Herbalists, cleric paid me N4,000 to slaughter woman – suspect

A 55-year-old man, Toafeek Adam, who was arrested with the head and other body parts of a woman, has told the police that he was paid N4,000 to carry out the killing.

Adam was paraded on Wednesday by the police at the headquarters of the Lagos State police Command in Ikeja.

He told newsmen that two herbalists and an Islamic cleric participated in the killing of the woman near Ikoga River in Badagry area of Lagos State on Tuesday.

The deceased was said to have been taken from a commercial bus she boarded from Sango-Ota to Badagry.

The herbalists and the Islamic cleric, who were also in the vehicle, sprayed a powdery substance on the woman, who then slept off.

Adam told newsmen: “I was approached by one Baba Ronke Herbalist, where I was selling firewood and coconut at Badagry to kill a woman.

“The woman was brought from Sango-Ota by an herbalist and the Islamic Cleric to Baba Ronke in Badagry for spiritual cleansing.

“When we got to the river with the deceased and the Islamic cleric and the herbalist, I was promised N4,000 after the operation.

“On that fateful day, when they arrived Badagry, Baba Ronke called me on phone and I led the Islamic cleric and the other herbalist to the river where the cleansing wanted to take place.

“When got to the river, the woman was ordered to kneel down by Baba Ronke.

“When all this was going on, she was unconscious.

“Immediately she knell down, he brought out his knife and slaughtered the woman from behind and blood started gushing out from her neck.

“Baba Ronke then brought out another knife and removed the woman heart, two hands and head.

“We started the operation around 9am and finished by 11am.

“But before killing the woman, the woman said they brought her from Sango-Ota, while the Islamic cleric had collected her phone and bag containing money.

“The Islamic cleric could not go with the parts.

“He begged me to bring it for him at Sango.

“I was going to deliver it when policemen sighted me and I was arrested and other parts of the woman were later recovered in the scene.

“When I was arrested, I begged the policemen not to alert the Islamic cleric, who was still around the area.

“Immediately the Alfa noticed I have been arrested, he bolted and ran away.”

Adam confessed that he had been used for the killing of another woman before now.

He said: “After I killed the first woman, few months later, I lost three of my children consecutively.

“I believe God is using the death of my children to punish me.

“I regret my action God should forgive me and have mercy on me.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said, the victim boarded a vehicle from Sango-Ota when she fell into the hands of the ritualists.

Owoseni said: “We have contacted the victim family members who confirmed she boarded a commercial bus from Sango to Badagry.

“We are going to get to the root of the matter and arrest the buyers of the body parts.”

Owoseni advised Lagosians to stop boarding vehicles by the roadside but to make use of proper garages.