A suspected ritualist, identified as Ifasoji Ayangbesan, has confessed to buying the legs of a 26-year-old woman, Oyindamola Adeyemi, in Ogun State for N20,000.
The 35-year-old suspect, who was found with fresh human legs, told the police he did not participate in the killing of Adeyemi.
Ayangbesan had been on the run since January when his other accomplices were arrested for killing and selling the woman’s body parts to money ritualists.
He was paraded in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Wednesday after he allegedly bribed police officers N1m to evade arrest.
The suspect, who is a resident of Ijebu-Ode told the police that he is a herbalist and added that he got the legs from his friend, Lukman, who he said told him that he exhumed and severed the body parts from a cemetery.
READ ALSO: Child trafficking: Middle-aged woman nabbed in Makurdi
“I truly bought two fresh human legs, but I was not involved in the murder of the victim. I was approached by my friend, Lukman, who told me he had a pair of legs to sell. I told him I did not need them, but he convinced me to use them for ritual to better my life, and I agreed.
“When I told him I was not taught how to make money rituals as a traditionalist, he referred me to one of his friends Oye, popularly known as Egbeji in Isiwo.
“After learning from that his friend, I burnt the legs and kept same, with plans to complete the ritual when I returned from Ajah.
“But my daughter called me while I was at Ajah that policemen came to search for me. So, I later sneaked in and took away the burnt legs so that I would not be caught with any evidence,” he said.
The suspect, however, denied attempting to bribe the police, saying a lawyer had told him to provide N10 million to secure his release, but he was only able to gather N1 million.
He said he was arrested when he went to deliver the money to the lawyer.