We get N5,000 for each human head —Suspected grave robbers

THE two suspects found with a human head exhumed from a grave at Amuloko Area in Ibadan, Oyo State, and arrested by the personnel of the state command of the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN), codenamed Amotekun, have said that they used to get N5,000 as payment for the job done.

The suspects were identified as Mustapha Bello and Damilare Oladele.

Sunday Tribune learnt that while returning home, the suspects were accosted at dawn on Monday by a night guard who saw them carrying a bag, and when challenged, Bello, who was the one carrying the bag, tried to struggle with the security man, which gave Oladele the chance to escape.

Bello was eventually subdued and handed over to Amotekun for investigation.

When the news went round the city with the video recording of Bello when he was caught, it was learnt that a law enforcement agent who had noticed the closeness of Bello and Oladele suspected him of being the arrested suspect’s accomplice and challenged him same day in the evening.

The crowd, which had gathered, was said to have started beating the suspect, leading to his pleas and confession to being part of the operation carried out to get the human head.

He was also immediately transferred to Amotekun for investigation.

In an interview with Bello, a 32-year-old carpenter, he told Sunday Tribune: “I’m an Ibadan indigene living at Labo area. It is true that I went with my partner to exhume dead body and remove the head at Amuloko area.

“One Saheed was the one who brought me into this kind of work. He works as a security man. He asked me to follow him to work in a place when I told him I was not having money. He told me not to worry, promising to give me some money the following day. I asked him the kind of work we were going to do but he said he would let me know when we arrive the place.

“When we got to a gravesite in front of a residence at Ita Ege at about 1am, he opened up that we were there to get human head. We used cutlass and our hands to remove the mound of earth covering the grave. He removed the head and returned the remains into the grave.

“It is Saheed who used to sell the head. He used to give me N5,000 as my share.

“I went to the last operation with another accomplice, Damilare. After cutting the head, I was the one carrying it in a sack on our way back home when I was arrested by local vigilante. My partner escaped, and I was handed over to Amotekun.”

Explaining his involvement, the second suspect said: “I am Damilare Oladele. I’m from Ibadan and I live at Oranyan. I’m 25 years old. I’m a barber. I was arrested for exhuming a buried corpse and severing its head. Mustapha and I started working together in February this year.

“Mustapha was the one who really knew about the operation and invited me. My role was to watch out for any approaching security man while he would be digging the grave to exhume the buried corpse.

“Mustapha discussed the matter with me when we were relaxing one day. He had been doing it. The first time, he told me to go out with him that night as there was a task to be carried out. I asked him of the kind of task, and he opened up to me that we were going to get a human head. He told me that the one he targeted was already dry as it had been buried for long and it would not be smelly when being carried by us. He promised me the payment of N5,000 as my share.”

Disclosing his gang’s mode of operation, Oladele said: “We used to get to the area where we would get the human head at night at about 10 pm. We would hide in a place till after midnight when we would begin the exhumation at about 1 am.

“After the head had been removed, Mustapha would call me to cover the grave while he would go and hide the head. We would retire to our hiding spot and wait till dawn before we would go home.

“He was the one who would take the head to the buyer. After he had been paid, he would give me N5,000 as my share, except once when he gave me N10,000 because we went for a fresh head. I have worked with him five times.

“We did the last one at Amuloko in Ona Ara Local Government Area in the early hours of Monday. The place was described to Mustapha by one Afaa. They discussed it on the phone. The Afaa said that the corpse was recently buried.

“We went to work, removed the head and went to sleep in a nearby school until 5am when we left. Unfortunately for us, we met a night guard who sought to know what Mustapha was carrying. As they were dragging the issue with each other, I quickly took to my heels.”

How I was caught

“I went to my shop and returned to where I live in the evening to find out how things went with Mustapha. It was the person he used to give the head for sale who came to me. His name is Saheed. Saheed is a native doctor, and he was the one who introduced the operation to Mustapha. He stopped doing it and was only collecting the severed heads from Mustapha and paying him for the job done. That was why Mustapha asked me to join him in doing the work.

“He was the one who informed me that Mustapha had been handed over to Amotekun. He said he would be using his phone to monitor things.

“I was on my way back to my shop when I was seen by a security personnel. I learnt that the crowd recorded Mustapha’s arrest on video and posted it. The post was seen by the security agent and on seeing me, knowing very well that I was a close friend of Mustapha, he called me to come and take a look. He said that he believed I worked together with my friend. That was how the people around started beating me. I was handed over to Amotekun.”

Oladele confessed to smoking hemp and drinking alcohol but said that he stopped taking marijuana last year, sticking only to cigarettes.