Police rescue 67-year-old man ‘locked in room for almost 20 years’ in Kaduna

The Kaduna police command says its operatives have rescued a 67-year-old man who was reportedly locked up in a room for nearly 20 years.

Mohammed Jalige, the state police spokesperson, confirmed the development to TheCable on Wednesday.

He said the man, identified as Ibrahim Ado, was found naked and locked up in a room at a house located on Bayajidda road in Kaduna after community health workers placed a distress call,

“Today, being the 12th day of October, 2022, in the afternoon, we received information from a team of community health workers working in the metropolitan who were out for duty that they went to certain houses located at Bayajidda road,” Jalige said.

“After accomplishing their assignment, they noticed someone was peeping through the window and the room was locked with a padlock. The room was dark and so they tried to open the door.

“After spending a few minutes trying to open the door, they succeeded and saw an old man seated on the floor naked with no clothes.

“Going closer to the room, the room was smelling — a clear indication that the man had been there for so many years or he must have spent a lot of time in the room.

“On getting the report, we mobilised to the area quickly to go and get the man out. We succeeded in bringing him out, there was nobody in the house.

“We quickly rushed him to the hospital and the commissioner of police ordered for a full scale investigation to be carried out with a view to unravelling whatever it is behind this.”

When asked to confirm how long the man had been locked up, Jalige said the police only have information from people in the area.

“We cannot say that. It was part of the information that we received from that place, that the man was there for almost 20 years. But we cannot lay our hands on any of his immediate family members to tell us for how long he has been there and why they decided to treat him that way,” Jalige said.

“He cannot tell us how long he has been there; only that he knows he has been in the room for a very long time.

“So, maybe, if we eventually get his wife or his children, that is when we will eventually know how long he has been in that room.

“I believe as we commence investigation, things will unfold and we’ll eventually get to the root of the matter.”