The teenager, Soliu Majekodunmi, who slaughtered his girlfriend, Sofiyah, for suspected money ritual purposes has explained that he learnt the practice through Facebook.
Majekodunmi said he typed ‘how to make money ritual’ on Facebook and got the detail, adding that the link instructed him to behead and burn a female skull in a local pot.
Majekodunmi and three other suspects spoke on Monday when they were paraded at the state police headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Majekodunmi, who had fled but was later arrested, said after learning the money ritual skill on the internet, he conspired with others to execute what he learnt.
The 18-year-old suspected killer while speaking with newsmen on how he killed his girlfriend, said he squeezed her neck and beheaded her immediately after he had made love to her.
He said he conspired with his friend, Mustakem Balogun, to lure the slain girl to their apartment in the Oke Aregba area of Abeokuta, where she was killed.
They confessed to killing the girl, claiming that they concluded on money ritual because they wanted to ride exotic cars and live in luxury apartments.
The suspects added that they purchased three pigeon eggs known as ‘Eyin Aparo’ in Yoruba language and other fetish ingredients which they added in the local pot.
They, however, said the sum of the money-making ritual ingredients cost N2,500 which they contributed among themselves.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, while parading the suspects said the incident was a result of bad parenting.
The police spokesperson urged Nollywood actors to desist from promoting money ritual movies, just as he urged religious bodies to desist from preaching only about prosperity.
He said, “This can only be described as a superlative degree of callousness. It is despicable and barbaric at this time for somebody to still have it in mind that money can be made if he sacrifices the life of a fellow human being. More so, what is it that teenagers want to use the money for that will lead them to this type of heinous crime? It is still beyond the comprehension of a normal human being
“I want to say that many parents have failed in their responsibilities. This is a result of bad parenting. It is a result of complete failure of parental responsibility because if this thing has not been encouraged by the parents, I do not believe that any properly brought up child will want to embark on this type of criminality.
“I also want to advise that the generality of people have a lot of work to do, the religious bodies, entertainment bodies and everybody that has one thing or the other on protecting life and properties.
“The religious bodies should stop preaching only prosperity, you should be preaching morality more than the way you preach prosperity. Nollywood actors and the movie censors board have a lot to do to regulate the type of film they produce because some of them (ritual suspects) learn it in movies.”
Sunday Olatunbosun who spoke on behalf of the slain girl’s family urged the police to help ensure justice over the death of Sofiyah.
He said, “We want justice for her and I am speaking on behalf of the family, all that we want is justice, nothing else.
“Her mother is in a very critical situation, even we needed to give her sleeping pills before she was able to sleep. Her father is late and the situation of her mother is very critical at the moment. We had to take her away from Abeokuta to Ifo area because of the incident.”
