60-year-old traditional ruler in Jigawa, others held for raping a 8-year-old girl

The Jigawa State Police Command has arrested a 60-year-old traditional ruler, Abubakar Ya’u, for allegedly raping an eight-year-old primary school pupil.

The traditional ruler, who is the village head of Kargo in Garki Local Government Area of Jigawa State, was paraded at the State Police Command Headquarters alongside three other rapists arrested at different locations within the state.

The command’s spokesperson, Abdu Jinjiri, who represented the Commissioner of Police, Mr Henry Fadairo, disclosed that the arrest of the village head, followed complaints lodged by the victim’s mother at the Garki Police Station that her daughter was abducted on her way to school and raped by Ya’u.

In an interview with newsmen, the arrested monarch denied the accusations, insisting that he never committed such an offence, claiming rather that he had a dispute with the mother of the said victim over a debt.

'I never committed such offence. All what I know is that I have a misunderstanding with the mother of the said girl (victim) over a debt.

“There is a man in the village that is indebted to many people, including the mother of the girl. When his situation worsened, the man ran away from the village to Taraba state. The man later sent words from hiding that his farm should be sold to pay his huge debt. “On my instruction, the farm was sold for N70, 000 but the money was not enough to pay all the people he was owing, hence, I decided to pay all the people he was owing part of the their money. The mother of the girl (victim) insisted that her money must be paid in full, and since then, she has been keeping malice against me. This is all what I know.”