A graduate of Pure and Applied Chemistry from the Niger Delta University, Emmanuel Christopher, was almost beaten to death by a mob after he was falsely accused of ‘stealing’ the manhood of a street urchin in Abuja.
Christopher attended a job interview at a company at the Mabuchi area of Abuja on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, and was returning home when he asked a young man in the area for directions as to where to find transport back to his residence.
The young man identified simply as Ismaila was said to have pointed at a location across the street where Christopher could get a cab.
The job seeker crossed to the other side of the road and had scarcely waited for three minutes for a cab when Ismaila ran towards him and grabbed him.
Before he could ask what the matter was, the boy had landed Christopher several blows, while shouting that he had ‘stolen’ his penis.
The alarm reportedly attracted passersby and other street urchins, many of who started hitting the graduate with planks and other objects, while asking him to return what he stole.
Christopher managed to scream that he was in the area to attend a job interview, pointing at the company he just left. This reportedly prompted someone to urge the mob to take the applicant there to confirm his story.
Christopher’s story was confirmed at the company, but the company’s official’s entreaty that they should leave the applicant fell on deaf ears as the mob asked that the man who complained of losing his manhood should be taken to a brothel where he could examine and test himself.
While a team followed the complainant to the brothel, some waited with the accused, threatening to burn him alive if the complainant was not restored.
The management of the company had reportedly contacted the police when the mob arrived. The police team dispatched reportedly arrived about the same time the complainant returned from the brothel to announce that his organ was back and functioning.
The complainant was said to have been arrested immediately by the police and taken together with Christopher to Mabuchi police station.
Efforts to get official confirmation from Mariam Yusuf, FCT, police command spokesperson had not yielded positive result by the time of filing this report.
