The second defendant in an ongoing murder case at Oyo State High Court, Ibadan, Opeyemi Ramoni, popularly known as Alubarika, on Monday admitted that the human head and human legs that he was holding in pictures taken by law enforcement agents and tendered as exhibits were fresh.
His response followed questions asked by the Oyo State Attorney-General, Mr Abiodun Aikomo, who led the prosecution team. He was shown the pictures tendered as exhibits and told: “Look at this picture, what can you see?
He replied: “Human head.” He was asked again: “Is it fresh?” to which he responded: “Yes.”
He was given the second picture and asked: “What again can you see?” to which he replied: “Human legs.”
“Were they fresh or rotten?,” he was asked. He replied: “In the picture, they were fresh.”
The continued hearing was of the case for which he and the first defendant, Tayo Akinrinola, are standing trial at Court 9, presided over by Justice M.I. Sule, on a four-count charge of conspiracy, murder, unlawful possession of human head and indecent interference with dead human body.
The two defendants were accused of conspiring to murder and dismember one Seun at a community school at Mokola area of Ibadan in October 2023.
Alubarika had earlier claimed during cross examination by the defendant counsel, Mr Adebola Ogungbe, that he saw maggots in the body parts, with flies buzzing around them, while the police poured petrol on them to get rid of the odour.
The first defendant, Akinrinola, had said on February 17 during his narration of the incident that led to his arrest that he severed the head of a corpse he found in the bush, and not a living being whom he wrote in the statement made at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku. In one of his three statements, he wrote that he killed Tunde by stabbing before cutting his head and other body parts.
Alubarika also denied all written in the statements he reportedly made, saying that he was forced to sign them without their being read to him.
At a point, the Attorney General, leading the prosecution team asked the second defendant to read from Exhibits B4 and B5, with the belief that he could do so with his senior secondary school certificate education, but he replied that he could not, save ‘Arabic Studies’ written as part of the statement. He asked the court interpreter to help him read because he was not the one who wrote it.
Led in evidence by the his defence counsel, Mr Adebola Ogungbe, on Monday, Alubarika (Opeyemi Ramoni), who identified himself as an Arabic teacher, narrated his involvement with the case: “I knew the first defendant through my brother. He was engaged in bricklaying. On October 16, 2023, I was coming from Gbagi area. I got Akinrinola’s repeated calls but didn’t have the opportunity to pick them because I was driving.
“I parked and called him back, and he said he needed the money he asked from me for his son’s school fees. I asked him where he was and he said Agbarigo area. I told him to come to where I was but he said he had no money with him. So, I told him to wait for me there as I would come to him.
“I got to Agbarigo area and called him to know his exact location. I saw him come out of police vehicle with the officers escorting him. I asked him if he had smoked his usual marijuana which warranted his arrest, but the police told me it was more than that. I asked him what happened and he told me that he severed a human head from a corpse he saw in the bush. The police asked him to untie the bag and show me but I said there was no need for that because of the odour that would pollute the air.
“The police asked for the settlement of the issue, and Tayo asked me for the N15,000 he requested from me for his son and begged me to add N5,000 to it to make N20,000. When I counted the money to give them, the police said that they were no longer collecting the amount, but N200,000. I told them I could not give them the amount as I did not commit any crime. We started dragging it, and they asked us to move to their station to settle it as we had been at the spot for long. Before we moved, someone came in a car, parked and spoke with the police. What I heard from them was ‘he’s the one.’ The man told them to take me to the station.
“When we got there, they said they no longer wanted N200,000 but N1 million. They said they would allow me to call those who would support me in raising the money. I told them that I didn’t have the money to give them because I didn’t know anything about the matter. The policeman who met us there said: ‘Sebi iwo ni olugbeja (you’re the one that knows how to defend).’ I was thereafter locked in a cell.
“Between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m., they told me to look for the money at daybreak or else I would not like what would happen to me. In the morning, three police officers came to the cell entrance. One of them said I was the one dragging land issues with others at Alapata Community at Apete where I was living. He said it’s better for me to look for the money. I told them I had no money to give and they left.
“An hour later, I was picked from the cell. About 15 minutes after, they brought me and Akinrinola out. The human head was placed on my vehicle. They sprinkled petrol on it because of flies. Some of them recorded us with their phones, after which they asked us to pack the body parts in the bag they were brought out of. They took us to State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku. On getting there, they handed us over to police officers that were there. They took the pictures of the three of us with the head and individually. Thereafter, they took us to the cell. It was at about 11 a.m. on October 17.
“Thereafter, they took Tayo to another place. About two and a half hours later, they brought me and Taofeek Olalekan out to take our statements. I met the police officer that led the SRS team that arrested Tayo. They asked me to explain what happened and when I spoke, they said I should say the same thing the police officer said. I refused and they asked me to pull off my clothes. They started beating me. They tightened the handcuffs holding my hands and hit me with sticks. They told me that what they were doing to me was incomparable to that of Tayo, and I should follow them to see.
“I got there and saw him lying down, with his tightly-cuffed hands tied to a chair. His head was bleeding. I saw pick axe, machete and sticks used in beating him. They asked if I wanted to be treated that way and I said no. I told them I would cooperate but they should remember that those who arrested me asked for N1 million. They told me they could not write that. They wrote what they wanted and told me to sign and I did.”
On his claim that he was not arrested with Akinrinola, Olalekan and the sack containing the human parts while they were all together in his car, the prosecution team leader asked him why he didn’t go back to his house when he got to Agbarigo and was told what Tayo did, he replied that the police didn’t release him.
The judge adjourned the case until April 15 for the final written address.
