Two suspected hoodlums, Adebowale Abiodun and Aliu Mubarak, arrested for being in possession of the burnt skulls of the two policemen set ablaze in Ibadan in the wake of the #EndSARS protest on Friday gave graphic details of how they sold the skulls for N1,000.
They spoke when they were paraded on Friday.
Speaking with journalists at the police headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan, Abiodun, 17 and Mubarak, 24, revealed that they sold the skulls to a herbalist in their neighbourhood.
The two suspects, alongside the herbalist, Oladipupo Ifakorede, were reportedly arrested at Oluwo area of Ibadan by men of the Quick Intervention Unit of the Oyo State Police Command on Sunday, November 15.
The dried skulls were also recovered from the herbalist.
Abiodun told journalists, “On Monday, October 22, Mubarak asked me to follow him to Alabata area in Ibadan, where his wife was staying. We got to Iwo Road and saw that the road had been blocked. Smoke was billowing. When we moved closer to see what was happening, we saw humans being burnt.
“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 purpose.
“After leaving the residence of the native doctor, Mubarak and I went to a restaurant and used the N500 to eat. About 7p.m the same day, the native doctor saw me at a junction in our area and gave me N500 balance. Mubarak and I shared the money at N250 each on the third day.”
Confirming Abiodun’s statement, Mubarak, said, “we actually took those heads at Abayomi Area and sold it for brother Oladipupo Ifakorede, who bought them at the rate of N1,000. But he only gave us N500 and promised to give us the balance later.
“I have known brother Fakorede for a long time, he used to buy traditional medicine materials from me, materials like dried alligator pepper, dried lizard and many others. On that day, myself and Adewale Abiodun saw those heads on the ground at Abayomi Area, and we took them to brother Fakorede just to sell so he can make use of them because I knew they would be useful for him. When we got to his place, we told him that this is what we brought for him, and he collected it, appreciated us and agreed to pay the sum of N1,000 for the two heads.”
Giving his own account of what happened, the herbalist, Ifakorede, said, “I truly bought the heads from them, skulls are one of the vital ingredients of money rituals but I was not at the scene of the crime and I did not partake in the killing of those two policemen, their heads were brought to me and I bought them.”
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The State Commissioner of Police, Joe Nwachukwu Enwonwu, briefing journalists on how the suspects were arrested, said it took the discreet investigation of Police before they were arrested.
According to him, the police first arrested Aliu Mubarak and Adebowale Abiodun who then led them to arrest the others.
He said that the suspects, after being arrested by the police confessed to the crime, saying they took away the heads of the two policemen, which they later sold to a herbalist, identified as Oladipupo Ifakorede aged 44.
He explained that the herbalist bought the heads with the intention of using them for money rituals.
