Kano Police Killings: ‘Someone should tell me why they killed my son’

Some calm has returned to the Yar’ Kukah Area of Sharada where a police team killed two young men during a botched arrest. The incident resulted in protests in the area but with the culprits nabbed, details of the killings have started emerging, as well as a cry for justice from parents of the victims. […]

Some calm has returned to the Yar’ Kukah Area of Sharada where a police team killed two young men during a botched arrest. The incident resulted in protests in the area but with the culprits nabbed, details of the killings have started emerging, as well as a cry for justice from parents of the victims.

 

An uneasy calm has returned to Yar’Kukah area of Sharada, a suburb in Kano metropolis, where police operatives attached to the Anti-Daba Squad of the police command killed two persons Saturday night.

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Ibrahim Suleiman, 28, was stabbed by the police while his childhood friend, Abubakar Isah Musa was shot dead when the police stormed the area to arrest one of the victim’s brother.

The killing of the duo sparked protests in the area, with parents of the two youth saying they are still awaiting an explanation as to why their children were killed by the police.

One of the shocked fathers, Malam Suleiman Ibrahim said only justice for his slain son, Ibrahim Suleiman, could calm him down.

He explained that at about 9 pm on Saturday, the police stormed the area to arrest a different person [his other son, Gaddafi] but ended up killing Ibrahim and his friend, Abubakar.

“Yesterday, November 14, at around 9 pm, operatives of the police command under the Anti-Daba unit entered into our neighbourhood and arrested Ibrahim and his friend and while they were going with them, the police shot his friend dead and for Ibrahim, they stabbed him with the knife in the back,” he said.

“We were not told why they were arrested, and what ensued before they were killed remains a mystery. We had followed that up to get an explanation from the police authority but we have not been told anything yet.”

The distraught father said that after the incident, the victims were taken to a hospital where Abubakar was confirmed dead on arrival and Ibrahim died while receiving treatment.

The families reported the matter to the Sharada division of the police command and they were with the family throughout until the deceased persons were buried.

“I want the authorities to investigate and find out on what offence these children were murdered,” said Malam Musa Abdullahi, father of Abubakar. “Let there be justice to serve as a deterrent to others. We don’t want this injustice to continue.”

The person the police had come to arrest on that fateful night was Gaddafi Suleiman, a brother Ibrahim, one of the victims.

He explained that for three days, the police had been coming to the neighbourhood to effect an arrest but it never occurred to him that he was the target until they had come to the area while a wedding party was ongoing.

He was at the party when he noticed a police informant pointing him out in the crowd to the officers. He took that as a cue and bolted.

On Saturday, the police returned for him.

“I was sitting with my elder brothers [when] they came again and on seeing them, I started running and [after] a few steps, I fell and they grabbed me. Then my brother came to plead, asking to know what offence I had committed. They also grabbed him, saying that he was telling me to run away,” he said.

According to Gaddafi, as the police were taken him away, they started shooting in the air. One of the bullets hit Abubakar.

When the police started beating and manhandling him, Gaddafi said his brother, Ibrahim, whose friend had just been shot, tried to help him.

“They were beating me and I fell on the ground. My brother stooped to pick me up. One of them [the police] took out the knife and stabbed him,” Gaddafi said.

He said after the botched arrest had turned bloody, the policemen fled the scene and the victims were rushed to a hospital.

He said up until this moment, he had not been told why the police wanted to arrest him. He too wants justice for his late brother and his friend, he said.

When our correspondent visited the area, no fewer than 12 police vehicles and numerous personnel had been drafted to the area to forestall any possible breakdown of public order.