A man in his late forties was apprehended by police in the southwest state of Ogun for bathing in blood.
Residents in the area raised the alarm after spotting the man performing the act in a river.
According to a statement on Thursday, December 15, issued by the state police spokesman, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, the suspect, a resident of No 4, Oguji street, Obantoko, Abeokuta, was arrested while committing the act on the same day.
He was said to have been apprehended at a community river in Odeda local government’s Kotopo area.
According to a police spokesman, the suspect was apprehended after members of the community spotted him at the River Bank, where he had parked his Nissan commercial vehicle, emerged with a local sponge and a container filled with blood, and began bathing with it.
The statement added:
“Immediately he discovered that some people are watching him, he took to his heels, but was chased and apprehended by members of the community.
“A call was made to the police at Aregbe divisional headquarters by a member of the community, and the DPO, SP Bunmi Asogbon quickly led the patrol team to the scene where the suspect was arrested.
“On interrogation, the suspect claimed to have a spiritual problem, and that a herbalist instructed him to perform the ritual.“He claimed further that the blood in his possession is not human blood, but that of cow.”
The state commissioner of police, Lanre Bankole, has directed that the remaining blood should be taken for laboratory analysis to ascertain whether it was human blood or not.