Kano, Nigeria - A Christian trader in Kano, Nigeria's most populous northern state, claimed on Tuesday he had been caned 80 times by an Islamic vigilante group because he was found with a bottle of gin.
Obi Livinus, 50, showed journalists the weals that resulted from Monday's caning by Hizbah, a group which monitors the strict adherence to the Islamic code, called Sharia, in the province.
Livinus said he was caned in front of his family by the vigilantes after they ransacked his home and found a bottle of gin he had bought to celebrate New Year.
"Before my 16 children and two wives, they removed my clothes, held me face down and gave me 80 strokes of the cane," he said.
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"Look at the damage they did to my back," he added, pointing to deep lacerations.
Although Livinus said that he had formally reported the assault, Kano police spokesman Kabiru Shehu said he was not aware of it.
Shehu said that "appropriate action" would be taken as soon as police received the report.
In December 1994 in Kano, a group of Muslim youths beheaded another Christian trader, Gideon Akaluka, whom they accused of blasphemy.
Akaluka was brought out of the prison cell where he was being kept and beheaded, whereafter his severed head was paraded through the streets on a spike. - Sapa-AFP
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