Four men and a traditional medicine practitioner are in custody as police probe a chilling allegation that parents were prepared to offer their own children for wealth.
MINNA, NIGER STATE: The Niger State Police Command has arrested five men over an alleged money-ritual plot so disturbing that it has shaken communities across the state: four fathers accused of plotting to use their own biological children as sacrifices.
The arrests, made on October 27, 2026, followed an operation in the Garima area of Bosso Local Government Area, Minna, where police reportedly uncovered human remains and materials for ritual preparations.
The suspects are Mohammed Idris Dogara, 57; Aliyu Sule, 25; Abubakar Abdullahi, 40; and Ibrahim Mohammed Hamisu, 43. The fifth, Shehu Abubakar, 40, is a traditional medicine practitioner allegedly linked to the proposed ritual.
Investigators reportedly learned that the four men approached the practitioner with a human skeleton, said to have been found during mining activities, intending to perform a money ritual. Most chilling of all was the allegation that they were prepared to offer their own children as sacrifices.
The practitioner reportedly turned down that proposal but allegedly told them to bring chickens for the ritual. That instruction became part of the trail that led police to the group.
WHAT POLICE FOUND
Items recovered at the scene reportedly include:
Blood-stained red and white clothing
Four calabashes
Two live chickens and three slaughtered ones
A blood-stained knife
A large mat
Their evidential value remains subject to police examination and the judicial process.
THE QUESTIONS THAT MATTER
The suspects are under investigation, but their guilt has not been established, and they remain presumed innocent until a competent court rules otherwise.
The most urgent questions concern the children. Have they been identified and located? Are they under protection? Was any child exposed to real danger? Their safety, many will insist, must come before everything else.
The allegation strikes at the family, the institution meant to be a child’s first shield. Children are not commodities or sacrifices for prosperity; their safety, dignity and future deserve unconditional protection.
The case also underlines the need for community vigilance, public education and firm enforcement against ritual-related crimes and the exploitation of vulnerable people.
Wealth acquired at the expense of human life is not prosperity. It is a betrayal of humanity.
Nigerians will be watching closely as the investigation unfolds and the truth emerges.
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