March 2005: Beheaded! Man, 22, kills 8-yr-old boy for money rituals

Daily Sun
By Kenny Ashaka, Kaduna

Sunday, March 13, 2005—A 22-year-old boy with a tall ambition to become a millionaire overnight at the weekend at Kakuri, Kaduna, beheaded an eight-year-old boy for money ritual.

But the headhunter said he feels nothing about the act other than the beating he received from the police.

Apparently deceived by a friend that the fresh skull of a young boy was all he needed to become a millionaire, the suspect, Yush’au Mohammed, began the journey to the millionaires’ club by chopping off the head of Mustapha Muazu, a neighbour’s son.

Yush’au confessed to Sunday Sun that he was in the horror business with his friend, one Lucky Francis, who he said held the hands of Muazu, before he (Mohammed) cut-off the boy’s head.

Yush’au played a fast one on his accomplice after the deed was done by asking him to leave the “house of horror” and get in touch later:

“I was jobless. I became tired of staying home penniless. Then my friend who spends freely told me that a fresh human skull was capable of turning my life around.

“He told me to put cottons in the nose of the boy after beheading him and place whatever denomination of naira note I wanted inside the skull and chant, Maga Maga Billo, Araba huga Sambo, then the money will start rushing out.

“What I did after cutting off the head was to play a trick on my friend. I asked him to go and see me at home. The intention was to let him go so that whenever he comes, I can settle him with about N100,000 or N200,000.”

However, luck ran out on him when the dripping blood from the polythene bag containing the fresh human skull aroused the curiosity of his sister, Amina, who eventually raised alarm.

Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Aminu Yesufu, told Sunday Sun that the two arrested suspects are ritualists who specialise in killing innocent young children after which vital parts of their bodies are removed for the sole purpose of making money.

Aminu said at about 8pm on Tuesday, a report was lodged at Kakuri Police Station by a good samaritan that one Yush’au Mohammed of No. 18, Birnin Gwari Street, Kakuri was seen with a bag dripping with blood inside his house:“The police quickly, moved into the house. On sighting the police, the suspect scaled the fence and took to his heels. With the help of other civilians around, he was immediately apprehended.

“On further investigation he took the police to a pit-toilet where he had disposed off the fresh human head neatly severed from the body of an eight-year-old boy named Mustapha Muazu who had been identified by his father.

“The headless corpse was recovered from an uncompleted building near the residence of the deceased. The suspect confessed to have jointly committed the offence with one Lucky Francis who is now in police custody.”

Aminu described the murder as gruesome, barbaric, uncivilized and inhuman and that such an act should be condemned by all members of the society.

He warned parents to always put close eyes on the movement of their young children to avoid the occurrence of “this heinous crime being committed against helpless children.” Aminu said the two suspects will be charged for culpable homicide punishable with death after further investigations.