How true is genital theft?

Recently, people in Abuja, Nasarawa and Kogi states, especially men, have been thrown into fear following increasing widespread rumour of disappearance of male genitals, Daily Trust Saturday reports.

Isah Ismaila & Abubakar Sadiq Isah (Abuja), Tijjani Labaran (Lokoja) & Umar Muhammed (Lafia)

Usman Muhammad had run home to inform his mother, Nafisa, that his male organ had been stolen. On a breezy evening of September 20, 18-year-old Muhammad and his friend had just closed their scavenging business in Angwan Geshi, a community in Gwagwalada Area Council. While sitting on a weighing machine (kilo as they fondly call it) waiting for their master, who doubles as Muhammad’s brother, to receive their daily wages and run back home, Muhammad’s male organ would later be ‘mysteriously’ stolen by someone he identified as Abba, from just a handshake.

“We were seated on a kilo waiting for my brother to come back before closing the shop when two people came on a motorcycle. The one behind wore a black jallabiya while the other one (Abba) wore a golf hat, and he extended his hand towards me for a handshake; I extended mine too.

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“Immediately after he left my hand, I felt very uncomfortable. It felt like I was in a trance with some kind of shock in my body, and my private part was missing. Immediately, they started moving away; Abba pushed me and they drove away,” Muhammad narrated.

The victim told Daily Trust Saturday that he fell to the ground and could not chase after them, but he eventually ran home to inform his mother that his penis had been stolen by one Abba who lives in Agwan Gade, an area close to the victim’s place of work.

“When we exchanged the handshake, I could not feel my genital. But as we speak now, I can feel it, but it is very small compared to how it used to be. It shrinks and comes back like it is deflating. I am beginning to feel better now, even though I have not had an erection since the incident occurred,” the victim told Daily Trust Saturday on a sick bed at Haske Hospital in Gwagwalada.

Nafisa Muhammad, the victim’s mother, said they had reported the issue to the police as the parents of Abba (the suspect) denied the allegation leveled against their son.

“My concern is for my son to recover from this mystery and for his male organ to get back to normal so that he can live peacefully,” he said.

After spending two hours in the hospital, Muhammad’s amle organ ‘miraculously’ returned. This is the first time the 18-year-old Muhammad is experiencing male organ theft – the mysterious incident that has taken over other burning issues to become the talk of the town.

In recent times, there has been an increase in cases of genital disappearance and snatching in some northern states of Nigeria. This cuts across states like Kogi, Nasarawa and Kaduna, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Residents of the FCT have, for over a month now, been living in fear following reported cases of alleged ‘stealing’ of male organ by some persons.

Daily Trust Saturday gathered that no day passes without a report of a ‘missing’ male organ, especially at markets, motor parks, mosques and ceremonial gathering in satellite towns of the FCT.

The increasingly reported cases of missing male organ across satellite towns on a daily basis have taken a different dimension as its constant occurrence has thrown residents into fear.

Some residents raised the alarm, claiming that their male organ had been stolen or disappeared after body contact with a stranger, or a handshake, a situation that has several times led to ‘jungle’ justice by angry mob.

In most cases, such suspects, when apprehended, are rescued from the hands of the mob by security agents and handed over to the police.

However, the first incident of a missing genitals occurred at Sabon- Tasha motor park in Abaji Area Council on September 14, 2023, where a man identified as Godwin, a commercial bus driver, was reported to have allegedly stolen another man’s male organ, identified as Sadiq.

The victim claimed that the suspect, who was travelling with passengers from Zuba to Edo State, stopped over at Abaji, where he had a handshake and asked him where he could buy drinks.

Shortly after that, the victim raised the alarm that his genital organ had disappeared, a situation that led to the arrest of the driver by some people around the motor park, where he was beaten by a mob and later rescued to the police area command.

The driver was said to have been freed by the police after the victim, who was taken to the hospital, later confirmed that his male organ had returned.

Also, three persons, including a commercial cyclist, were said to have raised the alarm that their male organ got missing at Anguwar Gede in Kuje Area Council of the FCT on September 15, 2023.

The incident, our reporter learnt, attracted the attention of an angry mob that descended on the suspects with dangerous weapons until they claimed to have returned the alleged stolen male organ.

Daily Trust Saturday learnt that the suspects were later rescued and taken to the police station in the area.

The mysterious stealing of genitals is not a new topic, even though no one can specifically say when the first case was recorded in Nigeria. However, one of such incidents was that which was recounted by Dr Sunday Ilechukwu, a psychiatrist currently in Detroit, Michigan.

This was in 1975 when he was posted to Kaduna. He recounted how a policeman brought two people for a medical examination as one of them had accused the other of genital theft. The incident caused serious mayhem in the street. The accuser would later confirm that his genitals had returned.

Manhood snatchers, mostly identified as ritualists, are usually pounced on, and in some cases, beaten to stupor by mobs, who might not have even witnessed the incident.

Most of these snatchers, particularly in Gwagwalada, are usually saved by local vigilantes in some cases after they had been beaten to stupor for the victim to eventually get back the stolen male organ.

