The police have arrested five suspected ritualists for the murder of a commercial sex worker in Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Okasanmi Ajayi, confirmed this in a statement on Friday.
Ajayi identified the suspects as Samuel Peter Tsado, Mohammed Gbara, Abubakar Mohammed, Mohammed Ahmadu Nma and Bala Karin.
According to him, the victim, simply identified as Abigail, was lured from the hotel where she worked, taken to the home of one of the suspects before she was beheaded for money ritual purposes.
He said: “On June 29, 2021, at about 23:08hrs, an unknown young person, later identified as Samuel Peter Tsado ‘m’ of Patigi town in Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State, went to one Victory Hotel Patigi and requested for the service of a commercial sex worker by name Abigail ‘f’ (other names unknown).
“After the monetary negotiation of N5,000, both Peter and Abigail left the hotel premises to an unknown place, ever since then both of them were not seen again. On the receipt of the report of a missing person, the commissioner of police, who suspected foul play directed the case be taken over by the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for a discreet investigation.”
Ajayi said investigations led to the arrest of Tsado, who confessed that he actually contracted the deceased for sex.
Tsado was said to have planned with another suspect, Mohammed Agbara, and agreed on how to do money rituals in furtherance of their desires, the police added.
After plotting how to source the human head that would be needed for the money rituals, one of the suspects left his house at Patigi for Victory Hotel with his motorcycle where he approached the victim.
It was gathered that the late Abigail thereafter agreed to follow Tsado to his house after agreeing on N5,000 for the night.
Ajayi added: “At Samuel Peters home where Mohammed Gbara ‘m’ an accomplice was already waiting, Abigail was strangulated by the duo of Samuel Peter Tsado and Mohammed Gbara, the head of late Abigail was severed with a knife, the headless body of the deceased was conveyed by the suspects on Samuel Peter Tsado’s motorcycle and dumped in the bush along Patigi/Rifun road.
“Both Samuel and Mohammed went away separately, to reassemble in Bida on 30/6/2021. While in Bida, the deceased head was kept in Mohammed Abubakar ‘m’ a.k.a. Mallam Baba Pati’s home awaiting the arrival of the ritualist from Maiduguri in Borno State for the money ritual exercise.”
To get to the root of the matter, police detectives went to Bida and Minna in Niger State, where three other suspects were arrested.
Upon arrest, the suspects “confessed to the offence and also confessed to have been involved in an earlier ritual attempt using a hand of one victim yet to be identified.
“The suspects took detectives to the bush where the carcass of the deceased was recovered. Efforts to recover the head of the deceased were still in progress as the custodian of the head is still at large, but he will certainly be arrested and brought to justice.”
Reacting to the incident, the Commissioner of Police, Tuesday Assayomo, warned criminals to stay clear of Kwara as the state would be too hot for them to dwell in.
Assayomo assured Kwara State residents of their safety, asking for more collaboration in tackling crimes.
