From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
A Pan Yoruba association under the auspices of Yoruba Welfare Group (YWG), said it is ready to come up with an operation to end the bloody cultism and money ritual bedeviling the South Western region of Nigeria, stressing that the social vices pose serious dangers to the future of Yoruba nation and Nigeria.
It therefore called for collaboration with states in the region and Federal Government for legislation against cultism and money rituals in Yoruba land.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by the National President of the group, Comrade Abdulhakeem Adegoke Alawuje, YWG said, the menace of internet crimes, cultism and ritual killings across Yoruba land has reached a crescendo in the recent time and all hands must be on deck to end it.
According to Alawuje, “The situation is particularly getting worse by the day especially in the Ogun State axis. It is quite unfortunate that many of our spiritual and traditional leaders are neck-deep in this devilish act. Such people would try to frustrate any effort towards eradicating the anti-social acts in our society.
“We therefore call on those whose hands are clean to join us in this struggle until the government reckone with us. Going by this scenario, the future of Yoruba land is not in safe hands. No doubt, the youths are the lights of the future. It is very unfortunate that majority of our teaming youth population are into Internet crime, rituals and cultism. Many are led to this malady due to unbridled quest to get rich quickly.
“This development is particularly dangerous because many of them see rituals and cultism as either a means of livelihood or a way of life or both. They are being recruited in great numbers through yahoo-yahoo and other nefarious activities. Many are into drugs compounding problem.
“The moral fabrics of the society has been torn into shreds. Things have fallen apart. The centre no longer hold. It is a big shame in a land that can boast of multitude of so-called men and women of God, to be experiencing this anti-social behavior. This is a region having the highest number of worship houses in the entire black race and the world.
“Unfortunately, many of the so-called spiritual leaders are not left behind in the filthy act. How then can we get this malady eradicated.? Today, many of the supposed spiritual laeders are looking for money at all cost. They are enmeshed in the hot race towards materialism and this has led them into these vices.
“Yoruba welfare group is ready to come up with an anti-cultists and anti-rituals operation that can end all these madness within a very little time of the operations across the Yoruba land. If we say today we are less concerned, we should be afraid of the future of our children. Perhaps our children will not be victims, but what if they themselves are recruited to be part of perpetrators?
“The records of the numbers of rituals recorded in Shagamu axis, some part of Ikorodu axis and Ogun State in general are just too much. Some part of Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti are also gradually becoming danger zones. If the problem in the North are majorly banditry and kidnapping, after ramsome they would release the victims. However, in our own land, kidnapped person’s and their families are not sure if they would return safely with all the their body parts still intact.
“A child is not afraid of using his own father or mother. We have seen boyfriends who did not have any feelings against using their girlfriends for ritual purposes. Siblings are using themselves for rituals. Society seems to have seen it as normal. Youths are on rampage. No one cares to address all these. All our focus are on the Fulani in our forest areas. I agree wholeheartedly that we should do something about them but we should not overlook the problem within that are more dangerous to our present generation and our unborn generation.
“Personally I am seriously afraid of the rapid growth of rituals. Our children in the higher institutions are not safe. The one at home that you just sent to buy things outside are not safe. This ritualists move around like its their right to make use of other people’s children for their immediate needs. They have silently wasted many innocent souls while their remains were buried in shallow graves.
“YWG is ready to take the lead to stop all these madness. However, we only have the ideals but no power to handle it. If it is public political program that our politicians can benefit from, they rush at it, becaus the interests of most politicians come first before the security of the people they lead. The war against this menace is more important than any political ambition. Remember the future of your own children are also at risk of these perpetrators. Let us do the needful before our children openly force us out of our houses to their ritual slaughter slabs,” the group said.
