The police in Ogun State have arrested a couple, Nasiru and Idayat Adeyemo, for alleged attempt to use their seven-year-old daughter, Abibat, for ritual purpose, NewTelegraph reports.The state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the incident in a statement yesterday, said the husband and wife were apprehended on Sunday evening.
Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, disclosed that the suspects cut off one of the fingers of the victim.
According to him, the couple later tied the girl, put her in a sack and dumped her inside the bush to die.
He said some members of the public who sighted the “strange sack” by the road side at Asabala area along Papalanto/Sagamu road made a distress call to the police.
Oyeyemi said, “On the strength of the information, the DPO Owode Egba, CSP Shehu Alao, led his men to the scene where the load which was inside a white rice sack was untied.
“Surprisingly, it was a seven-year-old girl whose one of her right fingers has been cut off that was tied and put inside the sack and dumped at the road side since Friday.
“Having realized that the girl was still alive, she was quickly taken to the hospital for medical attention. It was when she regained consciousness that she informed the Police that her father and step mother were the ones who cut off one of her fingers before tying her and putting her inside the sack.
“Upon the information from the victim, a serious manhunt was launched for the father and his wife and they were arrested on the evening of Sunday.”
The PPRO stated that the suspects were currently undergoing interrogation.
He added that the Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, has ordered the transfer of the case to the Anti-Kidnapping/Cultism section for further investigation and possible prosecution
