Mother Of Suspected Kaduna Bomber Speaks Out

Mother of suspected male bomber disguised as woman reportedly connected to the Kaduna twin bombing and arrested by the military on July 25, has said her son is not a terrorist.

The suspect, Mansir Yusuf

The suspect’s mother Zubeida Yusuf, who lives in Mando, Kaduna said the military mistook her son, Mansir Yusuf for a terrorist because he was found wearing female clothes.

She said: “My son is not a terrorist. What is wrong with him is an evil spiritual attack which is making him to prefer women’s clothing and to act as one who is mentally retarded. Everyone in Mando knows that he only has a spiritual condition that is making him to act strangely.

“He often dresses normal from home, but whenever he gets to an uncompleted building, he would go in and change to the female clothes. He usually carries his bag. He has been taken to the Village Head several times and has been flogged in the hope to cast away the spirits, but the spirits have remained and have continued to torment him,” Zubeida told Daily Trust.

According to her, they were at home on Wednesday when they heard of the bomb blast in Kawo and people were running there. 

 

“My son said he was going there too and I told him to stay at home. But he sneaked out, and as usual he carried his bag with woman clothes and mobile phones.”

 

She said she later heard that her son had been killed and later that he was arrested by the military.

 

Zubeida challenged the government and everyone to come to Aminu Kano Street in Mando and ask of Mansir Yusuf, saying “they all know him and know his spiritual challenges for years.”
 

An elderly man in Mando said the suspect was actually under spiritual attack: “We have even suggested several treatment options to the family which I am sure they have commenced. But his case is purely a spiritual attack,” he said.

 

The suspect’s elder brother Ibrahim Yusuf said: “The spirits making my brother to misbehave strangely have hindered him from doing any work to earn a living except the desire for wearing female clothes.”

 

A resident of Kawo, Sirajo Suleiman, said Yusuf was not found with any explosives apart from some mobile phones and clothes.

Hassan Mai Shayi, who stays in Kawo and knew the suspect, said: “I heard that the mastermind of the blast has been caught but before I could go and see him another person told me that the suspect is a mentally retarded boy from Mando and that nothing was found on him.”

 

On Wednesday, July 23, a twin bomb explosion hit Kaduna state which was reportedly targeted a Former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), and an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi left about 82 persons dead.

 

On the same day of the Kaduna bombings, the Nigerian military released a statement saying they had arrested a suspected bomber who was dressed as a woman, clad in a female garb and brazier.

 

A statement by the Defence Headquarters said the suspect was arrested by a security team that arrived at the explosion site not long after the blast. That he was caught while trying to merge into a crowd of onlookers.