On the morning of October 31, Danladi Ya'u 'm', a Nigerian sorcerer, along with his accomplices, attempted to authenticate his skill as a native doctor by testing a bulletproof ritual on a real person. While this scenario may sound like a plot from a modern Harry Potter story, it is, in fact, an incident detailed in a Nigerian police crime report released Wednesday.
According to the police report, the charmer failed his "aptitude test": the subject was shot with a homemade gun and taken to the hospital by detectives, where medics pronounced him dead on arrival.
Law enforcement agents have confirmed that they took the sorcerer and two of his accomplices into custody. They also noted that an investigation is underway, following which the accused would be brought to court.
The police also advised Nigerians to learn from this incident and avoid becoming victims and dupes of sorcerers by making foolish decisions.
"On this note, the Command calls on the public to take this act as a lesson and avoid being used as cannon fodder to casualize innocent and hardworking citizens, because every human soul is very important and sacrosanct to every bearer," the police said in a statement.
Sadly, this latest case is far from the first in a series of deadly incidents involving the use of traditional witch doctors in Nigeria.
In early August, a similar tragedy occurred in Ondo State in the country's southwest. A local, Tunde Akinmoyewa, was shot dead by his friend Bode while testing the effects of a bulletproof charm placed on him.
Similar episodes occurred in October and November 2022, as well as in 2018, when the roles of victim and perpetrator were reversed. Chinaka Adoezuwe, a traditional healer, was fatally shot while wearing his 'protective charms' after instructing the man to do so.