How Air Force men kill civilian worker in Kano

Some men of the Nigeria Air Force Base, Kano, have allegedly beaten a civilian casual worker to death over a missing mobile phone, Daily Trust has learnt. The deceased, Ibrahim Abdullahi, who resided at Alheri Bread Street, Kwanar Jaaba, Kano, was said to have left his house on November 17 to collect his pay at […]

Some men of the Nigeria Air Force Base, Kano, have allegedly beaten a civilian casual worker to death over a missing mobile phone, Daily Trust has learnt.

The deceased, Ibrahim Abdullahi, who resided at Alheri Bread Street, Kwanar Jaaba, Kano, was said to have left his house on November 17 to collect his pay at the base. 

He was, instead accosted by some Air Force personnel who allegedly beat him up and bundled him into a vehicle which they drove to his house in search of the missing mobile phone which they alleged he had stolen.

In a petition addressed to Speaker Yakubu Dogara, the family of the deceased said five men brought him home for the search with his clothes having blood stains and his head swollen. 

“They went round the house and searched the deceased’s room but found nothing,” the family said.

They said in the petition by their lawyers, A. A. Umar & Co, which was brought by Rep Garba Ibrahim (APC, Kano) that “The said men squeezed the deceased under the seat of their vehicle and left with him.

“When his sister, one Mrs Maryam Abdullahi, who was at home when the deceased was brought asked why they tortured him and what they were searching for in his room, the men did not answer. 

“Instead, they told her that the deceased would return home shortly,” the petition said.

However, the petitioners said about an hour later, two of the five men returned and invited Maryam to the base and that on their arrival, they informed her that her brother had died.

They said they were reliably informed by his co-workers that he was tortured by some Air Force men at the instruction of a flight lieutenant on the allegation that he stole a phone.

The phone was said to have been found elsewhere after the civilian casual worker had been killed.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kano State Police Command, DSP Magaji Musa Majiya, confirmed the incident to our correspondent and said that they have since launched an investigation into the matter.

He said when the matter was reported to them, they wrote to the Air Force authorities and the corpse was brought to them on Monday along with 13 personnel, whose statements, he said, the command had obtained.

He said the corpse was deposited at the teaching hospital for autopsy and that as at Tuesday, the result was yet to be out.

Asked why the 13 suspects were released, Majiya said no one had been identified as a suspect yet, adding that “we assured the family that we’ll do a thorough, professional job.

“Even if we identify any suspect, there’s a process. Since they’re military men, they have to undergo an internal process for them to be released to us, before we can take anybody to court,” he said.