Oke Aregba, a community in Adatan, Abeokuta North Local Government Area in Ogun State became a must for Journalists following the slaughtering of 16 years old Sofiat Kehinde by four teenage boys. They held her down, beheaded her, and embarked on burning her head. They said it was for money ritual.
The boys within the ages of 17-19 years are: Wariz Oladehinde, Abdulgafar Lukman, Mustakeem Balogun and Saliu Majekodunmi, who masterminded the plot to kill Sofiat, his girlfriend.
The boys beheaded Sofiat, placed her head on a local clay pot called calabash, and were burning it before they were caught in the act and taken to Adatan Police Station.
Upon interrogation, they blamed Facebook. They confessed they got the guidelines on the popular social media platform, and were inspired by the guidelines, and decided to slaughter Sofiat.
The incident which happened over the weekend saw the Adatan Police transferring the case to the Ogun State Police Command at Eleweran, Abeokuta, the State Capital, where the suspects were paraded.
Sofiat’s boyfriend, Soliu, confessed that when the victim visited him on Friday, he strangled her and cut off her head immediately with the aid of his accomplices.
Soliu explained how they contributed money and purchased other ingredients needed for the ritual, while awaiting the day they would kill the lady, who he said was introduced to him in December 2021.
According to him, Mustekeem, who used to attend the same Islamic society (Asalatu) with Sofiat, was the arrow head of the heinous act, saying he was the one who brought the guidelines from Facebook and pestered the group of friends to carry out the act so as to become rich quickly.
He said, “Last year December, Mustakeem gave me her number that I should be dating her. The first time Sofiat came to my house, I informed Mustakeem that she was around and that she had agreed to my proposal for a relationship.
“The second time Sofiat came, I told him, but he told me that she is not a good girl and advised that we should use her (for money rituals).
“Mustakeem said he saw a guideline for ‘Osole’ (money ritual) on Facebook and he had a screenshot of it.
“Since then, he had been disturbing me that we should use Sofiat for money ritual, but I didn’t agree with him.
“In fact, on many occasions, I lied to Sofiat that I am not at home just to dissuade her from coming.
“During the process, Mustakeem had ensured that we all make contributions towards other items needed for the ritual.
“So, eventually, Sofiat came to my house on Friday. I was inside my room with her while Mustakeem was outside. Later Mustakeem told me that we should go ahead and use her since all other needed items for the rituals are ready.”
Soliu told newsmen that he had regretted his action, urging other youths who are in a hurry to make money quickly to wait for their time.
“I have regrets. If I knew it would end up like this, I would not have gotten myself involved in the act. My advice to those who don’t want to wait for their time is that, they should please wait for their time,” he said.
Reactions have have trailed the confession of the teenagers.
According to Adeyemi Obadimu, Publisher of online news medium, Newsextra, “This is so pathetic and a grievous crime against humanity. How can these teenage boys delve into money ritual? At their age, we were learning craftsmanship, doing menial jobs to survive, and never had that kind of thought.
“This basically shows that we have lost our values, culture, ethics and decency. It is so appalling. All the boys should be killed at their fathers compound. The Police should take each and everyone of them to their family compound and killed there in cold blood. This is unacceptable”, Obadimu said angrily.
In the same vein. Lateef Owodunni, a social commentator said that the teenage boys are risk to the society. “What the Police need to do his to take them to court with with a Judge sentencing them to death, because these boys are bad influence to the society.
“Assuming these boys succeeded in this act, they will become rich and people will be celebrating them believing they are into cyber crime. It is so sad the way we celebrate mediocre in our nation. These boys should be used as an example to deter the minds of others from delving into it”.
For Seun Odekomaya, a resident of Abeokuta, she said the boys are just lying and trying to circumvent the investigation of the Police. She said before this boys could have taken such actions, there is someone that instigated them including the herbalist that told them to carry out that dastardly steps.
“The boys should be tortured and forced to take them to ye herbalists that gave them the advice. There is nothing of such on Facebook, they are just trying to hide the truth. Probably they have taken an oath not to reveal the identity of their godfathers. There is no way such would be put on social media”, she said.
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