By Ismail Auwal
A 107-year-old female herbalist was paraded by the Kano State Police Command for allegedly inciting a teenager to pluck the eye of a 12-year-old, Mustapha Yunusa in Dan Tsinke, Tarauni Local Government Area of Kano State.
The teenager, Isah Hassan, who was paraded along side the herbalist, Sayyada Furera Abubakar, said she requested him to bring the eye to enable her prepare a protective charm for him.
Hassan said he needed an amulet that would make him invisible when facing dangers since his job involved entering deep into the forest to gather woods.
Sayyada, however, denied the accusation levelled against her, saying she only wanted to assist him with traditional medicine.
“I am just a herbalist. He’s lying. I have more than 50 grandchildren and I did not remove theirs. Why should I do that?” she queried
The boy’s father, Dahiru Ahmad, expressed his relief at the arrest of the suspect, adding that his son is now left with one eye following the tragedy.
“After the incident, I received a call that my son was at the Murtala Hospital. I was told upon arrival that some bad eggs ambushed, attacked, and removed his eye.
“We thank God, with the aid of the police and the medical personnel, they have tried their best and the boy has recovered now surviving with one eye,” he explained.
Ali Abdulhamid, the vigilant group commander of Dan Tsinke said it took them two weeks to arrest the culprit along the border of Kumbotso and Tarauni.
“He removed the boy’s eye two weeks ago and to God be the glory, we arrested him while trying to remove another one.” he started.
Abdulhamdi said that one of their men reported the case to their office.
“He told us the nature of the crime and we asked him to go ahead and play along.
“From there, he asked him to come along with a knife that he will use in removing the eye and still we asked him to give him and followed them behind to the crime scene where we successfully arrested the culprit.”
The police in Kano, however, said through its spokesman, SP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, that they are investigating the case and will charge the suspects in court once the investigation is completed.
