News about a man arrested by the Police for attempting to offer his daughter to a native priest for money rituals is the kind of story which spreads with the speed of lightning.
Last week, when such a story broke, social media was busy with the information trending unsurprisingly.
It will be interesting to find out the outcome of the investigation which the law enforcement personnel have already commenced.
There is no doubt, however, that men abound who are ready to do the unthinkable to make money.
To go and pick one’s own daughter and present her to a native priest to kill her as part of a procedure to make this person rich, as we have been told, is heart-breaking.
Looking at the girl’s countenance after she was taken away from school for the ritual by her own father, broke the hearts of many and expectedly prompted questions about why some people would be so callous even heartless.
Perhaps, out of excitement, the innocent girl’s image was captured and spread alongside the story by the native priest who, without doubt, relished the accompanying publicity glee. The girl’s privacy has been breached and we express disdain about the goof by the native priest whom, it would appear, was so excited he forgot to abide by the moral standards underpinning such stories.
Be it as it may, the public would want to know what the native priest does for a living. What kind of rituals does he engage in?
Much as we salute him for alerting the police and would want all to expose such ill-intentioned rituals in our communities, we would rather that next time there is such a similar operation, victims should not be exposed the way the little girl was.
The law enforcement officers who stormed the place to arrest the suspect should have known better and stopped the exposure of the girl’s image, although these days smart phones are sometimes so stealthily used that they are not spotted.
The vulnerability of girls in some communities could not have been better brought to light.
It would also be good to find out what kind of relationship exists between the little girl’s mother and her father.
As things stand, the girl needs counseling lest she is psychologically traumatised both at school and home.
Both the girl and her mother need a similar psychological exorcism. A mental processing of this abomination is not only difficult but one fraught with a psychological agony. What a world!
