Man dies digging grave to steal skull

                      

DESPITE the increase in cases of jungle justice being meted out to suspected kidnappers and ritualists lately, most especially in Oyo, Ogun, Osun and other states, some desperate ritualists are still not deterred by these horrible deaths, as an unidentified young man in Ilobu community, in the Irepodun Local Government Area of Osun State, met his Waterloo in the early hours of Wednesday while attempting to cut off the head of a corpse, buried in Tonto compound in the area.

The suspect’s accomplices fled in terror after seeing half his body get stuck mysteriously in the grave. His death has generated concern among the terrified residents of the Ilobu community.

Saturday Tribune gathered that the victim and his partners in crime allegedly came to Tonto compound in the early hours of Wednesday with a plot to exhume the corpse of an aged woman and sever her decomposed head, allegedly for ritual purposes.

A credible source in the community, who did not want to be named, told Saturday Tribune that “this particular corpse was buried five years ago and the suspected ritualist attended the burial in Ilobu.”

He explained: “There are indications that he did not dig the grave alone. What we discovered is that he may have been attempting to cut off the head of the corpse when something suddenly hooked him as he managed to force half of his body into the grave to cut off the head.

“He got hooked and died on the spot, a development which possibly compelled other ritualists to run away from the scene so that they may not be affected by the mysterious thing that killed (their colleague).”

While commenting on how the residents of Ilobu got to know about the incident, since it happened in the wee hours, the source said a woman who was hawking ogi (a local corn meal) early in the morning of Wednesday spotted the torso of the suspect sticking out of the grave and raised the alarm.

“His corpse was discovered around 6.30am and his head was covered in mud. The residents here alerted the police division in Ilobu and they later came to evacuate the body and put it in their van before taking him away,” he said.

Saturday Tribune was informed that the remains of the suspected ritualist were subsequently taken to and deposited at the mortuary of the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH), Osogbo, the state capital.

When contacted, the Commissioner of Police in Osun State, Mr Ibrahim Maishanu, said he was aware of the incident, and that the police would conduct investigation to determine what led to the suspect’s death.

He said the police could not confirm that the suspect was a ritualist because of the circumstances surrounding the discovery of his corpse at a grave in Ilobu; that they would have to investigate the matter before giving any concrete information on the incident.

A few weeks ago, no fewer than four suspected kidnappers were burnt to death in Osogbo and Ikire after they were accused of kidnapping. Worried by the development, Maishanu, on Tuesday after the state security council meeting in the Government House, said “the act of (meting out) jungle justice to suspects is barbaric, uncivilised and unacceptable. The security agencies will not fold their arms and watch our society descend into anarchy.

“By this, , any person or group of persons that constitutes a mob, takes laws into their hands and lynches any suspect is not morally or legally better than the suspects. Such person or group of persons will be caught and made to face murder charges, which is punishable by death.”