Traditional priests, priestesses, diviners, native doctors and palace chiefs gathered before the Palace of the Oba of Benin as early as 6:30 a.m. on July 2 to perform a historic ritual invoking curses on kidnappers, cultists and other criminals terrorizing the Benin Kingdom, Edo State and Nigeria more broadly. The event followed a directive from Oba Ewuare II, who had earlier met with the traditionalists and instructed them to spend ten days consulting their spiritual powers before returning to formally pronounce the curses. Dressed largely in red with touches of white, participants danced, chanted and sang, with several ritual items — including a live fowl — displayed at the palace gate. The diviners eventually set these items ablaze after placing them at the foot of the gate. Organizers described the exercise as intended to complement, not replace, government efforts to tackle insecurity, and it concluded with prayers for the wellbeing of Edo State and Nigeria. The Oba separately directed youth leaders, known as Okaighele, to form community-level advisory committees to help monitor and report security threats to designated coordinators. Chief Osemwonta Iguezigbon, head of the Ewaise Palace group, said the exercise was carried out at the Oba's direction in response to the deteriorating security situation nationwide, describing Benin as a historically peaceful kingdom that its monarch wants to protect. Chief Clement Edegbe Ighodaro, chief priest of the Ayelala deity, said the ritual was meant to place a curse on "those who do not want Edoland to progress" and on those responsible for importing kidnapping and other violent crime into the kingdom. Princess Eyinemawin Igbinegie, a priestess associated with one of the local deities, said participants had been called upon by the monarch to invoke their goddess against the perpetrators of the unrest. The ceremony echoes a similar spiritual exercise carried out in May 2018, when Oba Ewuare II placed curses on human traffickers and their collaborators, including native doctors who had administered secrecy oaths on trafficking victims. Palace officials say the current intervention was prompted in part by a kidnapping roughly three weeks earlier at a market close to the palace, and reflects ongoing frustration that conventional security measures have not fully curbed kidnapping and violent crime in the kingdom.