A 35-year-old man, Haruna Ezekiel has been arrested by the Bauchi State police command for incinerating an 80-year-old man, Sunday Saleh.
According to a statement by the spokesperson of the command, SP Ahmed Mohammed Waki, police operatives were duly informed on December 6, by a complainant that on the previous day, he saw flames coming out from the house of the deceased.
He said he rushed to the scene and met the suspect there and discovered that he had k#lled Sunday Saleh and dug a shallow grave to bury him behind the b¥rnt house.
Acting on the tip-off, Haruna was arrested by the police and investigations revealed that the victim was his paternal uncle. Ahmed noted that the suspect carried out the act because he was told by his son, Chomwanda, that the deceased had initiated him into w#tchcraft.
“The suspect was told by his son that his uncle gave him a piece of meat to eat some days ago. Later, he met the boy and told him that the meat he ate was an initiation into w#tchcraft and he was to offer his father as a sacrifice to complete the initiation process.
On hearing this from his son, the suspect became furious and confronted his uncle over the matter. Sunday apologized to the suspect but the plea fell on deaf ears. Haruna proceeded to h#t his uncle on the head with a stick and he collapsed. He dr@gged his body into the house and set it abl@ze. As a result, the victim was b¥rnt beyond recognition and the suspect dug a shallow grave to bury him,” the statement read in part.