UTAS Kabir Ibrahim was a popular Islamic cleric in Osun State. His place was like a Mecca for many seeking spiritual protection and ‘sudden’ wealth. But his attempt at using Lukeman Adeleke’s right hand for money rituals back fired.

Adeleke, 25, was said to have approached the cleric for spiritual solution to his problem at Omi-Ayo, an Ilesa suburb in Osun State before he died in mysterious circumstances.  Adeleke, who was a cocoa farmer, wanted to buy an uncompleted building and decided to seek spiritual help. He died in the process and Ibrahim, popularly known as Akewusola, is being detained by the Osun State Police Command in Osogbo after Adeleke’s remains were retrieved from where he dumped them.

Lizzy Igbinoba (not real name), an undergraduate at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, belonged to the club campus movers and shakers. She was not only a go-getter, she was sophisticated and materialistic. Lizzy could not be categorised as an undergraduate because of her expensive life style. She was never in want of male admirers because of her ravaging beauty.

However, she was humbled by the fate that befell her.   A sobered Lizzy narrated her ordeal to The Nation on the condition of anonymity. The Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State-born undergraduate battled to keep her emotion under check as she narrated how she was almost used for money-making ritual by one of her numerous men friends.

She recounted: “Alhaji Ibrahim Bello (not real name) was one of my regular friends in school; he often showered me with gifts, including my friends any time he visited to the extent that my room mates used to look forward for his visit. At a time, l thought he was God-sent because he was not in a hurry like others to sleep with me. On few occasions that we slept together, he never for once woke me up not to talk of touching me.

He often apologised to me that his busy schedule usually knocked him out on bed. Today he is in China, tomorrow Dubai and day after London.

“Therefore, the day he gave me the key to a Toyota Camry, l nearly ran mad. He brought the car to my hostel. Out of happiness, l gave him a deep kiss. There and then he requested that l should join him in one of his suite in a popular first-class hotel in Lagos the following day.

“That night, my mother from Asaba called me that she had a terrible dream that l should be very careful and should not follow any of my friends to any party. She repeated the warning the second day. But l could not disappoint Alhaji. After all, we were not attending any party. After series of caressing, Alhaji declined to have protective sex, saying  that was the reason he had not been jumping from one lady to the other.

“My mother’s warning always re-echoed in my mind. Cleverly, l went to the bathroom with an excuse to shower and I protected myself with expertise to the extent that Alhaji did not notice.”

According to her, after the fun, she removed the condom and rapped it inside tissue paper and just dumped it inside her bag with the hope to dispose it later. To her surprise, she did not remember until the second day when she was looking for something from the bag. She discovered that Alhaji’s semen that would have been dropped in her turned to plenty of maggots.

“I rushed home and my mother took me to her pastor who had compelled her to have a three-day fasting and prayer for me. He told me that if not because of the protection that l used, the maggots would have translated to money for Alhaji. True to the pastor’s word, l never set my eye on Alhaji again. All his phone numbers went dead.

Segun Iwaloye’s case was a bit different. He narrated to The Nation how he traversed ritualists’ homes to get rich quick. But the last place he visited doused his thirst for quick money. Iwaloye, a graduate, was teaching at a secondary school in Ibadan when the incident occurred. He was desperate and wanted to use big cars like his colleagues who were bankers. According to him, his desperate search for genuine money ritualists took him to villages like Ijebu-Ode, Ago-Iwoye, Ijebu-Mosan among others in Ogun State Waterside. But the effort was not worth the while until a friend introduced him to a popular herbalist in Ijebu-Ife.

He said: “The herbalist told us that he had various types of money-making rituals but said that after consulting his oracle there is one we can do that will not give us problem. That was the one that can be made with the hunchback which might have been buried for like two months.

“Incidentally my friend who took me to the place was a police officer who had worked for about six years under the Ogun State Command. So, he knew the Ijebu area very well. We attended the same university many years back and we were very fond of each other.

“However, the herbalist warned the two of us that we should not make attempt to kill any hunchback that we see because that would be blood money and may not be too good for us because of its repercussion, adding that we should be patient and observant because it is not always easy to get a dead hunchback.

“When we left the herbalist, l told  my friend that the herbalist  deliberately gave us a condition we cannot meet; therefore, l don’t think  we can ever get such a vital object. But, he (my friend) assured that though difficult, it was not impossible.

“About two months later, my friend told me that he had seen the hunchback through another friend and we rushed to the herbalist.  When we got there, the man repeated his earlier warning that hope we did not kill anybody and we said no. He started incantations after he had missed the hunchback with other items and suddenly, money filled the room with a splash of blood.

“The herbalist shouted and threatened to invoke the wrath of the oracle on us if we did not confess that we actually killed somebody. At this juncture, my friend was shaking like a jelly and confessed that he actually killed a hunchback out of desperation. I was equally shocked and took to my heels. Later l learnt that my friend became mad and roams the streets. Till today, l never set my eyes on him.”

