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Killer Children On The Prowl, Murdered 88 Parents In 6yrs

Published

3 years ago

April 2, 2022

No fewer than 88 fathers and mothers have been murdered by their children in Nigeria within a period of six years, data compiled by Daily Trust has shown.

The data revealed that the killers – sons and daughters – mostly between the ages of 18 and 35, used knives, sticks, pestles, shovels and other tools to stab, hack or bludgeon their parents to death.

According to the data, the states with the highest number of parricides are Niger, 7; Lagos and Enugu 6 each; Anambra, Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi, 5 each; with Kano and Edo, 4 each.

Osun, Abia, Ekiti, and Ondo record 3 cases each; Bayelsa, Adamawa, Kwara, Delta, Bauchi, Jigawa, Ogun, Yobe, Oyo, Gombe, FCT and Imo have 2 cases each; while Kaduna, Kogi and Plateau recorded 1 case each.

Of the total of 87 parricide cases that took place within the six-year period, 39 mothers and 45 fathers were murdered in different circumstances.

Why killings persist

In as many as four out of five cases recorded, the killers admitted that they were under the influence of drugs when they perpetrated the act.

However, others attributed the killings to rituals, desperation for inheritance, cannibalism, witchcraft and other disagreements with the parents in terms of marriage and money issues.

Experts who spoke to Daily Trust said they were appalled that most children these days don’t have an emotional attachment, empathy and love for their parents to the extent that very few gave a second thought before harming them.

“In the past, parents meant a lot to children, especially in an African setting. Parents meant everything to their children; they were their providers, mentors and protectors,” said Zainab Habibu, a 63-year-old housewife.

“Sadly, modernity has corrupted that affinity to the extent that children can sacrifice their parents for worldly things. In the past, a child cannot afford to look directly into the eyes of his father or mother but it is no longer the same. This is basically why we are witnessing cases of children attacking their parents,” she said.

According to the statistics, the highest number of parricides was recorded in 2017 when 14 mothers and 8 fathers were murdered, followed by 8 mothers and 11 fathers in 2018; 7 mothers and 12 fathers in 2019; 7 mothers and 4 fathers in 2020; then 2 mothers and 6 fathers in 2021.

However, the first quarter of 2022 has begun with an early surge in the number of parricides, with 4 mothers and 4 fathers already brutally murdered by their offspring.

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The latest among the cases was of a 31-year-old man, Nicodemus Ignatius, who allegedly beat his 75-year-old father to death.

Nicodemus, who hails from Unguwan Bistel in Song town, Song LGA of Adamawa State, carried out the act on March 3, 2022, shortly after returning from a drinking bar.

He was said to have been arrested sometime in November 2021 for threatening to kill his father before he was released after the septuagenarian pleaded on his behalf.

His neighbours, who don’t want to be named, told newsmen that the suspect clubbed his father to death.

“Nicodemus had returned home from the bar where he usually drinks at about 8pm on that fateful day and met his late father and mother in the room and decided to lock both of them in.

“But the 75-year-old Ignatius, sensing danger and afraid of the possibility of his son setting the house on fire, jumped through the window to escape.

“Unknown to him, his son armed himself with a stick. The suspect pounced on his father and hit him with the stick and broke his head, resulting in his untimely death,” one of the neighbours said.

But after taking the life of his father, the suspect, while confessing to the crime, blamed his action on the influence of Indian Hemp.

“I smoked Indian hemp on that fateful day… I bitterly regret my action,” he had said.

The Adamawa State Police Public Relations Officer, Suleiman Nguroje, confirmed the incident, saying the suspect would be charged to court upon completion of the investigation and cautioned the public to desist from taking the law into their hands.

Another famous case of matricide was when Garba Abubakar from Akko LGA of Gombe State allegedly strangled his biological mother to death.

Parading the suspect, the Commissioner of Police, Ishola Babaita, said Garba allegedly murdered his mother because she always warned him against excessive intake of hard drugs.

The CP said that Garba’s act was based on indiscriminate use of outlawed substances, and the matter is being investigated.

“The suspect strangled his mother and as a result, she fell down and became unconscious because she normally advises him to stop taking hard drugs.

“The victim was rushed to the General Hospital Kumo where she was confirmed dead by a medical doctor,” he said.

