Tragedy struck as a 14-year-old boy, identified as Malik Kareem, was reportedly beheaded for ritual in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The incident occurred at the Olorisaoko community in the Akinyele Local Government Area of the state on Saturday, August 10, 2024.
It was gathered that the victim recently wrote his final subject for the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) at Iyana Community Grammar School, Olode, Moniya, Ibadan.
Sources who spoke to The PUNCH said the victim, alongside his three other age groups, contacted a Muslim cleric, now at large, for a money ritual on that day.
The source said that unknown to him (the victim), the three other boys had bargained with the cleric to kill him for a money ritual.
Credible family sources said, “I was at home when one of my brothers ran to the house to inform me about the unfortunate incident. We quickly rushed down to the place to confirm it. When we got there, the Muslim cleric had already run away, but we found the victim’s lifeless body on the ground without a head.
“He was found in a pool of blood in that Islamic cleric’s house. The head has already been cremated.
The other three boys had earlier bargained with the cleric that they would use their friend for a money ritual. So, when they got there, he (the victim) was strangulated to death, beheaded and cremated. They will be using it to take pap every day, according to what they told us.”
Another informed family source said, “The cleric house has been set ablaze by yet-to-be-identified youths in the area.”
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, said investigations had already commenced on the incident.
“Investigations have commenced on the incident, and you will be updated accordingly”, he stated.
In another development, two Chinese expatriates, identified as Chen Wenguang and Liang Ding, have been abducted in the Kémta/Abule-Owu area along Onigbedu Road in Ogun State.
The two were abducted around 1:45pm on Sunday when they left the company to visit their friends.
A police source, who was not authorised to speak on behalf of the command, informed our correspondent that Wenguang and Ding were affiliated with the Good One Carton Company situated in the area.
“Wenguang and Ding left the company on their own, without notifying security, including the police and military assigned to the company, nor did they inform the company itself.
“They mentioned to a few people that they were heading to Kémta Village, about a kilometre away from the company, to visit some friends,” the source said.
The spokesperson for the state command, Omolola Odutola, confirmed the incident to our correspondent on Monday, stating that the kidnappers had contacted the company to demand a ransom for their release.
She said, “The company’s security supervisor reported that one of the expatriates called to inform him that Wenguang and Ding had been kidnapped and that the kidnappers were demanding money in exchange for their release.
“Our operatives in the Ewekoro Division, with the assistance of local vigilantes, military personnel from the Social Orientation and Safety Corps, local hunters, and other security groups, thoroughly searched the entire Kémta Village forest for the duo but were unable to find them.”
She said that efforts to secure the release of the duo were ongoing.