The above scenario depicted the level at which human parts are being sort after today to get rich quick and acquire political power.

Investigations showed that human parts are traded like items with impunity at grave yards, market places and coded addresses.  The Soka episode of 2014 in Ibadan, the Abule Ifa saga in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State and the Ikorodu ritualists’ den episode are vivid examples that human parts are in high demand for different reasons and purposes.

The elimination of the middle-class in the socio-economic strata, thus widening the gulf between the rich and the poor was encouraging the notorious act. More Nigerians are desperate to get rich by all means.

The Nation discovered that the collapsed of the Yahoo business (Internet fraudsters) pushed some of the operators to other means of getting cheap money.

Those involved in money-making rituals have a variety to choose from, depending on the consultants handling their matters.  The most common of them all is the use victms’ blood to either renew the efficacy of their money or the use victim’s body parts for money-making rituals.

Speaking to The Nation, a renowned herbalist in Ojoku area of Ibadan, Oyo State said that getting money through rituals was neither here nor there. He noted that they always involve the use of sensitive human parts.

The elderly, man who pleaded anonymity, said that some of the notable money-making rituals include: the sexually-stimulated money-making ritual, the one that would demand for anyone so dear to one’s heart where the person would die shortly after the completion of the process and the common one that will always bring money to the person at a designated place.

He identified the sexually-stimulated method as the most frequently applied.

“When the ritualist has sex with someone with the charm activated, the good fortune that should have accrued to the other party is spiritually transferred. Some of the ritualists prefer virgins as they believe  that they  will bring more good fortunes. After some time, the victim either dies, becomes useless, or bedridden with strange disease and may not be able to tell the story unless another powerful herbalist intervened on the victim’s behalf in the spiritual realm”

The herbalist maintained: “Any of this method of money-making always end up in sad tales because at times, the herbalist cannot be too sure what the Alujonu (spirit) will demand especially if it is the money ritual laced with human blood, it usually demands somebody very close like the wife, children, mother or close friend.”

Is there anything called money-making ritual? Can one be rich if he or she was not destined to be? These and many more are the questions agitating the minds of many when The Nation encountered Yemi Adegbite, who was a victim of money-making ritualist.

According to him, his ordeal was when he was a student at the Ibadan Polytechnic. “The school had just vacated and I was terribly broke and wanted to go and meet my parent in Lagos, but could not afford the transport fare. That forced me to trek to the Ibadan- Lagos Expressway in anticipation that I would get a cheaper transportation. As planned, I got one but the experience would remain ever green in my memory. It was a saloon car with a lone passenger at the back and two in front including the driver.

We later carried another person shortly after l entered the vehicle not knowing that he was part of the syndicate. Within a twinkle of an eye, I slept off and by the time l woke up, l was in a hut inside a thick forest were l met about ten other victims.

“I was inside the hut for three days before it got to my turn to be killed.  We were addressed by one of the security who said we would all be killed for money-making rituals. They would blindfold three people and drag them further into a small house about 10 minutes trek to where they kept us.

“There were heavily-armed men with charms all over their bodies. When it was my turn, the herbalist, a relatively young man with red eyes, pointed the white little horse tail in his hand on my fore head, began series of incantations. He later commanded that l should be separated and another lady was brought in to replace me.

“I later found myself at a village close to Sagamu where l met a hunter who later assisted me to find my way back to Lagos. Though the incident took place about three years ago, it remains evergreen in my mind and each time l remember it, l still shiver”, lamented Adegbite.

None of the herbalists and spiritualists who spoke to The Nation admitted that he ever ventured into such diabolical acts.

Could money-making ritual be a cultural issue peculiar to some people or it is a general phenomenon from any diabolic spiritualist not minding where he or she comes from? A renowned herbalist and the Araba of Osogbo land, Chief Yemi Elebuibon, noted that “using human beings for money is not only diabolic but a culture that mixed with that of Yoruba during the inter-tribal wars of the old.

According to him, a lot of people came from far and near to re-settled in Yoruba land after the wars. These people brought with them strange things like using human beings to make money and ever since, it has been a recurrent issue.

His words: “As an Ifa priest, there is none out of 256 Odu Ifa (Ifa corpuses) that recommend the usage of human parts for money-making ritual.  You cannot see any Ifa priest who is engaging in such act. The fact is that people could not differentiate between an Ifa priest, Babalawo (herbalist), Elerindinlogun (16 cowries), Alagbigba (father of secret), Ariran (fortune teller), palmist and Onisegun (native doctor). Because one is a traditionalist does not mean that all of us are the same.

“For somebody who is an Ifa priest, there are procedures that must be followed in which he cannot deviate outside from it. Also at all times, he must be upright and always be the saviour of the people, especially when they are in problem but others are not like that.”