Babaita regretted that, “sadly, the woman was murdered by her own son. That is the effect of drug.”

He advised parents to pay more attention to their children, and make sure they do not consume or become addicted to hard drugs.

Girls on the rampage too

It’s quite unusual to find a girl killing her parents, especially in an African setting. Therefore, the gruesome murder of one Eka Ime by her daughter, Mary Imewe, was a shock that gripped residents of Umoh Obot Street, off Nto Akpan Inyang in the Ikot-Ikpene Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

It was gathered that the killer daughter murdered her mother and dismembered her before she was apprehended.

Angry youths of the community, who were irked by the bizarre manner in which Mary allegedly murdered her mother, compelled her to pack the body parts into a basin and was paraded round the community.

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According to a source, when the police came to arrest Mary, she stated that she did not care about her arrest and detention.

“I don’t care if I am arrested and detained by the police,” the suspect was quoted to have said before being bundled into a waiting police van.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, Odiko Macdon, who confirmed the incident, said he was surprised that a daughter could commit such a dastardly act against her mother.

He said no right-thinking person would slaughter her mother in such a gruesome manner, adding that the police would conduct a test to ascertain her state of mind before she would be charged.

“The story is true; she butchered her mum. We are suspecting that she is not of a sound mind, but we do not have any medical capacity yet to say so.

“Medical personnel will have to determine if she is of a sound mind or not, because no right-thinking person will kill her mother by butchering her.

“As we speak, we have her in our custody. We have gathered the parts of her mother and deposited them in the mortuary.

“By the time we ascertain her state of mind, we will charge her accordingly. The test will determine the extent of her culpability in the crime,” he said.

In another case in 2017, a 20-year-old man, Adamu Mai-Bisco, hacked his father, mother and two sisters to death at Batayya ward in Potiskum town, Yobe State.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Toyin Gbadegesin, said the suspect used a shovel to kill all four members of his family.

Gbadegesin also attributed the action of the suspect to be under the influence of hard drugs.

One of their neighbours, who doesn’t want to be named, said the parents had threatened to report their son to security agents for allegedly being a member of Boko Haram, hence his action against them.

“He didn’t take that threat lightly and so decided to kill them while they were all asleep,” a source informed.

Eye witness, Malam Ibrahim, told our correspondent that “Ado as the suspect was fondly called by his late mother came out of the house with a shovel and jackknife and said he had wiped out his family.

“He told me ‘na gama da su’ meaning ‘l have finished them.’ I asked what he meant by that, and he started chasing me with the knife. He was intercepted by good Samaritans, and handed over to the police around 1am,” he had said then.

The family members killed were his father Malam Magaji Mai-Bisco, 65; Mother, Mama Ado, 50; sisters Aisha, 16; and Zainab,14.

While these are some of the cases reported by the media, others were not reported or deliberately covered by the family to avoid embarrassment.

Experts speak menace, way out

A psychologist, Dr Mahmud Sarki, said moral degradation, depression and drugs abuse were responsible for all the parricidal cases happening in society now.

“In a situation where parents do not take responsibility for feeding, accommodating, schooling and other welfare needs of the children, the parents are provoking the children and this may likely happen.

“Once a child becomes depressed, anything can happen, he can kill. Coupled with this is the peer group, which is more powerful than the parents.

“They influence these children to engage in drugs abuse, by telling them that it will take their minds off depression and convince them that their parents are well-to-do but don’t take care of them.

“So, by the time he gets intoxicated with drugs, he will kill the parents without remorse because he’s been made to hate them,” he said.

Sarki said if research can be conducted to generate data, of the parricide cases recorded in Nigeria within three months, North West alone has more than eight cases.

“So long as parents continue giving birth to children they cannot cater for, the problem will persist,”

When asked to proffer solutions, he said, “The solutions must be multifaceted; which include public enlightenment through parents and community leaders, youth empowerment, because without employment one cannot predict what the youth can do.”

He attributed the root cause of the problem to a relationship between unemployment, anxiety and depression.

“In this, we have problem focus coping strategy, emotion focus coping strategy and avoidance focus strategy.

“Unfortunately, our youth are taking avoidance, to avoid the consequences and the impact, so they end up abusing drugs to reduce tension, and become addicts in the long run.

