A 16-year-old secondary school student, Raimi Fatai, reportedly died in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, following alleged administration of a liquid substance on him by three of his classmates during a ritual. Vanguard gathered that Fatai and his classmates had embarked on alleged money-making ritual with one of them, said to be the son of a native doctor, giving the deceased and another the substance.
A source close to the students told our correspondent that they consulted the herbalist to seek protection charms and ‘traditional knowledge enhancer.’ However, Fatai, who later fell ill after taking the substance, was said to have died two days later while the second victim, who was also on the verge of death, was taken to hospital. Policemen from Adatan Division were said to have taken the corpse to a mortuary and arrested the other students for questioning. Findings have shown that Fatai’s corpse was later released to his family for burial. It was further reported that Fatai’s father, who was bothered about the sudden death of his son, approached the father of another student who led them to the herbalist’s den before the case was reported to the police. Authorities of the school (name withheld) summoned a meeting with the parents of the entire student populace. The principal of the school confirmed the incident to our correspondent but stressed that the incident occurred outside the premises of the school during the Valentine period, so there was little the school authorities could do about it. When contacted, the Ogun State Police Public Relation Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the command was investigating a sudden and unnatural death involving students of a secondary school in the state. Adejobi, however, confirmed that the command had received conflicting reports on the case, vowing that the command would do a thorough investigation on the case.