5-year-old girl critically ill in hospital after money ritualists cut her private part

FOR five-year-old Hawa’u, there can’t be a more horrible day than Wednesday, December 30, 2020. That day has left her with a scar that is going to last a lifetime.

At about 3.00 p.m., she was sent on an errand to a neighbour’s house. The locality is called Kasuwan Shanu, in Unguwar Zango in Jama’are town. It was while running the errand that two men accosted her. The men first asked her to go into the same house she had been sent to and call out one Maryam for them, knowing well that there was no Maryam in that house.

When she was told inside the house that there was no one with such name, she innocently came out to tell the suspects. It was at that point that they seized her and took her to a nearby uncompleted building where they removed her vagina.

In spite of the pains she was able to run home, which is about 30 meters away from the scene where the cruel act was meted out to her. Unfortunately for her attackers, some boys recognised them and saw them committing the crime.

Father of the girl, Bello Mallam Abba Jama’are, narrated the incident: “I am the headmaster of a primary school in one of the villages in Jama’are Local Government Area. The victim is my biological daughter. She and her younger brother are staying with my elder sister. Her mother and I are divorced. We, Fulani, have the practice of taking our children to a relation to train.

“The incident happened on Wednesday, December 30, 2020. I was in the farm when one of my younger sisters came running to me. She said some evil people forcefully took my daughter, Hawa’u, and cut off her private part. We then rushed to the local government secretariat but before then, the police in Jama’are had already gone there. We told our local government chairman who said this was a big case and reported the matter to senior government officials.

“The house of the state woman leader of the PDP, who is from Jama’are, is not far from my house. I also called and informed her about what had happened. She told me that our local government chairman was already in Bauchi and she urged us to be calm because the government would ensure that we got justice. She promised that the Bauchi State government would take the necessary steps to grant us justice because this matter was beyond us. She promised that my daughter would surely get justice. I want to thank the Bauchi State government because it has taken necessary measures and steps to ensure that we get justice. Only God can reward them.

“I was told that these boys (the suspects) are from Jama’are but, honestly, I don’t know any of them. Some people claim to know their parents but I have never seen any of them. I learnt that they live at the other side of the town, by the by-pass, but we stay inside the town so, I wouldn’t know them.

“I spent two days without sleeping. Immediately the incident happened, we rushed Hawa’u to the General Hospital here in Jama’are and there, the nurses said that the case was beyond them. They stabilised her, dressed her and referred us to the Federal Medical Centre, Azare. When we got there, the doctors there also did their best to treat her. Then our woman leader and our local government chairman rushed to the FMC, Azare. She (the woman leader) and our chairman took care of everything right from the first stage at the general hospital. This kind of incident is alien to us here.”

On what he wanted to happen now, he said: “The Bauchi State government has done everything for us because whatever is bigger than a poor man, it is only the authorities that can handle it. We have nothing to tell our governor (Senator Bala Mohammed) except gratitude. May God reward him.”

On the general belief that sometimes when such incidents happen, after a while, the suspects find their way back to the streets, he said: “We decided to wait and see what the police at the Jama’are Division will do. If they try to do anything funny about the matter, we will take action because we have a large family. We are over 300.

“Our DPO did all he could and took all the steps he ought to take to prevent any reprisal and the people have given him their cooperation. So far, everything has been done to pacify us.”

On the state of the girl, he said: “My daughter is getting better because my younger brother who is in the hospital with her sent me her picture through WhatsApp and I saw that she has been dressed. They even told me that her surgery would soon be done. In fact, I spoke with her on the phone and this has further calmed me down.”

On the actual age of his daughter, he said she had not clocked six yet. According to him, she is five years and four months old and she has not started schooling. “I was preparing to register her in school this term,” he stated.

He called on security agencies and the state government to “take action on these idle youths who are into drugs, because we see these boys who did this to my daughter as people who are under the influence of drugs. We feel that if these youths can do this to my daughter, they are capable of doing worse.”

Maryam Mohammed, a sister to the victim’s father, said because the marriage between her brother, the father of the victim, and the victim’s mother had broken, the young girl “is under the care of my elder sister and mine.”

A visibly shaken Maryam said: “I was sick then and was not at home. We have another brother whose house is not far from here. He is married. Hawa’u had gone to the house to bring a child from that house to our own house but she was told to wait. On her way back, she met the suspects. There were two of them. They called her and said they wanted to send her to that same house she was coming out from; that they wanted to see ‘Maryam’ and she went back to call Maryam for them but she was told there was no Maryam in the house.

“She returned to tell them that there was no Maryam around. I think it was around 3.00 p.m. It was almost time for prayers. From there, we didn’t know what happened. We only saw her coming back with blood stains, crying. We don’t know how she managed to come back home. One of our neighbours, a woman, called and asked us to come and see our daughter; that she was wounded. Some people said she was raped but when she was taken to the hospital, she was referred to Azare. Somebody who went to the hospital told us that it was not rape but her entire private part had been mutilated. We have never witnessed or heard of this kind of heinous act before in this community.”

