A hoodlum in Aguda, Surulere area of Lagos State, identified only as Lass, is on the run after stabbing a 12-year-old boy, Seyi, for defecating in front of a house.
He allegedly stabbed the boy in the hand and stomach and forced him to eat a portion of the faeces.
Seyi, an orphan and primary six pupil, hawks yam for his aunt whom he lives with in neighbouring Ijesha community.
City Round learnt that the boy had gone hawking on October 1, 2019 when he suddenly had the urge to use the toilet.
Unable to find a toilet around the area, he rushed to the front of the house on Joel Oguntade Street and emptied his bowel beside a gutter.
An elderly woman living in the compound reportedly sighted him and raised the alarm, attracting some residents to the scene.
One of the residents was said to have invited Lass and one other hoodlum who assaulted the boy.
A social worker with the Advocate for Children and Vulnerable Persons, Mr Lanre Akala, said the dehumanising treatment meted out to the boy was brought to his attention and he reported the case at the Aguda Police Station.
He said, “The boy was hawking yam around Aguda for his aunt. We learnt his parents are dead. On the day the incident happened, he had the urge to use the toilet while he was hawking around 7pm. He excreted around a gutter in front of a house on 10, Joel Oguntade Street, Aguda.
“As he was defecating, an elderly woman came out and held him down. She called some men to beat him. The men then invited some area boys who stabbed him and forced him to eat the faeces. They forced it down his throat and gave him water to drink.
“The case was reported at the Aguda Police Station and three of them, including the woman, were arrested. We will follow through the case. The boy has been treated in a hospital.”
Seyi, a native of Ikale, Ondo State, who admitted what he did was wrong, told our correspondent that he resorted to open defecation because he could no longer hold the excreta.
He stated that one of the residents had flogged him before the hoodlums were invited, adding that the louts threatened to kill him if he refused to eat the faeces.
He said, “That Tuesday, I sold yam to someone and she asked me to wait and collect the money. As I was waiting for her, I was ‘pressed.’ I asked a man where I could poo but he shunned me. I then rushed to the front of a house and pooed in front of their gutter.
“A woman came and was shouting at me. People came outside and one of them started flogging me. After flogging me, they called two area boys. They (louts) said if I did not eat my shit (faeces), they would kill me. When I did not want to eat it, one of them stabbed me in my stomach and hand and forced me to eat the shit. They then gave me water. I know all of them.”
It was learnt that three suspects had been arrested in connection with the assault but they denied Seyi was fed with his faeces.
The case has been transferred to the Gender Unit at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja.
“One of the suspects admitted that he flogged the boy but he insisted that nobody forced him to eat his faeces and drink water as the boy claimed. The suspect said he flogged him the way he would punish his own child for engaging in such an act. The suspects are assisting the police to track the hoodlum who reportedly stabbed the boy,” a source told our correspondent.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Bala Elkana, said the Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu, had ordered that thorough investigation be carried out on the case to ensure that the perpetrators were brought to book.
