‘Man-eater’ causes stir in Niger State
Another witness on the scene, Sule Baba, a vulcanizer along the Madalla-Suleja road, told Sunday Trust he learnt of the incident when he saw a crowd at the police station. Upon enquiries, he was told that the man parading himself as a mad man was, in fact, a ritualist who lured unsuspecting people to their […]
Another witness on the scene, Sule Baba, a vulcanizer along the Madalla-Suleja road, told Sunday Trust he learnt of the incident when he saw a crowd at the police station. Upon enquiries, he was told that the man parading himself as a mad man was, in fact, a ritualist who lured unsuspecting people to their deaths. On visiting the suspected ritualist’s hide out, he said, “Actually, I saw so many things here like something like a drip, I saw fresh milk, I saw bones, although I can’t tell whether it is human bones or animal bones, but I believe people should be able to judge for themselves.”
Haruna Atonko, a security man, who lives in Suleja also, explained that, “Actually, on our way to work, we heard that a mad man lives here and cuts off people’s head. The police came here to use Ghana-must-go bags to pack some of the mad man’s things here. We don’t know what they did with them.”
Bello Idrisu, a motor mechanic in Suleja, explained to our reporter that the genesis of the pandemonium began on Friday morning, when a passenger in an Abuja-bound bus was accompanied by the driver’s mate in order to deposit his bag in the boot but the man refused. This led to a brawl that attracted the attention of other passengers, who noticed that the bag was dripping blood.
“The man was asked to take his bag to the boot of the bus and when he refused, other passengers noticed that blood was dripping from the bag and he was taken to the police station where it was discovered that the bag contained two, freshly cut human heads,” he told our reporter.
It was this man, Idrisu said, who led the police to the mad man’s hide-out at a secluded location along the Suleja road.
Another resident of the area who gave his name as Ojo Agbekunle told Sunday Trust that when the said mad man was apprehended by policemen, two flashy handsets were found in his possession. According to him, “I was here yesterday when policemen came to arrest the man and they saw two powerful handsets with him. So, the thing is, if he is truly a mad man, what is he doing with two expensive handsets?” Agbekunle queried.
The district head of Madalla, Malam Musa Saidu, in an interaction with Sunday Trust, explained that he was on his way to Suleja when he noticed the large crowd. “When I asked what was happening, people said they suspected the mad man to be a ritualist and so, they searched everywhere around where he was staying and nothing was found. People also said he was the man kidnapping and doing all sorts of things. But I believe that you cannot just accuse people anyhow like that without any evidence to back up the claim. Although, I am not saying he’s a ritualist, neither am I saying he is not. All I am saying is that we did not find any human parts with him,” he said.
He further told Sunday Trust that there were no cases of missing persons in Madalla, except for one that was mentioned to him by the DPO. That case was eventually traced to Umuahia, adding that he was not even aware of that case at the time.
At the Madalla police station, the Divisional Police Officer, ASP Chimezie Alloy, told our reporter that they caught wind of a rumour that a mad man had been beheading people in the area. These rumours, he said, prompted him to lead a team into the bush to investigate the mad man’s hideout.
“We got to the bush and saw the man in the forest,” the DPO said, “we ransacked the bush and the surroundings to see whether we will get any trace of human flesh, human skull, or any trace that can corroborate the rumours we heard but at the end of the day, nothing was discovered or recovered relating to such nature.”
He further informed that they conducted a full body search on the mad man, combing through his rag cloths and possession and still discovered nothing. He explained that the rumours might have started as a result of a decomposing cow discovered in a nearby ditch.
“That decomposing cow oozes out a foul smell that gives people the impression that a dead body is being kept there in the bush. I drew the attention of the public to the cow and we took photographs of the cow. So it was obvious that it was not a dead human being but because of the curiosity of members of the public, a lot of crowd gathered around the place and there was confusion.”
He further called on the public to desist from spreading unfounded rumours that a mad man was beheading humans in Madalla area as there have been no reports of missing persons in the area. He went on to assure well meaning people of the safety of life and property in Madalla saying the police are on top of the security situation in the community.
He further called on residents of Madalla to co’operate with the police to ensure the safety of life and property. “Some people here claim to have seen all kinds of flashy cars parked by the side of the bush at nights, but none of them deem it fit to report to the police what they saw,” he said.
The mad man in question, who gave his name as ‘Criminal One,’ said he had been living in the bush where he was arrested for twelve years and that he is from Cross Rivers State. At the time of his arrest, he had put up a struggle against the policemen but was eventually overpowered. Presently, he remains in police custody.
On what the police intendsedto do to him, the DPO explained that, “We intend, with the help of the local community leaders, to see if we can get any relation of the so-called mad man to help out either to take him home or as the case may be. Alternatively, we will arrange here on how to take him to a psychiatric hospital so he could be taken care of, instead of constituting a menace here. “
But while the suspect’s in sanity continues to generate skepticism among the public, unfortunate incidences of ritual killings in Nigeria continues to grow at an alarming rate.