Primary School Headmaster Poisons 70-Year-Old Woman In Nasarawa State

A primary school headmaster posing as a native doctor has poisoned a 70-year-old woman in Okpaika, a suburb of Obi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

According to a source, Saratu Iliya, a 70-year-old mother of twelve, was accused of being responsible for the illness of a particular girl in Okpaika, Obi Local Government Area and as a result, the Okpaika community decided to bring a native doctor to detect those who are witches and wizards and give them concoction to stop them from practising witchcraft.

This they did with the consent of the Okpaika community leader and some youths who are reportedly in police custody as at the time of this report.

The source revealed that the trouble started when the community brought a native doctor from Obi town, popularly known as Alleburah, who doubles as headmaster of the Primary School in Ikposogye.

The school Headmaster allegedly prepared a special concoction separate from the one he gave others and after forcing Mama Saratu Iliya to drink, she fell down and lost her consciousness.

According to the source, Mama had been in coma as from Thursday since she drank the alleged poison administered by Mr. Alleburah.

The 70-year-old Saratu Iliya, who initially hails from Sara, a native of Siyawa from Bauchi state, migrated from Bauchi and settled in Okpaika with her family in 1971, which means they have been living in Okpaika for the past 49 years.

One of the sons of the 70-year-old woman, Kyauta Iliya who spoke to Eggonnews in Lafia said “the trouble started in 2018, when one woman from Okpaika by name Eliza accused our mother that she is a witch. She accused our mother (Saratu) that she removed her womb and made her barren, that our mother is responsible for her (Eliza’s) poverty.

“Since she made the allegation, people in the community started accusing our mother of being a witch and they started calling her names.

“From there, there had been cases of illnesses and death in the community, and people in the community said they will take measure to address the situation.

“The issue continued until recently when one Pastor from Plateau State, came to great his brother in Okpaika and claimed that he is into deliverance prayer.

“He started praying for children in Okpaika and some of them started confessing that they were into cultism.

“From there, a daughter to Eliza, the woman who accused our mother of witchcraft also came for the prayer. And when the man prayed for her, she confessed that she was into secret society and that it was our mother (Saratu) who initiated her into it.

“Therefore, the elders of the town sat and agreed that they will go and bring one native doctor to handle the issue.

“So they decided that members of the community should be tasked to pay five hundred naira each, which we paid, both men and women we paid five hundred naira each.

“They collected the money and assigned some people to bring a credible native doctor to come and tackle the issue of deaths in Okpaika.

“Among those assigned to go and look for a native doctor are Solo, Bukata, Malla Jamis and John Bablan.

“This delegation went and met the community leader of Okpaika, Mr. Sunday Nuhu who then consented by giving them the go ahead to bring a native doctor to look into the problems of the community.

“The community had already agreed that the three people I mentioned their names are the ones that will go and bring a sincere native doctor. So they went and brought one Alleburah from Obi.

“Before they brought him, they announced to the entire members of the community that nobody should go to farm or any other place.

“So when they brought the man, he asked our mother to accept and confess if she is a witch. But our mother said she didn’t know anything then the man asked her to sit aside.

“There were some people who accepted that they are into witchcraft due to fear. So the man kept them aside.

“After that, the man mixed a concoction for members of the community and started giving people line by line, including the sick persons who were there. Even us Mama’s children, we drank the concoction.

“After we drank the mixture, Alleburah said those children and other sick persons who were tied down by witches he had freed them already” he said.

According to Mr. Kyauta Iliya, “the concoction that was given to our mother was different from the one he gave to all of us.

“He prepared it separately and gave it to our mother to drink.

“When he gave Mama the concoction, Mama fell down and fainted. She lied down motionless. She couldn’t open her eyes nor move.

“Since she took the concoction on Thursday, 2nd July, 2020, she had been in coma.

“Being in that situation, the native doctor said that our mother is a witch and to restore her back to her senses, that we should pay him twenty thousand naira. Then we told him that we can’t pay him the money.”

He explained that they refused to pay the native doctor the twenty thousand naira he requested because they sensed a sort of conspiracy against their mother.

He added that: “That night, when I saw our mother in a critical Condition, I went to the Obi Police Division and reported the matter to

the police.

“I did that so that the police will come and rescue our mother from their hand so we could take her to the hospital”, he said.

Mr. Iliya also used the medium to appeal to the security agencies, human rights activists to come to their aid in order to save the life of the 70-year-old Mama Saratu Iliya who is undergoing treatment as at the time of filling in this report.

He called on the security operatives to arrest Alleburah the said native doctor and bring him to justice to serve as deterrent to those who are misleading members of the public.

In most communities, people who are elderly or aged are regarded as witches and wizards. The youths will always point accusing fingers on them whenever something happens.

Sometimes, in the case of deaths, the aged are at the receiving end.

There were cases where the elderly are beaten and forced to admit that they are responsible for the death of certain persons.

One cannot convincingly say that it is part of African culture, but more often, in Africa, and in most families across ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, whenever somebody dies, the elderly in the families concerned are often blamed for the dead. It appears as if in some families, it is a crime for people to grow older, especially from seventy years above.

The most pathetic ones are those who have grey hairs. Once you are advanced in age and you have grey hairs, they believe that you are a witch or a wizard. It is as if grey hair is a sign that somebody is a witch or a wizard.

This explains why in most communities, one will hardly see aged people from 70, 80, or 100 years and above.