Man dies digging grave to steal skull in Osun State.

An unidentified young man in Ilobu community, in
the Irepodun LGA of Osun State, was found head
deep in a grave in the early hours of Wednesday May
14th, after allegedly attempting to cut off the head of
a corpse, buried in Tonto compound in the area,
Saturday Tribune reports
The suspect's accomplices fled in terror after
seeing half his body get stuck mysteriously in the
grave. His death has generated concern among
the terrified residents of the Ilobu community.
It was gathered that the victim and his partners in
crime allegedly came to Tonto compound in the
early hours of Wednesday with a plot to exhume
the corpse of an aged woman and sever her
decomposed head, allegedly for ritual purposes.
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A credible source in the community, who did not
want to be named, told Saturday Tribune that "this
particular corpse was buried five years ago and the
suspected ritualist attended the burial in Ilobu."
He explained: "There are indications that he did not
dig the grave alone. What we discovered is that he
may have been attempting to cut off the head of the
corpse when something suddenly hooked him as he
managed to force half of his body into the grave to
cut off the head.
"He got hooked and died on the spot, a development
which possibly compelled other ritualists to run away
from the scene so that they may not be affected by
the mysterious thing that killed (their colleague)."
While commenting on how the residents of Ilobu got
to know about the incident, since it happened in the
wee hours, the source said a woman who was
hawking ogi (a local corn meal) early in the morning
of Wednesday spotted the torso of the suspect
sticking out of the grave and raised the alarm.
"His corpse was discovered around 6.30am and his
head was covered in mud. The residents here alerted
the police division in Ilobu and they later came to
evacuate the body and put it in their van before
taking him away," he said.
Saturday Tribune was informed that the remains of
the suspected ritualist were subsequently taken to
and deposited at the mortuary of the Ladoke Akintola
University Teaching Hospital (LAUTECH), Osogbo, the
state capital.
When contacted, the Commissioner of Police in Osun
State, Mr Ibrahim Maishanu, said he was aware of the
incident, and that the police would conduct
investigation to determine what led to the suspect's
death.
He said the police could not confirm that the suspect
was a ritualist because of the circumstances
surrounding the discovery of his corpse at a grave in
Ilobu; that they would have to investigate the matter
before giving any concrete information on the
incident.
Source: Nigerian Tribune