Man arrested and imprisoned over possession of human skull some months ago, arrested again for same crime in Oyo

A suspected ritualist, Ganiyu Maruf, who was recently apprehended with human skulls says his quest to become rich quickly, prompted him to team up with his accomplice to purchase human parts.

Maruf and Basit were recently arrested by the Atiba Unit of Amotekun Corps in Oyo town, Oyo State when the human skulls were discovered to have been hidden in a neighborhood at Agunpopo community by the residents. The suspects were sighted around a bush at the community when they were about to retrieve the skulls from where they kept them.

In an interview with Tribune, Maruf who is a bricklayer said he had been arrested before for being in possession of human skull.

“Before my arrest by Amotekun, Alhaji Adura, Kajola and I bought human skulls from an Oyo man called Dauda a.k.a Baba To. I had bought from him only once and it boomeranged.

On the day I bought the two heads from Dauda for N30,000, I learnt that he had been arrested. I called Aafa Basit and asked him to go and keep the head. We both contributed the N30,000 equally and paid for the skulls to be used by us for money ritual.

I knew about Dauda’s work because his elder sister was married to my father. I told him I needed two and he sold them to me.

He had once been arrested for possession of human skulls by the Oyo State police command. When he was arrested the second time about three months ago, he mentioned Alhaji Kajola. Alhaji Kajola exposed Alhaji Adura, and Alhaji Adura named  me as one of Dauda’s buyers.

By then, I had dropped the two skulls with Basit. Three of us were arraigned in court, and remanded in prison. We eventually got bail and I returned home about a month ago.

I learnt that Dauda was bailed and couldn’t go to court. He was said to have died in his sleep the day after his release. When I got home, Aafa Basit came to greet me and appreciated me for not mentioning his name when I was arrested.

He informed me of where he kept the skulls. I went to pick him on Thursday, and we had just parked the motorcycle I bought through instalment plan when the residents surrounded us, accusing us of keeping skulls in their environment.

They started beating us, though we initially denied being the ones who kept them there. One of them inflicted machete cuts on my head until Amotekun operatives arrived and rescued us from being lynched. The mob almost killed us.”

Maruf said that he got to know how to perform rituals from his maternal grandfather’s note on native medicine tagged ‘secret of wealth.’

He also said that he did not know where the seller got the heads from. According to him, he only went to purchase them since he knew it as the man’s trade when he was first arrested and the news went round Oyo town.

The state Commandant, Amotekun Corps, Col. Olayinka Olayanju, who spoke on the arrest, said that the suspects would be arraigned in court after conclusion of investigation.