72-yr-old man tortured to death on village head’s order

A 72-year-old man, Adamu Muqaddas, was, in the early hour of Friday last week tortured to death on the order of the village head of Larna’a, Gabana ward of Warji Local Government Area of Bauchi State, for allegedly being a wizard.

The 35-year-old village head, Gado Abdulkarim, was said to have ordered his subjects to torture the septuagenarian, who died while being tortured, with a view to forcing him to confess to wizardry.

Confirming the incident in a statement made available to journalists in Bauchi, at the weekend, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Haruna Mohammed, informed that the old man was rushed to the Warji General Hospital, where he was certified dead, by police detectives from Warji division, who rushed to the scene of the crime.

“On November 11, 2014, at about 01:00hrs, one Adamu Muqaddas, male and 72 years of Larna’a was summoned by the village head of Larna’a,Gabana ward in Warji LGA based on the allegation that he is a wizard.

“The village head ordered his subjects to torture the victim in order to force him to confess to the allegation. He eventually died in the process,” the PPRO said in the statement.

He added that three suspects had been arrested by the police in connection with the crime for conspiracy and culpable homicide.

According to Mohammed, the arrested suspects were the village head, Abdulkarim; 33-year-old Adamu Hassan and Ibrahim Musa, 47. They were all residents of Larna’a village.

The police spokesman stated that investigation was in progress, adding that the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation was concluded.

In another development, the PPRO informed that a suspected fraudster, one Adamu Mohammed Inuwa, was arrested by the police in Bauchi.

According to the police spokesman, Inuwa, a resident of Bakin Kura street in Bauchi metropolis, was arrested on Friday at the Bauchi branch of a first generation bank, while attempting to withdraw the sum of N773,400 he obtained fraudulently from one Yakubu Safiyanu of Lafia, Nasarawa State.

The suspect, Mohammed said, obtained the money under the false pretence that he would get employment for his victim with the Nigeria Immigration or Nigeria Prisons Service.