A 45-year-old man, Mohammed Suleiman, who resides in Dabi-Bako community in Kwali Area Council, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has lost one of his hands to suspected cultists in the area.
Suleiman, who is a motorcycle mechanic, could not hold his tears while narrating to our reporter how the cultists who went on rampage on 1, October, 2020, invaded his house and chopped off his hand with a cutlass.
He said it was at about 2 am and while he was asleep in his room that the cultists, who were almost 20 in number, entered his younger brother’s room, and then his wife’s which is next to his room and threatened to kill her and his children.
He said he awoke and heard the strange sound and decided to open the door and come out but one of the cultists lifted a cutlass and hacked off his left hand with it.
“They were almost 20 all in black shirts and wearing facemasks. When they came, they first went to my younger brother’s room and forced the door open; after which they came out and proceeded to my wife’s room and threatened to kill her and the children,” he said.
Suleiman said the cultists fled after chopping off his hand, leaving him in a pool of his own blood. He was later taken on a motorcycle to a private hospital in Gwagwalada, where he was treated for two weeks.
N150,000 raise for medical bills
He said relatives, friends and neighbours raised N150,000 to pay for his medical bills, saying life has been difficult for him and his family since he lost one of his hands to cultists.
A neighbour of the victim, who narrowly escaped attack by the suspected cultists, Chidubem Ifeanyi, said he luckily escaped from the house when the cultists came in their numbers to attack them.
He said the cultists forced their way into his house after they left his neighbour’s house and inflicted injuries on him, saying he sighted them through the window, and quietly opened the door and escaped.
“It was only God that saved me that day, as it was only I and my wife that were at home; my children were not around. Upon sighting them, I quickly escaped in my undies which I had to sleep in that day,” he said.
He said the cultists spared his wife but went away with his laptop, phones and some jewellery, even as he said the cultists threatened to come back.
NDLEA official narrates experience
An official of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) who is resident in the area but preferred anonymity, also told our reporter how the cultists attacked and inflicted injuries on him same day they went on rampage in the community.
He said he was sleeping in the room alongside three of his friends when the cultists forced their way into the room and attacked him with machete and axe, but that his three friends managed to escape.
The Mai Anguwa of Dabi-Bako, while speaking with our reporter, said the activities the cultists has become a nightmare to residents of the area, especially since late last year.
He said the cultists late last year attacked some houses and dispossessed their victims of cash, phones and other valuables, adding that he had summon some elders of the community for a meeting to engage local vigilante groups.
“I can tell you that since we set up vigilante group, after we tasked ourselves a token to be given to the members at the end of every month, we are now sleeping with our two eyes closed,” he said.
The spokesperson of the FCT Police Command, ASP Maryam Yusuf, neither picked calls or replied to text message sent to her phone.
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