Rituals: Court remands two brothers for allegedly exhuming father’s corpse

The Police in Kwara on Tuesday arraigned two brothers, Abdullateef Adekanye and Yusuf Adekanye, before an Ilorin Magistrates’ Court, for allegedly exhuming their father’s corpse for ritual.

The defendants, whose house addresses were not given, are facing two count charges of criminal conspiracy and exhuming human carcass from grave.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Moshood Adebayo, said that the duo allegedly led some people to their family compound and removed the remains of their late father, Dr Zakarya Adekanye, from the grave without the knowledge of other family members.

Adebayo alleged that the defendants desecrated the burial ground, the Agba Akin court, Offa, where their late father had been interred since 2012 according to Islamic rites.

He told the court that the defendants had allegedly exhumed and packed all the skeletons away for ritual purpose, saying the offence contravened Sections 97 and 226 of Penal Code Law.

The prosecutor urged the court to remand the defendants in the Correctional Centre, arguing that their alleged offences were heinous.

The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Magistrate Mohammed Adams Oke-Okura, acquiesced to the prosecutor’s plea and ordered the defendants in a correctional centre.

He adjourned the case untill April 12, for further mention.