. I wanted to use purchased body parts for money rituals, says nabbed native doctor
Soji Ajibola, Ibadan
Police in Oyo have arrested suspects alleged to have sold the heads of two policemen killed during the ENDSARS protest in Ibadan to a native doctor at N1000.
The suspects Adewale Abiodun, 17, and Aliu Mubarak, 24, were paraded before newsmen on Friday at the Command Headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan.
The suspects, according to police findings had confessed to the crime.
State Police Commissioner, Nwachukwu Enwonwu, said one of the suspects, 17-year-old Abiodun, “confessed to how he and one Mubarak (24) teamed up to sell the roasted heads of the policemen killed during the protest.
“The pieces of the skull of the slain policemen they had with them were evidence of their moves to make N1,000 from the sale.
“Abiodun, Mubarak and the third suspect, a native doctor, identified as Oladipupo Ifakorede, were arrested by the Quick Intervention Unit of Oyo State Police Command on Sunday, November 15, 2020 at Oluwo area of Ibadan, after the police operatives’ intelligence gathering and investigation exposed them.”
Commissioner of Police, Joe Nwachukwu Enwonwu, told journalists that Abiodun and Mubarak confessed that they took two heads of the slain police away from the scene of the incident and sold them to a native doctor for N1,000.
He said that the heads, which had dried up and were broken to pieces, were recovered from the native doctor, Ifakorede.
Ifakorede had also confessed that he paid N1,000 for the two policemen’s heads and had intended to use them for ritual purposes.
One of the suspects, Abiodun, 17, narrated to our correspondent how he became involved in the gory deal.
According to him, “On Monday, October 22, Mubarak asked me to follow him to Alabata area in Ibadan, where his wife was staying.
“We got to Iwo Road and saw that the road had been blocked. Smoke was also billowing. We moved closer to see what was happening and saw that humans, who we later learnt were policemen, were being burnt.
“The mob was hitting the burnt bodies with sticks, and started taking the body parts after tearing them.
“Mubarak also came to me and said he wanted to take some of the body parts. I asked him what he wanted to do with them, and he replied that he had someone he would go and sell them to.
“Mubarak went to take the two heads, with some parts of them already knocked off with sticks.
“We moved to the native doctor’s residence in the same area where we live. After negotiation, the native doctor gave us N500, with the promise to pay the balance of N500.
“The native doctor told us he was not the one that would use them, but that he would take them to a Quranic scholar in Ilorin, Kwara State, to use them for ritual purposes.”
Abiodun said he had known the native doctor since he was as an apprentice in fashion designing.
He disclosed that his boss used to sew clothes for Ifakorede, and used to send him to deliver the sewn materials.
Abiodun stated that his mother had gone to an all-night ceremony and his father was away on a trip as a tanker driver, when the police came to arrest him.
Mubarak, 24, corroborated Abiodun’s confession, saying that they both met people at the gathering cutting different parts of the burnt policemen and using sticks to hit their remains.
He recounted, “Some of the people removed hands, legs, fingers and feet, while some others gathered the ashes from the burnt bodies and took them away.
“I then told Abiodun that I would take the heads that had been packed aside. I found a nylon bag and put the heads inside. We left the place and went to Ifakorede’s residence at about 5p.m. We met him on the way and told him we had policemen’s heads to sell.
“He said we should not tell anyone about it, adding that he would send them to Ilorin. Then, he gave us N500, promising to give us the balance later.
“Truly, he gave the balance of N500 to Abiodun and we shared it equally.”
He said he was arrested by the police three weeks later.
He revealed that he also knew Ifakorede, as he used to sell local chicken eggs to the native doctor.
The third suspect, Ifakorede, the native doctor, also admitted buying the heads of the slain policemen from Mubarak and Abiodun, and paying N1,000 for them.
Ifakorede disclosed that Mubarak initially demanded N3,000 as payment for the heads he was selling to him, but told him he could only pay N1,000 for such ‘little commodity.’
He said he intended to use them for money ritual before he was arrested by the police.
The bones of the heads were recovered from the backyard of Ifakorede’s residence, where he covered them with sand.
Condemning the actions of the suspects, Enwonwu said that the police were making more efforts towards apprehending other fleeing suspects running away from prosecution.
