Suspected ritualists gruesomely murder pregnant woman in Kwara

• Her dismembered body was found at Temidire 4, a sleepy countryside in Egbejila, Ilorin, on Thursday

An unnamed pregnant woman has been grisly murdered by suspected ritualists in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital.

The dismembered body of the slain woman was found at Temidire 4, a sleepy countryside in Egbejila, Ilorin, on Thursday.

The horrific killing has sent a shockwave across the community and left its residents in apprehension.

A local, who is privy to the troubling incident, said it is eerily similar to a recent ritual case in Ilorin involving a self-styled cleric, Abdulrahaman Bello, who murdered Yetunde Lawal, a final year student of Kwara College of Education, Ilorin, for body parts.

Residents of the community said the victim, whose husband is a trader in agricultural chemicals and equipment in a border town in Kwara North, had been alone at home on Wednesday night.

According to DAILY POST, eyewitnesses disclosed that she was preparing to host a visitor that evening as she was seen buying bottles of beer and plates of pepper soup before retiring indoors for the night.

“By dawn, suspicion arose when a neighbour reportedly confronted a man, believed to be her husband’s younger brother, leaving the house with a dripping black nylon bag.

“The liquid trail, on closer inspection, turned out to be blood. An alarm was raised immediately, drawing other members of the community.

“Horrifically, body parts suspected to belong to the victim, including an arm, a leg and entrails, were later discovered in nearby bushes, but the head was nowhere to be found,” the media outlet quoted locals as saying.

Trepidation grows quickly through the community as murmurs of ritual motives gathered traction, inflaming long-standing ethnic suspicions and stereotypes among residents.

The incident has further eroded the weak relationship and heightened distrust among the residents of the diverse and heterogeneous settlement, as they hurled accusations and counter-accusations at one another.

Police sources confirmed that the case has been transferred from the Budo Nuhu Divisional Headquarters along Airport Road to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Ilorin for further probe.