...Decries rising wave of ritual killings

Kwara state police command yesterday paraded the suspected killer of a farmer in Rore, Irepodun local government area of the state.

The suspect, a welder whose name was given as Segun Bamidele at the weekend allegedly hacked the farmer Sunday Owolabi to death in his farm and severed his head. The command paraded the suspect holding the headless body of the deceased at the police headquarters in Ilorin, the state capital.

Parading the suspect, the state police Commissioner Samuel Okaula said that "during investigation, Segun Bamidele confessed that he killed the victim with a cutlass in his farm at Rore and severed the head which he took to a herbalist for sale. "The suspect took policemen to a bush where he hid the head, while cutlass used to killing the victim was retrieved."

Mr. Okaula added that the suspect would be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded. The commissioner the command had arrested three siblings for killing drug peddler Rohimat, wife of one Kehinde Babatunde of Igba-Iroko village, Asa local government area of the state.

The suspects are Saidi Amadu, Idris Amadu and Quadri Ayodele. Said he: "The three suspects confessed that they conspired to commit the heinous crime in order to implicate their elder brother Ayodele Amadu now in prison. Their elder brother is said to have taken a larger portion of the property left behind by their late father. "They also confirmed that their elder brother Ayodele Adamu is innocent of the crime." He decried the rising incidences of ritual killings within themetropolis and its environs.

The commissioner also paraded two members of Eiye Confraternity, adding that the suspects were arrested at Ita-Kure/Oja-Iya area of Ilorin. The suspected cultists' names are Muhammed Zulukannani and Tunde Busari. He listed the items recovered from them as two-cut-to-size double barrel gun, five live cartridges, one blue faze cap and criminal charms.

He added that one John Akpebe an alleged notorious cultist in the state is currently in police custody in connection with rival cults clash at Taiwo Isale area of the town. He said the suspected cultist is a member of Aiye Secret Cult, adding that police recovered one locally made pistol and one empty cartridge from him.