Akure, Nigeria – June 12, 2024: Yusuf Adenoyin, a 37-year-old suspected ritualist, has been apprehended by security agencies at Isua Akoko in the Akoko South-East Local Government Area of Ondo State. Adenoyin was found in possession of eight human skulls during a routine police checkpoint inspection.
Adenoyin was traveling in a Nissan car with four other passengers from Akure to Osogbo when the Police Safer Highway Patrol intercepted the vehicle between Isua and Epinmi. The skulls were discovered concealed inside a sack of garri along with various charms.
A security source in Akure confirmed the arrest to Peoples Gazette, explaining that Adenoyin claimed he was transporting the skulls from Okene in Kogi State to deliver them to a herbalist in Osogbo, Osun State.
Ondo State Police Commissioner Abayomi Oladipo, in an official statement, confirmed the arrest and provided further details from Adenoyin’s interrogation. Adenoyin confessed to owning the skulls and said he was delivering them to a herbalist named Opeifa in the Oke-Onitea area of Osogbo. He also named other regular customers, including individuals known as Almonso and Alfaa Agba, both residents of Oke-Onitea, and Oshoyemi from the Oja Oba area.
The suspect revealed that he obtained the skulls from an accomplice named Imaila in Oboroke, Okene, and sold each skull for between thirty thousand naira (N30,000) and thirty-five thousand naira (N35,000).
Commissioner Oladipo stated that Adenoyin would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) unit in Akure for further investigation. The case underscores the ongoing challenge of combating ritualistic practices and the trafficking of human body parts in Nigeria.