A grieving mother, Mrs. Bola Sulaimon, yesterday said that unknown people murdered her four-year-old daughter on Tuesday and sprinkled her blood on Ogun shrine at the Iwaya, Yaba area of Lagos State.
The girl, Faridat, was grabbed and killed while in the care of a woman identified Mama Hafsat. Faridat was instructed to stay in the house of Mama Hafsat, along with her other siblings, while her mother rushed down to the market. A few minutes later, Faridat’s elder siblings walked out. The girl was also said to have gone after them. It is believed that the killers were already around in the compound by the time Faridat walked out of Mama Hafsat’s home. The killers grabbed, killed and dumped her body in the shrine.
The remains of Faridat were discovered by Bola as she was walking pass the shrine to make ablution. Incidentally, the Ogun shrine is situated in the middle of the compound. When Bola saw the body, she realised it was that of Faridat. She noticed that the girl’s throat had been slit and her blood sprinkled all over the shrine.
According to her, when she returned from market, she didn’t even bother to look for her children. She thought they were still in the home of Mama Hafsat.
“When I was going to the market, I asked them to go to the Arabic school in the community.
After closing, they were supposed to attend lesson and then return to Mama Hafsat’s house. I asked them to wait there until I returned from the market.
“What I gathered when I came back from the market was that Faridat left Mummy Hafsat’s house where I told them to wait for me and came home, searching for her sister who had already gone out with some her friends in the community. “The ritual killers, who I still don’t know, must have waylaid my daughter in our compound.
They slit her throat and dumped her in the Ogun shrine. The shrine is in our compound. They have killed my daughter. They did not allow her to use her God-given destiny. Whoever killed Faridat will never know peace.”
The state Police Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said that 10 persons had been arrested in connection with Faridat’s murder. Owoseni, who described the incident as sad, added:
“It was the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Iwaya Police Station, who alerted the command on the incident.
The bereaved parents of the girl came to the station with her corpse.
“When questioned, the parents explained that the child went with two of her siblings to Arabic school about 1p.m. and since then, she had not been seen. After a thorough search, her body, with a slit throat, was found behind her parents’ window, close to an Ogun shrine in the compound.
The corpse was recovered with the knife used to commit the murder.
“At least 10 persons have been arrested in connection with the murder of the girl. Investigation, however, revealed elements of conspiracy in the matter. We will continue to update members of the press as investigation continues.
We have deployed our men to the area, which is densely populated to prevent any form of jungle justice.”
