Gabon girl's death sparks fears of ritual killings

LIBREVILLE (AFP) - The discovery of a young girl's body on a Libreville beach last month shocked the city and reignited the debate over ritual killings in Gabon, sparking outrage on social media sites and forcing President Ali Bongo Ondimba to react.
The young girl disappeared after going swimming. Her battered body was discovered the next day, several hundred metres away.
Her body was badly mutilated, and while there's no proof she was the victim of a ritual killing, the fear of such crimes here has led to her case being widely publicised.
Ritual crimes are practised by secret sects involved in witchcraft. They usually involve taking a victim's blood and certain parts of their body -- eyes, eyelashes, ears, genitalia, tongue, lips, pieces of skin, the brain -- which are supposed to bring health, riches, success and power.
"It's getting worse. We've already counted 19 cases since the start of the year", including 10 children, says Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo, the president and founder of the Association against Ritual Crime (ALCR). His own 12-year-old son was kidnapped, killed and mutilated in 2005.
ALCR's most recent report, which covers four provinces, found 34 cases in 2010 and 62 in 2011. The majority were children -- the most sought-after victims in this kind of crime.
The police don't recognise these statistics, however, considering that some of these deaths are not related to ritual crime.
Despite the fact that without an autopsy it is impossible to prove whether or not they are ritual killings, grisly murders regularly make the front page of the papers. The reports stir up anger at what people see as the authorities' failure to act.
The situation was further inflamed recently when a planned protest march was banned.
Soon afterwards, hackers claiming to be from Anonymous published a video containing shocking images of mutilated bodies and organs, a campaign -- christened Operation Gabon -- spread across Twitter with followers using the hastags #OpGabon and #SOSGabon to denounce ritual crime. Activist site Avaaz.org started a petition, "Stop ritual crime in Gabon".
The unprecedented level of attention embarrassed the Gabonese government and pushed President Bongo to react.
In a statement, he spoke of the presidency's "preoccupation" with the "ignoble phenomenon of crime", although the phrase "ritual crime" did not appear at any point.
For their part, the ALCR says that those who order and commit these crimes operate with impunity. "People are distracted with show trials, but nobody has ever actually been sentenced", says Ebang Ondo.
According to him, numerous politicians and grandees are involved in ritual crime as they believe it will increase their power.
"The state doesn't want us to talk about it, because it's very important people who keep these practices alive, who feed on this", he said.
In October, Paris-based media rights group Reporters Without Borders denounced the "increase in pressure on journalists" from Gabon who were investigating ritual crime and its links to the political milieu.
One recent move, however, appeared to be in the right direction, when a senator accused of having ordered a ritual crime had his parliamentary immunity revoked, meaning that it is now possible for him to be questioned over the murder of a 12-year-old girl in 2009.
"We're still waiting, " said ALCR chief Ebang Ondo.

Funny Man ! Is this Nkem Owoh?

 

He (Nkem owoh) looks so different in this photo. What did you guys have to say about his recent looks?

My Experience With Ritualists/kidnappers At Lekki This Morning – Deife

 Here is what the victim wrote on Nairaland

I’ll be as brief as possible, Nairalanders. To tell you that kidnappers & ritualists exist & are on rampage is an understatement. What you need to be aware of is that they adopt different strategies to capture their victims. I’m going to share with you one approach so as not to become a prey.

I was at Law School busstop at about 6.30am today when I saw a cab & told the driver my destination. He told me to board. I noticed that there was a ‘passenger’ beside him & another one at the back. So I sat at the back.
Within 30 seconds of our journey, the young man beside me offered the driver #100 as transport fare. Immediately, the driver started shouting. The dialogue ensued between both of them:

Driver: How dare you offer me a hundred naira as transport fare? Aren’t you the one that put that bag in the trunk? In fact you have a case to answer. Where did you get that huge amount of money from?

Passenger: (sobbing & genuflecting) please don’t expose me. My boss died this morning. He was a Hausa man who ran a Bureau de Change business. He died after a brief illness. As soon as he died, my colleague made away with one of his vehicles. Because I don’t know how to drive, I decided to make away with this money.

Passenger at the Front: How much is in the bag?

Passenger: 1.1 million dollars

Passenger at the Front: Oga driver, you know what? Let’s strike a deal with the man. (Facing the Passenger at the back who at this point is already shaking like a jellyfish) Are you ready to share this money with the rest of us on this car?

Passenger: Yes sir!

All along I was quiet.

Passengerthe one who ‘stole’ the money) We need a herbalist or witch doctor to help us make the charms ineffective because the last time I tried to touch the money, I fell down.

Driver: (Cuts in) that’s no problem. We will get a pastor or a herbalist to destroy the charms.

At this point, the passenger asked for my views. To be candid, so many things were on my mind. I felt this could be the ‘major break’ I had been trusting God for. On the other hand, I wasn’t comfortable because if what the passenger said was anything to go by, & I partook in spending the money, I would have murdered Peace & Sleep.

Me: No true pastor will agree to be a part of this.

Before you could say Jack Robinson, the Passenger at the Front quickly offered to phone a herbalist that he claimed to know. Meanwhile the driver had taken the alternative route instead of going through the Toll Plaza. As soon as we got to a point, I told the driver to stop, I told him I wasn’t interested, & immediately got out of the car & took a long walk.

