BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE, IBADAN
The Oyo State Security Network codenamed Amotekun, has arrested three suspected ritualists for allegedly slaughtering a 73-year-old man, Adebisi Adeniyi, for money.
The suspects, named Ismail Muraina, Olalekan Muhideen and Abdurasheed Olanrewaju, were paraded on Tuesday by the Deputy Commandant of Amotekun in the state, Mr Babalola Akinro, at the Amotekun Corps headquarters in Ibadan.
The suspects said that they slaughtered their victim shortly after abducting him along Amuloko-Akanran Road, Ibadan, on Sunday.
Ismail alleged that Olanrewaju contacted him saying that he needed a human head for money rituals. He claimed that he was paid the sum of N35,000 to get the human head, so he contacted Muhideen who brought a live human being to them.
Ismail, who explained that he was initially afraid to carry out the evil act, said that he was emboldened when Muhideen hypnotised him and Olanrewaju.
According to him, he and Olanrewaju pinned the victim down while Muhideen slaughtered him.
He said, “I was scared when he brought the man, but I believed he hypnotised us with a charm; we obeyed him. I held the old man’s legs, Alfa (Olanrewaju) held his head and Muhideen slaughtered him.”
Muhideen said that he hypnotised the victim somewhere at Amuloko area stating, “After beheading the man, I took his body to the place where I buried him.
“But, a woman saw the fresh grave and confronted me. When I told her that I buried somebody there she informed others. So, I was arrested.”
The decomposing remains of the victim, wrapped in a bed sheet, were showcased during the parade.
Olanrewaju, who confessed that he intended to use the human head for ritual, said that he took it home and burnt it to ashes in a pot.
Displaying the ashes, he said, “I told them that I needed a human head, not a live human being. After killing the man, they gave me the head and I took it home and burnt it. What remains of the head is here in the pot.”
One of the victim’s children, Olufunke Olaosun, said that Muhideen was a known person to the family.
She said that Muhideen asked her father to meet him somewhere for the money which he owed him unknown to him that he planned to kill him.
The woman said that the family had combed everywhere in futility in search of their father until they were told to come and identify the remains of her father at the Amotekun office.
Akinro told journalists that investigation was still ongoing on the matter. The suspects, he said, would later be handed over to the police.