El-Usman Adamu, a vigilante commander in Gwagwalada and the DC Admin of Nasarawa State command, while decrying the rise in stealing of both children and private parts by suspected ritualists, told Daily Trust Saturday that they had attended to over 30 of such cases in Nasarawa alone and over 10 in Gwagwalada.

“We have attended to many of such cases, but now, they have changed tactics, from stealing children to private parts of both male and female victims, and they do so through handshake or physical contact,” he said.

Adamu said that while it sounds doubtful and controversial for someone’s private part to be stolen, he had seen where a victim’s male organ was not there until the suspects were apprehended and they returned it.

“Some people say that this male organ theft is a lie, but we have seen it physically and the culprits confessed to the crime. Victims have on several occasions shown our men and you could see that the private parts had disappeared and the places were flat and empty.”

“We have successfully arrested suspects of male organ theft to save them from mob attacks. Surprisingly, in the presence of everyone, including the police, they would bring back the male organ they had earlier denied stealing,” he noted.

Adamu, however, said that in some cases, people are wrongly accused and they eventually get mobbed; and sometimes they lose their lives. He said people should desist from taking laws into their hands, and called on the government to provide more support to tackle the issue.

Charcoal, needles, alligator pepper for protection

While residents are on edge over the rising disappearance of male organ in their communities, there is a rising trend of superstitious belief that charcoal, alligator pepper and needles are combined as a form of protection. This, according to them, would save male organ from snatchers.

Speaking to Daily Trust Saturday, Muhammad Abubakar, a butcher in Gwagwalada main market, whose elder brother’s genital was said to have been stolen, said people in his area resulted to using charcoal, needle and pepper as a form of protection against such incidents.

Hafsat Muhammad, another resident of Gwagwalada, told Daily Trust Saturday that she was personally scared, and even more scared to send her children on errands due to male organ theft crisis in Gwagwalada. She added that a lot of people had developed superstitious beliefs to prevent such a menace.

“People are saying we should use charcoal, needles and dry pepper for protection against these people stealing private parts in Gwagwalada. Once you have these in your pockets, you will be saved from the thieves.”

“Personally, I have resulted to prayers. And I always task my children to recite the prayers to avoid such people. My brother brought a paper with Arabic inscriptions and prayers so that we could put it in our pockets for protection. As you can see, I have copies of them for my family,” she emphasized while showing the photocopies to our reporter.

Fear grips Kogi residents

Manhood disappearance crisis has equally found its way to the shores of Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State, resulting in the death of three suspects as a result of mob action.

Daily Trust Saturday gathered that the first alarm was raised on Tuesday morning at a shop behind Dunamis Church in Lokoja when the shop owner screamed for help, alleging that his male organ had disappeared.

An eyewitness, Idris Abubakar, said confusion started when the shop owner felt a shock in his body and thereafter touched his genital, only to discover that it had disappeared. The victim’s cry for help attracted Abubakar, his neighbours and passersby to the scene.

The suspect had visited the shop to buy bread. During the transaction, the shop owner said he felt a shock in his body and discovered that his male organ had disappeared.

“The suspected customer was arrested, and after a thorough beating, he confessed to the crime. We expressed joy that the male organ of the shop owner was restored,” Abubakar said.

The victim, who spoke under anonymity, said the incident was real and had no bearing on the scientific authentication.

“It is demonic. Immediately I handed out the bread as requested, I felt a shock all over me and my male organ withdrew to the scrotum”, the victim in Lokoja said.

The menace had forced commercial motorcycle riders to embark on strike last Thursday as mischievous passengers started alleging missing genitals.

The state chairman of the Okada Riders Association, Mallam Umar Muhammed, said his members were attacked by passengers who were unable to pay for their fares by raising a fake alarm about missing male organ.

“Instead of taking the issue to the police, they take laws into their hands and beat up my members. Thereafter, they would say their male organ had returned,” he said.

Meanwhile, the police public relations officer in the state, ASP William Aya, cautioned the members of the public not to take laws into their hands but to report such allegations to the appropriate authorities for proper investigation and action.

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In Nasarawa State, Daily Trust Saturday learned that the first reported case of a missing male genital was in Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area, where a 19-year-old boy was arrested. The video went viral.

In Lafia, the state capital, the story of the disappearance of male genitals became rampant few weeks ago. At Tudun Kwandara, it was alleged that three persons lost their genitals. This was followed by cases at the Federal University, Lafia, Modern Market, Lafia, as well as Tudun Kauri. Keffi Local Government Area was not left out as some students also complained that they could not find their genitals.

Some suspects in Lafia, Musa Saidu and John Michael, said they narrowly escaped jungle justice as a result of false allegations on Thursday. They said they were traumatised by the incident as they were luckily saved by the police.

Commenting on the issue, the police public relations officer, Nasarawa State command, DSP Rahman Nansel, warned residents to desist from taking laws into their hands and raising false alarm about disappearance of their genitals. He said drastic measures would be taken against anyone caught misleading the public.