NSCDC arrests four people for gang rape and genital mutilation

The Nigeria State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps has arrested a four-member syndicate suspected of being ritualists after they gang-raped a 13-year-old JSS-1 student.

The gang is also said to have cut off the manhood of a three-year-old boy in the state.

The NSCDC agents said they were searching for witch doctor Baba Sada, who they said instructed the suspects to obtain the male genitals for a spell to make them immune to gunshot or knife attacks.

The Niger State NSCDC Deputy, Abdulhamid Kabara, who disclosed this on Tuesday while parading the suspects and their victims, disclosed that luck went against the suspects after 13-year-old Fatima Usman escaped from an unfinished building was taken to the outskirts of Pandogari in Rafi Local Government Area.

“An around 13-year-old girl named Fatima Usman, a JSS 1 student of Government Day Secondary School Pandogari, had an encounter with a gang of notorious boys who specialized in raping, mutilating and killing school children. Fatima Usman reported the matter to the school principal, Mohammed Aketa, after receiving several threats from one of the gang members.

“However, on Thursday, May 2, 2024, the school principal informed the security forces about the development and a strategy was devised using the girl as bait. This worked perfectly and the man who threatened the girl’s life was arrested. The arrested person identified himself as Aliyu Amiru (M), 20 years old, and also mentioned other syndicate members during the investigation.

“Fatima Usman revealed that sometime in 2022, the arrested Aliyu Amiru and his syndicate members kidnapped them, blindfolded them and took them to an unfinished building on the outskirts of the city. She added that the syndicate took turns raping her and while she was still in captivity, a small boy of less than two years old was brought in and stripped of his manhood in her presence.

“She was asked to cooperate; otherwise she would suffer the same fate as the boy. She was laid flat on the ground and pierced with a needle-like substance in the area around her navel and lower abdomen, and the little boy’s mutilated genitals were rubbed over the pierced area of ​​her navel, mixing her blood and that of the boy, whereupon it was put in a small sack. However, she managed to escape and they chased her but stopped chasing her when she ran towards a burial site,” Kabara said.

The NSCDC deputy command gave the names of the other members of the syndicate as Suleiman Gambo (M) 19; Yusufa Muttala (M) 22; Rabiu Muttala (M) 33; Ahmed Bako (M) 45 and Jibrin Ibrahim (M) 35.

He disclosed that the syndicate had been arrested and taken to NSCDC Rafi Division Office.

Kabara added that the case has been referred to the Intelligence and Investigation Branch of the NSCDC Niger State Command Headquarters for further investigation.

He said: “The syndicate also confessed that they drugged the girl and took turns raping her while she was in a state of sleep. They also said that the reason for their involvement in this act was that one Baba Sada asked them to bring the genitals of a male child made as per instructions; He assured them that he would use it to create a spell that would protect them from dangerous weapons such as bullets, machetes, daggers, knives, etc. They admitted that they received a total sum of five thousand naira for this contract alone.”