Tongues wag over Jigawa ritual killings

Most of the victims, Weekly Trust observed, were minors between the ages of three to six. As at the last count, two girls and two boys were confirmed killed with some of their parts removed, while several others were declared missing by their relatives through radio and television stations. It all started in Zarainawa Quarters […]

Most of the victims, Weekly Trust observed, were minors between the ages of three to six. As at the last count, two girls and two boys were confirmed killed with some of their parts removed, while several others were declared missing by their relatives through radio and television stations.

It all started in Zarainawa Quarters of Birnin-Kudu Local Government Area where two young cousins (both males) were killed by suspected ritual killers, then followed by the Gwaram incidence where a three-year-old girl was murdered. And recently, there was the murder of a six-year-old girl in Hadejia.

The victims include Muhammad Aminu Bala, 3; Adamu Abba Magaji, 4 (Birnin-Kudu); Zainab Tanimu Ayuba, 3 (Gwaram) and Khadija Husaini, 6 (Hadejia). Of all the four incidences, police confirmed that six suspects including a former Commissioner ofor Information had been arrested.  The former commissioner and one of his aides are currently standing trial at the Dutse High Court over the death of two youngsters in Zarainawa Quarters of Birnin-Kudu Local Government Area.

It was further gathered that while the two accused persons are being remanded in prison pending the outcome of the judgment, the rest of the suspects are under police custody as their cases are still being investigated by the police.

The embattled ex-commissioner and his aide are currently being held at the Ringim Prison after their case was transferred to Dutse High Court from the Kiyawa Magistrate Court on the ground that the lower court has no jurisdiction to entertain it. The ex-commissioner was earlier granted bail by the lower court but was said to have been re-arrested on the directive of the state’s Attorney-General.

According to the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Jigawa State Police Command, ASP Abdul Jinjiri, the state commissioner of justice is empowered by the constitution to arrest any accused person even if he/she was granted bail by the court if the Attorney-General believes that the accused person’s release could lead to chaos in the area.

He said it was based on this ground that the former commissioner was re-arrested.

Many had attributed the recent killings to politics, especially as the suspects in the cases are politicians. It is believed that the victims were used as sacrifice by politicians to aid their fortunes in the forthcoming local government election.

While the Birnin-Kudu killing was linked to the former Information Commissioner, the Gwaram killing was also alleged to be political, as the head of the victim was allegedly taken to the residence of one of the council chairmen.

Though the ritual killings did not lead to chaos in Gwaram and Hadejia local government areas, violent reactions trailed the Birnin-Kudu incident, resulting in the loss of property worth billions of naira. There was however no loss of life. Houses and vehicles belonging to the former commissioner were set ablaze by an angry mob that went on rampage following the discovery of the corpses of the two youngsters who were dumped along Kano-Birnin-Kudu highway.

About seven houses and the same number of vehicles that belonged to the ex-commissioner were set ablaze by the angry mob during the protest, which lasted for hours before it was brought under control by policemen and some elites in the area.

Weekly Trust learnt that the riot began shortly after the shoes of the deceased were said to have been discovered in a vehicle suspected to be that of the former commissioner’s. But our reporter learned that the car in question was said to have been grounded in the parking lot of the embattled former commissioner’s house for years.

The father of one of the victims, Malam Bala Ya’u told Weekly Trust that he was in Hadejia to attend a seminar when his brother called to inform him that his three-year-old son, Muhammad Aminu, was missing.

Bala, who is also a headmaster of the Model Science Primary School in Birnin-Kudu,  he  abandoned the seminar to join the rest of his family members in the search for his son. He recalled that, “I was at home when suddenly somebody came to my house on motorcycle and asked me to follow him to somewhere. I demanded for an explanation, but the man insisted that I should follow him first. On our arrival at the scene, I saw a crowd, and when we reached the scene, I recognised Abba.

