A 35-year-old suspect, Akeem, who was arrested by detectives
in Ogun State Police Command for allegedly murdering an 18-year-old student of
Obafemi Awolowo University, Quadri Salami, to get body parts for sale, has
revealed that he learnt about how to use human heads from Facebook groups.
Akeem made this revelation in an interview with the Nigerian
Tribune on Saturday.
Recall that Akeem was arrested after technical investigation
and intelligence gathering were adopted by the detectives.
The deceased’s decomposing body parts were recovered in a
shallow grave on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, by the Commissioner of Police,
Abiodun Alamutu, who led a team to the suspect’s house at Mile 6, Ajebo area of
Abeokuta, the state capital.
Speaking on the development, the police spokeswoman, SP
Omolola Odutola, disclosed that the deceased’s father reported the case of his
missing son at Kemta Police station on November 14, about six days after he was
last seen.
The PPRO said that the father told the police that he had
not seen his son since November 8, and all efforts to locate him had proved
abortive.
She stated further that the report led to intelligence gathering
which yielded fruits with the arrest of Akeem to whom the missing boy’s phone
was traced.
Akeem, after interrogation, reportedly opened up on how he
killed the teenage student and dismembered his body for sale to another native
doctor, Ifaniyi, and other prospective buyers.
It was further learnt that Akeem called Ifaniyi after
dismembering Quadri, handed the head and a palm to him, while Ifaniyi paid the
sum of N130,000 into Akeem’s account for the body parts.
To hide his criminal act, Akeem reportedly burnt Quadri’s
clothes and threw away his footwear and phone. Not done, Akeem reportedly put
the remaining body parts in a plastic bucket, soaked them in alcohol and buried
the bucket until needed for use or purchase. However, one of his pair of
footwears was found not too far away from Akeem’s house during investigation
and search by detectives, Saturday Tribune learnt.
“The suspects are currently at the State Criminal
Investigation Department at Eleweran, Abeokuta, for further investigations, and
will definitely be prosecuted after the conclusion, SP Odutola said.
Akeem, who hailed from Osun State, he said that he started
living in Abeokuta in 2014.
The married father of three narrated, “I am a native doctor.
Before becoming one, I was selling phones and accessories. I started learning
divination in 2015 from my paternal grandmother who told me to do so as she
didn’t want it to become extinct in her family lineage. I went to stay with her
in Sagamu. When my grandmother died, I returned to Abeokuta and went round
native doctors who were versed in the practice to learn more. I started
practising it in 2018.
“My practice involved taking care of diabetic patients (egbo
adaajina), breaking spiritual bondages (atude), opening ways for success
(asina), fortune making (asiri bibo) and others. I was using python’s head (ori
ere), cobra’s head (ori oka), dog’s head (ori aja), okete’s head and others
which would be added to herbs and roots to prepare the native medicines for
awure, asiri bibo and the rest.
“In divination and native medicine training, we were not
taught to use human heads. I learnt it from Facebook accounts after joining the
groups. They would write about things to use for rituals and I would copy and
put them in writing for use. This was about three years ago.
“I started using pieces of dry human skull I got from fellow
native doctors. I would grind them into powder and mix them with native black
soap or to make aseje (d:d:r). We would just ask other native doctors if they
had ‘ajiyo (r:r:d)’ (pieces of dry human skull) which could not be decoded by
non-native doctors.
“I got two human heads from a native doctor, Ifayemi. He is
currently on the run. Before I got them, another native doctor, Ifaniyi, told
me that he needed them. I told Ifayemi and when he got one, he brought it and
charged N50,000 for it. I gave it to Ifaniyi. That was in July this year. He
brought the second one for Ifaniyi in September. He also paid another N50,000
for it. I didn’t know how Ifayemi got the heads.”
“Quadri was learning
barbing from a man, Ahmed. I used to barb in the shop too. One day, the boss
called me and said that he was told to perform rites to the god of iron (bo
ogun) for Quadri. The barber brought Quadri and I carried out the task.
“Two weeks after, the boy came to me and asked that I
prepared a fortune soap for him. He told me he was a yahoo guy but was not
making enough money from the foreigners he was scamming. The boss didn’t know
of his coming to me. I made ‘asina’ soap for him using lizard, herbs and a
candle stuffed in the middle of the soap. He lit the candle and went to have a
bath with the soap in my backyard. This was in October.
“He came back to me and said the job had not picked up as he
wanted. I told him look for N70,000 to
do the job. He left and came back after two weeks again and said he couldn’t
get any money, asking me to help him. I told him to return after a week,
promising to make some charms (eyonu d:m:m and atude r:m:d) that would favour
him.
“Some days after, Ifaniyi called and told me that he needed
another human head and I should let him know if the native doctor who usually
got it for me had one. On November 8, when Quadri came, I gave him a prepared soap to have a
spiritual bath at my backyard. As he was having the bath, I crept into the
backyard from a side and struck him with a machete on his neck from the back.
