A 60-year-old man and father of 12 children, Isa Usman, has been arrested by the police in Minna for raping a nine-year-old girl inside his shop in Kure market on Saturday afternoon.
It was gathered that the suspect, a foreigner from Niger Republic, owned the shop from where he operates as a sachet water retail vendor at the market.
It was also gathered that the victim was one of the girls that hawked water for him inside the market.
Usman was said to have forced the girl into sexual act while the market was in session and that the cries from the girl attracted other traders into the shop, who the old man on top of the girl having sex with her.
Angry market people were said to have rescued the girl from the old man before seizing him in an apparent move to lynch him, but was saved by the police.
He was said to have been picked by the police at the Kure market police outpost before being transferring to GRA Divisional Police headquarters.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Niger state police command, ASP Bala Elkana, confirmed the incident to our correspondent in Minna, saying that “the case is with state CID now and investigation is in progress.”