Kwara pastor who allegedly exhumed corpse in community cemetery granted bail
By Kayode Adeoti
A 40-year-old pastor, Olarenwaju Adewoye and four others who were accused of being in possession of human parts were on Tuesday granted bail of N200,000 each at an Ilorin Magistrates Court.
The other accused persons are; Oluwasegun Raphael, Oluwasegun Joseph, Fatoyinbo Augustine and Kunle Ajamu, all residents ofย ย Idofin Aiyekale in Oke-Ero Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The Chief Magistrate, Bio Salihu, who presided over the matter, adjourned the case till July 3 for further mention.
The prosecutor, Insp.ย ย Isaac Yakub, said that the accused persons trespassed into a burial ground belonging to Oke-Ero Community and exhumed human skulls and bones.
Yakub said that the accused were arraigned on a four-count charge of criminal conspiracy, criminal trespass into place of burial, mischief and unlawful possession of human parts, contrary to Sections 97, 213, 327 and 219 of Penal Code Law.
The accused, however, denied exhuming human parts.
Recall that this medium in its Monday edition reported that the quintet allegedly exhumed corpses from the cemetery in Idofin Aiyekale.
According to police source, the case was reported at the divisional police headquarters in Oke-Ero by Owolabi Isiah , a member of the community.
“Isaih informed the police that some people reported to him that they noticed suspicious movements at the community’s grave yard. On getting there he discovered some graves have been tampered with.
ย โHe alerted other community members and they found the suspects at the scene.ย ย When queried, the pastor and his accomplices claimed that they were clearing the cemetery.
He added that when the suspects discovered that the game was up, they took to their heels.
“The command deployed intelligence officers to the community in search of the suspects and not long after they were nabbed following tip off.
โThe case was later transferred to the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department of the state police headquarters for discreet investigation.
“During interrogation, the suspects claimed to be worshippers at a church situated close to the burial ground and were just clearing the church surrounding,โ the source informed our reporter.
The police source further divulged that a search conducted in one of the houses owned by the church led to the recovery of human skulls and bones of other body parts.
