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.”
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