Two men arrested for selling skulls of murdered policemen for N1000 in Ibadan

The Oyo State Police Command has arrested two men, Adewale Abiodun and Aliu Mubarak, for allegedly selling the skulls of two policemen who were reportedly murdered during the #EndSARS protest last month, to a herbalist for N1000.

The suspects who were paraded at the Command’s headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan, on Friday, November 27, confessed that the skulls they sold belonged to two police officers who were killed and set ablaze by some hoodlums in Ibadan in the heat of the protest.

The suspects, Abiodun, 17 and Mubarak, 24, during an interview with journalists during their parade by the state Commissioner of Police, Nwachukwu Enwonwu, revealed that they sold the skulls to an herbalist in their neighbourhood.

According to Enwonwu, the two suspects and the herbalist, Oladipupo Ifakorede, were arrested at Oluwo area of Ibadan by men of the Quick Intervention Unit of the Oyo State Police Command on Sunday, November 15.

While being quizzed by journalists, Abiodun said:

“On Monday, October 22, Mubarak asked me to follow him to Alabata area in Ibadan, where his wife is staying. We got to Iwo Road and saw that the road had been blocked. Smoke was everywhere. When we moved closer to see what was happening, we saw humans being burnt.

Read also: 55-yr-old arrested with four skulls, other human parts in Ogun

“The mob was hitting the burnt bodies with sticks, and started taking the body parts. Mubarak came to me and said he wanted to take some of the body parts. He said he had someone he would sell them to. Mubarak went to take the two skulls.

“We went to the native doctor’s residence in our neighbourhood. After negotiation, the native doctor gave us N500 with the promise to pay the balance of N500. He told us he was not the one who would use them, but that he would take them to a cleric in Ilorin, Kwara State, for ritual purposes.

“After leaving the residence of the native doctor, Mubarak and I went to a restaurant and used the N500 to eat. About 7pm the same day, the native doctor saw me at a junction in our area and gave me the N500 balance. Mubarak and I shared the money at N250 each on the third day.”

On his part, the second suspect, Mubarak, said:

“Some people in the crowd removed hands, legs, fingers and feet, while others gathered the ashes from the burnt bodies and took them away. I told Abiodun that I would take the skulls.”

Enwonwu who also addressed the press during the parade, said the suspects would soon be arraigned in court after investigations have been concluded.

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