The Grandfather Who Sells Human Head For N1000 Arrested

The Lagos State Police Command has
arrested a grandfather, Mr. Segun Kayode,
for allegedly exhuming and selling human
parts.
According to the police, the suspect, who works
at a cemetery in Epe area of the state, was
arrested with a human skull.
Police sources said the suspect sold human parts
for a living, adding that he had become notorious
in the area for selling human parts.
It was learnt that the suspect was arrested
following a report by a resident who saw him
displaying a skull for sale.
The grandfather, who could not give his exact
age, said he started selling human parts because
he was poor and jobless.
He said, "I live at 2,Tungbehin Street, Epe. I have
two children and I am a grandfather. I have
always been poor all my life because I had no
formal or informal education. I used to be a
fisherman but when there were no longer fishes
in rivers in my area, I became a gardener at Epe
Local Government Secretariat
"About four years ago, the LG said they no
longer needed my services so I started trimming
grass at a cemetery in the area."
The suspect, who did not deny the allegations,
said there was nothing wrong in selling dead
people's parts since the dead never used them.
He said one day, while he was clearing weeds in
the cemetery, he noticed a human skull which
had been dug up.
He said, "Most times, when a corpse is not
buried with a coffin, the possibility of the corpse
resurfacing is very high. So, what workers at the
cemetery do is to gather some of the corpses and
burn them instead of burying them again.
"I realised that this was not a smart thing to do
since it would be better to make money from it.
The families of these dead people never care
about them once they are buried and weeds had
taken over the cemetery."
The suspect said he sold only two corpses while
he had on numerous occasions given them out
for free.
He said, "I have sold only two human heads. I
sold the first one for N1, 000 while I sold the
second one for N1, 500. Last week, a resident
approached me saying an herbalist needed the
head so I got a decomposed head, for him,
washed it and put it on a fence to dry.
"A resident saw me and raised the alarm and
that was how I was arrested."
PUNCH Metro had reported last week that five
people, including an herbalist, were arrested for
selling human parts.
A police source told one of our correspondents
that the trend was common in areas where
public cemeteries were situated.
"Areas which are not located in the metropolis
and have cemeteries have become the hideout
for cartels which specialise in sale of human
parts. We (police) have reason to believe that
some of these human parts dealers also engage
in ritual killing," he said.
The source added that efforts were going on to
arrest other human parts sellers in the area.
When contacted on the telephone, the
spokesperson for the state police command,
Ngozi Braide, confirmed Kayode's arrest. She
said he had been transferred to State Criminal
Investigation Department, Yaba.