The Zone 2 Police Command has headquarters, Onikan, Lagos, has rescued a nine-year-old boy from the hands of his father who wanted to use him for ritual purposes in Sago-Ota, Ogun State.
The lucky boy, Agbe Bada,was brought all the way from their country home, Cotonou Republic of Benin, by his father,to Nigeria in search of a witch doctor who would use him for money making rituals before fate smiled on him and he was rescued by the police.
The suspect,Poni Bada, who was paraded among three other accomplices, told our correspondent that he wanted to use his last son for money making rituals to save his family from hunger and starvation.
The suspect ,who spoke through an interpreter,said,” yes, I heard stories about Nigeria, that they know how to use human beings for money making rituals.I have 10 children,so I thought that when I use one of them for rituals,I would make lots of money to enable me give my other family members good and quality life. That was why I lied to my son,Agbe, that I was taking him to Nigeria to stay with one of my relatives, Benjamin Balobi, and he was so happy.
” Really,his mother was happy. I brought him to my brother, who he stayed with for one month. After one month, I opened up to my brother about my intention to use my son for rituals and pleaded with him to introduce me to a herbalist that would help me use my son to make money rituals.He took me to a man,but the man took us to another native doctor ,who also took us to another,who said he would do it with the sum of N100,000, so my brother and others contributed the money as they gave me respite since I brought my son for the rituals.On the day the witch doctor called us to bring the boy to be slaughtered for the rituals; I was so happy that my financial predicaments would soon be over .But rather than do the needful,he started talking to someone on the phone;thinking that he was calling the person that would butcher my son for the ritual, but he ended up inviting some policemen who appeared in a jiffy and arrested us.I am full of regrets ,because I had hoped that my financial status would be elevated after using my son for rituals. I don’t know why the native doctor behaved the way he did . The child is mine,so what is his problem that the owner of a child wanted to use him for money making rituals?. It is quite unfortunate that all my dreams to become a millionaire has just crashed while I will be spending the rest on my life in jail”.
Assistan Inspector -General of Police, AIG, Ari Muhammad Ali, who paraded the suspects over the weekend said ,the boy would be handed over to a juvenile home pending the conclusion of investigation.
The AIG said during interrogation the suspects confessed to the crime of trying to use Agbe for money making rituals.
“We were able to arrest the suspects when we got information about their plans, one of my men from the Zonal Criminal Investigation Department,played along with them and pretended to be a herbalist and got them arrested at the scene where they were asked to assemble at Sango in Ogun State.
“The father of the boy lied to him that he brought him to Nigeria to work as housemaid not knowing his father had another plan to kill him for money making rituals. The boy will be united with is family in Republic of Benin in few days time ,while the suspects would be charged to court.
