A view into 40 villages in Abuja that still kill twins, and bury babies alive

It’s been over a century since killing twins at birth was abolished in Nigeria thanks to Mary Slessor, the Scottish missionary but in some communities in Nigeria still practice the old age barbaric tradition.
It’s been reported that in right at the heart of the country in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) some tribes still sees twins or multiple birth as abomination.

Despite all the laws against unlawful killings, child abuse and human sacrifice, the shocking reports reveal that twins are still sacrificed to the “gods of tradition” that don’t want them alive.

The infamous community of Bassa Komo in Abuja is now known for this act after a reportertold the story of an encounter with this long-lost tradition while visiting the place.


“…all of a sudden, you come face-to-face with a crowd. You move closer and are confronted with a helpless infant, struggling to set himselfloose from the grip of community leaders, who want to bury him alive.
“This scenario is not from a Nollywood film or abestselling novel. It happens today in Bassa Komo, it is abomination to be born a twin, or a mother dies within three months of a baby’s birth, or a child grows upper teeth first or is born with defect. These are all faults of the baby or babies involved.”

“All these, to the people of the community, aresigns that such babies were fabricated in the factory of the devil and are themselves evil. Such offences by the evil baby or babies are punishable by burial alive.”

Olusola Stevens, the North Central Director of the Christian Missionary Foundation (CMF) who has been working as a missionary 22 years was shocked recently when he came in contact with this tribe. He and his wife, Chinwewere said to have been traumatised hearing orwitnessing the practice of killing infants or burying some alive with their dead mothers. However, they fought against tradition and have rescued some children from dying.

According to reports, Stevens said there were challenges taking care of the rescued children but he was happy never the less. “God has never failed. Though there could be delays butHe will surely come through and this we can testify to in our case.”

“We just don’t preach the gospel. In some of the places we have been to, we have established schools, especially in the North East. We also have medical outreach centres. Basically, we don’t stay in city; we go to the interior to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to people.”

“If you are not very observant, you will not know this practice is going on and it took us some time to actually confirm. Some of the enlightened indigenes of the area deny the practice, maybe out of shame, but it is still happening till date,” Stevens confirmed.