Nigeria, Bauchi State: two men sentenced to many years in jail for attempted ritual use of 6-year-old girl’s private parts

Reportedly – see the article presented below – the two accused men committed a gruesome ritualistic murder. Hence it is not clear why the state prosecutor only accused them of criminal conspiracy, causing grievous hurt and attempting to commit culpable homicide. Be it as it may, the reported ritualistic act is repulsive and shows once more that superstition, ritualistic acts and criminal behavior also exist in Bauchi State, located in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria is divided into six geopolitical zones commonly called zones.

Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones

Of Nigeria’s 36 states, Bauchi State is the fifth largest in area with a total land area of 49,119 km2 (18,965 sq mi) representing slightly more than 5% of Nigeria’s total land mass. Bauchi is Nigeria’s seventh most populous state with an estimated population of between 7 and 8 million in 2023 composed of not less than 55 tribal groups which include Fulani, Gerawa, Sayawa, Jarawa, Kirfawa, Turawa, Bolewa, Karekare, Kanuri, Fa’awa, Butawa, Warjawa, Zulawa, Boyawa, MBadawa. The Fulani (Peiulh in French) are the main ethnic group.

The vast majority of the population, some 85%, are Muslim with smaller Christian (6%) and traditionalist minorities 9%). However, like in a number of other SSA countries remnants of traditional beliefs (and superstition) linger in the religious – muslim and christian – population.

Official website of Bauchi State Government: click here

Notable people from Bauchi State include Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912 – 15 January 1966), who was Nigeria’s first and only prime minister upon independence in 1960. He was murdered in a military coup in January 1966 under circumstances which have never been become clear. His body was dumped at a roadside near Lagos. He was buried in Bauchi.

Warning: The following articles contain graphic details which may upset readers (webmaster FVDK).

2 men bag 35 years imprisonment for attempted ritual use of 6-year-old girl’s private parts

2 men bag 35 years imprisonment for attempted ritual use of 6 year old girl’s private parts

The defendants were arraigned on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, causing grievous hurt and attempting to commit culpable homicide.

Published: December 12, 2023
By: News Agency of Nigeria – Pulse, Nigeria

Bauchi State High Court 1 has sentenced two persons, Adamu Abdulra’uf and Abdulkadir Wada to 35 years’ imprisonment each for causing grievous hurt and attempting to commit culpable homicide on a six-year-old girl.

Justice Rabi Umar convicted and sentenced Abdulra’uf, 20 years old, and Wada, 21 years old, after they pleaded guilty to the crime. Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Sabiu Gumba, told the court that the two defendants Abdulrauf and Wada were arraigned on August 17, 2021 on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, causing grievous hurt and attempting to commit culpable homicide.

The prosecution counsel called four witnesses including the father of the victim, while the defendants testified for themselves but didn’t call additional witnesses. Gumba tendered the two knives used in committing the crime, a bottle containing the private part of the girl and a powder.

The News Agency Nigeria (NAN) reports that the defendants were alleged to have on December 30, 2020, at Jama’are Local Government Area of the state, strangled one Hauwa’u Ya’u. Ya’u, who was six years old at the time, fainted before they used knives to cut off her private part for ritual purposes.

Source:
2 men bag 35 years imprisonment for attempted ritual use of 6-year-old girl’s private parts

More:

Court Sentences Two Men to 70 Years For Removing 6-year-old Girl’s Genitals For Money Ritual in Bauchi (Photo)

Young ritualists

Published: December 12, 2023
By: Thandiubani – Tori, Nigeria

Justice Rabi Umar convicted and sentenced Abdulra’uf, 20, and Wada, 21, to 35 years each after they pleaded guilty to the crime. 

Two young teenagers have been sentenced to 70 years in prison for removing a 6-year-old girl’s genitals for money ritual. They were sentenced by a Bauchi State High Court 1.

The ritualists have been identified as Adamu Abdulra’uf and Abdulkadir Wada. They were sentence to 35 years each. 

The court had earlier heard how the defendants, on December 30, 2020, at Jama’are Local Government Area of the state, strangled one Hauwa’u Ya’u. Ya’u, who was six years old at the time, fainted before they used knives to cut off her private part for ritual purposes. 

Justice Rabi Umar convicted and sentenced Abdulra’uf, 20, and Wada, 21, to 35 years each after they pleaded guilty to the crime. Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Mr Sabiu Gumba, told the court that the two defendants, Abdulrauf and Wada, were arraigned on August 17, 2021 on a three-count of criminal conspiracy, causing grievous hurt and attempting to commit culpable homicide. 

The prosecution counsel called four witnesses including the father of the victim, while the defendants testified for themselves but didn’t call additional witnesses. 

Gumba tendered the two knives used in committing the crime, a bottle containing the private part of the girl and a powder.

Source: Court Sentences Two Men to 70 Years For Removing 6-year-old Girl’s Genitals For Money Ritual in Bauchi (Photo)

Map of Nigeria showing Bauchi State among the 36 states of the Federation 

Eleven ritual murderers hanged (1953, Basutoland, nowadays Lesotho)

The ritual murder case referred to in the text below is a very old one: over 65 years.  The reason why I include it here is two-fold.

First, because it is a case of ritual murder that reveals the ‘social’ motives of the culprits: to protect the interests of the community (village). Historically, ritual murders were human sacrifices meant to safeguard the interests of the family or community.

The second reason is that it clearly illustrates why, for the present blog, I use the method of ‘copy-paste’ of the entire, original article (with explicit mention of the source and author of the article). In the past – for my website on Liberia – I summarized the contents of articles on ritual murders in African countries and added a link to the source. Unfortunately, after a number of years I discovered that links had vanished, expired, got lost in cyberspace causing an irreparable loss. Valuable material for researchers has thus been lost. To avoid this in the future I have decided to reproduce here the original articles  that are being published.  

For this reason I can only include here the text as published on my Liberia website. However, the text is clear and hopefully it may ever happen that it contributes to more information on this particular murder case. (Webmaster FVDK)

Eleven ritual murderers hanged (Maseru, Basutoland, 1953) 

Basutoland was a British Crown colony established in 1884. It was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon its independence from the United Kingdom on 4 October 1966.
Source: Wikipedia

An African headman, Pheelo Smith, desperately needed a human sacrifice to save his villagers’ crops. He chose his father-in-law as the victim, and the whole of the village of Maseru in Basutoland (now Lesotho) turned out to watch the ritual murder.
Forty-two people were charged with being implicated in the crime, although 11 were finally charged with murder. Eight of them made a break-out from custody and fought a pitched battle with the police before they were recaptured.
All 11 – nine men, who included headman Pheelo Smith, and two women – were hanged on Thursday, August 20th, 1953, at Maseru Prison.

Source: Not only in Liberia – Ritual killing in Lesotho