A mother of four children identified as Hassana Saleh has been rescued from a shack-like room in Rigasa, Igabi local government area of Kaduna metropolis.
Hassana was locked-up by her elder brother, Lawal Saleh, in the room where she has been urinating, defecating and eating for two years.
Our correspondent gathered that the police had to use a big metal to break one of the padlocks used to lock her room, which was in complete darkness.
The founder of a Kaduna-based Non-Governmental Organization, Arrida Relief Foundation, Hajiya Rabi Salisu Ibrahim who rescued Hassana said, the elder brother claimed to have locked her up because she was adamant about going to her husband’s house.
According to her, “The family believed that, her husband no longer loves her and had divorced her, which they said led to her depression.
“They, however, decided to take the decision of locking her up the room because they felt they had no other option.”
She said the victim will be taken to the hospital for proper check-up and called on other well-meaning Nigerians to come to her aid.
However, speaking to newsmen at the police headquarters on Tuesday, the victim’s elder brother, Lawal said, “I was helpless and did not know what to do because Hassana kept running away.”
Giving his account, he said, “I was away and when I came back, I was told that Hassana’s husband had divorced her and that she had run away.
“By the time I came back, she was found and brought to my house where I reside with my four wives and 41 children in Rigasa.
“I did my best to get medication for her, but she kept trying to run back to her former husband. She was later married to another man, but she opted out of the marriage because she wanted to go back to the father of her children.”
He said he decided to lock her up in the room because he could no longer foot the bills for her medication saying, “Even food to eat became a problem for me and my household.”
On the claim that he locked his sister for two year, he said, “She was locked up for seven months, not two years.”
Commenting on the condition of the room she was living in, he noted that two of her sisters usually come and bath her and clean the room once in a while adding, “Everyone in the neighbourhood knows about her story and they are the ones who bring her back when she runs away.”
He prayed that she receives the treatment she requires to live her normal live.
