A man said to be a mortuary attendant, Kushimo Lukman, has been arrested in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, for cutting off the head of a deceased boy.

Kushimo Lukman, was arrested by men of the Ogun State Government-owned security outfit, the So-Safe Corps on Tuesday morning after he had exhumed the corpse and cut off its head.

The deceased was said to have been brought for burial after he reportedly died of kidney disease complications at the Federal Medical Center, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta.

The dead body was said to have been buried in the presence of his parents on Monday, only for Kushimo to go back to the burial site and severed the head.

The So-Safe Corps said the suspect was “an acclaimed mortuary attendant working with MABOD at Oke-Yidi, Abule Oloni, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.”

According to the So-Safe Corps spokesman, Moruf Yusuf, Lukman, who resides at 9, Abule Oloni, Oke Yidi, Abeokuta, was arrested by officers of the agency, while on routine patrol.

He was apprehended “after he had beheaded the corpse of a male minor at the Oke Yidi cemetery in Abeokuta.”

Yusuf told journalists that the suspect confessed during interrogation that “the beheaded corpse was brought to the cemetery from the Federal Medical Centre FMC, Abeokuta, after he died due to complications from a kidney disease.”

The suspect was quoted to have said that the “the parents of the boy, who came from Ibadan, sought his assistance as a mortuary attendant to get the body buried,” adding that “he buried the boy's body inside the cemetery, in the presence of his parents at about 19:00hrs on Monday.”

However, the suspect was said to have later gone back to the cemetery at 6am on Tuesday, “to severe the head of the buried boy, and he was caught after a fierce fight with the So-Safe officers, who later overpowered him.”

Yusuf added that the suspect “confessed that the fresh head was requested for by one Chief Ifalonishe (AKA Lanroye) at the rate of N50,000,” saying “it was supposed to be delivered to him at a designated point within Abeokuta.”

Meanwhile, the state Commander of the corps, Soji Ganzallo, has ordered the operation department of the corps to ensure that the accomplices are apprehended and brought to book alongside his numerous clients. 

It was learnt that the suspect has been handed over to the Ogun State Police Command, Eleweran, Abeokuta, for further investigation and likely prosecution.