Family of slain WHO staff member seeks justice
Narrating her ordeal, his wife, Aisha Yusuf, said she couldn’t understand what her husband did to deserve this gruesome murder. “He was very loving and caring. I had expected to see him back alive since he was declared missing, but his corpse was brought home instead. However, I have taken solace in the fact that […]
Narrating her ordeal, his wife, Aisha Yusuf, said she couldn’t understand what her husband did to deserve this gruesome murder. “He was very loving and caring. I had expected to see him back alive since he was declared missing, but his corpse was brought home instead. However, I have taken solace in the fact that every living being must die.
“We had four female children, and he loved them so much. We ate together with the children whenever he was around. One day, the eldest daughter asked, ‘Mummy, who killed our father? I was told that he was killed by someone. Will his killer also be killed?’ I burst in to tears and told her not to worry, that he would soon come back. The worry and agony over his disappearance intensified on the last Eid el-Kabir day when I prepared my children for visits. I sat down shedding tears and brooding over how life had become without him. In fact, his loving memory is indelibly printed in my heart,” she said amidst tears.
Also speaking, the deceased’s brother, Ahmad Abdullahi, said his family would seek redress in the court of law, adding that those behind the dastardly act must face the wrath of law. “They must not evade justice, God willing,’’ he said.
The late Abdullahi’s close friend who did not want his name on paper revealed that he was transferred from Talata Mafara Local Government in July and had spent only two weeks in Anka before he was gruesomely murdered by a man suspected to be soldier. He disclosed how he went to different villages with him for supervision.
“One night, we met at his house and he told me to meet him the following day at 8: am, but when I arrived at his apartment I couldn’t find him. I did not also see his car. When I rang him up and there was no response I thought he was at a tea joint in the neighbourhood where we usually met every morning.
“But when I went there, the tea vendor said he had not seen him. I didn’t bother anymore, thinking that all was well. I expected to see him during the evening review meeting at the emir’s palace in Anka. He was not in that meeting either. We tried his number again, but it was not going.
“It was then we realised that something must have gone wrong, so we decided to go to his house and check. His house is on the same place those of the DPO, OC Civil Defence, SSS, the military and policemen. Before we got to his house we asked after him from one policeman who manned a checkpoint there. The policeman said he saw his car around 4: am, but he didn’t know who drove it. When I called his wife to know whether he had come back home, her answer was negative.
“Subsequently, the matter was reported to relevant security agents and he was declared missing. We kept searching for him. Security agents were able to track down the user of his phone because he was believed to have programmed the phone with an anti-theft device. About two months after he was declared missing, one boy was found using the phone. The boy was arrested and taken to the very person he bought the phone from. He also disclosed that he bought it from a soldier. The soldier was transferred, but he was traced and arrested.
“Upon interrogation, the soldier was reported to have confessed that he killed the man and carted away his belongings, including is Honda EOD car and phones. The suspected soldier was said to have led the security agents to a river where the deceased’s decomposing body was found. It was to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Gusau, from where he was taken to his home town, Kaura Namoda for burial,” his friend narrated.
A competent source in the army told Sunday Trust that the matter was under investigation, adding that no stone would be left unturned to bring the perpetrators of the dastardly act to book. All efforts to hear from the State Security Service (SSS) were unsuccessful as its spokesman only replied his calls by asking the whereabouts of our reporter.
Family of slain WHO staff member seeks justice