Saharareporters on November 16 reported that Sadiya was rescued by her mother after her husband detained her in his house for one year without food.
A middle-aged woman, Sadiya Salihu, starved by her husband and locked up for one year by her husband, Ibrahim Yunusa Bature, has died, Saharareporters has learnt.
Saharareporters on November 16 reported that Sadiya was rescued by her mother after her husband detained her in his house for one year without food.
Sadiya resided in Nguru town in Yobe State, northeastern Nigeria, and was a mother of four children and an indigene of Kano State.
According to her mother, Hadiza who rescued her, Sadiya was denied access to food by her husband, Ibrahim who claimed that “giving her food would allow the devil to take over her life".
Her husband, Ibrahim, is a cousin of a former Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Mustapha Yusuf Maihaja and Nigerian Ambassador to Kenya, Yusuf Yunusa.
Sadiya died of starvation and psychological trauma allegedly caused by her husband, according to her mother.
The deceased's sister, Aisha Salihu, said though her late sister was taken to a hospital in Kano, she later died.
Aisha said doctors in the Kano hospital told them Sadiya suffered from starvation and was psychologically traumatised.
Aisha said, “After she was brought home, she was taken to a hospital where she spent four days without even talking. It was on the fifth day that she began to talk.
“When I asked her ‘how is she feeling’, she answered that she was getting better.
“Honestly no one knows what led to her condition, but her children who were brought together with her said their father was not feeding Sadiya except a half cup of pap and water, and a small smoked dried local bird called hasbiya in a day.
“The children also revealed that their father bathed Sadiya with filthy water and thereafter forced her to cover her body with a blanket under a thick smoke.”
The spokesperson for Yobe state police command, Dumus Abdulkarim, said Ibrahim has been arrested.
"The deceased’s husband has been arrested but he denied keeping his wife without food.
"The command is awaiting an autopsy report to determine the cause of Sadiya's death," he said.