A poignant story of Tabitha Haruna a native of Bauchi state was earlier this year mistaken for a Boko Haram member and lynched by angry mob.
The Nigerians, terrorized by Boko Haram insurgents for years, badly beat Haruna with sticks at Muda Lawal market until she fell down, Al Jazeera reports. The mob further poured gasoline on her, setting her ablaze in the street.
Hundreds of people witnessed the incident. Soon they realized that it was a misunderstanding, as no bomb was found on her body.
Haruna’s suspicious behaviour which alarmed the locals was caused by her mental illness. Her mental problems had cost the woman not only job and marriage, but also her life…
The woman troubles started some eight years ago. At that time she was experiencing financial hardships. Some friends suggested her to join the cult for money. When she refused, they cast a spell on her. This is one of the versions explaining the violent tantrums Tabitha Haruna began throwing periodically.
Alheri Haruna, her sister, narrated that despite all the family’s attempts to deal with Tabitha’s strange behaviour yielded unsuccessful. Neither doctors, nor the church could help her.
A psychiatrist prescribed pink and white pills. Alheri Haruna isn’t exactly sure what they were, but they seemed to work. Unfortunately, she said, whatever possessed Tabitha Haruna kept her from taking the medication after she left the local hospital.
Then even a more devastating period started in the life of the deceased: Tabitha split from her husband and in 2012 lost her only child, a a 2-year-old girl who died after falling into a well.
Her attacks became more often: one minute Tabitha seemed fine and the next moment she would be trying to break their television and cursing her mother and sister at the top of her lungs.
The last day when the family saw the woman alive, Tabitha was once again wrestling with her demons. When she left the house to buy food at the market, as she would often do when having an attack, they expected her back. However, she never returned.
It should be recalled that in December, 2014, a dire explosion rocked the overcrowded Bauchi central market. At least 19 people reportedly died in the incident blamed on the Boko Haram sect.
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