Surge In Money Rituals: No Rest For Dead bodies In Cemeteries
CYRIACUS IZUEKWE
Dead bodies buried in various cemeteries may not really be resting in peace any longer following the drive to use human body parts for money and other ritual purposes.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that recently some suspects were apprehended at Yaba Cemetery in Lagos, where the grave digger exhumed corpses and cut some parts of the bodies for onward movement to the clients who needed them for money rituals purposes before they were arrested on the way.
While the suspects were undergoing interrogation for possible prosecution, nemesis caught up with four other grave diggers as they were arrested for being in possession of five human heads in Akure, the capital of Ondo State.They reportedly sell the severed heads to ritualists for money making.
The suspects, who worked at a public cemetery owned by Akure South Local Government along Imafon Road, Akure, were caught in the act while trying to severe the head of a newly buried corpse.They were apprehended for being in possession of the head of a female and four other freshly severed heads.
The suspects are Adewale Abiodun, 40; Akinola Sunday, 69, Olomofe, 45 and Oluwadare Idowu 67.
The bubble burst last week Saturday as the syndicate tried to exhume the corpse of a young tipper driver who was buried at the cemetery barely few hours after by the family members.Eyewitness account said: “As they were trying to exhume the corpse, some members of the deceased family came back to the cemetery with some bricklayers to cement the grave and caught them in the act”.“When they were caught, it led to beating before it was discovered that they were in possession of the head of a female and four other freshly severed heads.”“We immediately contacted men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), who came to pick them up.”
When contacted, the State Police Command’s spokesperson, Tee-Leo Ikoro, said that Police detectives had commenced investigation into the matter and assured that other members of the syndicate would soon be unravelled.Ikoro said that “the ongoing investigation will reveal everything, particularly other members of the gang. From what we have found out, it shows that it’s not their first time. It’s something they have been doing, it’s a routine thing”.
There had been other instances of exhuming of corpses in other cemeteries aided by native doctors, who usually demanded such in order to make gullible people to become rich. A sources equally told P.M.EXPRESS that sometimes, the same native doctors do demand fresh human beings for the rituals, which they also supplied them.