A week before 23-year-old Babangida was to travel to Zaria,
where he was seeking admission at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), a
girl simply identified as Abiodun cut off his tongue. Narrating her
son's ordeal, Babangida’s mother, Hajiya Hassana Ali, said the suspect
who is a relative of their neighbour’s wife, used to send Babangida on
errands.
They started going to places together. When Hajiya Hassana
noticed how Abiodun sometimes insulted him, she advised her son to stay
away from her. And he did. After a certain period, they started getting
close again but when Babangida noticed his mother’s displeasure, he kept
his distance from Abiodun, again.
One night when Babangida went out to urinate, Abiodun
pounced on him, choked him and cut off his tongue. Abiodun’s
brother-in-law who heard the commotion when he also came out to relieve
himself inquired whom she was with in the toilet, and she claimed she
was alone. When he noticed blood from beneath the door, he broke down
the toilet door. Upon seeing Babangida on the floor in a pool of blood,
he went to his mother’s house and informed her.
The girl was almost lynched but Hajiya Hassana intervened and ensured she was taken to the police station.
The victim was rejected in several hospitals because his
tongue was cut off from its root. Eventually, he was admitted at the
Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.
According to the doctors, there is hope that the tongue
would grow a little since the patient was still young. This would enable
him communicate to some extent.
Hajiya Hassana however alleged that there was a plot at the
police station to release Abiodun on bail and that the police had
already been paid N30, 000 by the girl’s family and were waiting for a
balance of N20, 000.
Yahaya Suleiman, the victim’s elder brother, also accused
the police of changing Babangida’s statement. He explained that where
the victim wrote that he went to pee and wrote ‘fiss’ instead of piss,
the police changed it to ‘kiss’.
At the court, the judge, upon seeing Babangida’s condition,
ruled that Biodun be remanded in prison until her next appearance in
court.
Suleiman said that before the incident, Biodun had been
heard saying she would soon be driving a big car and would rent a nice
house.
Babangida’s mother also said there was the possibility the girl wanted to use her son’s tongue for rituals.
-Daily Trust
