purchasing power, escalating production costs, rising energy costs, a slump in industrial capacity utilization, and erosion of profit margins. Yet the government and its agents are still buying exotic cars for themselves, and they want me to keep quiet.
You claimed that you are under threat; could you throw more light on this?
I am not claiming but saying it unequivocally that my life; my husband and that of my two children are under serious threat. They have been calling me to warn that if they can’t get me, I must surely pay with the lives of my family members. I am tired of the whole issue. If I wrote against anyone, what concerns my other family members? As for my husband, he knows what to do, because he is a trained journalist,and an investigator, but what about my innocent kids. My fear is that they have threatened that they know where my children is. The problem is that even when anyone is threatened and finally killed, nothing will happen. Nobody will be held accountable, they will just treat it as nothing happened and life goes on. I am tired of Nigeria where life is short and brutish and where we have no freedom of life .Well, it is not new. You have seen how many journalists that were murdered in cold blood. You can see that, without the social media, nobody speaks against the injustices in the country;our traditional media have been bought over by the government; none of them is doing editorials on the draconian laws and selfish dealings of the government. The judiciary ,the last hope of the common man has been either bought over or intimidated by the government.Our political leaders and office holders are busy enjoying themselves, allocating huge sums of money to themselves. The system is what I criticized, and not fighting any individual . The irony is that, instead of taking correction, our political office holders are taking it personal. last time some people wanted to abduct me, after my escape, I decided to go underground. I am tired of everything. Where will I run to that they can’t get me and if I run, what about my husband and children?
This country is finished. Nobody can criticize the government anymore. We were told to hold the government accountable, but who will bell the cat? I have heard of Thulani Maseko, who fought tirelessly to demand justice and political reform for the people of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland. Thulani lost his life earlier this year while fighting for the same cause last year. Do you remember Vanguard newspaper reporter, Tordue Salem, a House of Representatives correspondent in Abuja, who vanished in September 2021 and how he was found dead. I am petrified and I decided to go underground. I don’t know who wanted to abduct me.
When I remember people like Jerry Agbeyigbe, aviation activist, and Newswatch editor, Dele Giwa, who were murdered in cold blood and no arrest was made, I weep for my country. If I die, I won’t be able to write or criticize the government. It is my calling, to hold the government accountable for its actions and inactions, but Nigeria and Africa in general are not places for journalists to thrive, or they would be wasted.