“There must be interventions from parents, community, government through empowerment programmes and public enlightenment programmes,” he added.

Also speaking on the issues, Maryam Abdullahi, who is a marriage counsellor, notes that the structure of today’s family is faulty as most parents do not have that bonding time with children anymore.

“We have unfortunately found ourselves in a pathetic scenario, where all the parents care for now is money. They feel fulfilled that as long as they can provide the material needs of their children, all is well.

“Ironically, that is even more dangerous because at the end these children turn to friends and people outside the family for love and confidentiality.

“We have a situation where both parents are out all day working and the children are left to cater for themselves or left with nannies who introduce some of this stuff to the children.”

Hajiya Maryam notes that the family plays a major role in how children turn out to be in their adult life.

“Parents need to begin to be part of their children’s life. Most parents do not know what their children are engaged in on social media or who their friends are.

“The family plays a major role in curbing some of the ills in the society today, especially when it comes to drug abuse and it is likes,” she said.

DAILY TRUST

Related Topics:children killer murdered parents Prowl

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Osun man on death row for fowl theft shares how police subjected 17-year-old self to torture

Published

57 minutes ago

December 22, 2024

Trends Admin

Osun man on death row for fowl theft shares how police subjected 17-year-old self to torture

Segun Olowookere, a man who was sentenced to death for stealing fowls in Osun State when he was 17, has recounted how the police tortured and gave him a cutlass used as an exhibit against him as a minor in court.

FIJ had earlier reported that Governor Ademola Adeleke planned to pardon Olowookere after news of how Justice Sakariya Oyejide Falola sentenced Olowookere and Morakinyo Sunday to death in 2014 broke out.

Olowookere was charged in court with conspiracy, armed robbery and stealing. It was on these grounds that Falola delivered his judgment.

Olowookere and Sunday spent some days at a police station in Okuku before their arraignment and conviction. Olowookere said that the police gave them one cutlass each while at the station for weeding the premises.

However, the two of them were later transferred to Osogbo, the state capital, with the cutlasses. These cutlasses were later presented before the judge as exhibits of an armed robbery offence, Olowookere told The Punch in an interview on Sunday.

HOW HE WAS ARRESTED

Now in a custodial centre working with a medical team, Olowookere said he gave himself up for the arrest in November 2010.

“I was at my father’s shop in Oyan after returning from school. My dad and I were discussing my university admission and suddenly, we heard gunshots, and everybody ran away except my dad and a few others,” he narrated.

“My father was taken to a police van where there were some children. I was peeping out and could hear and see what was going on. The police asked my dad where I was and he asked them what my offence was. When they couldn’t give him a satisfactory response, my father shouted at the top of his voice that I should run away because the police wanted to arrest me.

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“But I was wondering what my offence was. So, I came out and went to meet them. I was detained at the police post in Oyan and was taken to Okuku Divisional Police Headquarters the following day. I met the children who were in the police van when they came for me sitting on the ground and eating rice.”

THEY WERE GIVEN CUTLASSES

Olowookere recalled that the divisional police officer (DPO) heading the station at the time accused him of being a leader of an armed robbery gang consisting of teenage children.

Some days after his arrest, his parents were still making efforts to secure his bail. While this was ongoing, the police engaged them in labour, giving them a cutlass each to cut the grasses at the station.

“The DPO told me that one of the children confessed to stealing two broilers and some crates of eggs. I met the broilers and the eggs at the station,” he said.

“The children were eight in number. He told me the children said I was their gang leader, which I denied. The children he was talking about were around 12 and 13 years old, while I was 17 then. I told him I knew the children but I didn’t have anything to do with them other than greeting them in the community.

“I met Sunday Morakinyo at the station, and he told the police that he didn’t know me nor had anything to do with me. I don’t even know where he was arrested. All the children were released but Morakinyo and I were not.

“We were seriously tortured from the first day I got to the Okuku Police Station under the supervision of the DPO. The children who allegedly committed the crime were not beaten. He repeatedly asked me to admit and confess to a crime I didn’t commit.

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“After some days, we were given cutlasses to cut the grass at the police station premises despite having injuries on every part of our body as a result of the torture.”

