How my husband died days after police ‘killed’ my son – Kano woman

A year after the killing of 23-year-old Saifullahi Sani, allegedly by the police in Kano, the family of the deceased is yet to get compensation..

A year after the killing of 23-year-old Saifullahi Sani, allegedly by the police in Kano, the family of the deceased is yet to get compensation from the government.

This is even as the father of the deceased was said to have suffered heart attack and died less than 40 days after his son was killed.

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The killing, which sparked a violent protest at Kofar Mata area of the state, is still fresh in the hearts of loved ones and many members of the community.

During a visit to late Saifullahi’s family on Thursday, it was gathered that Saifullahi’s father, who was on medication at the time of the incident, suffered a heart attack and died as a result of complications from depression less than 40 days after his son was gone.

Lami Sani, the mother of late Saifullahi, told Daily Trust; “Since Saifullahi died, we have only been called by the police once. His father couldn’t go because he wasn’t feeling well so, I went there with his brother.

“We just answered some questions and left. They never called us back. We were only assisted with some food items – two bags of rice, noodles, sugar and salt, by the commissioner of women affairs courtesy of the government. They said I should give the names of 10 people who will benefit from empowerment. Ever since the first attempt, nothing has come again. It was promised to be a monthly empowerment.

“We could not pursue any compensation or try to get justice because, personally, I was traumatized and could not do anything. You know everything, the poor cannot pursue issues like this. So, we have surrendered everything in the hands of the Almighty.

“I am a mother of 13, eight are alive. Saifullahi was my major helper being assisted by his brothers. Even the day Saifullahi died, he brought out all his savings and gave to me because he heard me complaining of low capital. I am into food vending.

“As a woman, I cannot follow up anything anywhere, so also his uncles and relatives. We will be grateful to anyone who can assist in any way, because seriously, we are suffering.

“His sister was billed to get married since last year, but due to the unfortunate incidents, the wedding was called off. Even now that the marriage has been fixed again, we do not have anything to help ourselves with,” narrated Saifullahi’s mother, Lami Sani.

She, however, told Daily Trust that the late Saifullahi’s elder brother has been offered a job at the state ministry of finance.

‘How Saifullahi was killed’

Daily Trust reports that the late father of Saifullahi had narrated at that time that he heard a commotion outside around 1am the day Saifullahi was killed and later found out that it was policemen that came to the neighbourhood.

“They came in beating people who were sleeping outside under the solar panels. They saw him (the deceased) with his phone awake, and they snatched it and continued to beat him,” he had said.

“They dragged him on the ground to their vehicle. People saw them as they kept beating him alongside three others. They then moved them to their office where they continued hitting them all over their body and stomach.

“He fell down and they later took him to Murtala Mohammed Hospital where he died,” he had narrated.

The police, he said, had then reached out to the family calling for calm and seeking forgiveness and for the family to see the event as the will of God.

“What I will tell you is that we shall seek redress and justice over what happened to my son,” the father, now deceased, had said.

Many youths in the area took to the street the following morning, burning tires on the ever-busy Abdullahi Mohammed Wase Road thereby disrupting traffic while chanting war songs and calling for justice for the family and the society.

But the police had denied any complicity in the killing of Saifullahi.

The killing came on the heels of the #EndSARS protests across the country in October 2020, which brought attention to it with many using the incident to call on authorities to address insecurity across the North.

Following the protests to checkmate the excesses of the police which included extrajudicial killings, the federal government had directed all the states government to set up a panel of enquiry where victims had their cases heard and compensation were awarded to them.

However, the Kano State government as at Thursday was yet to set up the panel, despite the state also recording some incidences of destruction of properties after the protests.