Nigeria, Jan. 31 -- The curtains were about to be drawn on New Year's Day celebrations in Ikere Ekiti as the evening wore on. Although it was a Sunday evening when residents usually have fun at different spots in the town, this was different because it was a special day when the world welcomed the new year 2023. Residents narrated how the mood was joyous with fireworks coursing through the sky and music blaring from speakers placed along the streets as the young and old, some clutching bottles of beer, danced to popular tunes.

It was 10.20 p.m. when Rita Ajagunigbala, well known in the town as Evangelist Ajagunigbala, and her lover, Fadayomi Kehinde, an Ifa priest and herbalist popularly known as Ejiogbe, stepped into a room at a guest h...