“He fell down immediately and I struck him the second time,
severing his head. I also cut his palms from his wrists before dismembering
other body parts. I cleaned the blood as if nothing happened in my house. This
was at about 3pm. My wife and children were not at home. I called Ifaniyi and
he came to collect the head and a palm at about 4pm. He paid N130,000 –
N100,000 for the head and N30,000 for the palm. He didn’t know that I killed
the victim whose body parts he got.
“On December 6, police came to my house after discovering my
involvement, and I confessed everything to them. I now realise that what I did
was very bad. I just pray for God’s forgiveness.”
The second suspect, Ifaniyi, who purchased Quadri’s head and
palm also narrated his involvement, saying that he never knew that Akeem killed
someone to get the head for him.
The 28-year-old father of one narrated his side of the story
thus: “I’m a native of Abeokuta. I live at Ita Oshin. I grew up in Ifa
divination household and never attended school. I started learning from
childhood and also went to other native doctors in addition to what I learnt
from my parents. We had worship points (ojubo) for Ifa, esu, ogun, and used to
perform rites to cleanse heads (ori bibo) and make sacrifices. We usually
appease (bo) esu with palm oil, salt, alcohol and chicken.
“I knew him long ago when he was selling phones and
accessories. He was so nice that he would even give phone or accessories free
of charge if one didn’t have money. He was also coming to me for divination (da
ifa) and sacrifices (aajo and irubo). He later went to learn divination from
his paternal grandmother. When he started practising, he told me he had someone
who used to bring human heads to him for purchase. I told him to help me get
one whenever the person had it.
“I used the human heads for myself to open ways (asina). We
were not taught to use human parts during training. We learnt it from the
social media. Unfortunately, I didn’t experience any improvement.
“On the last human head he gave me that got me into trouble,
he called me a day before to tell me that it would be brought by the usual
supplier, promising to give me a call. He did the following day and said that
the body from which the parts were got was freshly exhumed as he was told. I
paid N130,000.
“The following day, I checked the nylon and saw that the
head and palm were still fresh. I called my colleague and asked if he was sure
that the body was exhumed and not that someone was killed. He repeated that it
was exhumed, most likely on the day it was buried.
“I prepared the charm by burning the head and palm along
with a turtle (ijapa), Ega bird, alligator pepper (ataare) and certain herbs
(ewe oge d:d) in a black earthenware until it became powder. I mixed it with
native soap in preparation to bathe with it. However, I was arrested before I
started using it.”
Thirty-year-old Ahmed, the barber who had Quadri as an
apprentice before his murder, said that he knew Akeem as a customer and a
diviner, but never thought he could commit such an act.
According to Ahmed, “I am from Abeokuta. I am a father of
two and own a barbing salon and Quadri was learning from me. He usually came
whenever he had a break from school. We
were in the shop in September when Osun worshippers passed by and started
blessing us. I gave them money in appreciation of the prayers and Quadri also did
so.
“They went on their way but suddenly turned back and asked
for the shop owner. I said I was the one. They asked me to tell Quadri togive
sacrifices to Ogun because of family issue. Quadri himself heard it. That same
evening, Akeem a.k.a Ogbon came to my shop. I intimated him of what we were
told by Osun worshippers and he said I should allow him to get home and make
findings on it.
“Later, I called him to know what he thought about it, and
he said we should do what we were told. He prescribed usage of chicken, palm
oil and alcohol for the rites and Quadri paid for them. We went to his house
two days after and performed the rites. We didn’t spend more than an hour with
him and we went back to the shop. Two or three weeks after, Quadri told me that
he was going back to school and wanted to be home to prepare. I bade him bye
and told him to be careful about his life.
“After almost a month, Quadri’s father came to my shop to
ask if I saw his son. I was surprised at the question and asked him if the boy
had yet to return to school as he told me. The father replied in the negative,
saying that they were trying to gather money for him to take to school. The
father told me that his son left home after telling him that he wanted to work
on his SIM card at Oke Ilewo and would stop by my shop to eat. I told him that
Quadri did not come to the shop.
“I called his phone number but it was not going through. I
remember that the dad asked me whether I suspected Quadri of being a yahoo boy.
I replied that I would be telling a lie if I said he was not doing so. I
pointed out to the father the expensive phones he had even before he started
apprenticeship with me which I could never afford. The father left.
“I called Akeem and told him what I heard of Quadri. He
expressed surprise, saying that he thought he had gone back to school. He said
that the boy had not been to his place since the last time I came with him. He
said he would check from Ifa. He called me back later and said what he saw was
that the boy was alive but just went playing.
“A customer came to my shop and I also mentioned the search
for Quadri. He gave me a number and said I should call a pastor to enquire
about Quadri. When I called the pastor, he said he would like to speak with his
parents. I forwarded the number to Quadri’s mother.
“I was sitting in front of my shop on December 6 when Police
came to arrest me. I got into Police van and saw Akeem in it. I later got to
know that he was the one who killed Quadri and sold his body parts.”
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