A native doctor, Ayangbesan Ifasoji, who had been on the wanted list of Ogun State Police Command for alleged ritual killings and purchase of human parts before he was recently arrested, has denied frequent engagement in the crime, as he said he only bought two feet from another native doctor, Oladele Lukmon, just once for N20,000.
Ifasoji, aged 35, also said that it was his first time of purchasing the human part for money making ritual for himself.
Parading the suspect last Wednesday, the state Commissioner of Police, Olanrewaju Yomi Oladimeji, told journalists that Ifasoji, along with Lukmon, Taiwo and six others, killed and dismembered a mother of two, Oyindamola Adeyemi, and shared the victim’s body parts for ritual purpose.
The police commissioner said that Ifasoji, who purchased the victim’s feet, went into hiding after others were apprehended in January. Eleven days ago, the suspect was reportedly fished out of his hiding place in Ijebu Imushin where he had been since the search for him began, and decided to offer a bribe of N1 million to detectives for them to let him go.
The police commissioner stated further that the money, which was displayed with the suspect during the parade, was however rejected by the policemen from Obalende Division in Ijebu Ode, adding that he would be charged to court to join other suspects already remanded in prison and undergoing trial.
Ifasoji, who is from Iloti Quarters in Ijebu Ode, narrated his story thus: “I’m a native doctor. I was trained in divination and native medicine by my late father, Kosija Ayangbesan, but he didn’t teach me on money making ritual.
“What happened was that when Lukmon was arrested, he mentioned my name as the one to whom he sold the feet of a lady killed for ritual. It is true that I bought the fresh human feet when Lukmon told me he had them. He said he got them from a corpse exhumed by him after it was buried.
“I paid N20,000 for them and made him to know that I didn’t have the knowledge of the process to go through performing the ritual. He enjoined me to purchase them, asking me to go to one Oye, popularly called Egbeji, at Isiwo, Ijebu Ode, saying that he would tell me how to do it.
“I called Egbeji and told him about the parts I purchased, and he told me that he would help me with the ritual process for me to be rich. After going through the process in Egbeji’s hands, I collected the feet and burnt them with some herbs as I was told to do. I poured the ashes in a bottle and kept it at home so as to be taking it by mouth regularly.
“However, when I heard that Lukmon had been arrested and policemen came to my house, I threw the bottle into the bush and ran away from home. I had not taken the concoction then.
“On January 3 this year, I went to Ajah to celebrate the yearly festival of Ifa and make sacrifices for some faithful. On the 4th, I was called by my daughter that policemen were in my house and my name was mentioned as a buyer of human parts of a lady killed. I told a lie that I didn’t have such a thing. I became afraid and ran into hiding in Ijebu Imushin. I didn’t know anyone there; I stayed in a lonely hut for months.”
Saying that it was his first time of buying human parts from Lukmon, the suspect disclosed: “I did the money making ritual for myself. It was Egbeji who encouraged me to do the ritual. He said I would become rich.”
When asked if he had known Egbeji to be deeply engaged in using human parts for rituals, the suspect could not respond.
On how he got a million naira he tried to bribe police with if he was not financially buoyant, the suspect said he gathered it from friends.
“When police came to my house but did not meet me, some poeple called and told me, I went to someone who said he would help me to get a lawyer. When he did, he and the lawyer went to the police station. The lawyer called me that the matter would involve money but I didn’t have enough. I started working on a farm and also begged some friends for assistance. I was able to get N1 million out of N10 million requested for. I brought the money to the police station with the lawyer but was told to sit down while my photograph was taken with it. I know I have done a lot of wrongs; I just plead for mercy from the government.”
This, however, was a far cry from what Lukmon told the Nigerian Tribune in an interview on January 6 when he was arrested. He said that Ifasoji had been buying human parts from him, and usually required particular body parts he needed before he (Lukmon), in connivance with his accomplice, Ajalorun Taiwo, would search for a commercial sex worker to lure and kill.
According to Lukmon in the interview, “before we invited Oyindamola on December 28, 2022, Ifasoji had been asking for the human parts that he used to buy. He lives at Iloti on Epe Road. He usually bought the head, feet and chunks of meat from the human body. He used to send bike riders to come and pick the parts or I would take them to him.
“…The native doctor (Ifasoji) who requested for the human parts came that same night we killed Oyindamola to collect them. He said he would pay N50,000 for the head, N40,000 for the hands and N30,000 for the feet. The heart was taken by Taiwo who said he needed it for one of his clients.
“Ifasoji was always coming to my area, with the request for human parts. He is also a native doctor. He said that the person he used to purchase them from in the past was dead. One day, I went to his house and met him burning something. He told me that it was one of the body parts he got from me.”
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