A student of Department of Biochemistry in the University of Maiduguri and identified as Saleem Ibrahim, has allegedly attacked a 21 – year – old lady, Hauwa Abatcha Ngala, and left her with agonizing ruptured head for repeatedly rejecting his relentless advances.
It was learnt that Saleem Ibrahim had many times tried to compel Hauwa to love him, but not quite moved by his advances, she turned him down but angry and adamant Saleem was said to have threatened the lady and that nothing would ever happen to him if he carried out his threats.
It was further learnt that on Monday, February 26, 2024, Saleem Ibrahim carried out the threat around 8:30pm and physically assaulted Hauwa Abatcha Ngala, striking her hard twice with a club until she fell to the ground and left fainted following profuse bleeding from the ruptured head.
However, passers – by and relatives saved her life by rescuing her and administered first aid after the assailant allegedly fled the scene of the attack but that night, the JTF civilian volunteers arrested Saleem Ibrahim and handed him over to the Police at the Gomari Division Office.
However, on Friday, March 1, 2024, three days after the incident and his arrest, the police allegedly set Saleem free after some top politicians from his area stepped into the matter.
And according to the Leadership Newspaper report, shortly after Saleem was released by the police, he allegedly went on his Facebook messenger to send Hauwa a private message mocking her, saying “I’m not the type that makes empty threats, anything I decide to do I will do it and nothing will happen. I swear with Allah, it is only the poor you can mess with and go scot free but not a person from an influential background like Saleem. It is only the poor that don’t possess worldly things that you can succeed to win a case with. If you mess up and succeed with others, I swear with Almighty God you will never succeed because we have the Money, the Security Agencies, Politicians, and Government Officials on our side. But you can only boast of telling your brother. I dire you to continue the case and let’s see who has the monopoly of influence.”
The disillusioned relatives were said to have again lodged another complaint at the Borno State Police Command Headquarters in Maiduguri, on Saturday March 2, 2024, as he had allegedly threatened to kill Hauwa, boasting of being connected to influential people.
Saleem was consequently re-arrested and kept in police custody for a week, but released again as the family members were told by the police that a highly placed person in the Government of Borno State had ordered for Saleem’s release and subsequent dismissal of the case without any action taken against him for assaulting a lady.
The Daily Crucible learnt that the unrelenting and palpably aggrieved Hauwa’s family had filed a fresh complaint at the Borno State Police Commissioner’s Office, (CP Yusuf Lawan) on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, demanding justice for the hurting Hauwa.
Meanwhile, the Borno Coordinator of the National Human Right Commission (NHRC),Jummai Mshelia, has condemned the senseless attack on the victim and demanded that the suspect should be charged to court to serve as a deterrence to other perpetrators.
She said: “We at human right, immediately the incident happened, the commission file a formal complaints to the Commissioner of Police who ordered the immediate arrest of the suspect. We commend the police for the quick response.
“We are told that the case has been written to the Ministry of Justice Department of Public Prosecution for their advice. While we awaits the response of the department, we want to assured the general public that the case would follow up the case untill justice is served.”
