LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Benue State Police Command has said it arrested two persons from Konshisha Local Government Area, where youths buried two old men alive over allegations of witchcraft.
According to report, the incident happened in Ikyve community of Diiv-Ikyurave, a rural area which borders Cross River State.
A resident of the area explained that the incident started when youths alleged that the victim was behind a thunder strike that affected his son, Henry Ihwakaa, his wife and a two weeks old child.
According to the source, the youths alleged that it was the handiwork of Ihwakaa, whom they accused of always using water channels to invoke witchcraft on people of the community.
It was gathered, however, that on that fateful day, the youths mobilized and attack the deceased and one other person they alleged was his accomplice, dug a shallow grave and buried them alive.
A witness and elder in the community, Engr Baba Agan, said the matter was reported to the Police in Konshisha local government where the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), mobilized his men to the scene of the incident.
Baba Agan revealed that by the time the Police team arrived at the grave and exhume their bodies, the two elders had already died of suffocation.
Speaking to journalists earlier today in Makurdi, the Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO), SP Catherine Anene, confirmed the incident saying two suspects have been arrested and further investigation is ongoing.
Anene said: “I heard it was one person that was buried alive. They said the deceased is a young man who had a wife and a child.
“Lightning killed three of them; the man, his wife and a two weeks old child. Maybe they were in the same room when the lightning came.
“So the youths said it was the elders that were bewitching people, that his father bewitched him with the lightning. So they carried him and buried him alive as a witch.”
The PPRO further indicated that the youth put up a serious fight with the Police to prevent the arrest of the two in connection with the incident.
Anene who recalled that authorities during a weather forecast, had said that there would be a lot of thunderstorms this rainy season, noted that most people don’t listen to the news while some others are still illiterate and don’t understand science or the way things work
The PPRO decried the barbaric act and cautioned members of the public against jungle justice.
