Body of 80-year-old woman found with eyes, tongue, private parts missing in Taraba State

• Kidnappers abduct rescuers of accident victims in Rivers
• Former NAFDAC DG, Orhii, escapes abduction

Resident of Karim-Lamido local government area of Taraba State yesterday woke up to the rude shock of the discovery of an 80-year-old woman found dead with her eyes, breasts, tongue, fingernails and private parts chopped off.

The octogenarian, Hannatu Kefas, who had earlier been declared missing five days ago while on her way to the farm, was gruesomely murdered by suspected ritualists. Her body was found on a farm in neighbouring Kodel village five days after her disappearance.

Saddened by the development, an in-law to the deceased, Khadimoh Sani Ishaku, told The Guardian that Kefas at her age was a peasant farmer who usually left her home to her farm every Tuesdays and return on Saturdays. He wondered why such ill should be meted out at the old woman.

Ishaku said she was murdered close to a bar joint known as forest parliament in Karim Lamido. He described the area as “where some miscreants and gangsters use to perpetuate their hideous crimes at the detriment of the community.”

The Guardian gathered that the said joint forest bar is a commercial centre where beer and some other drinks are sold with a high spate of hooliganism. It was further gathered that this latest incident was the fifth of its kind where innocent persons are not only harassed or intimidated but also robbed sometimes gruesomely murdered.

With tears drooling down his cheeks, Ishaku appealed to the state government to expedite action by taking a punitive measure to arrest and compel the culprits to face the wrath of the law to prevent a future occurrence.

The octogenarian, whom sympathisers said was the breadwinner of the family, is survived by a long list of children and grandchildren, many of whom are students.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), David Misal, said her death could be attributed to natural occurrence as the situation cannot be substantiate owing to days taken for the body to be discovered.

He noted that the police was not informed of the missing woman until she was discovered dead.

Meanwhile, gunmen at the weekend abducted four travelers, who rushed to an accident scene in Elele, Rivers State, to rescue the victims. It was learnt that victims of the accident were persons from Bayelsa State, who were returning from a traditional wedding in Mbaise, Imo State.

They were reportedly traveling in a Toyota Sienna car when the vehicle crashed into another vehicle in a head-on collision. A popular Ijaw youth and social media activist, Prince Elayo Ekete and driver of the Sienna car were said to have died on the spot.

Other travelers from Bayelsa, who witnessed the accident, were said to have rushed to the scene to rescue the victims when kidnappers seized them and took them away.

But another source said the kidnapped victims were abducted after they had successfully rushed other victims of the accident to a hospital. A source, who witnessed the incidents, said the youth community in Bayelsa has been thrown into mourning, wondering why the kidnappers worsened the situation in the state.

The source, who spoke in confidence said: “The wedding was attended by most social media activists from Bayelsa across political party lines. Ekete and seven others were returning from the occasion and they got to Elele when their vehicle had a head-on collision.

“The kidnappers went to the accident scene, recovered personal effects of some of the victims and called one of the rescuers asking him to come to a particular place to collect them. When they got there, the gunmen seized them,” the source narrated.

One of the injured victims of the accident, Dina Adiva, confirmed that some persons, who came to rescue them were kidnapped by unknown gunmen and prayed for their freedom. Adiva, who is recuperating in an unknown hospital, said: “I also pray for those that were kidnapped while trying to make arrangements to move us from Madonna University, Elele to Yenagoa, that they come out unhurt.”

In honour of Ekete, social media activists in Bayelsa have suspended the posting of all political materials on social media for the next 24 hours.

In another development, an attempt to abduct former Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii, has been foiled by policemen. The incident occurred in the early hours of yesterday in his Makurdi, Benue State home.

Orhii, who narrated the incident on his Facebook page, stated that it took the efforts of police personnel around to ward off the bandits that sneaked into his home at about 1:00 a.m.

He said: “Early this morning (Monday), at precisely 1:05 a.m., four boys armed with pistols and machetes sneaked into my Makurdi home and went straight to the security post in an attempt to disarm my security personnel. During the ensuing struggle, the gallant police officers started shooting, which caused the intruders to run for safety, leaving behind two machetes and a pistol cartridge loaded with six bullets.

“Preliminary investigations indicate that one of my security guards may have been involved as their inside man. He and all the items recovered have been handed over to the police in Makurdi to assist them in their investigation.”