Authorities in the Nigerian state of Kano have arrested a woman accused of locking up her 15-year-old daughter for ten years and depriving her of food as well as adequate healthcare while she was in confinement, local news outlet Vanguard reported.
According to the Kano State Police Command, the suspect, identified as Rabi Mohammed, and her husband kept their daughter in solitary confinement in one of the rooms of their house for a decade.
Speaking to the news outlet on Tuesday, the spokesperson of the state police command, DSP Abdullahi Haruna, said they were able to rescue the victim and apprehend the suspect following a tip-off from good Samaritans. The girl’s father is, however, at large. Haruna said efforts are being made to locate and apprehend him.
Narrating the incident, he said: “On Monday, at about 1100hrs, the Kano State Police Command received an information, which revealed that one Aisha Jibrin, 15 years old of Darerawa Quarters, Fagge LGA, Kano State was solitarily confined for 10 years in a room by her biological parents, one Mohd Jibrin and Rabi Mohammed of the same address inside their house without proper feeding and health care.”
Following the tip-off, Haruna said a team of detectives and medical personnel was deployed to the address to rescue the victim and apprehend the alleged perpetrators. “The teams immediately swung into action,” he said, adding: “One suspect named Rabi Mohammed, 35 years old, a mother to the victim, was arrested while efforts are in progress to arrest the father of the victim who is currently at large.”
The victim was rushed to a local hospital where she is receiving treatment.
