The suspected ritualists,
Joseph Dashi and Matem Ngbeme.
WE decided to try money ritual because we were not getting enough money from our work (bricklaying). While we were complaining about our situation, a man advised us to try money making ritual and a human being was one of the key materials needed. We decided to go back to the Republic of Benin to bring the victim. He was a co-tenant back home in the Republic of Benin. We lied to him that we had secured a job for him in Nigeria, so he decided to follow us.”
That was Joseph Dashi, 47, briefing Crime and Security on his journey into the crime world.
Speaking on the activities of the suspected ritualists, the Ogun State Police commissioner, Musa Daura, stated that a popular herbalist (name withheld) in the Ado Odo area of Ogun State, had informed the police of the attempts by the Benin Republic nationals to use a fellow citizen for money ritual. The police boss claimed that the arrested suspects were aiming to collect N4million from the unnamed herbalist, with the hope that the herbalist would, in turn, use the victim for money ritual.
The leader of the two-man gang, Joseph Dashi, confirmed the ritual attempt to Crime and Security. He, however, denied the allegation that they had wanted to collect N4million from the herbalist. The suspect claimed that he and his partner, Matem Ngbeme had wanted to actually use the victim for money ritual.
Dashi, a 47-year-old bricklayer in the Badagry area of Lagos State, stated that Matem and the victim, Chieme Njogaisi, were co-tenants in a building in the Republic of Benin. He also added that Matem had lied to the victim, that he was bringing him to Nigeria for job placement, as a worker with some bricklayers in Badagry area of the state. The suspect stated that they had initially gone to a herbalist, but were referred to another herbalist, who facilitated their arrest.
He claimed that the herbalist, rather than advising them against their mission, invited the police to arrest them.
Relaying how they were arrested to Crime and Security, Dashi stated that the herbalist had instructed them to write their names and that of the victim and that they were doing this when a team of policemen from Ado Odo Divisional Police Station, stormed the scene and took the three of them away.
“The herbalist deceived us. He said we should write our names and that of the victim on a paper and as we were doing this, policemen came and arrested us. He delayed us for police to come and pick us.”
He lamented that the decision to go into ritualism, arose as a result of his inability to make ends meet, despite his efforts through bricklaying jobs. The Republic of Benin national further stated that it was while he was trying to become rich and do away with bricklaying, that the idea of making money through ritual, struck his mind.
Dashi informed Crime and Security that he had initially wanted to do the ritual alone, but had to invite Matem, when he was asked to go and look for the human being that would be used for the ritual.
According to him, Matem had volunteered to bring somebody from Cotonou, in the Republic of Benin for the ritual. In his words, “When the baba told me that I would need to bring somebody for money, I called Matem in Cotonou and he agreed to bring one of his co-tenants.”
The second suspect, Matem, 28, while speaking with Crime and Security, admitted to have brought the suspect from the Benin Republic for ritual. Matem, who claimed to be resident in Cotonou, stated that Dashi actually called him and intimated him about the plan.
He said he instantly agreed to be part of the money making ritual.
Matem stated that he had to join Dashi, because, ”things were not okay for him.
He stated that he had lied to the victim, who was his neighbour, that he wanted to bring him to Nigeria and get him a job. The suspect claimed that the victim had long been pestering him with job requests.
“He had, for long, been troubling me to bring him to Nigeria and get him a job, as he was jobless in Benin Republic. He knew that I was a bricklayer and he wanted to work as a labourer, in Nigeria.”
On what he would have told their other neighbours, if the ritual attempt had been successful, he said “I would have lied to them that he had returned home after he could not get a job.“
The suspect also informed Crime and Security that he regretted his involvement in the crime and blamed it all on Dashi, whom he accused of getting him into trouble.
The victim, however, could neither speak nor understand English and only nodded in affirmation, when asked whether it was Matem that brought him to Nigeria.
Written by Olalekan Olabulo Tuesday, 10 August 2010
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