uchmano

A 19-year-old boy in Nigeria was caught running a Facebook scam where he sold “human body parts” to Yahoo Boys who believed they were buying ingredients for money rituals. He pretended to be a 70-year-old herbalist. Two Facebook accounts. Over 3,000 followers between them. A thick Ibadan accent on the phone. Called his clients “Omo mi.” My child. His name is Promise Oyewole. He ran the scam for months before a journalist tricked him into a WhatsApp video call and screenshotted his face. A background check on his bank account matched the screenshot. The 70-year-old herbalist was a teenager. His price for the charm called Osole Gbigbona was N95,000. Negotiated down to N40,000. Paid in instalments. After every payment, he called back demanding more money for “a sacrifice he saw in a dream.” He was not the only one. In the same investigation, another herbalist in Ibadan, a 30-year-old named Oladipupo Olalere, was running the same business offline. His shrine sat in Oja-Oba. Dimly lit room. Fetish objects wrapped in red cloth. Dust on the tables. A cream curtain in the corner hiding something nobody was allowed to see. Over 4,000 Facebook followers. He posted photos of his happy customers on his timeline. His price for the same charm: N250,000. Made with human parts. “You will see money and become afraid,” he said. Asked where he gets the body parts, he said his suppliers harvest them from accident victims, dead bodies, herb sellers, and old members of the Oodua People Congress. When the journalist asked if he could buy just a single human toe, he made one phone call. “N50,000. I can bring it to Lagos today. Delivery fee N5,000.” He was negotiated down to N40,000. For one human toe. Between January 2018 and December 2021, an estimated 150 women and girls were killed for ritual purposes in the Niger Delta region alone. In January 2022, more than 10 girls were killed for rituals in Ogoja town, Cross River State. Their organs were harvested. On February 7, 2022, an 80-year-old woman in Olomoro town, Delta State, was killed and her body parts taken. A young man in Owerri tried to kill his own mother for the same purpose. Nigerian police arrested 15 suspects in the South West in six months. All confessed. The Amotekun commander in Oyo State said some of these ritualists do not even kill. They track recent burials and dig up fresh graves at night. The Facebook scammers are one layer. The real killers sourcing body parts are another. Both are still operating today. 💀💔🇳🇬

Asari Dokubo now has a military outfit, complete with ranks and uniforms. Quick question for the Nigerian government: are citizens allowed to raise private armies now, or is this an APC privilege?