Posted by From Mohammed Kawu, Bauchi on
THEY bade her good speed. She had been sent on an errand. Her Bauchi abbatoir farm site destination was not far from her home at Inkil village, a suburb of Bauchi Metropolis, Bauchi State. It was only 500 metres away.
THEY bade her good speed. She had been sent on an errand. Her Bauchi abbatoir farm site destination was not far from her home at Inkil village, a suburb of Bauchi Metropolis, Bauchi State. It was only 500 metres away.
But the nine-year-old girl was never to return with the N20 worth of sugar she was sent to buy.
Some distance from her home, four young men, one of who was alleged to be a son of a Sharia judge, had laid ambush for Habiba Usman.
Acting out their well-scripted parts, the four men had pounced on the unsuspecting little girl, dragged her frail body into a bush and slaughtered her.
Not through, Anwalu Hamidu 20, Shehu Juli 21, Dan-Asabe Bala 25 and Musa Ahmed, 19, had reportedly tied the spread-eagled nine-year-old Habiba's neck with electric cable and commenced dissection.
The four men reportedly sliced the throat of the nine year old Habiba, ripped open her stomach and disgorging her of her intestines.
Their hands by now must have been drenched in the kid's blood, but unmindful of this, the suspected ritualists went on to attempt removing her genitals. With a sharp knife they reportedly de-capitalised her head and cut off some parts of her intestines.
But their plot was not to succeed totally after all. They ran out of luck.
A passer-by noticed some unusual movement on a farmland close to the road. Apparently a nosy fellow, he decided to investigate, and behold the gory spectacle; four able bodied young men with bloodied hands were pinning down a dismembered spread-eagled body of nine-year-old Habiba.
He raised an alarm!
Caught in the act, the suspected ritual killers scrammed. A hot chase ensued, they were apprehended.
Habiba's 70-year-old grant father confirmed that his grand-daughter had been sent to buy N20 worth of sugar, explaining tearfully that it was a daily routine for all children in the village run errands to the Bauchi Abbatoir, 500 metres away.
Why Habiba's was different was what confounded him, he lamented.
The 70-year-old Abdullahi Wakili Inkil apparently resigning to fate probably because of his helplessness, said he had assigned their lot to God, Who had the knowledge of all happenings.
Abdullahi thanked his neighbours, commending them for collectively responding to the plight of his family by mobilising promptly, an act, which led to the suspects being apprehended.
The Bauchi State Police Command through its spokesman, Mr. J.C. Opara confirmed the incident and said the suspected ritualists were already in police custody.
Anwalu A. Hamid, alleged to be the principal offender, was said to be a son of a Sharia judge; Shehu Juli is reportedly a student of the Federal Science and Technical School, Orozo while the other two had no fixed addresses.