The Niger State Police Command has arrested five men, including four fathers, over allegations that they planned to use their own children for money rituals.
The suspects were picked up on October 27, 2026, at an isolated compound in the Garima area of Bosso, Minna, after police operatives reportedly stopped a suspected ritual ceremony.
The police spokesperson, SP Wasiu Abiodun, identified the suspects as Mohammed Idris Dogara, 57; Aliyu Sule, 25; Abubakar Abdullahi, 40; Ibrahim Mohammed Hamisu, 43; and Shehu Abubakar, 40, a native doctor.
Police investigations reportedly showed that the four fathers approached the native doctor to perform money rituals with a skeleton allegedly found during mining activities.
The native doctor initially refused but later gave in after the men insisted and offered their children as sacrifices in return for different amounts of money.
He then instructed them to buy chickens and meet at an agreed location to carry out the ritual.
Officers arrested the men during the alleged activities. Items recovered included blood-stained clothes, four calabashes, two live chickens, three slaughtered chickens, a blood-stained knife and a large mat.
The command said the suspects had confessed and were still being investigated ahead of their prosecution.
However, the police did not reveal the identities or whereabouts of the children allegedly offered for the ritual or say whether any of them had been harmed.
