What would push a man into an action that will
inflict severe pain or even endanger the life of his
own child? Which sensible or a normal father will
readily take up a whip to flog a child that is only
14 months old? A child that can barely talk?
These are some of the questions now begging for
answers following the petition of a housewife who
brought her husband before the Bauchi State
Shariah Commission.
Vanguard Metro, VM, gathered that Huwaila
Abdulahi, 22, who has been separated from her
husband, is asking the Commission to investigate
and unravel the mystery behind the strange marks
all over the back of her 14 months old daughter.
Although the estranged housewife is not seeking
for a divorce, she is demanding for justice for her
innocent baby as the 14 marks were not there
when the father sent one Ibrahim to bring the
little girl to spend some time with him.
The man, identified as Ibrahim Haladu, is being
accused of carrying out a ritual on his child. He
has been invited by the Commission to explain
the strange marks on his daughter’s back. But he
is insisting that he only flogged his daughter
with the cord of his handset charger because she
was disturbing him from watching his favourite
satellite television programme. He has also denied
that the marks on his daughter’s back were for
ritual purposes.
In spite of his statement, many people who saw
the strange marks on the child were not
convinced of his testimony as they believed they
were carefully incised.
In his account of the incident, Ibrahim said: “I
was watching an Arab channel but she would not
let me be with her cries. I was enjoying the
programme, but her cries kept distracting me. I
was provoked so I brought out my charger phone
wire and flogged her. My first wife Aisha who
heard her cries came out and was shouting at me
to stop. She was even angry and rebuked me for
beating her like that. I regret my action.
The marks on my daughter’s body is not for
ritual purposes as wrongly insinuated by some
people. I can never use my child for ritual. It is
unfortunate that my wife had to drag me to the
Sharia Commission because she has a grouse
against me. We have been having problems with
her, but that is between us. Why should I go to
the extent of using my child for ritual? I only beat
her as a father. I don’t belong to any cult or
secret society”.
Some residents of the Tirwun, a suburb of Bauchi,
where Ibrahim allegedly carried out the beating
of his baby were left in shock on seeing Sahura
with the 14 strange marks on her back. They
called for thorough investigation into the case so
as to unravel the motive behind his action.
But his estranged wife Huwaila, the mother of the
little girl, is still sceptical over her husband’s
explanations. She is pleading with the
commission to thoroughly investigate the matter.
VM learnt that the couple had not been living
together due to some marital problems.
Ibrahim moved to his house in Tirwin with his
first wife, Aisha leaving his second wife, Huweila
with his parents. Hajiya Huwaila told VM that her
husband occasionally comes to pick Sahura to
spend some time with him since they were not
living together. According to her: “My husband,
his first wife and I lived with his parents at Bakin
Kura before he moved with his first wife to
Tirwun, leaving me and my daughter Sahura
behind.
But he occasionally comes to take the baby to
spend some time with him in his new place and
bring her back. One day he sent one Ibrahim to
come and bring Sahura; this was around one in
the afternoon. But when they brought back my
daughter, I noticed something unusual about her
because she kept crying and I wondered what
was wrong with her.
When I checked her body, I saw some strange
marks all over her back”. Huwaila said she
quickly rushed to the Bauchi State Shari’ah
Commission to lodge a complaint after she
confronted her husband who claimed he only
flogged Sahura because she was disturbing him
with her cries.
The permanent Commissioner II of the State
Shari’ah Commission, Jibril Hassan, confirmed
that Huwaila lodged a complaint prompting the
commission to summon the husband. Hassan
added that the commission was investigating the
issue and would charge the father of the girl to
court at the appropriate time. He also said that if
found guilty of the accusations leveled against
him, the accused would be charged to court.
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