THE STORY OF OTOKOTO MONEY RITUAL KILLINGS OF 1996
& GROWING MENACE OF "YAHOO PLUS" IN OUR SOCIETY
On 19th September 1996, during the regime of late General
Sani Abacha's, in city of Owerri - Imo, an innocent 11-year-old
boy named Anthony Ikechukwu Okoronkwo was murdered for
Ritual.
The little boy was hawking boiled groundnuts, which was his
daily routine.
He strolled along, selling his groundnuts for peanuts to
whoever wanted to buy.
When he got to Amakohia area of Owerri, his eyes lit up with
joy when a customer beckoned on him to approach.
That ‘customer’ was named Innocent Ekeanyanwu, aged 32.
The boy was called into the famous Otokoto Hotel and the
little groundnut seller was visibly very excited, since it was a
hotel, it meant that the new ‘customer’ would probably be
buying plenty groundnuts which will mean more money to take
home to make his parents happy and assist his struggling
family.
While waiting,the boy was treated like a guest, he was given a
bottle of Coca-Cola to cool off from the punishing heat of
tropical Africa.
Innocently, he took the Coke and gulped it with relish.
As he was sipping his soft drink and taking a look at the
glittering surrounding of the hotel, he could have imagined
having a hotel of his own too later in the future. As he was
dreaming, his vision became blurry and the sounds around him
became muzzled and dull.
In a matter of minutes, he dozed off, never to wake up again.
His tray full of groundnuts was lying in a corner.
Observing the boy from a safe distance was the man who had
called him to buy his groundnuts. He had spiked the boy’s
drink and once he saw he was asleep, he took the limp body
of the drugged lad into one of the hotel rooms and what
followed next remains one of the most evil things anyone can
ever dream up.
A sharp cutlass emerged from nowhere and the boy’s head
was severed from his body. He was beheaded in a matter of
minutes. After the boy’s head was cut off, he disembowel his
torso, removed his liver and other parts he needed.
Not done yet, the boy's genitals were not spared as well.
After butchering the boy,and sorted out the organs, he packed
his head inside a polythene bag, and buried his remains.
The Butcher, Ekeanyanwu then took the polythene bag
containing the boy's head,and headed for the next destination:
to the house of the man who needed the fresh head. The man
who is behind it all.
HOW DID THE INFORMATION LEAK OUT:
After the grisly murder of the little Okoronkwo by Mr. Innocent
Ekeanyanwu (what a name, innocent indeed), he left the hotel
to deliver the head where it was needed. He then Stopped a
Bike man (Okada rider) to convey him to the place.
It was the Okada man named Opara, whom he stopped to
takek him to his destination in Eziama that realized that was
his passenger was carrying inside a polythene bag was a fresh
human head. It was still dripping with blood.
When he alighted,the Okada man quickly alerted the police.
The Police then intercepted Ekeanyanwu on his way back in a
Peugeot 504 car, he was carrying the head with him in the
polythene bag
he was going to the residence of a highly-influential figure
named Chief Leonard Unaogu at Eziama, Ikeduru Local
Council Area with the head.
but upon arriving, he was told Mr. Unaogu had gone to Lagos.
So Ekeanyanwu had no other option but to return to Owerri
with the boy’s head.
When it was time to take the headless body of Ikechukwu to
the local mortuary,there was a massive procession and
protested by Owerri people.
People came out in 1000s to protest the boys ritual killing.
They stayed around and within the hotel premises, waited for
the police to confirm that it was indeed a ritual murder.
While more were matching and trooping to the scene of the
ritual Murder as the news was spreading.
It was in the midst of this tension that the local media station
made its miscalculation. They showed the image of Innocent
Ekeanyanwu holding the head of his victim.