A 20-year-old housewife, Lubabatu Yusuf, has narrated how one Sani Saleh Mu’azu, a Deputy Superintendent of the Nigerian Immigration Service, who happens to be her husband’s benefactor, allegedly raped her in the presence of her two children.
Recounting her ordeal to journalists in Bauchi on Monday, Lubabatu said the incident occurred when Mu’azu visited their residence on December 9, 2023.
According to the victim, her husband reported the incident, leading to Mu’azu’s arrest, but he was later granted bail.
The victim lamented that since her alleged rape, the police have failed to investigate her complaint but have arrested and detained her husband for alleged defamation of the suspect.
She explained that she and her family have been traumatized by the rape incident and the arrest of her husband.
The woman said, “On December 9, 2023, at about 3:0 clock in the afternoon, Sani Saleh Muazu came to my house and started hugging me, touching my breasts.
“I begged him to stop it because of my small children but he threatened me, that he was stronger than me so I should just cooperate, moreover he was the one taking care of my family.
“I kept pleading with him to stop as my children were watching as I struggled to free myself from his grip and run away but he kicked me with his leg and I fell down.
“He slapped me and I started crying.
“My seven year old son who had a fractured leg and couldn’t walk crawled into the room on his buttocks from outside and saw what was happening and started crying, begging him to stop.
“Muazu raised his hand and hit me on the chest repeatedly as my sons cried, saying don’t kill our mother.
“He then pinned me to the ground with his leg. I couldn’t struggle again, climbed me and started having intercourse with me in front of my children.
“My husband heard my children crying and he rushed inside the room and met Mu’azu on top of me and he held him up and started shouting ‘so this is what you are doing to my wife? This has been your intention of bringing us to Bauchi?’
“Mu’azu stood up and slapped my husband hard and they started wrestling.
“I was weak, I couldn’t stand up; I was just lying on the bed crying. They kept wrestling until they got outside and he ran away. Up till now as I speak with you I am still feeling the pain”
The traumatised victim, whose husband is still in police custody, expressed regret that three weeks after she petitioned the Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, nothing had been done.
Lubabatu said further that she couldn’t define the exact relationship between Muazu and her husband. She said her husband did not give her details.
She recalled that her husband had a thriving transport business in Kaduna before he met Muazu whom he introduced as an ‘uncle’ and the family saw him as a father figure.
The victim asserted that Mu’azu later lured them to Bauchi with promises of a better life.
According to her, shortly after relocating to Bauchi, her husband’s business collapsed and the family experienced financial hardship forcing them to withdraw their children from school.
Speaking on the development, Founder of African Child Development and Human Rights Protection, a human rights organisation, Alkassim Muhammad, expressed disappointment that the police had failed to investigate the complaint of rape brought by the victim and instead arrested her husband.
Akassim recalled that he wrote a petition, dated December 22, 2023, on behalf of the victim, calling on the Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Auwal Mohammed, to re-arrest the Deputy Superintendent of Immigration and properly investigate the allegation, as rape is a crime that must be not be treated with levity.
Alkassim vowed that the African Child Development and Human Rights Protection will take every legal action to ensure that Lubabatu secures justice in the court of law.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Bauchi Command, Ahmed Wakil, explained that the victim’s husband, Yusuf, was arrested following a complaint of defamation and other charges.
But Wakil said he could not confirm whether the petition letter addressed to the Commissioner of Police by African Child Development and Human Rights Protection had been received.
He, however, disclosed that the police were investigating the incident.
When contacted, the accused Immigration Officer, Sani Sale Muazu, denied all the allegations.
He said in a phone interview that the allegation is a calculated attempt to dent his name and destroy his career.
However, he added that he would not comment further on the allegation since the issue is being investigated.
