How bizarre sect was discovered in Kaduna

Arrows, knives and a standard rifle, bullets and amulets were recovered from the house, a building made of mud bricks located in the outskirts of the village. There were 37 small rooms in the house, divided into four apartments, some without doors, with mattresses stuffed with thatch. A look around revealed five wells and twelve […]

Arrows, knives and a standard rifle, bullets and amulets were recovered from the house, a building made of mud bricks located in the outskirts of the village. There were 37 small rooms in the house, divided into four apartments, some without doors, with mattresses stuffed with thatch. A look around revealed five wells and twelve deep, tunnel-like holes, with one very close to the sect leader’s room. There’s also an open space at the center of the house where classes are held, with a mosque comprising of male and female sections.
Village Head of Kwanar Farakwai, Sarki Mohammed Labaran, said the sect’s leader arrived first in the village in 2001 as an Islamic teacher and soon after his family and associates joined him. Prior to his arrival, he had stayed in Birnin Yero where the locals, suspecting him to be spreading doctrine that negates the teachings of Islam, sent him packing. Labaran said: “He was staying with his family and disciples in Birnin Yero before he settled in this village around 2001, when I was not at the helm. He had a serious misunderstanding with locals over the way he preached and was asked to leave the area.”
According to villagers, members of the sect never attended any social events or fraternize freely with the people; they performed all their domestic work including building, roofing, excavation and sewing by themselves. The sect leader, Usman, had few pupils (Almajirai) who stayed in the house and attended morning and evening lessons there. Most of the pupils were brought to the houses from neighbouring communities by people who are not familiar with sect’s doctrine.  
However, one of the pupils escaped from the compound and reported the activities of the sect to the local authorities before the police came in. The local Ward Head, Mai Unguwa Alhaji Ango said a pupil named Mu’azu sneaked out of the house and came to him, in chains, complaining of inhumane treatment.  “He said he was brought to the sect leader as a pupil to study Islam, but instead they (the students) were always sent out to round up grazing sheep and goats, as well as stealing chickens and small items,” Ango said.
Ango told Weekly Trust that he later informed the village head about the complaints brought by Mu’azu, the pupil. The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Rigachikun was also informed and he ordered the deployment of a team of policemen to the village. “We went to the house with the officers at night and arrested one of Usman’s trusted disciples, apparently the second-in-command, whose name is also Usman.
A search was carried out the next day, but not before sect members had carted a lot of items away. However, the police still recovered weapons. Ango said: “The sheep stolen from my neighbour were slaughtered when we departed, tied up and thrown into two deep wells near my farm. Their decaying carcasses were later removed. There were several deep holes and tunnels in the house which we could not substantiate why they were excavated.”
Villagers have for long been eyeing the sect members when livestock theft became rampant in the area, so it was not surprising when a large number of chickens and cattle was found during the police raid. Ango said villagers had on two occasions charged sect members to court.
Police spokesman Zubairu Abubakar told Weekly Trust that after the raid, they discovered a double-barrelled rifle, bullets, daggers, sticks, amulets and sickles were recovered while six people were arrested. He added that two boys were found with chained legs; one was freed and will be reunited with his parents, while the other who looked mentally ill will be returned to his parents in Katsina after investigation.
The police spokesman said while the sect members had bizarre beliefs, they have no record of violence in the past. “An official inquiry is underway and suspects will be referred to court thereafter,” said Abubakar.
Malam Usman Yakubu, 42, is believed to be the deputy leader and supervised most of the activities of the group. He lived in their Kwanar Farakwai enclave with his four wives and 9 children for 10 years until last week when the house was raided by the police. He is among the people being investigated by the police. He told Weekly Trust that they believe in the verses of the Holy Qur’an and practice Qur’anism. “We seek all answers from the Qur’an and any other religious book that conforms to its verses. We practice the teachings of the Qur’an. For instance we perform four Rakaats during Friday prayers, instead of two.”
Quranism is an Islamic view that holds the Qur’an to be the only authentic source of Islamic faith. Quranists generally reject, therefore, the religious authority and authenticity of hadith, sunnah, clergymen, as well as Sharia law.
Yakubu explained that they buried the bodies of their loved ones and pupils in their houses, and the funerals of two, including his three-year-old son who did not survive cholera, were held there. The other grave was where a pupil, AbdulKarim, who had lived with the sect members for eight years, was buried. He was from a village called Durum and brought to the sect leader to study by his parents. He never returned home.
Yakubu told Weekly Trust that sect members grew their own crops and reared their own sheep and goats, as well as selling local perfumes in neighbouring towns and markets. He added that they built using mud because they are poor. “We could not afford to buy soil to build, so we had to dig for it, which explains the deep holes. They’re not tunnels,” he said.
Aliyu Usman, 20, said his father, now on the run, is the leader of the sect and owner of the gun recovered by the police and he confirmed pupils were instructed to steal livestock. “I told my father on three occasions that livestock theft was wrong but he only promised to discuss the matter with me, which he never did.” He said sect members perform five daily prayers, but in a different way. “I don’t do the inaugural part of prayers (Takbiratul ihram); I rather open with “Bismillah, ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim. (In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful). I don’t do the middle and final Tash’heed during prayers because they are not part of my beliefs.”
A source in Farakwai said the sect performs a certain bizarre ritual around midnight during which animals are slaughtered. “The animals are even slaughtered in the tunnels. We found bloodstains in one tunnel,” he disclosed. He also said parents who entrusted their wards to the sect hardly got them back because “they give them charms in foods and drinks to forget their parents. One Fulani man came to get his child back after assuming that he had studied enough, but the boy insisted that the man was not his dad. The boy was asked to get his belongings and go with his dad but he sneaked away through the back door and his dad man had to leave alone, distraught. I have also seen a boy whose father took him forcefully, but he returned the next day.”
The source told Weekly Trust that any member who tries to leave, or is perceived to be recalcitrant , is chained and detained just like the earlier-mentioned whistleblower Mu’azu. He added that as the sect does not believe in some Shari’a laws, there was the likelihood that theft and other crimes prohibited by law were not offenses to them. He also added that they are suspected of carrying out violent crimes, including armed robberies.
Reacting to the allegations, the deputy leader said he is not aware of any rituals that involved slaughtering animals. He said it was not true the sect give charms to pupils, adding that some of the amulets and bottles recovered in the house belong to their leader. He said the stealing in whatever way was a serious offense in their doctrine and they relate freely with the communities. “We pray in congregations in mosques wherever we find ourselves.” He clarified that other boy in chains was brought to him from a town in Kankia local government Katsina State to get spiritual healing for mental illness. “He spent four years in our house.”
While the police say they are looking for the sect’s leader, Usman, they are yet to declare him a wanted man.