A 50-year-old man, Poni Bada, has been arrested in Ogun State, Nigeria, for attempting to use his 9-year-old son for money ritual. The suspect, who is a Benin Republic national, was arrested in the Sango Ota area of the state when he was taking his son, Agbe Bada, to a herbalist in the Ilaro area.

The police from the Zone 2 Command, Onikan Lagos, said that they received information about the suspect’s plan and set up a sting operation. When the suspect and his accomplices arrived at the herbalist’s house, they were arrested.

The suspect told the police that he had been planning to use his son for money rituals for some time. He said that he had heard stories about how people in Nigeria could use human body parts to make money, and he wanted to try it.

Explaining how he came up with the idea of using his son for money rituals, the father of the boy, Bada, said: “I have 10 children from three wives.

“The situation of things kept going from bad to worse. I could not feed my children. I then decided to use my last child, Agbe, for a money ritual, so that I could train the other children and have better living conditions.

One of Bada’s accomplices, Segun Shile said he regrets taking part in the case: “If I had known, I would have withdrawn. We were warned by the herbalist I took them to at Owode, Ogun State, not to use the boy.

“When I called the herbalist on the phone, he said there was nothing like money rituals. Few days later, he invited me to bring the person that would be used for the rituals.

“Immediately he sighted the boy, he stated categorically that the child’s head was too strong to be used for rituals”, he said.

The suspect’s son has since been rescued and is now safe. However, the police are still investigating the case, and they say that they are looking for the herbalist who was supposed to perform the ritual.