Segun Babatunde in Bauchi
Tragedy struck in Sade Village of Darazo Local government area of Bauchi when a middle aged man known as Talle Mai Ruwa was set ablaze by yet to be identified youths for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Mohammed.
Our correspondent gathered that the deceased who was taken to police station in the village on Monday after his alleged blasphemous act, was forcefully taken away from the station by a mob of angry youths on Tuesday and thereafter, lynched him in broad daylight.
Mai Ruwa, who was said to be mentally deranged, was alleged to have blasphemed Prophet Mohammed on Monday when a girl came to fetch water from his borehole without his consent, an act which was said to have infuriated him, thereby kicking her bucket and spilled the content in the process.
According to a source in the village who narrated what happened to journalists, the girl begged the deceased in the name of God and the Prophet to allow her to fetch the water but he so angry to the extent that he allegedly insulted her parents and the Prophet.
This alleged blasphemy, it was learnt, made temper to raise among the villagers, leading to high tension in the village.
“The high tension in the village on Monday made the village head to take him to the police outpost station in the village where he spent the night.
“By the next morning, the issue spread everywhere and everyone in the village was provoked. Later, a group of angry youths stormed the police outpost, subdued the police officers around and grabbed Talle. He was beaten to death and his dead body was burnt,” the source said
Another villager stated that the irate youths after beating Mai Ruwa to death, dragged his lifeless body round the village after which they set the remains on fire and burnt the body to ashes.
The source said that the irate youth later dragged the remains to the front of his compound where his aged mother helplessly watched them set ablaze and burnt the remains to ashes.
As of the time of filing this report, the police in the state are yet to react to the incident as efforts made to get the command’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP Ahmed Wakil, to react proved abortive. END