To cut a long story short, when I got to work, I just hinted my colleague about my experience without going into details & guess what she said! She told me their modus operandi which tallied with what I experienced today.

So Nairalanders, I urge you to always take time to pray before you go out & be close to God. Put God first in all you do & be security conscious. May you not die untimely in Jesus’ name & may God’s grace be constantly available to you & your loved ones.

Governor Okorocha Suffers Head Injuries After Convoy is Involved in Ghastly Road Accident

 

Briefing journalists at the Government House Owerri, Okorocha said he was involved in a minor accident along Owerri  Orlu road, and that a flat boot Mercedes 200 ran into his convoy and had a head on coalition with his own car, leading to his sustaining a minor cut on his scalp.

Okorocha who was bandaged on the head said that he was stable and strong,   but would seek further medical attention due to the level of impact of the accident on him.

Earlier the Imo State Commissioner of police Mohammed Katsina confirmed the accident, noting that the accident was a minor one and that the Governor was in a stable condition.

He said that he has dispatched the police investigation team to ascertain the cause of the accident and would give further information on the matter as soon as the investigation was concluded.

Speaking also the personal Physician, Dr. Sylvester Igwe, said that the Governor had a minor laceration of his scalp, and was very stable, adding that what he needs now was further medical examination.

Source: Pointblank News

Messi buys over noisy neighbour’s appartment

Lionel Messi has dealt with the problem of having annoying neighbors by simply buying their house, like a boss.

It’s not often we hear of Lionel Messi doing something extravagant with all his money, but it seems like he might have done just that by purchasing his neighbor's house.

According to a report in Spanish paper El Mundo Deportivo, Messi is currently living in the Pedralbes area of Barcelona with his wife and son, where they bought an apartment a little over a year ago. However, they are only there as a temporary measure while their house in the Castelfedells neighborhood is being renovated.

His neighbors, who were having problems meeting the demands of their mortgage, offered to sell their house to Messi, but the Argentine wasn’t interested.

As a result, the neighbors poor behavior increased, including a lot of noise and loud music at all hours, but that wasn’t the worst of it. To make a bit of extra cash, they started renting out the house to interested fans and celebrity spotters who wanted to get a look at the football superstar.

When he built a wall to stop this from happening, they threatened to report the Messi's for making the wall too high.

As a result, Messi decided to just take their house, as they originally suggested, just to get some peace and quiet for the price of about a million euro. It’s a tough aul life all the same.

 

University Of Nigeria, Nsukka: Robbers Loot Female Hostel

Unknown persons on Thursday morning broke into a female hostel at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, carting away students belongings.

The incident occurred at Zik’s Flat Hostel, located opposite the university’s second gate

When our correspondent visited the campus, students were seen counting their losses, which they put at millions of naira.

Students affected in the raid are mostly final year female students.

They stated that the theft occurred while they were away in the lecture hall.

“When we came back from class, we discovered signs of burglary in our door. The unknown thieves broke into more than ten rooms in our hostel,” one of the affected students said.

Refusing to give her name, she said in tears, “I lost my laptop, one of my mobile phones, cash and other personal belongings. Other students suffered similar fate.

“As I speak with you now, I am completely shattered because my project work is in that laptop.”

Another student who lost some items to the burglars lamented that such thing could happen even when the university has a security post in the hostel.

She said, “Those security men were there gisting while robbers carted away all our properties.”

She said the incident had been reported to both the student affairs department and the security.

Source: Punch Nigeria

‘Pastor’ steals church member’s phone and says, the devil made him do it

Suspected fake pastor, Prince Kayode Ogbeniola was arrested under suspicion of stealing a Samsung handset whilst he was in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.

After a complaint by the Chief Security Officer of the church to the police, they arrested Ogbeniola and he was brought up before a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court and charged with stealing the device.

Apparently, in December, Ogbeniola went into the church and pretended to be just another worshipper. However, once inside the church he stole the Samsung handset belonging to Vivian Oji, another church member. He then made quick exit.

Ogbeniola was apparently confident that he didn’t get caught on this first occasion so he went back to the church a second time with the intention of stealing another device. However, Oji, saw Ogbeniola in the church whilst he was making a call on her phone.

Oji approached Ogbeniola, face to face, and asked him to return her phone, after which Ogbeniola apparently became angry at her accusations and attempted to physically harm her.

After the owner of the phone had been established, Ogbeniola, was arrested and taken to the police. Ogbeniola had been going to the church to preach and he claimed to be a “mobile evangelist,” he said.
Ogbeniola made a statement to the police in which he allegedly admitted committing the crime and he apparently begged forgiveness of the police using the excuse of poverty, frustration and the fact that his wife had recently divorced. He claimed that all thse circumstances made him steal the phone.

“When I stole the handset, the owner sent text messages to me twice to return the handset, but the devil told me to remove the sim card and replace it with my own, and I started using the handset,” Ogbeniola apparently told the police.

According to the police, Ogbeniola then went on to tell them that he had been a traveling evangelist for the last five years, who went about preaching to people to repent from their sins. However, he apparently said, he was totally surprised by his actions in stealing and he now seemed to be the sinner.

Ogbeniola later pleaded not guilty at the court and was remanded in custody pending his payment of the bail bond. He was taken to Ikoyi Prison until payment of the bail was made and he was set to appear again in court on April 15.

Read more: AllChristianNews