NSCDC rescues girl caged by stepmother for five years in Jigawa

Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Jigawa State Command arrested a couple after allegedly locking their 25-year-old daughter in a cage for five years.

The NSCDC’s spokesperson in Jigawa, Adamu Shehu, in a statement on Tuesday, said the girl’s father, Garba Musa, 67, and her stepmother, Aisha Abubakar, both residents of Takur Site, Dutse, were arrested by the NSCDC operatives for violence against the person.

Mr Shehu said the arrest followed a complaint lodged at the NSCDC State Command Headquarters by a human rights activist from the suspect’s neighbours.

“That a girl of about 25 years named Ummi Abubakar, daughter to the suspect, is locked up in a room within the house for five years without being allowed to come out.

“Upon receipt of the complaint, NSCDC operatives rushed to the house and rescued the 25-year-old looking emaciated, unkempt, and depressed.

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“The room in which she was living serves as her toilet where she urinates and her food served on a bare floor.

According to the father, his daughter is suffering from a mental illness and was gallivanting around causing problems in the neighbourhood; that was why they resorted to caging her.

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“He produced Hospital Out Patient Card obtained in 2013, 2014, and 2018 from Kazaure Psychiatric Hospital, Jigawa State where he has taken her for treatment.

“Investigation also revealed that the mother of the 25-year-old Ummi separated from the father, her husband, about 30 years ago and was denied visiting her Children despite having Six (6) with him.

“Apart from Ummi’s brother, who’s a public servant, the other Four (4) siblings were married. Ummi’s mother is married to another man, living in Huguma Town, a border town between Jigawa and Kano State.

“The Command is investigating the root cause of her mental illness going by the fact that she was healthy up to Junior Secondary School level before her disappearance and to also find a solution to end her suffering,” he said.