Police Rescues 16-Year-Old Physically Challenged Boy Locked Up For 2 Years By His Father

Katsina State Police Command has rescued a 16-year-old physically challenged boy, Sadiku Umar, who was locked up in a cage for two years by his father, Salisu Umar, in Daura Local Government Area of the state.

It was gathered that the man was embarrassed about his son’s condition and decided to keep him away from public eye by locking him up inside a cage since 2018.

According to neighbors, Umar has a large family and was living in a house that could not accommodate Sadiku with his condition, so he locked up the boy since he was 14, and fed him like a “dog.”

The boy was, however, rescued when a non-governmental organisation, Save the Children International (SCI), were notified and thereafter alerted the police last week.

The father was arrested and briefly detained before he was released, but not without a warning to refrain from the inhumane treatment of his son.

An SCI agent in Daura, Aminu Gambo said:

“The man told the police that he decided to put the boy in a cage because there was no longer space for him in the two-room apartment housing the entire family of 15 including his 12 other children.

“He was detained at the police station in Daura for a day and then moved to the police headquarters in Katsina and later released on the condition that he would no longer subject the boy to such inhuman treatment.

“SCI is working to see how it can accommodate Sadiku under its Reaching and Empowering Adolescents to make informed Choices for their Health (REACH) initiative being implemented in Zamfara, Katsina and Gombe states.”

This is coming just two weeks after police rescued a 55-year-old man held in captivity for 30 years by his family in Kano State.