BAIL SUM BEYOND HIS PARENTS

Olowookere’s father was asked to produce N30,000 for his bail, but his father could only raise N20,000, and the police would not cut down this financial bail demand.

His father then left the station, perhaps to gather the shortfall of N10,000. Before his father could return, the police had ferried them to Osogbo.

“My father could only raise N20,000 out of the N30,000 they demanded. The police rejected it and insisted on the N30,000,” Olowookere said.

“My dad left the station to look for the money. But before he returned the following day, we had been moved to the SARS office in Osogbo. The cutlasses that were given to me and Morakinyo to cut the grass were presented to SARS as exhibits and they were told we were armed robbers.

“After 17 days in the SARS cell, we were taken to a magistrate court and charged with robbery, and from there to the High Court, where we were sentenced to death.”

The poultry farm from which they were alleged to have stolen fowls belonged to one of his uncles.

Despite initially promising not to pursue the case against him, the uncle went on to testify in court against him.

“We are from the same Ajerotutu Compound in Oyan. He was summoned to a family meeting where he said I was not among those who stole the fowls, but my name was mentioned by the children who were arrested,” Olowookere explained.

“He told the family that he would discontinue the case. But he later came to court to testify against me.

“I never wrote any statement to the police. My parents never had a flat, not to mention a six-bedroom flat. I lived with my parents until I was arrested.”

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Asked why his lawyer didn’t object to the statement during the trial, Olowookere said, “I didn’t know anything, but I am sure I didn’t write any statement.”

SUNDAY SUFFERS MENTAL ILLNESS

As a result of the torture they received at the police station before arraignment, Sunday began to bleed from several parts of his body.

Eventually, this bleeding led to his becoming mentally ill, according to Olowookere.

“He is now a mad person. He is at Ibara Prison. He developed mental issues when we were tortured at the police station in Okuku and by the officers of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad. I am just lucky, and I believe God’s grace is over me,” he said.

“Morakinyo was bleeding from the anus, ears, nose and on the head. The police did not treat him despite that. I cleaned the cell every day because his blood stained the floor. He was bleeding for the entire six days we spent inside the Okuku police cell before we were transferred to the SARS cell in Osogbo.

“We spent 17 days with SARS and Morakinyo bled every day. Some of the SARS officers noticed that he was not mentally normal again but others thought he was pretending, and from there, he developed full mental issues.

“When we were remanded at Ilesa Custodial Centre, the warders tried to manage his mental health but they didn’t have the capacity. His condition then worsened. As I am talking to you, he doesn’t recognise anybody again. His mother has stopped checking up on him.”

Olowookere said he was hopeful that he would regain his freedom someday to pursue his academic studies and become useful to the world.

“I first enrolled in Yewa College of Education, Abeokuta, Ogun State, after my sentence. It is my dream to study medicine, but it is not available at a college of education. I was later transferred to a maximum prison in 2016. But due to financial constraints, I couldn’t study my dream course,” he explained.

“However, I was encouraged to train under the medical practitioners in the prison. So, I applied and I was accepted into the medical line in 2017. Since then, I have been working with the nurses, pharmacists and doctors inside the prison.

“I believe I will be free one day, and when I regain my freedom, I will definitely go for medicine. I pray to God to set me free because I am innocent.

“I don’t know anything about the crime I am convicted for. I pray to God to give me the opportunity to prove my innocence to the world and be useful to society. I am not a criminal; I have never stolen anything in my life, not to talk of robbing somebody.”

Osun man on death row for fowl theft shares how police subjected 17-year-old self to torture

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Oil cabal sponsoring blackmails against Tompolo, Otuaro, Kyari, say Ijaw youths

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57 minutes ago

December 22, 2024

Trends Admin

Chairman of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo)

Oil cabal sponsoring blackmails against Tompolo, Otuaro, Kyari, say Ijaw youths

Stakeholders under the Ijaw Youths Network (IYN) have alleged a well-coordinated international blackmail campaign against High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), Chairman of Tantita Security Services; Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL); and Dr. Dennis Otuaro, Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

In a statement issued on Sunday by its President, Frank Ebikabo, and Secretary, Federal Ebiaridor, the IYN accused a cabal of oil thieves of sponsoring the campaign to undermine the successes of Tantita Security Services and other security outfits in combating oil theft.

