Many have been taken aback by the conduct of Poni Bada, a 50-year-old farmer from Benin.
The dad uprooted his family and headed for Nigeria, where he planned to perform money rituals on his nine-year-old kid.
The farmer was joined by three other men—Ige Koselu, Benjamin Balovi, and Segun Shile—on his way to the home of a herbalist in the Owode area of Ogun State.
The three friends put up the initial N100,000 that was required to kick off the ritual, with the understanding that they would each receive an equal portion of the spoils if the rite was successful.
However, the herbalist’s shrine was attacked by police from the Zone 2 Command in Onikan, Lagos, acting on information they had gathered, leading to the arrest of all the suspects and the rescue of the intended sacrifice.
Vanguard learned that in May of 2023, a young kid named Agbe was recruited from the Benin Republic to work on a farm for the sum of N5,000 per month.
After a month of working on the farm, his father reportedly called his Nigerian contact, Benjamin Balobi, to complain about the pay.
Said Father,
Bada, the boy’s father, had ten kids from three different women, which is how he came up with the notion to use his son in money rituals.
Things just kept getting worse and worse. My family and I went hungry. In order to better provide for my family and educate my other children, I ultimately opted to sacrifice my youngest, Agbe, in a money ritual.
I left Jakotome, Benin Republic in May 2023 to go to Ilaro, Ogun State to see my brother Benjamin Balobi, who had told me he was doing well as a farmer and that the owner of a property was searching for laborers.
For that reason, Agbe is now working in Nigeria.
When I saw how little my son was being paid, the idea of employing him in a money ritual crossed my mind.
When I asked Balobi for assistance, he stated he didn’t know anyone who could assist me with the money rituals but offered to find someone who might.
One of the suspects, Ige Koshelu, was tipped off, and he located a person who said they would drive them to the Sango herbalist’s office. However, we were then taken to yet another herbalist’s shop in Owode, where we were subsequently apprehended.
This Agreement
One of his associates, commercial motorcyclist Segun Shile, also spoke, saying that four herbalists who were approached previously denied to take part in a rite involving the sacrifice of money.
Regretfully, he stated;
I would have left if I’d known. I took them to a herbalist in Owode, Ogun State, but he strongly advised against using the boy.
There are no such things as money rituals, the herbalist told me when I phoned him. The rites required someone else, so a few days later he asked me to bring them.
When he first laid eyes on the boy, he made it clear that he would not allow his head to be used in any sort of ritual.
But he insisted on N100,000 to pay a different herbalist to carry out the rites.
Balobi, Koshelu, and I, who had accompanied the boy’s father there, went outside to talk about how to come up with the necessary funds.
“Koshelu and I each contributed N25,000, while Balobi brought N50,000. We told the boy’s father that he didn’t have to pay for the rite because he was donating his son.
According to the terms of the deal, he must distribute a portion of the proceeds to us. When we gave the herbalist the money, he immediately made a phone call.
Then, to our astonishment, we spotted police officers.
AIG Muhammed Ali, Assistant Inspector General of Police for Zone 2 Command, confirmed the arrests and said the youngster will be transferred to a juvenile facility once the inquiry was complete.
admin
