Date: 2017-08-11

The Kwara House of Assembly on Thursday called on the state government to establish an anti-ritual security outfit to check rising cases of ritual killings in the state.

Worried by the incessant ritual killings across various parts of the state, the kwara House of Assembly on Thursday urged the state government to establish anti-ritualist security outfit to serve as community policing in the state.

The House made the resolution following the adoption of a motion entitled “Curbing the Menace of Rituals in Kwara" moved by Suleiman Baziki (APC – Banni-Gberia).

The lawmakers condemned the series of ritual killings across the state, and said that it had caused havoc to many families.

They said that the proposed outfit would carry out community policing to stem the menace and other vices, including exhumation of buried corpses for rituals, which they described as "callous, barbaric and unholy.

The Deputy Speaker, Mr Mathew Okedare, who presided at the plenary read the resolution to the members for endorsement, and called on security agencies in the state to be at the alert.

The House called on traditional rulers, community and religious leaders as well as residents to be vigilant and report any suspicious persons or strange fellows to security agents promptly.

It advised parents and guardians to be wary of the whereabouts of their wards and to always monitor their activities. It also urged transport unions and commercial motorcycle riders in the state to issue special identification numbers to their members as a measure of curbing crime in the state.

The house also directed the state's Ministry of Information and Communications to intensify enlightenment campaign to sensitise residents to the need to be at alert against the nefarious activities of evil perpetrators.

The police in the state recently nabbed six suspected, including four clerics in Ilorin, alleged to specialise in exhuming and selling dead bodies.