The founder, Northern Friends of The South South and a businessman and foreign exchange dealer, Suleiman Yerima, remanded in Kirikiri prison custody following an on-going trial by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been reported dead.

Mr. Yerima was said to have died last Friday during the end of Ramadan fasting prayers on the Muslim praying ground in Kirikiri prison, Lagos.

Officials told PRNigeria, an organisation that releases statements for security agencies, that the businessman suddenly slumped while prayers were ongoing and was subsequently rushed to the medical facility by prisons officials and the visiting imams.

He was later pronounced dead.

Although results of the autopsy on the corpse was still being awaited, Mr. Yerima is suspected to have died of natural causes as preliminary examinations showed that he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, which led to his slumping during the prayers, PRNigeria.