There was pandemonium on Thursday at the Otokutu Bridge in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State following the arrest of a middle-aged man suspected to be a ritualist.
The man was caught with a human skull and other items in his possession.
The suspected ritualist, who was said to have been caught by the vigilante group in the area, was set ablaze by an angry mob few minutes after his arrest.
The incident, it was learnt, caused gridlock on the popular DSC Expressway as commuters and vehicle owners making use of that route spent several hours on top of the bridge.
Narrating the incident to our correspondent, a lady who witnessed the scenario, said the suspect had been acting like a deranged person around the bridge for the past months before he was discovered on Thursday when he tried to attack a motorcycle rider.
The woman said, “The ritualist who has been pretending to be a mad man for several months was about to attack and kill an Okada man who went close to the Otokutu Bridge when he was discovered.
“But as God will have it, the Okada rider escaped from the ritualist and he went to town and informed youths in the area.
“On getting to the place, the mob saw the mad man making a call with a phone and upon sighting the people, he immediately threw the phone into a nearby river.
“The youths and the vigilante conducted a search and a human skull suspected to be that of a lady and other handsets were found with him.
“Upon questioning him, he confessed to belonging to a notorious ritualist gang but declined to give more details and at this point, a mob poured him fuel and set him ablaze.”
It was gathered that despite the presence of policemen at the scene, the mob succeeded in setting ablaze the suspected ritualist.”
Calls and messages to the spokesperson for the police in the state, Onome Onovwakpoyeya, were not responded to.
