Two women, 60-year-old Maryam Ashiru and her daughter, Asiya Ashiru of Kila Village in Gwaram local government area of Jigawa State were on Tuesday lynched by an angry mob in their community over allegations of witchcraft.
The two women were attacked by the mob at around 9pm, following the death of a middle-aged person Abubakar Sule, suspected to be killed through witchcraft by one of the women.
According to the son of Maryam Ashiru, Sani Ashiru, who is also a student of the Sa’adatu Rimi College Kano, said that the people of the village stormed the house and killed his aged mother and his sister, following the death of their neighbour.
He said, “About three years ago, an elder brother to the late Sule fell sick and died, but his family accused our family of killing him. The matter was settled at a Shari’a court after we swore by the Holy Qur’an that we are not witches or wizards and were, also, not responsible for his death.
“Few weeks ago, when Sule fell sick, his family also accused us of being responsible and threatened to kill all of our family members if he died. Unfortunately and eventually, he died.
“Shortly after, his family along with many people in the village attacked our house. Before they reached the house, virtually all our family members ran away, leaving only my helpless mother and sister in the house.
“The attackers, without any hesitation, slaughtered my mother and sister, mutilated their bodies and burnt our house with all our belongings inside,” Ashiru narrated.
“I can swear by the Qur’an that we are not witches or wizards; but simply because we a poor family, some people in the village hate us and always make these allegations against us,” Ashiru pointed out.
He also revealed that he did not know the whereabouts of any of his other escaped family members and confirmed that “no one among those inhuman people has been arrested by the police, and I cannot get a lawyer to follow me, because I have no money”.
He, however, called on the Jigawa State government, human right groups and legal aid groups to come to his family’s aid, and insisted on fishing out “those heartless people”.
When the spokesperson of the state police command, SP Abdul Jinjiri, was contacted, he confirmed the incident and added that two persons, Sani Malam Yalwa and Rilwan Suleiman, were arrested in connection with the incident.