Muyideen Salaam, a 35 year-old
apprentice at Aketegbo community in
Seme, Badagry area of Lagos, gave this
chilling confession of how he killed a 13
year-old boy, Rilwan Amuda, in his
crave for materialism.
The Ibadan-born suspect claimed he
was tempted to opt for money ritual
after his wife left with their two
children when feeding became an uphill
task for him.
Speaking to our representative, he said
“ I was alone in the video shop
club owned by my master when one
of my friends named Nuru came
and said he knew someone who
could make us rich . He told me all
that was needed was just the blood
of a boy of about 15 years of age.
He said all I needed to do was to
get the person since he had already
contacted a herbalist. In my
desperation, I told him we would
take Rilawan, mama elewa’s son
since I had easy access to him
because he usually ran errands for
me and sometimes I gave him
money and used closthes. We felt it
was useless to go out and get
someone else since Rilawan stayed
in the same area with us. I made
him understand that getting
someone was not the problem but
taking him to the herbalist’s shrine
where he would be killed.
When we told baba our constraint,
he gave Nuru a ring and instructed
us to just touch whoever we wanted
to bring with it , that the person
would follow us without hesitation.
On that fateful day, I called Rilwan
and touched him with the ring . To
my surprise, he became dumb and
followed us to the shrine. We kept
him there until it was dark .
When it was midnight and there
was no one in sight, we took him
away from the shrine and laid him
on the ground. While Nuru slashed
his throat with a knife given to us
by the herbalist, I held a bowl close
to his neck for the blood to pour
into it.
Rilwan did not put up any
resistance as promised by baba
because he was hypnotized. And
his memory was gone.
After we collected the blood, we
gave the bowl to baba and carried
Rilawan’s body far away from the
shrine to avoid suspicion and
dumped it on the expressway so as
to give an impression that he was
hit by a vehicle. We thereafter,
went to bath with the blood as
instructed by baba.
He performed some rituals fore us
and mixed the blood with a black
native soap and gave us to bath
with after which he said we would
become rich.
But after bathing with the
substance, by the third day, we did
not see any money as promised by
baba. We were as poor as we used
to be . We were so angry and
decided to go to baba’s place to
fight with him.But on our way,
Rilwan’s mother held me and asked
me to produce his son for him. She
said she was informed that he was
last seen with me. She vehemently
refused to let go of my trouser even
when I denied. This caused a scene
and people gathered around me
and started beating me. Nuru who
was with me managed to escape.
Policemen from Seme division
came and took me away. It was at
that moment I opened up.But Nuru
who lured me into it is nowhere to
be found . I am left to bear the
brunt alone . If I had known, I
would have continued working for
my master where I was paid
N1,500 every month. The most
painful aspect is that I do not have
a mother, father, sister or brother. I
am just all alone in the world. I do
not want to die even though I
partook in killing somebody “, he
said in an emotional laden tone.
After his arrest, policemen reportedly
took him to the herbalist shrine where
the suspect showed them the bowl that
was used to drain Rilwan’s blood. The
herbalist identified as Soji Akodiya did
not deny demanding for a human blood
from Muyideen and his fleeing friend
but he stated that the killing never took
place in his shrine.
Out of curiosity , this reporter was
forced to ask why he looked so haggard
and tattered when he could make
money to take care of himself. In
response,he looked at the reporter ,
smiled sheepishly and said, “you will
not understand”
Continuing he said :
“ Yes, I told them what they needed
for money ritual was human blood.
Because money ritual is one of the
greatest tasks in our line. I told
them they could either use their
own blood for it but I believe they
never wanted to and brought that
of the boy. I was not around when
the boy was slaughtered . I did not
even know when they brought him.
He was not even killed in my
shrine….”
But Muyideen interrupted saying “It is
a lie. You knew when we brought him.
It was even you that gave us knife and a
bowl to put the blood. You even told us
not to kill him in your shrine for
security purpose and you were aware
we were going to kill him that night”.
But the herbalist ignored the
interjection and continued
“ I am a herbalist who speacialise
in attending to barren women. I
also help people to get jobs and also
give charms to traders to sell more
than their fellow traders. I collect,
N50 to N500 , depending on what
the oracle demands. It is then left
for my clients to appreciate me. I
got money ritual charm from a
colleague ten years ago when all
herbalists went for a meeting in
Ijebu-ode . Usually, what we do at
such meeting is to help ourselves.
For instance, if I have the cure for
any disease and others do not, I
will give to them and vice visa.That
was how the baba gave all of us
ogun owo (money ritual charm)and
instructed us on how to administer
to our clients . I have never used it
before, this is my first time. It was
even when Nuru came to me that I
realised I had the charm”.
Asked why it did work for the suspect
and his fleeing partner in crime, the
herbalist replied
“ it did not work because they
did not follow my instruction.
The instruction was to bathe
with the prepared concoction
nine days after its preparation
but they used it on the third
day. Had they followed the
instruction, they would have
noticed a total turn around in
whatever they set their hands
to do . Their businesses would
have been lucrative . And if
they leave N1000 in the bag,
they would wake up to meet
triple of what was there”.
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