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
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