“I have left everything in the hands of Almighty God. He is the one Who gave me the child and now He has taken him away. Therefore, whoever has hand in his death, God knows best how to punish him accordingly,” he said.

Weekly Trust reliably gathered that another victim the late Zainab Tanimu had been ill for quite some time before her tragic death in the hands of ritual killers. The deceased was said to have been left at home with one Abubakar, a stranger, who had been in the house for about a month before the unfortunate incident.

The late Zainab’s father, Malam Tanimu Ayuba, told Weekly Trust that “I was performing ablution when suddenly her mother whom I’d divorced for a long time came to my house and informed me that Zainab was missing. She told me that all efforts to trace her whereabouts failed,” he said, adding that Zainab’s death was only known to her relatives when her head was found at the residence of a local government chairman.

Checks in Gwaram indicated that one Inuwa Shehu, 12, was allegedly sent to the wife of the local government chairman, Hajiya Rashida Bala, with a polythene bag containing the head of the victim. Inuwa met the suspected killer at the front of the chairman’s house. It was gathered that the chairman’s wife instantly fainted when she unwrapped the polythene bag and saw the head of little Zainab Tanimu Ayuba.

Speaking to Weekly Trust, the chairman of the local government, Alhaji Bala Sule Kila, confirmed that the deceased’s head was found in his residence, but said it was sent to his wife by the suspected killer through Inuwa Shehu. He called on the police to intensify investigations with a view to bringing the culprits to book.

In Hadejia, six-year-old Khadija Hussaini had her heart and eyes removed by the suspected killer, one Hussaini, who is currently in police custody. A resident of Bakin-Kasuwa told Weekly Trust that Khadija was missing for three days before her corpse was found in the bush around Kadume, few kilometres from Hadejia where her remains had been dumped.

The deceased’s father, Malam Hussaini Muhammad, was still in shock and could not comment on the matter, but his elder brother, Malam Tanimu Muhammad explained that “the suspected killer is a groundnut oil hawker, not fuel hawker as earlier reported by you. He picked Khadijah on his motorcycle on her way to grind millet for our daily meal. Hussaini initially took her to the bank of Kadume River where he attempted to kill her and probably to throw her corpse into the river, but her resistance aborted his mission.”

Muhammad further stated that “Hussaini did not give up even after little Khadija fell into the river. He solicited the support of some passerby to bring Khadijah out of the river. A fisherman, one Malam Yakubu, who was fishing in the river, quickly jumped into the river, brought her out and handed her over to Hussaini, who claimed to be her father,” Muhammad narrated.

Weekly Trust further gathered that the news of the unfortunate incident was only exposed after the fisherman heard over the Hadejia FM radio that a six-year-old girl was missing. And from the description given by the announcer, he recalled that it was the little girl he had handed over to Hussaini.   

Police authorities in the state confirmed the incidences and said they were trailing the real killers. According to the state police commissioner, Alhaji Abdullahi S. Fana, who spoke through the command public relations officer, ASP Abdul Jinjiri, some arrests have already been made in connection with the killings.

Fana also confirmed the arrest of three suspects including a prime suspect in the killing of Zainab Taminu Ayuba, Abubakar and his suspected accomplices, Auwalu Umar and Kaila Taura.

The commissioner  said the suspects confessed to police that they were hired to kill Zainab by the former local government chairman, Alhaji Auwalu Sule Kila, who is now at large. They also hinted the police that they had already collected N20,000 from the sponsor.

Fana  said the suspects who led a team of police detectives to the place where they had buried the late Zainab also attested that the sponsor directed them to take the deceased’s head to the residence of the present chairman of the local government, Alhaji Bala Sule Kila. While the former Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Abba Umar Kukuma and one Hamza were arrested in connection with killing of the two youngsters in Birnin-Kudu, three others are in police custody over the death of Zainab Tanimu Ayuba of Gwaram LG while Hussaini was nabbed by the police for being responsible for the murder of little Khadija Hussaini in Hadejia.