Kaduna court arraigns 24 suspects in mob lynching of woman

Twenty-four suspects have been arraigned in a Kaduna court over the mob killing of a woman who had been taken into police custody for her own safety. The victim, Ummulkhairi Usman, a local resident and Islamiyya school teacher, was falsely accused of attempting to steal children in the Maraban Jos area of Igabi Local Government Area.

The incident began on the morning of June 21, 2026, when police received a distress call that a woman was being attacked by a crowd. Officers from the Maraban Jos division responded, rescued Usman, and took her to the police station for protective custody while they investigated the unsubstantiated allegations. Hours later, the situation escalated dramatically when a mob estimated to number in the hundreds stormed the police station. The crowd overpowered the officers on duty, forcibly removed Usman from custody, lynched her, and set her body ablaze. The attack also resulted in damage to the police facility and other public property.

The Kaduna State Police Command condemned the killing as a barbaric, criminal, and direct assault on the rule of law. Police spokesperson Mansir Hassan stated that the command launched an immediate and comprehensive...