THE officers of Mabushi Police station, located in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), headed by Divisional Police Officer, SP Bello Saadu, have arrested a certain Nura Salisu, accused of raping, impregnating 16-year-old Nanket Manasseh and reportedly killing their baby.

Salisu, 30, an Abuja Electricity Distribution (AEDC) official, who resides in Jahi, was arrested by officers of Jahi Police station on May 22,  for abducting his 6-month-old baby and refusing to share details of its whereabouts.

The ICIR gathered that Salisu fathered the baby in question after having carnal knowledge of 16-year-old Manasseh, when she was 15.

Manasseh, who lives with her foster mother, Phoebe, in Jahi disclosed that Salisu had been chasing  her since she was 10. Recalling how he enticed her, Manasseh told The ICIR that her first encounter with him was when she was in primary three, when he gifted her a mobile phone.

Since she was not expected to own a phone, she lied to her foster mother that she found it on the floor, but Phoebe doubted her story.

When she later confessed that Salisu gave her the phone, Phoebe warned the AEDC worker to stay away from her child who at the time was only 10.  She also reported the case to the Chief of Jahi, who  warned  Salisu to keep away from the teenager.

By the time Manasseh clocked 15 and was ready for school, Salisu struck again and this time, he lured her with a promise to sponsor her education.

According to the young girl, Salisu booked a hotel and asked her to check in, claiming that he had very important information to share with her.

While in the hotel located somewhere in Jahi, Manasseh said Salisu showed up late at night and forcefully slept with her.

“I told him I didn’t want sex but he still had me and left when he was done. In the morning I packed my things and went back to my sister’s house without telling anyone about what happened.” Manasseh narrated to The ICIR.

Two months later, Manasseh noticed that she had missed her period twice in a row and suspected that she had become pregnant . The young girl confided in her friend who advised her to abort it, but Manasseh decided to keep the child without telling her parents.  .

However, by the fourth month, Manasseh’s stomach began protruding and it caught the attention of Phoebe who quizzed her about it and made her take a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) home pregnancy test, with the aid of a test stick.

The instant test came out positive and that’s when things got worse.

With her secret discovered, Manasseh admitted that Salisu was responsible for her pregnancy and Phoebe immediately reached out to him with the news.

Unperturbed, Salisu gave Phoebe one condition of accepting the baby, saying if Manasseh put to bed in November 2019 – which by his calculations fell on the ninth month from when he last slept with her – he would accept the child. Otherwise, he wouldn’t.

On November 13, 2019, Manasseh delivered a baby boy who Salisu later named Kamal. But he was an absent father and never provided any support for the baby or its mother.

At 16, Manasseh was therefore saddled with raising the child without the support of its father except for that offered by her foster parents. 

On two separate occasions, she visited the family home of Salisu with her baby, hoping to make him provide some form of support for the baby. Yet, the more Manasseh was trying to get the best for her son from the man who put her in family way, the more Salisu was getting upset.

Salisu was married to another young lady who had four children for him, but they are all dead now.  He believes that touching his offsprings before their first birthday spelt doom, and this is the reason he avoided Kamal.

On May 21, things took a wilder turn.

Kamal had started teething and on that day and was running temperature. Worried about the health of her baby, Manasseh needed money to buy drugs for the child and acting on advice of her foster parents, she took the child to Salisu to get support.

Upon arriving at the house, Manasseh met no one and decided to stay at her friend, Blessing’s place. While there, she called  Salisu to inform him about the baby’s condition and the plan to get him to offer some support. Salisu later showed up at Blessing’s house around noon and forcefully collected the baby from its mother, and took it to an unknown place.

“Salisu dragged my baby from me, holding him with one hand. I tried to collect my baby but he started walking away with the child. I didn’t see him for some time and when he came back he couldn’t tell me where he kept my baby.” Manasseh narrated in tears.

On the night of the same day, the matter of the missing baby was reported to Jahi police station.

The next day, it was transferred to Mabushi police station, where Salisu was detained and questioned about the location of the baby.

According to Phoebe, Salisu gave three different accounts on the whereabouts of the child. In one confession he admitted dumping the baby in Jabi Lake and leaving it to drown.

In the other, he claimed that he gave the child to a friend of his, Moses, who on the same day traveled to Kano with the child. Salisu said he had no means of reaching his friend or had any idea where in Kano the friend had taken baby Kamal.

In another account, Salisu said he gave the child to his sister in Garki and when asked to lead the police family to the place, he refused.

Due to varying, conflicting accounts of the child’s whereabouts, the police transferred the case from Mabushi Police Station to the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) office for further investigation.

According to SP Bello Saadu, the DPO of Mabushi Police Station, the primary concern of the police is to locate the baby, afterwhich, Salisu would answer for his actions.

“We would work on prosecuting the suspect for all his sins,” Saadu told The ICIR on Wednesday.

At the state CID office, a new Investigation Police Officer (IPO) identified as Josephine was assigned to the case and according to Lere P. Samuel, a relation of Manasseh, on Friday, the suspect led the police to a location where he claimed to have dumped the baby.

“The IPO, Josephine was recording as Salisu told us that he left the baby wrapped in a jacket and sellotape in the bush but nothing was found,” Samuel told The ICIR.

Salisu was then taken back to the CID office where he appeared before the Assistant Inspector General of Police (Intelligence division) for more questioning.

According to Samuel, the senior officer demanded that the suspect hand over his cell phone unlocked. Upon refusal, Salisu was beaten by some officers for not cooperating and he was forced to unlock his phone.

“The ACP (intelligence division) accused Salisu of not being a true Muslim and told him the only way his punishment would be reduced is if the baby is found. He told him that in a case the baby is dead, he (Salisu) should consider himself a dead man within the next three months,” Samuel narrated the incident to The ICIR.

The ICIR  contacted the FCT Commissioner of Police Bala Ciroma on telephone but he advised that the FCT Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Anjuguri Manzah be contacted instead.

Manzah on his part promised to get back to our reporter after answering two calls placed to his mobile phone but as at the time of filing this report, he’s yet to respond.

The suspect remains in police custody and investigation is said to be on-going.

Meanwhile, Wanda Adu Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) focused on helping vulnerable women and children, has been monitoring the case.

While it applauds the police for transferring the case to the state CID office, the founder of the NGO, Wandadaku Adu, told The ICIR that the police have resorted to victim blaming.

“The police are blaming the victim for seeking child support. They said Manasseh’s request triggered the suspect’s actions. This is wrong and I frown at it,” she said.

She believes the police can do much more than it is doing at the moment.