An Islamic cleric identified as Alfa Sulaiman Hamed has been arrested by Police in Oyo state. The Alfa was arrested alongside a pastor and two other person for the alleged possession of human parts. The Alfa eventually confessed that he used the human flesh for money ritual.
According to the state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, the Alfa, Sulaiman Hamed was contracted by the family a deceased person to coordinate the Fidau prayers for the dead man, but he contracted two other men to exhume the corpse so he can use the body parts for rituals.
The two accomplices – Olapade Saheed, 32, and Olatunji Aiodun, 26 – were later caught with the deceased’s head and other body parts, leading to the arrest of Hamed and Tope Akinyele, 45, who claimed to be the pastor of a church in Ojagbo, in the Oranyan area of Ibadan.
According to Punch, the alfa confessed that he paid N2,500 for every human flesh he bought, which he used as part of the concoction needed to make money ritual for his clients.
He said,
“Someone introduced Saheed and Abiodun to me. I gave them N2,500 to help me find human flesh. We all met at Ayegun junction, Ibadan. Around 10pm, I took them to a grave where a body that was brought from Warri, Delta State, was buried.
“I took part in the prayers for the deceased before he was buried. I left them (Saheed and Abiodun) there, but they refused to let me go. They said they wanted to sleep in my house that night. I got them a place close to my house.
“In the early hours of the second day, they came to me with a cellophane bag. I did not check what was inside, but I hanged it on the wall of my house. I was on my way to my office in Ile-Tuntun when I saw them in the midst of a crowd with a human head.
“I use human flesh to make money ritual for people and I pay N2,500 for the flesh. In this case, the charm was for myself. I did not ask them to cut off the head and it was not in my possession when the police came.”
In his statement, Saheed said Alfa paid them N1,500 to do the job and that he took them to the grave of the deceased.
“Alfa called us for a job at Ayegun. When we got there, he showed us a grave three houses away from his house. After we finished the job (of exhuming and cutting off body parts), he took what he needed from the remains of the dead man and asked us to dispose of the rest.
“We left early in the morning. But on our way, a local vigilance group stopped us and asked what was in the bag we carried. They beat us up after realising that there was a human head and other body parts in the bag. The police later came to arrest us,” he said.
The state commissioner of Police said the state will not tolerate any criminal activities within it and mentioned that the suspects, upon conclusion of investigations, will be charged to court.
