CLAIM: A Facebook post with a gory picture suggests there was another ritual killing in Ogun State, a few days after some teenagers were caught with a human head in the state.
The post is misleading as the picture used was an old photo of the arrest of some suspected ritualists in Kwara State. The Police also debunked the claim as false and untrue.
Full Text
A Facebook User shared a gory photo with a caption that another ritual killing has taken place in Ogun State, just a few days after some teenagers were caught with a human head in the state.
The claim which was was widely circulated on social media was captioned: ‘FLASH 💥 : Another money ritual killing in Ogun State.. Hummmmm 😥
‘ May God Almighty end all this madness!
#SayNoToRitual.’
The Facebook Post is coming just a few days after three teenage boys were caught burning the head of a girl, said to be in a relationship with one of them, for a money ritual in Oke Aregba area of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The three teenagers were arrested by the men of the Ogun State Police Command on 29th January, 2022, following a tip-off by one Segun Adewusi, who is reportedly a community security guard.
Since the arrest of the boys, there have been hot debates on social media regarding parenting and how young people are going extra-mile to look for quick money.
Taking advantage of the recent arrest, the Facebook User shared a photo of three suspected ritualists with the remains of someone suspected to have been used for ritual.
Reading through comments on the post, DUBAWA observed that many believed another ritual killing actually happened in Ogun state.
A Facebook user, Damilola Oscar Jay, commented: “I think they should change the state’s name from Ogun to anything else”(sic).
Another user, Afolabi Amos queried, “OGUN STATE again? Na curse?”
Verification
When DUBAWA conducted a Google Reverse Image Search on the photo, it led to a news report published by many national newspapers on 25th September, 2021.
The news report was published by Guardian, Leadership, Vanguard, among others.
The news report which many captioned: ‘Man arrested for allegedly killing his brother for rituals in Kwara’ was accompanied with the photo of the suspected ritualists with the remains of the said brother.
Reading through the report published by Guardian, DUBAWA discovered that it was the Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), that arrested one lsmail Saliu, for allegedly conspiring with a herbalist and one other person, to slaughter his brother.
In the report, Saliu was alleged to have conspired with two others and killed his 14-year-old younger brother, Azeez Saliu, with the intention of using him for money rituals.
DUBAWA also contacted the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, who described the post as misleading and untrue.
Oyeyemi explained that the police in Ogun State did not arrest any ritualists apart from the teenagers that were caught last week.
He added, “I don’t know where they see that picture they are circulating around. Nothing like that happened here.”
Conclusion
The post is misleading as the picture used was an old photo of the arrest of some suspected ritualists in Kwara State, the Police has also debunked the claim as misleading and untrue.
