‘We were to get N1m for human eye’

Suspected ritual killers arrested by the
Bauchi State Police Command have said
their greed for N1m pushed them to
rape and remove the eye of a 30-year
old woman in Lukshi village of Dass
Local Government Area.
The victim, Zainab Mohammed, who is
physically challenged and a mother of
four, was returning home from a
coronation on March 1, 2014, when the
suspects attacked, raped and removed
her eye.
Speaking to journalists at the commands
headquarters in Bauchi on Monday, the
suspects said they were sent by one
Usman Sambo, who promised to pay
them N1m after delivering the eye to
him.
One of them, Bitrus Yakubu, 45, said,
"We don't know what he wanted to do
with the eyes, but he told us that if we
bring the eye to him, he will give us
N1m.
"It was as a result of such promise that
we had to remove her eye. It was
because of greed.
"But when we took the eye to him, he
asked us to wait until he confirmed that
the eye would work for the purpose it
was meant for."
The second suspect, who refused to give
his name, said he removed the eye, but
did not rape the victim.
He said, "I know her very well, I
couldn't have raped her. Her mother
and my mother came from the same
area."
But Sambo, a herbalist, said he had
three wives and seven children. He
denied knowing anything about the
incident, saying that he was a licensed
herbal doctor.
He said, "I did not send them to bring
any eye to me. I am a licensed herbalist
who gives people herbs for different
diseases and illnesses.
"Bitrus only came to me and told me
that he had gotten a human eye and
asked me if I could make a charm for
him.
"I then asked him what kind of charm
he wanted and he said one that would
enable him disappear and reappear at
any time and any place, but I told him I
could not make such a charm."
However, speaking to PUNCH Metro on
her hospital bed at the Abubakar Tafawa
Balewa Teaching Hospital, Mohammed
said they offered to pay her before
removing her eye.
"I know two of them who removed my
eye.
"When I refused their offer, they raped
me and forcefully removed my eye and
tried to remove the second one, but I
shouted and people came.
"When they saw people coming, they
left me in a pool of blood and ran into
the bush," she said.