By Ojo Peter, Ibadan
Nemesis has caught up with a 23-year-old suspected yahoo boy identified as Rilwanu Salami who died mysteriously after bathing with “spiritual soaps” in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
Orient Daily learnt that late Salami came to Ibadan with his two friends to meet an Islamic cleric for a spiritual bath which eventually sent him to his early grave.
A police trusted source revealed that after the bath in the house of the cleric, Salami thereafter went to the house of another Alfa known as Fagbemi to witness an Egungun festival.
In a statement made available to the Police at State CID, Panti, Yaba Lagos, Alfa Fagbemi said, “When the deceased took his bath with the soaps, he came to my house to watch the Egungun festival. He had different brands of soaps with him. While he was relaxing, the Egungun started their display outside my house; this made Rilwanu come out to watch the scene briefly.
“As I entered the room, he said he was feeling headache and cold. I gave him Paracetamol to calm down the headache, but before I knew what was happening, he could not talk again. This forced me to call his father in Lagos. The father then instructed me to quickly bring his son to Lagos for proper attention. We came to Lagos by Danfo bus.”
Narrating his own side of the story, Salami’s father, Mr. Nureni Salami, said that he told the Alfa to bring his son to Lagos when he was informed that his son was not feeling well, only for me to discover that the sickness was serious for him not be able to talk. I suspected foul play because my son did not tell me that he was going to Ibadan to have a spiritual bath.
“He has two friends who I had ordered him not to move with but he failed to listen to me. I was not comfortable to see him moving with those friends and I had repeatedly warned him to stay away from them.
“So when Alfa Fagbemi brought him to Lagos. He tried to escape but we apprehended him and handed him over to the Police at Elere Police Station in Agege, Lagos. My son died the second day,” he said.
Meanwhile, the police at State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba, are currently investigating the case.