A 50-year-old Beninese farmer, Poni Bada, has been arrested by police operatives in Ogun State over an alleged attempt to u§£ his nine-year-old son for money rit¥als.
The suspect was arrested alongside three other men identified as Ige Koselu, Benjamin Balovi, and Segun Shile.
The trio accompanied the farmer to a herbalist’s home in the Owode area of the state, where the money rit¥al was to be carried out.
Bada says, “I have 10 children from three wives.” The situation kept getting worse. I could not feed my children. I then decided to use my last child, Agbe, for a money rit¥al, so that I could train the other children and have better living conditions.
In May 2023, I left my home town of Jakotome, Benin Republic, for Nigeria to visit my brother, Benjamin Balobi, in Ilaro, Ogun State. Benjamin earlier told me he was doing well as a farmer and that the owner of farmland was looking for laborers.
That was how I brought Agbe to Nigeria to work. However, as I realized that my son’s salary is very low, I began to think about using him for money returns.
I asked Balobi to help me find a herbalist that would provide me with the money rit¥als; he said he knew no one but promised to help me find a herbalist who might have information on it.
He informed Ige Koshelu (one of the suspects), who found someone who promised to take us to the herbalist’s place in Sango. But we were taken to another herbalist’s place in Owode, where we were arrested.”
Also speaking, one of his accomplices, Segun Shile, a commercial motorcyclist, said four herbalists earlier contacted declined to engage in money rit¥als sacrifice.