The group specifically condemned a staged protest outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, describing it as a smear campaign filled with false criminal allegations against Tompolo, Kyari, and Otuaro.

The IYN called on the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and others entrusted with the nation’s security to ensure a thorough investigation of persons behind the blackmail and bring them to justice in the interest of national security.

The stakeholders also urged President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to be resolute in sustaining the reversal of the evils of oil theft against Nigeria and her citizens.

The IYN stressed that oil thieves and their operatives armed with billions of ill-gotten resources were funding the recurrent attacks on Tompolo, Kyari and Otuaro.

The youths insisted that a virulent cabal of oil thieves with a vast network across international boundaries was on the rampage to orchestrate the campaign targeting the economy of the country and its leadership.

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The IYN said that the oil thieves were pooling resources together with their international collaborators to undermine the President, national security and the nation’s economy.

The group said that it was not unexpected that the deadly cabal that almost ruined the economy of the country by stealing billions of petro dollars would not give up their lucrative crime without a fight.

The IYN said that the achievement of the Tinubu Administration which had been able to attain 1.8m barrels of crude oil per day, after serious efforts into the battle against oil thieves should be protected from such influential, deadly gang.

The IYN added some of those fighting Tompolo, Kyari and Otuaro were persons, who pressed to be appointed Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme without success.

The Ijaw youths groups said that the antecedents of Otuaro and his capacity to deepen consultations and sustenance of peace in the Niger Delta might be hurting those behind the campaign of calumny in the region.

The group called on all sister organizations in the Niger Delta to support the campaign against oil theft, Tantita Security Service Limited, the NNPCL and the PAP leadership.

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The group said: “We are shocked at the extent to which this deadly cabal of oil thieves can go to orchestrate a campaign of calumny against hardworking people carrying out their lawful responsibilities in the Niger Delta.

“Of course, nobody expects a group of extremely wealthy, connected and influential people who has been involved in oil theft, stealing billions for years to go away without resistance.

“The show of shame in front of the UN headquarters is a most reprehensible attack on the country image, the President, national security and our economy.

“The unpatriotic characters are conniving with enemies of Nigeria in their criminal bid to bring back the dark days of oil theft and its impact on the nation’s economy.

“We call on the President, to be firm in sustaining what is good for Nigeria. Tompolo, and Tantita have shown that it is not impossible to stop the menace of oil theft as shown by the daily production of oil to 1.8 million barrels per day,

“We also urge the Mr Kyari and Dr Otuaro to be firm in carrying out their official responsibilities to this great country. That oil thieves are focusing attacks on the, shows in clear terms that their actions are suffocating their evil activities in the region.”

Oil cabal sponsoring blackmails against Tompolo, Otuaro, Kyari, say Ijaw youths

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NURTW scribe felicitates Nigerians on Xmas, urges caution

Published

7 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Trends Admin

NURTW scribe felicitates Nigerians on Xmas, urges caution

The General Secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Comrade Kayode Agbeyangi, has enjoined Nigerians to imbibe the virtues of peace, love and compassion as taught through the birth of Jesus Christ.

He stated this in his Christmas and end of the year goodwill message to felicitate members of the union and Nigerians in general.

Agbeyangi urged Nigerians to use the festive season to reflect on the values of love, compassion, and sacrifice that Jesus Christ embodied.

“This period is not for merry making alone; we should also spare time to reflect on the birth and life of Jesus Christ.

“His birth teaches humility, love compassion and sacrifice. As Nigerians, we must show love to our fellow county men. We must love our country. As Nigerians, we must be ready to make sacrifices for the nation.”

The NURTW scribe also used the opportunity to appeal to members of the union and other road users to always exercise caution and adhere to all safety protocols while travelling during the festive season.

“As we celebrate, let us not forget the importance of road safety. The roads can be treacherous, especially during the festive season.

“I urge our members and all road users to drive safely, avoid overspending, overtaking at dangerous bends and overloading, and be courteous to other road users,” he stated.

He also advised drivers that all their vehicle papers should be up to date to avoid embarrassment from law enforcement officers on the highways.

Comrade Agbeyangi prayed for a peaceful and joyous celebration, and wished members of the union and Nigerians, a happy prosperous New Year.