The Inspector General of Police has been instructed by the House of Representatives to assemble a top-notch team to carry out an in-depth investigation with the exclusive goal of exposing the cartels responsible for ritual killings and prosecuting them.
The House's decision came after Awaji-Inombek Abiante, in the plenary on Wednesday, adopted an urgent public importance motion under Order 8 Rule 4.
The legislator who made the motion denounced the ongoing practice of young ladies being ritually killed by their purported partners, who target predominantly college students.
Abiante emphasized the need to uphold section 14(2)(b) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria's 1999 Constitution, which guarantees the protection of young girls and all Nigerians.
He mentioned several unreported cases, including the July 2023 murder of Augusta Osedion, a final-year student at Leads City University, by her boyfriend Benjamin Best, also known as killaboi in Lagos, and the August 2023 murder of Miss Oghenefejiro Ochuko, a final-year student at Ambrose Ali University, by her boyfriend Victor Ochonogor in Benin.
The legislator expressed dismay at the recent murder of 20-year-old Miss Justina Otuene, an undergraduate student at the University of Port Harcourt's Department of Biochemistry, last week by Damian Okoligwe, another undergraduate student there.
He claimed that because there have been multiple cases of reported missing girls whose whereabouts are still unknown, these killings have practically become daily occurrences.
While bemoaning the extinction of young girls, Abiante went on to say that young guys are the ones doing these horrible atrocities, possibly not acting alone but rather in powerful cartels.
The congressman also voiced concern over the fact that a small percentage of victims who go missing are frequently discovered dead with no evidence of their whereabouts.
Abiante emphasized that the crimes follow a similar pattern in which the victims' bodies are dismembered and their essential organs are removed.
The House, therefore, called on “the Inspector General of police to set up a crack team to conduct a holistic investigation with the sole aim of unmasking the cartels behind these killings and bringing them to justice.”
