A Chief used my husband for sacrifice – Mother of five

For officers at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), the sudden disappearance of Mr. Placid Ezeruike, whose wife alleged has been used for sacrifice by one Chief Lawrence Oyanifo is yet another knot they would have to crack.

Information has it that Placid who resides at No. 22 Idowu Street in Ajegunle left home on 8^th March 2015 to visit one Chief Lawrence, his friend at Mowe and had not returned from that visit to date.

Daily Times gathered that the family became suspicious that Chief Lawrence, who is a renowned herbalist, may have used him for sacrifice, especially because when he was contacted over Placid’s disappearance, he was alleged to have told Mrs. Placid to ‘go and look for her husband at the Mortuary’.

Our correspondent learnt that Mrs. Placid immediately reported the case at the Tolu Police Division for investigation, but after eight months, she is convinced that the police at the division did not treat her case with any seriousness. On a friend’s advice in November, she went to SCID to lay a formal complaint.

Her story: “On the 8^th March 2015 at about 8 am, my husband received a phone call. I did not know who had called him or for what purpose but after the phone call, he told me he would be going to see a friend, he did not tell me who it was or where.

“Since it was a Sunday, I prepared and left for Church.  I had expected to meet him at home on my return, but he was not there. By 8 pm, there was no sign of him and his phone was switched off. I kept calling him all night but it was still switched off.  I was restless because my husband had never passed the night out without informing me.

“The next morning, I ran to Mr. Charles at Orege in Ajegunle because he is my husband’s closest friend. I told him my plight. He told me he had seen my husband the previous day and that he had told him he was going to a friend’s party but that he did not know the friend in question.

“He however called one Mr. Kenneth who told him the name of the celebrant of the party my husband had gone to attend and the cell phone number too. He gave me the number and I called Chief Lawrence. I told the Chief that my husband who had attended his party had not returned home since then.

“His response shocked me. Chief Lawrence told me in a very harsh tone to go to the Mortuary to look for my husband or better still report to the police.  At this point I sensed something was fishy and I quickly went to Tolu Police Division to report.

“Upon my complaints, the police invited chief Lawrence for interrogation. After much questioning, the police allowed Chief Lawrence to go without detaining him. The police claimed Lawrence had a wound on his leg and as a result, he could not be detained to avoid him dying in police custody.

“I thought they would continue with the investigation and I kept going to the police division, but nothing was forthcoming. Infact the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) there even told me that my husband must be dead and was even reluctant to do anything about the case.

“In November I lodged a complaint at the SCID and signal was sent to Tolu Police Division to transfer the case to them, which they did. They were also requested to produce Chief Lawrence immediately, but they did not, until this month because of the pressure SCID was putting on them, they had to produce him.

“Sincerely, I may not have the resources to pursue this case but one thing is sure: I am not giving up until I find out what happened to my husband. I am pleading with the police authority to come to my aid to unravel my husband’s disappearance. I strongly believe they used my husband for sacrifice. I am a mother of five children and have spent all I have running around for this case and now I am left with nothing.

‘Even the shop I was managing at Liverpool road in Apapa has been demolished. They are asking us to come pay one million naira for the new structure erected there and N15, 000 for registration and I don’t have any money left. I cannot take care of the children alone and my husband does not even have a brother or sister that I can run to because he is the only child of his parent,” she mourned.”

On the allegation that her husband is a member of the Reformed Ogboni Fraternity, she said. “I do not know if my husband is a member of a fraternity. He has never left home in the middle of the night or acted in any suspicious manner. All I know is that Chief Lawrence must tell me where my husband is or what he did with him.”

On the other hand, Chief Lawrence Oyanifo who also spoke with Daily Times, claimed he knows nothing about the sudden disappearance of Mr. Placid. “I was celebrating my birthday last year on March 8 in my house at Mowe. I had invited Mr. Placid to grace the occasion and he did. At about5 p. m. the party had ended and everyone was on their way home, I even saw him leaving on that day.

“It was four days later that his wife called me to inform me that her husband who had attended my birthday party had not returned home. I was surprised and even advised her to quickly rush to the police to report or even visit the accident ward of some general hospital to know if he was involved in an accident. The allegation that I used her husband for sacrifice is not true.”

When Daily Times also contacted Mr. Charles for his own side of the story, he revealed that he and Placid belonged to the Reformed Ogboni Fraternity.

His story: “Even Chief Lawerence is also a  member but sincerely I do not know him personally. Placid had come to me on the 8^th March 2015 to lend him N1,000, that he wanted to attend a friend prayer meeting at Mowe. He then left. To my greatest surprise, the next day, Placid’s wife rushed to my house in the morning saying she had not seen her husband since he left home on Sunday.”

Charles confirmed he helped to find out the contact of the friend her husband had gone to visit through one Kenneth who is also a member of the fraternity. “I did not even attend the event in question and neither did I know Chief Lawrence before now. The allegation that her husband had been used for sacrifice is one that I do not understand. One thing I know about our fraternity is that we do not use humans for sacrifice or prayers, we use cows, rams, goats and cock if need be.”

The police on its part told  our correspondent that investigation is still ongoing to ascertain what truly happened to Placid, if he was actually used for sacrifice as alleged by the wife and if not,  what actually led to his sudden disappearance.

Up to the time of filing this report, the body of Placid has not been found.