The Inspector General of Police has been ordered by the House of Representatives to assemble a top-notch team and launch a comprehensive investigation with the exclusive goal of exposing the cartels responsible for ritual killings and prosecuting them.

The House took this judgement after Awaji-Inombek Abiante, in the plenary on Wednesday, moved an urgent public urgency motion under Order 8 Rule 4.

As the lawmaker introduced the motion, she denounced the ongoing and recent spate of young females being killed for ceremonial purposes—mostly by their purported partners who are college students.

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In line with section 14(2)(b) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended), Abiante emphasised the need of safeguarding young girls and, by extension, every Nigerian.

He mentioned 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; the August 2023 murder of Miss Oghenefejiro Ochuko, a final-year student at Ambrose Ali University, by her boyfriend Victor Ochonogor in Benin; and a number of other unreported cases.

The legislator expressed shock over 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 with multiple other documented cases of missing girls whose whereabouts are still unknown, these killings have practically become daily occurrences.

While lamenting that young girls have become an endangered species, Abiante went on to say that young guys are the ones committing these horrible murders, possibly operating in strong cartels rather than alone.

The congressman also expresses concern about the fact that a small percentage of victims who are reported missing are frequently discovered dead with no evidence of their assailants.

Abiante emphasised that the murders follow a similar pattern in which the victims’ bodies are dismembered and their essential organs are removed.

Thus, the House demanded that “the Inspector General of Police 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.”