Islamic cleric slices girlfriend’s throat for ritual

BY IFEOMA IKEM
If not for providence coupled with spirited efforts to stay alive, 20-year-old Busayo Amdalat, would have been dead now courtesy of a man she calls husband.
The Suspect, Mallam Shehu, an Islamic cleric had invited the victim to celebrate the Christmas holiday with him when the incident occurred at a suburb of Olorunda Local Council Development Authority of Badagry, Lagos State.
Events leading to the attempted murder was said to have started on Monday morning at Mowo II, a suburb of Badagry when a visitor known as Ifa came to visit the cleric. Busayo was cajoled to put on a white cloth.

It was further gathered that immediately she did that, the cleric and his accomplice hit the lady with an iron rod on her head and she fell. According to a source, they grabbed her tightly and the Ifa brought out a knife and started to slash the victim’s throat. In a ditch effort to stay alive, she mustered courage and grabbed a bottle close by, hit the ritualist on the head before dashing out to nearby street where a carnival was taking place.

Drenched in a pool of her blood with her throat and fingers gushing out blood, some residents came to her rescue and quickly rushed her to an undisclosed hospital in the area by the good Samaritans.

One of the residents, Taiwo Abdulraman, who rescued the victim said: “Immediately, we saw her, we quickly mobilised and went after the cleric while others took the victim to the hospital. When we got to his house, we saw blood splashed everywhere and inside the building. There were lots of charms and other fetish substances in his house.

“We saw the iron rod and a sharp knife he used on her. We didn’t meet him inside the house. We also quickly mobilized and went to his second house at MTN Bus Stop, but he was nowhere to be found too.”

Busayo, narrating her ordeal soon after regaining consciousness in her hospital bed explained how she was lured into the slaughter slab by a man she so much loved and was proposing to spend the rest of her life with.

She said: “We had a quarrel before now for about three weeks. I knew his first wife before she died but the second wife did not want him (Sambo) to marry me but he insisted he was going to marry me. I eventually got pregnant for him but he rejected the pregnancy at some point.

“I went to report him to a Muslim cleric but the cleric said there was nothing he could do to convince my lover to accept the pregnancy. For about two months, I did not call Sambo and because of the issue, I changed my telephone number.

“We eventually settled the matter and I visited him for the Christmas. So, yesterday, Sambo and his friend called Ifa were having discussions in his house. Before I knew it, he engaged in the consumption of lots of alcohol. At a point, I cautioned him and he refused to listen to me. He even offered me some but I rejected it.

“Later that night, he asked me to wrap myself in white clothing of which I obliged because I had no thought of his evil plan against me. Just as I lay on the bed, Ifa came in and wanted to use a cloth to cover my face. Almost immediately, Sambo came in with an iron rod and hit me on the head. I shouted but nobody heard me because it was a bushy area.
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“Ifa and Sambo attacked me with a knife but I managed to hit him with a bottle and ran into one of the rooms and locked myself inside and pretended to be making a call to a neighbour for rescue. Having heard that, they were convinced that I was probably making a call and they left and I managed to escape from the house.”

The Lagos state Police spokesperson, DSP Joe Offor confirmed to National Daily the incident but explained that the woman was legally married to the Cleric. He added that the man was on the run but efforts are been made by the Police with a view to arresting him.