Nigeria Discovers 20 ‘Mummified Corpses’ in Suspected Ritual Killing Shrine

Police in southern Nigeria’s Edo State recently discovered “20 mummified corpses” inside of a building believed to have formed part of a “shrine for ritual killings,” Nigeria’s Premium Times online newspaper reported on Thursday.

Jennifer Iwegbu, an assistant superintendent of police in Edo, said that she and her colleagues reported to a building three miles outside of Edo’s Benin City on August 18 after receiving an anonymous tip that the facility was a “suspected ritual shrine,” the Associated Press (AP) reported. The team of personnel searched the building and soon discovered 20 mummified corpses stored inside a room. The corpses included 15 males, three females, and two children.

“A video clip posted on Twitter showed the corpses stacked in a room. Some corpses were kept in an upright position, close to the wall. Others were in a lying position,” according to the Premium Times.

“The police suspect that the building may have been used as a shrine for ritual killings,” the newspaper noted.

Iwegbu revealed that authorities found several people at the building upon arriving at the scene. After locating the stash of mummified corpses, police officers arrested three of the people while an unspecified number of others evaded arrest and fled the premises.

“At the scene, three suspects, Chimaobi Okoewu ‘M’ and Oko Samuel ‘M’ both of Afikpo in Ebonyi and Gideon Sunday ‘M’ of Akwa Ibom State, were arrested, while others fled [sic],” she told Nigerian media on August 18.

“An intensive effort is ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects,” she assured.

Edo Police Commissioner Abutu Yaro “appealed to the public to remain calm” on Thursday as local authorities continued to search for the fugitives and further investigated the incident.

The AP noted on August 18 that “shrines used by ritualists and kidnappers” were not uncommon in Nigeria, writing:

Nigeria’s security forces have in the past uncovered such shrines used by ritualists and kidnappers, but the latest discovery is one of the most shocking in recent years considering the number of victims.

Many residents arrived at the building expressing horror over what seemed to have been an operation hidden away from the eyes of even nearby neighbours.

It is not immediately clear how long the bodies had been in the building and the suspects were being interrogated, the police said. All three were young men, and a police medical team was part of the investigations, Iwegbu said.

The deputy police commissioner in charge of Edo state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was overseeing an official probe into the mass corpse discovery as of August 18, Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper reported.