Suspected Ritualists Posing As Mad Man Set Ablaze In delta

A suspected ritualist who has been posing as a mad man has been set ablaze in Delta State.

It was gathered that the incident occurred on Thursday, January 7 at Ughelli, in the Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.

People became suspicious of the deceased when he was reportely seen with an expensive android phone amongst a crowd.

When some people tried to approach him, he pulled out the SIM card from the phone, swallowed it and fled the scene.

A witness told Punch that they were shocked that a mentally deranged individual would own such an expensive phone.

“At first, people thought that he stole the phone from somebody in the crowd, but when he started running and swallowed the SIM card, it became clear that he was not a mad man. He was caught and they began to beat him to get information from him.”

The source also informed the publication that the suspect had been apprehended in the past by the police when he was caught speaking to someone on the phone.

A tricycle operator who was arrested with the deceased said he allegedly had over N12m in his account.

“When we got to the station, they discovered from bank messages on the phone that the suspect was having over N12m in his bank account.

“I was released a few hours later because mine was a licence issue, so I do not know what happened next. I was surprised to see the same suspected mad man a few days later.”

DSP Bright Edafe, state police spokesperson, corroborated the incident.

He said: “One man was set ablaze in Ughelli community by a mob, but the motive behind the incident is yet to be ascertained.”