One of the suspects who was arrested and is presently with the Bauchi State police command, 19 years old Adamu Abdul Ra’uf of Gandu area in Jama’are town, an apprentice mechanic in Jama’are, was interviewed by Saturday Tribune at the command headquarters. He said: “My friend and I took her to where her private part was mutilated on the instructions of a native doctor who said he would use it to make money for my friend.

“The native doctor has a friend in Jama’are called IB. They discussed about it and took the girl to where her private part was severed. I was arrested. I was informed that a native doctor could make money for them but they had to bring a woman’s private part but I told him that I was not interested but that I had a friend called Musa who advised me never to listen to those types of people.

“When I told him (IB) about it, he insisted that I should take part in it but I refused. He said okay but since I was involved in a work that had to do with travels, he would assist with some charms that would protect me from risks of plying roads because I sometimes play the role of a conductor to commercial drivers once there is no work to do in our garage, but I am not a driver.

“When he gave me the charm, I put it in my wallet and we went to the garage. When we came back to the garage, myself and my friends, Musa and Faisal, went to take breakfast by the roadside. We met him and he was complaining of hunger; that he had not eaten and I told him that I had N1,000 on me and he should come along with us so that we could eat together. That was on Wednesday. When we reached the food joint, he asked for N70 spaghetti. I also asked for the same thing. At that point, a girl whom he was owing N50, accosted him and I paid for him.

“We left the food joint and I asked him to follow me to my house later so that we could eat again later. We went and ate the food and as we were coming, we saw two girls and called them that he wanted to send them on a small errand. He asked one of them to enter one house and call one Maryam. When she came out, she told him that they said Maryam was not around. I later saw him use a handkerchief he was holding in his hand around her face and she fell down. When the girl fell down, he carried her to an uncompleted building. He brought out a knife, asked me to hold her skirt which I did and cut her skirt. I was not aware that he had cut her private part. What I knew was that he later came into a house where he showed me the part he had cut and I told him to count me out of what had happened. He warned that he would kill me if I told anybody about it. Then we left that place and went home.

“It was that time that someone came to tell me that he heard that the police wanted to see me at the station. I was standing by the roadside and I climbed an okada to honour their invitation.”

On whether he was promised anything by his friend, he said he didn’t promise him anything and that the only thing he did was to give him a charm and as a result of that, he saw himself obeying all his instructions. “He has been dragging me to many places. I really regret my action,” he said.

The Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, sympathised with the parents of the victim, describing the incident as unacceptable and unfortunate. He promised that the state government would do everything to ensure that justice was done to the victim. He donated food items and cash to the immediate family.

The governor spoke through his Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Abdulrazaq Nuhu Zaki, who led a delegation to sympathise with the family of the victim in Jama’are last Sunday.

Nuhu Zaki said: “His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, is deeply touched by this negative act and we are here on his behalf to sympathise with the parents and to assure them that the government will take care of her treatment.

“The administration of Governor Bala Mohammed will take full care of the treatment because our governor is so much concerned about the wellbeing of the people.”

According to him, the government would take measures against the perpetrators of the act to serve as a deterrent to others and called on youths to desist from such negative acts for the good of the society.

The Commissioner of Women Affairs and Child Development, Hajara Gidado, who delivered the message of the governor’s wife, Hajiya Aisha Bala Mohammed, during the visit, said the First Lady had already constituted a judicial panel to serve as a legal body for the victim.

On his part, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Aliyu Maigoro, said the victim required plastic surgery for her quick recovery and survival.

At the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AMKTH), where the victim is currently receiving treatment, Nuhu Zaki, made a cash donation of N1 million and pledged to take care of her treatment until her recovery.

Dr Mahmud Kawu Magashi, who briefed the delegation on the condition of the victim, said a team of doctors was working round the clock to give the victim the required medical treatment.

The chairman of Jama’are Local Government Area, Samaila Jarma, ordered the immediate closure of Gidan Zana and other hideouts of criminals and other bad elements in the society operating in the area.

The council boss also ordered the immediate arrest of any herbalist found to be involved in making rituals for people, especially jobless youths who are in a hurry to make money without doing anything meaningful.

Jarma, who spoke to Saturday Tribune in Bauchi, said that the measures were taken to check criminal activities in the area, especially money rituals.  He said the council had given security operatives in the area the marching order to arrest anyone linked to criminal activities in the area, particularly violence against vulnerable people for ritual purposes. He also warned that the council would not take the issue of security with levity, stressing that every criminal in the area would be fished out and dealt with according to the law.

The council chairman said: “To our surprise, we heard in the media that some people are calling for financial assistance for the girl. This is fraudulent because neither the parents nor anyone from Bauchi State is involved in that. We have alerted the security agents and the culprits will soon be apprehended.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the state governor, Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir, has taken responsibility for the medical bills. The government has already deposited the sum of N1 million for commencement of her treatment. More money will be released on demand by the team of medical professionals working on her.

“As a council, we have supplied food items and other needs to the family which will be done continuously. Also, an amount of money has been made available to them to take care of their transportation to and from Kano to see her.”

He said that as of Tuesday, reports had it that she was responding to treatment, while in the next few days, a major surgery would be carried out on her. “I can comfortably tell you that the little girl is stable and doing well. People have been calling to speak to her on the phone.”

 

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