UNIMAID Student Raped And Bathed With Chemical

A 24-year old final year student of the Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, University of Maiduguri, Fatimah Abu, was reportedly robbed and raped by suspected armed robbers.

She is currently in a critical condition at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Gwange, where she is receiving treatment, Punch Metro reports.

Fatimah, Naija News learnt, boarded a tricycle at her school’s park on Friday on her way to her residence when she was reportedly abducted and raped by the men with whom she boarded the transport.

According to reports, the victim’s purse, containing her phone and some money, was taken away by the suspects, who dumped her by the roadside.

She was however after regaining consciousness, able to get a tricycle rider who conveyed her to the Dandal Police Station, from where she was then rushed to the state specialist hospital, Maiduguri.

The victim’s friend, Musa Alkali, had this to say about the incident:

“She is a 500 level student of the Department of Nursing, UNIMAID. She lives at the Federal Low Cost area and had boarded a tricycle from the university’s park.

“That was the last thing that she said she could remember. She just woke up around a cemetery in the Gwange area with acid on her face. Her legs and different parts of her body were affected.

“She stopped a Keke Napep (tricycle) rider who took her to the Dandal Police Station. She managed to come down from the tricycle and collapsed. She was taken to the state specialist hospital from where she was transferred to the UNIMAID Teaching Hospital.

“From what her sister told me, the robbers raped her and collected her phone and purse. The assailants were two in number. She said she boarded the tricycle around 5pm.”

The victim’s sister, Zara, also alleged Fatimah was attacked with acid.

“She is my younger sister and I have been sleeping at the hospital since she was admitted. She cannot talk much because the acid affected her mouth as well. She does not know those people (responsible for the attack). She is innocent. She does not quarrel with anybody. Even her classmates testified to it,” she said.

When contacted, the UNIMAID Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Ahmed, said though he was aware of the incident based on information from the media, he could not comment because the incident happened outside the school and he was particularly out of town when the entire incident happened.

“I am aware because I saw it on the television and the state Commissioner of Police commented on it. When something happens outside the university, I cannot comment. I just arrived from a journey and if I will say anything, I will need to get back to the school to make more findings,” he said.

However, the Borno state Commissioner of Police, Damian Chukwu, told Punch that acid was not poured on the victim, adding that the police were on the trail of the suspects.

He said, “On the day of the incident, she said she went to a bank for a transaction and after she was done, she came out and boarded a tricycle. She said there were two other passengers in the tricycle and she sat in their midst.

“She said along the way, one of them came down, remaining her and another passenger. She said suddenly, the passenger brought out an handkerchief which he started waiving. She said she suddenly lost consciousness.

“According to her, she was sexually assaulted. She found herself around a railway line and she managed to get a Keke Napep which took her to the Dandal Police Station. There was no physical pouring of acid. It was the handkerchief which probably contained some chemicals that affected her skin and later degenerated into blisters. The blisters then turned to burns. With this information, we have spread our dragnets and we are on the trail of the suspects.”