By all accounts, Nigeria is bleeding—and not just from the gaping wounds of economic collapse and bad governance. A more sinister cancer is spreading like wildfire across the country, cloaked in the garb of “tradition” and “culture,” but dripping with the blood of innocent lives: the unchecked menace of native doctors aiding and abetting ritual killings, blood money practices, and the emboldening of criminals. While some look the other way, Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has drawn a line in the sand. He is not playing footsie with evil.
It’s high time other state governors and the Federal Government took a cue from Soludo’s iron-fisted approach. This is not just a local problem—it’s a national emergency. The lives of our young girls, the destinies of our youth, and the future of our country hang in the balance.
A Nation Under Siege by Dark Powers
The streets are no longer safe. Shrines have replaced workshops. Incantations have silenced ambition. Native doctors who should be herbalists for healing have become merchants of death and spiritual fraudsters. Across towns and cities, the number of youths lured into ritual killings for wealth is alarming. From Lagos to Lokoja, from Benin to Bauchi, from Asaba to Imo, stories of mutilated corpses, missing girls, and shallow graves are no longer tabloid exaggerations—they are bitter realities.
Where once our youths dreamed of becoming engineers and doctors, they now seek “Oke Ite”—charms that promise overnight wealth. These charms, laced with the blood of the innocent, are produced by native doctors who have crowned themselves gods in a land crying for deliverance.
Soludo’s recent clampdown, which has already led to the arrest of over 30 native doctors in Anambra, is not just courageous—it is revolutionary. It is a long-overdue exorcism of evil that has taken root in our communities.
Ritual Killings: The New Currency of the Desperate
Let us not sugarcoat it. Ritual killings are now an industry in Nigeria. Teenage boys are butchering their girlfriends. Young men are decapitating children. All to appease some diabolical prescription from a native doctor who promises money in four days—yet lives in a mud hut and sends his own child to wait tables in Owerri. As Soludo said: “Why is his own son working to earn a living if he can make people wealthy without work? Deception.” This is the tragedy we have allowed to flourish.
These self-styled “dibias” are not harmless traditionalists; they are accessories to murder. They are spiritual arms dealers, providing charms to kidnappers, robbers, and drug traffickers. Some prepare anti-gunshot charms for criminals. Others concoct invisible cloaks for drug peddlers headed for foreign airports. When they’re caught, the story changes—“You didn’t follow the rules” or “You winked at a woman”—and a life is wasted behind bars in a foreign prison. How many more of our children must perish before we wake up?
Blood on Their Hands, Silence in Our Halls
In the villages, these native doctors have become celebrities. They throw bales of money at weddings. They are praised and worshipped like demi-gods. Parents point at them as examples of “success.” And this is perhaps the most heartbreaking part: the moral fabric of our society is unraveling. What does it say of a nation where a native doctor is more respected than a professor?
Governor Soludo has made it clear: “They celebrate success without hard work. They have ruined a lot of our young boys.” And he is right. These are merchants of shortcuts and prophets of perversion.
Yet, what are other governors doing? What is Abuja doing? Are we waiting for ritual killing to become a compulsory subject in schools before we act?
Traditional Religion vs. Ritual Crime: Let’s Be Clear
Let no one confuse this war with an attack on traditional religion. The arrest and arraignment of native doctors like “Akwa Okuko Tiwara Aki,” Eke Hit, and Onye Eze in Anambra were not about belief systems—they were about criminality. There is a world of difference between ancestral spirituality and using charms to embolden murderers and traffickers. The law does not frown on culture. It frowns on crime hiding behind culture.
Soludo Has Shown the Way. Will Others Follow?
With the establishment of “Agunechemba” and “Operation Udo-ga-chi,” Anambra has recorded a sharp decline in insecurity. Many native doctors have fled. The roots of terror are being pulled out. Soludo is not fighting symptoms; he is fighting the disease itself.
The Federal Government must rise from its slumber. State governors must stop scratching the surface. The same way we declare war on terrorism, we must declare war on the spiritual bandits fueling ritual killings. Pass laws. Shut down shrines. Investigate deaths. Arrest charlatans. Protect the vulnerable. And above all, save our future.
Let us not be the generation that danced while our daughters were slaughtered. Let us not be the leaders who watched as our sons became beasts in search of blood money. The blood cries out. The land groans. The hour is now.
Stanley Ugagbe is a seasoned journalist with a passion for exposing social issues and advocating for justice. With years of experience in the media industry, he has written extensively on governance, human rights, and societal challenges, crafting powerful narratives that inspire change. He can be reached via stanleyakomeno@gmail.com
