There was a mild drama at Bashorun area of Ibadan the Capital City of Oyo State on Friday morning as a middle-aged man who was mistaken for a ritualist narrowly escaped being lynched.
The man who was confirmed to be a mentally deranged person was alleged to have turned two pupils of Bashorun High School to tubers of yam, and this resulted in attack by some irate youths in the area.
The commissioner for Education AdulRahman Abdu-Raheem has cleared the air on the issue, saying that investigations carried out showed that the suspect was just a victim of circumstance.
He described the incident as a mere figment of imagination.
The Commissioner who visited the school of the said students said there was no record of any missing students.
He said investigations have been carried out and it showed that the victim was mentally deranged.
The Commissioner noted that the findings indicate that the accused was sent on an errand to deliver the contents (two tubers of yam and a pack of diapers) in his bag.
He assured parents and residents to go about their normal businesses and ignore the rumour.
The man had been accused of dropping a Naira note on the ground which the children reportedly picked and turned into two tubers of yam.
Daily Independent interviewed the man and he denied turning anyone into tubers of yam.
He said, I don’t believe human beings could be turned into a yam. I was sent by grandma to drop the yams found in my possession and diapers for her children.
When the grandma was contacted, she confirmed the story. She said she was the one that sent the man on an errand. She also confirmed that the man is a mentally deranged person.
She said, “I was the one who sent him to go and help me deliver two tubers of yam and two diapers for my children.”
