Ritual Killings of Women Spike Again in Cross River as 2027 Polls Near

A disturbing pattern of unexplained killings of women, many bearing the hallmarks of ritual murder, is once more casting a shadow over Cross River State as the 2027 general elections approach.

For more than a decade, residents and observers have noted that reported cases of women found dead with vital body parts removed tend to rise in the run-up to elections. Women account for the overwhelming majority of victims. In most instances, no suspects have been arrested or prosecuted, leaving families without answers and communities gripped by fear.

The latest incident occurred on 7 September 2026 at a guest house along Clifford Lane in Calabar South. An unidentified woman checked in with a male companion whose personal details were never properly recorded by hotel staff. The following morning the receptionist discovered her body in the room. Police said investigators found apparent marks of violence on her face and neck. The man had already left, and no useful description of him was available.

The Cross River State Police Command, through its Public Relations Officer, ASP Sunday Eitokpah (also referred to as Eitokpah Sunday Akata), released the woman’s photograph and appealed for public help to identify her while the search for the male guest continues. The receptionist remains in custody assisting investigators.

Similar cases have been reported earlier this year and in recent years. In Yahe, Yala Local Government Area, a woman was allegedly lured to a hotel where staff again failed to record the accompanying man’s details. In Ogoja, a girl was taken to the outskirts along the Ogoja-Katsina Ala road, killed, and her private parts, tongue and other organs harvested before her body was abandoned. In Ikom, a woman’s breast and tongue were reportedly cut off after she was killed along the Ikom-Obudu road. Another body was found abandoned near Satellite Town, close to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital.

These are among the cases that have reached public attention; many more may go unreported.
Residents and some commentators link the trend to the desperation that accompanies electoral contests. Former Cross River Governor Donald Duke recently warned that some politicians across Nigeria resort to human sacrifice in their bid for power ahead of 2027, recalling that during his own tenure body parts were discovered in the residence of a local government chairman. He described such practices as recurring yet rarely discussed.

The climate of fear is compounded by other violent crimes in the state. In Odukpani Local Government Area earlier this year, a suspected serial killer, identified as Akaninyene (also referred to as Akaniyene Ignatius or similar variants), was arrested after the discovery of shallow graves containing headless bodies. He allegedly confessed to multiple killings, initially linked by some reports to as many as 30 victims, though police later focused on confirmed cases involving two elders.

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Traditional rulers in the area responded by invoking a “deadly curse” on murderers and their collaborators and reorganising community security.

Observers note that some victims appear to have met their killers through casual encounters or online, often without informing relatives of their movements. One resident, identified only as Eyobam, told reporters that young women are sometimes too quick to trust strangers offering material inducements in an era of intense pressure for wealth.

Despite repeated appeals from police and public outrage after each discovery, the absence of arrests and convictions in the majority of these cases has fuelled frustration. Families continue to ask the same unanswered questions: who is responsible, and why do the perpetrators so often evade justice?

As political activity intensifies across Cross River and the wider country, security agencies face mounting pressure to break the cycle of impunity. Residents, traditional institutions and civil society groups have called for stronger investigation, better hotel and guest-house record-keeping, and greater public caution. For the families of the dead, however, the most urgent need remains the simplest: that the killers be found and held to account.