A 33-year-old man, Abdullahi Abubakar, has been arrested by the Niger State Police Command for allegedly sodomising 32 students of an almajiri school in the Kontagora Local Government of the state.

The incident was reported to the police on July 22, 2019, by a Kontagora Hisba (Sharia police) Commander, Murtala Abdullahi.

It was gathered that the suspect had engaged in the unwholesome practice for some time.

Abdullahi was said to have told the police that students of an almajiri school in Sabon-Gari area of Kontagora were being molested by the suspect who is one of their guardians in the school.

The suspect was trailed and apprehended by a team of policemen attached to the ‘A’ Division, Kontagora, after the report.

During interrogation, the suspect confessed to having defiled the students in the school by removing their trousers before sexually harassing them while they slept.

He told The Punch correspondent that he did know what came over him and confessed to sodomising no fewer than 32 students of the school.

“I cannot even explain how I started having sexual intercourse with these students; honestly, it is the work of the devil,” Abdullahi stated.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammad Abubakar, confirmed the incident.

Abubakar said,

“The command will get to the root of this matter and fish out those hiding in almajiri schools to commit this heinous crime. In no distance time, the long arm of the law will catch up with them and we will deal with them ruthlessly.

“Niger State is a danger zone for the perpetrators of such crimes; we will not leave them unchallenged; we must bring them to book.”

He said the matter would be charged to court as soon as investigation was completed.