A suspected ritualist, Alfa Tunde Olayiwola, who was in police custody in Akure, Ondo state, over alleged possession of a human skull slumped and died on Saturday.
The police made this known on Sunday, according to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Police spokesman, DSP Olufunmilayo Odunlami, who confirmed the death of the suspect on Sunday, denied that he was tortured to death.
Odunlami said that the suspect was behaving strangely on Saturday evening and was rushed to a hospital where he was later confirmed dead.
“Even in the hospital there was no sign or mark of violence on his body; he was not tortured.
“He couldn’t have been tortured because the truth of his complicity was already in the open.
“Those who were present when Olayiwola was paraded before newsmen would have noticed that he was not tortured,’’ Odunlami said.
Police commissioner in Ondo State, Mr Oyeyemi Oyediran, paraded Olayiwola before newsmen on December 23 in Akure alongside eight others arrested for various crimes.
Oyediran explained then that Olayiwola was suspected to be involved in money rituals and was arrested on December 23 in Oka in Ondo Township.
“On December 23 at about 9.20 a.m., police received information that a self-acclaimed cleric named Alfa Tunde Olayiwola was about to receive a consignment suspected to be a human skull.
“The Police immediately swung into action and the cleric was apprehended at Ajagbale Area of Oka, Ondo Town.
“A fresh human skull was found in Olayiwola’s custody when he was arrested.
“Olayiwola confessed that the skull found in his possession was to be used to ensure he had a better life,” Oyediran had told newsmen on December 23.
(NAN)