In Ilorin, Kwara State capital, digging up fresh graves in
cemeteries in search for selected human parts has become a daily occurrence
that “Rest in peace” and “Sleep on beloved” often engraved on tombstones have
become meaningless as the dead are violated in their resting place by
ritualists.
Sources told The Guardian, Muslim cemeteries at Oseere and
public cemeteries at Oke-Oyi, a sleepy settlement adjoining Ilorin from the
east, are the worst hit.
“We took the remains of a brother to the cemetery early this
month and laid him to rest according to the Islamic rites. But when we returned
to the grave two days after with the aim of putting concrete on the tomb, to
our surprise we met a dismembered body outside the grave,” a source told The
Guardian in Ilorin.
Another source said: “At Oke-Oyi, we went to pray at the
tomb of our departed mother barely a year after her death only to see bits of
the wooden casket on the tomb rather than inside the grave suggesting that some
people might have tampered with the remains after burial.”
Former Secretary of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)
Dr. Olusola Ajolore urged the government especially local councils, to
intensify efforts at providing adequate security at the cemeteries in Kwara
State.
According to Ajolore: “Apart from profaning the cemeteries,
the act should be seen as criminal and ungodly. But we need more security at
the cemeteries to stem the vice.”
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