Prof. Falaki: one year after

February 14, 2016 marked the first anniversary of the gruesome murder of Professor Ahmad Mustapha Falaki, then Director of the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. The professor of agronomy was reportedly killed by a mob at Fala village in Tudun Wada LGA of Kano state while he was on his […]

February 14, 2016 marked the first anniversary of the gruesome murder of Professor Ahmad Mustapha Falaki, then Director of the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. The professor of agronomy was reportedly killed by a mob at Fala village in Tudun Wada LGA of Kano state while he was on his way to Kano after visiting a farm in Bauchi state.
According to media reports, Falaki and his junior brother Abbas Mustapha were being driven in his official Toyota Hilux van when they were accosted by seven gunmen on motorcycles after they stopped to fix a flat tyre close to the village. The gunmen who were fleeing after attacking a police station ordered them to surrender the vehicle’s key, which they did.
Thereafter the three men walked to the village and narrated their story. They were received warmly by the villagers until some policemen from Kibiya town arrived at the scene and told the villagers that they were Boko Haram members. After that, Abbas said the villagers suddenly descended on them with machetes, cudgels and knives. “The professor quickly showed the policemen his ABU identity card and asked them to stop the villagers. But the policemen did not, and the locals continued to stab him with knives and inflict machete cuts in many places,” he said (Daily Trust, 17.02.2015).
After seeing the professor lynched Abbas attempted to run but was shot at by the police. The driver who had earlier run into the bush was subsequently arrested and brought to the DPO’s office at Kibiya. From the foregoing eyewitness account it is clear that the police were complicit as they did not only instigate the killing but refused to stop the mob action in spite of the professor’s pleas.
However, the commission of inquiry set up by the Inspector General of Police under the then AIG Zone 1, Alhaji Tambari Yabo Muhammad, absolved them from blame. Its report even appears to have absolved the villagers and heaped the blame on the victim himself by claiming that he flaunted his identity card and didn’t allow a policeman to read it, thereby heightening suspicion. Would someone pleading for his life refuse to show his ID card to the police? Did the professor not beg the police to stop the mob action? In any case, is killing an unarmed person the expected behavior from policemen even if he is a Boko Haram suspect? Was arrest not the most sensible thing to do under the circumstances?
I must admit that I am emotionally involved because the professor and I were friends in the last five years of his life, thanks to our spouses’ intimate relationship. In fact I was filled with angst, a deep feeling of despondency and was close to tears when I attended his funeral. I have therefore written this letter to express my worry that one year after the gory event it seems, like many others before it, this high profile murder is drifting into the realm of forgotten history.
I also fear that justice may never be seen to be done to the bereaved family; even as the ABU authorities themselves may have given up on the case. It is similarly disturbing to think that we may never see the end of these extra-judicial killings.
Ado U. Muhammad wrote this piece from Hotoro Quarters, Tarauni LGA, Kano.
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