CLIFFORD ORJI Nigeria’s First known Serial killer.
Orji is originally from Enugu State, the south-eastern part of Nigeria but lived in Lagos state, the south western part of Nigeria where he originally guised as a razor-blade merchant but would later abandon the trade and proclaim himself to be a shaman and on multiple occasions would feign temporary insanity to dissuade people from coming close to his place of abode. Orji did not possess a house and lived under a bridge in Oshodi-Isolo In what could be well described as a lair and would later be commonly referred to as
'Clifford's kitchen." In the dead of the night, he usually blanketed the air around with the meat-like odour from his special barbecue. people merely suspected that this barbecue-loving recluse was not normal; that he was possibly mad but no one was prepared for the horrendous discovery of that haunting Wednesday.On February 3, 1999 A shrill cry of a famished and emaciated lady, waiting to be slaughtered, was what gave Orji away that Wednesday. The noise attracted passers-by who not only discovered the woman but also stumbled on a collection of human parts in Orji’s make-shift home. Human bones, skulls, legs, hands, freshly cooked soup with human meat, a cheque for ₦80,000, and a mobile phone, at a time when the G.S.M. had not been fully introduced to the Nigerian market, so only wealthy people had mobile phones. Surrounded, Orji ran but the crowd gave chase, no one noticed a small, emaciated woman imprisoned inside the tyres of Orji’s shack. It was only after he was caught and dragged back to watch the mob demolish his home that Awawu Lawal was discovered awaiting her turn on the menu. The sight of the filthy, starving woman drove the crowd wild. They beat her captor until the police arrived. Lawal died several days later after falling into a coma. The crowd then turned their attention to a man they knew to be Orji’s friend, Tahiru Aliyu. He lived nearby The mob tore his shack down too, and found a 4m pit underneath where some of the victims were kept ...
before they were killed and cooked. The cannibal told the police he would entrance women by blowing on their foreheads and they would then follow him back to the underpass. “I will have a sexual affair with her to a state of coma before we slaughter her and roast,” he said. “I am not alone. I have between four and 10 people. They take their own parts and go while I wait for another `meat’.” Orji’s statement to the police has fuelled speculation that he was butchering his victims for more than his own consumption. People in the area said they regularly saw upmarket cars stopping beneath the flyover. To some it explains why none of the victims heads have been found. In Nigeria there is a discreet trade in body parts for religious or medicinal ceremonies. At a news conference organized by the police, Orji confessed to kidnapping, murder and cannibalism, saying that he and his accomplice "had been eating human meat for the past seven years before coming to Lagos. It is our culture to eat human meat." On December 7, 2000, he was remanded for murder in Kirikiri Prison, which is Nigeria's only super-maximum prison.
In April 2012, after approximately 12 years in prison without his case coming to trial, Orji sued the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Ade Ipaye, for unlawful imprisonment. Prison authorities stated that they had been unable to have him treated for mental illness, which had progressed and he could not be tried when insane. He died at the age of 46 on August 17, 2012. An autopsy established that his death was from natural causes.
'Clifford's kitchen." In the dead of the night, he usually blanketed the air around with the meat-like odour from his special barbecue. people merely suspected that this barbecue-loving recluse was not normal; that he was possibly mad but no one was prepared for the horrendous discovery of that haunting Wednesday.On February 3, 1999 A shrill cry of a famished and emaciated lady, waiting to be slaughtered, was what gave Orji away that Wednesday. The noise attracted passers-by who not only discovered the woman but also stumbled on a collection of human parts in Orji’s make-shift home. Human bones, skulls, legs, hands, freshly cooked soup with human meat, a cheque for ₦80,000, and a mobile phone, at a time when the G.S.M. had not been fully introduced to the Nigerian market, so only wealthy people had mobile phones. Surrounded, Orji ran but the crowd gave chase, no one noticed a small, emaciated woman imprisoned inside the tyres of Orji’s shack. It was only after he was caught and dragged back to watch the mob demolish his home that Awawu Lawal was discovered awaiting her turn on the menu. The sight of the filthy, starving woman drove the crowd wild. They beat her captor until the police arrived. Lawal died several days later after falling into a coma. The crowd then turned their attention to a man they knew to be Orji’s friend, Tahiru Aliyu. He lived nearby The mob tore his shack down too, and found a 4m pit underneath where some of the victims were kept ...
before they were killed and cooked. The cannibal told the police he would entrance women by blowing on their foreheads and they would then follow him back to the underpass. “I will have a sexual affair with her to a state of coma before we slaughter her and roast,” he said. “I am not alone. I have between four and 10 people. They take their own parts and go while I wait for another `meat’.” Orji’s statement to the police has fuelled speculation that he was butchering his victims for more than his own consumption. People in the area said they regularly saw upmarket cars stopping beneath the flyover. To some it explains why none of the victims heads have been found. In Nigeria there is a discreet trade in body parts for religious or medicinal ceremonies. At a news conference organized by the police, Orji confessed to kidnapping, murder and cannibalism, saying that he and his accomplice "had been eating human meat for the past seven years before coming to Lagos. It is our culture to eat human meat." On December 7, 2000, he was remanded for murder in Kirikiri Prison, which is Nigeria's only super-maximum prison.
In April 2012, after approximately 12 years in prison without his case coming to trial, Orji sued the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Ade Ipaye, for unlawful imprisonment. Prison authorities stated that they had been unable to have him treated for mental illness, which had progressed and he could not be tried when insane. He died at the age of 46 on August 17, 2012. An autopsy established that his death was from natural causes.
