Top politicians’ names found as police invade shrine belonging to top official

The Zamfara State Government has demolished a mansion suapected to be a shrine in Gusau, the state capital, where rituals are allegedly being performed.

The mansion, which was alleged to belong to a very top government functionary in the state, was demolished on Monday on the orders of the state government.

Items discovered in the shrine included a calabash full of a substance suspected to be blood, a pot with many needles and a skeleton believed to be that of a human being.

Also discovered in the shrine were names of prominent persons in the state. 

The names included that of Governor Bello Matawalle; his deputy, Mahdi Aliyu Gusau; the state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ibrahim Mallaha; the Principal Private Secretary to the Governor, Abubakar Jafaru; and the Commissioner for Security, Abubakar Dauran.

Addressing journalists on the development on Tuesday, the state Commissioner of Police, Usman Nagoggo, said, “Some people were planning evil machinations against some leaders of the state by using unorthodox means to achieve their ill-conceived agenda.”

See photos below ;

The CP said the police got information that a house in Unguwar Dallatu, Gusau, was being used as a shrine.

“Nobody had access to the house except the participants, and whenever they were in the house, all sorts of living creatures, such as lizards and ants, near the area would die,” Nagoggo alleged.

When contacted, the man who allegedly built the house, one Alhaji Suleiman Bala, said he was no longer the owner.

According to him, the state’s Head of Service, Alhaji Kabiru Balarabe, is the current occupant of the house, adding, “I sold it several years ago.”

Efforts to get Balarabe to comment on the allegation proved abortive as he could not be found as of the time of filing this report.

When he was also contacted on his mobile telephones, they indicated that they had been switched off.

Punch