Man dies digging grave to steal skull in Osun state

An unidentified young man in Ilobu community, in the Irepodun LGA of
Osun State, was found head deep in a grave in the early hours of
Wednesday May 14th, after allegedly attempting to cut off the head of
a corpse, buried in Tonto compound in the area, Saturday Tribune
reports

The suspect's accomplices fled in terror after seeing half his body
get stuck mysteriously in the grave. His death has generated concern
among the terrified residents of the Ilobu community.

It was gathered that the victim and his partners in crime allegedly
came to Tonto compound in the early hours of Wednesday with a plot to
exhume the corpse of an aged woman and sever her decomposed head,
allegedly for ritual purposes. Continue...

A credible source in the community, who did not want to be named, told
Saturday Tribune that "this particular corpse was buried five years
ago and the suspected ritualist attended the burial in Ilobu."

He explained: "There are indications that he did not dig the grave
alone. What we discovered is that he may have been attempting to cut
off the head of the corpse when something suddenly hooked him as he
managed to force half of his body into the grave to cut off the head.

"He got hooked and died on the spot, a development which possibly
compelled other ritualists to run away from the scene so that they may
not be affected by the mysterious thing that killed (their
colleague)."

While commenting on how the residents of Ilobu got to know about the
incident, since it happened in the wee hours, the source said a woman
who was hawking ogi (a local corn meal) early in the morning of
Wednesday spotted the torso of the suspect sticking out of the grave
and raised the alarm.

"His corpse was discovered around 6.30am and his head was covered in
mud. The residents here alerted the police division in Ilobu and they
later came to evacuate the body and put it in their van before taking
him away," he said.

Saturday Tribune was informed that the remains of the suspected
ritualist were subsequently taken to and deposited at the mortuary of
the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH), Osogbo,
the state capital.

When contacted, the Commissioner of Police in Osun State, Mr Ibrahim
Maishanu, said he was aware of the incident, and that the police would
conduct investigation to determine what led to the suspect's death.

He said the police could not confirm that the suspect was a ritualist
because of the circumstances surrounding the discovery of his corpse
at a grave in Ilobu; that they would have to investigate the matter
before giving any concrete information on the incident.

Source: Nigerian Tribune