He went on: “There is what you called Awure in Yoruba land which Ifa equally attested to. “A special soap can be prepared after Ifa divination for the person who is interested and Ifa will prescribe the type of sacrifice that will go with it. If the person do all what Ifa asks him or her to do, such a person will not lack any good thing of life. Whatever the type of business the person is doing, it will be progressing.”

He explained that Osole (wizardry) which is also common with the Yoruba people in the past are done without any human part. But, when people like Tapa,  Nupe, Baruba and a host of others mixed with the Yoruba race, a lot was embellished with “our culture and tradition and the issue of using human parts for money-making rituals begins to emanate.”

Explaining the difference between those who did awure, osole and money-making ritual, Elebuibon noted that the first two has nothing to do with any human part and it cannot affect the life expectancy of those doing it.

“But money-making ritual is always for a short period and the circumstances that the money will be coming will be strange and untraceable”, he explained.

Elebuibon explained that the notion by some people that the hunchback is veritable ingredient for money-making ritual is not only act of wickedness but a disservice to humanity.

According to him, in the olden days, Afin (Albino) and Abuke (hunchback) served as messengers to Orunmila and the respect they accorded Orumila was extended to them.

Elebuibon said: “However, there was a Yoruba folktale that some people still belief in till today and the reason hunchback is desperately being sort after is for money-making ritual.

“In the days of old, there was a popular hunchback named Ejugbe who was a servant to Orunmila, each time he was sent on errand, he would tell Orunmila that there was a farmer who always gave him yam and food each time he passed nearby his farmland. One day, as he was about to go for another errand for Orunmila, he told him that there was the need to compensate the man who was always generous to him.

“Orunmila therefore used command charm to open the hunch in front of Ejugbe and deposited a lot of ornament and precious stone inside and closed it. He therefore told Ejugbe that whenever he gets to the farmer, he should rob his hands on Ejugbe’s chest and all the ornaments will come out. Ejugbe did what he was asked to do and the farmer became rich.

“Incidentally, the tortoise who was the neigbour of the farmer became jealous and inquisitive about his friend’s sudden wealth. The farmer eventually told the tortoise how he became rich, therefore one day, when tortoise saw Ejugbe, he kidnapped him and begin to bob his hand on his chest, when nothing came out, he begin to squeeze Ejugbe on a stone till he died.

“The tortoise deposited Ejugbe’s body on his friend‘s farm which warranted his arrest. Ifa was consulted and said that the arrested farmer should be dressed in royal robe and should be carried on the king horse as the one who killed Ejugbe. When tortoise saw this, he was annoyed and quickly went to the palace and confessed that he was the one who killed Ejugbe and should be accorded the honour being giving to his friend. There and then tortoise was arrested and killed and the farmer released.

“From that day, it was erroneously believed that killing a hunchback could produce money till the present day”, Elebuibon explained

From the biblical perspective, Pastor Paul Adeyemo of the World of Truth Assembly (a.k.a. Land of Delivery) in Osogbo, noted that there is money through rituals which was confirmed in the Bible.

Adeyemo told The Nation: “There is money through rituals for those who are not destined to have it. According to him, from the experience of those who came to him for deliverance after they have burnt their fingers in their quest for money through rituals, it is funny to see how some people can go in search of vanity.

“There are some people who are destined to be rich while some are not. In reality, there is money through rituals for those people who are not destined to be rich. That was why some people are very rich; they have a house that they cannot sleep a night. There are some people that become rich through afose and olugbohun (command charm) despite the fact that they are not destined to have it. The book of Acts 16 verse 16 emphasised this when Paul and Barnabas were on a missionary journey.”

According to the cleric, God specifically warned in the book of Deuteronomy,   chapter 18 verses 9-13 that human beings should not be used for such diabolic means because the consequences are grave. “The bible says all those who are doing this are shame to him”

In his own view about money-making rituals, an Ilorin, Kwara State-based Islamic cleric, Ibrahim Momoh Jamiu, said the Quran symbolises purity and can heal any sickness in the world, adding that anybody who called himself an Alfa and uses human parts for money-making ritual for people is a fake.

The cleric said that if one desires to become rich, “we can pray to Allah with some quranic verses and Allah will answer the prayer of that person by sending the people to assist him.

He emphasised that any Alfa who is involved in such diabolical acts of using any human part for money-making rituals is destined for to hell fire no matter how rich he is on earth.

However, another Ilorin-based Alfa, Monshood Olalekan, said that money through rituals is very real and a lot of people these days venture into it.

Olalekan, who spoke to the Nation in his office at Tanke area of Ilorin noted that even if a person is not destined to be rich and wanted to get rich by all means, there is a way out of it “The only thing is that the repercussion may be devastating at the long run.

“If I tell you what a lot of young men are demanding these days when they seek the help of a cleric, it will shock you. There is nothing that is not possible under the sun unless that person is not ready for it.

“Money making through rituals is a simple case only if that person is ready to face the music especially when the so call spirits who has been bringing the money can demand for anything which must be giving to it, any refusal can lead to the death of that person or madness.”

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