The Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) has arrested a man, Mamman Shettima Baba over the physical assault of a young schoolgirl for plucking mangoes from a compound in the Pompomari Housing Estate of Maiduguri, Borno State.
Baba was arrested on Friday, March 21, 2025, alongside his wife, who filmed a video of the assault.
The incident, captured on video and circulated widely on social media, showed Shettima Baba repeatedly flogging the girl with a thick stick while his wife recorded the assault, encouraging him to “beat her more.”
According to eyewitnesses, the girl and her friends were on their way home from school when they noticed an open gate with a mango tree inside. Acting on youthful curiosity, they entered the compound and picked some mangoes.
However, some Almajiri children caught one of the girls and handed her over to the woman residing in the house.
She, in turn, ordered her husband to violently punish the child.
The Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) responded swiftly to the viral video and arrested the suspect.
The Commandant of the Corps, Abdulrazaq Haroon, confirmed the arrest and added that during preliminary investigations, Shettima Baba confessed to the assault, justifying his actions by claiming that students had been persistently plucking mangoes from his tree.
The brutality of the attack, however, has sparked public outrage, with legal practitioners, child rights activists, and government officials demanding strict legal action against the suspect.
Meanwhile, the Borno State Commissioner of Education, Lawan Abbah Wakilbe, and the Commissioner of Justice have both assured the public that justice will be served.
Wakilbe gave the assurance when he visited the NSCSC command and commend the officers for the swift intervention.
