- How kidnappers pumped bullets into this woman
- We’ll get her killers – Kaduna govt
From NOAH EBIJE, Kaduna
Look at those raindrops falling from the azure. Heaven is weeping for her tragic exit. Watch those birds doing acrobatics and flapping their wings as they flew across the sky. They too are in deep sorrow over her death. See those women rolling on the ground and wailing their hearts out and men snapping their fingers in anguish. They are united in mourning the untimely exit of Mrs. Rebecca Shakarau Uchissa.
The 39-year-old civil servant working with a primary health centre, Saminanka, in Kaduna State, had travelled all the way from the sleepy town located in Lere Local Government Area of Kaduna State, without any hitch, to see her elder brother, Mr. Ende Umar Okah, under whose care her children are schooling in Kaduna.
The following day, August 13, 2017, she left Kaduna enroute Zaria to visit a friend who had just been delivered of a baby before going back to Saminaka. That was the last time her three children, Alheri, Hajara and Musa as well as her elder brother, Ende, set eyes on her alive. The next news they heard two days after she left Kaduna was that she had been killed, murdered in a cold blood.
How it happened
Shock, disbelief and grief descended on the family like a thunderbolt from a clear and cloudless sky. Her brother, Ende, told Saturday Sun that he wept like a baby for days. According to him, few hours after she left Zaria in her Toyota car (1986 model), heavily armed men said to be Fulani militants suddenly opened fire on the car from both sides of the road. The incident was said to have happened around Pambegwa town on the way to Saminaka, at around 6pm.
In a sorrow-laden voice, he took over the narrative from this point. “The incident happened on Sunday, 13th August, 2017. That was the day she came to visit me because two of her children are with me. She came because I did not allow them children to go on holiday. I had reasoned with her that doing so would affect their academic standards, so she allowed them to stay with me so that they could attend summer lessons.
“After the visit, she said she would like to pass through Zaria to see a friend that had been delivered of a baby. She left Zaria at 4.pm, but on approaching the hills after Pambegwa, she heard gunshots. Bullets came flying her way and hit her directly on the chest. She slumped and died on her car’s steering.
“There was no roadblock, there was no information that Fulani militants were operating on the road. I use the words Fulani militants because the two people that were kidnapped during the operation said they were Fulani. My sister was carrying three persons in the car; altogether they were four in the vehicle: two were injured, one was kidnapped, while she was killed. But the one that was kidnapped could not move fast because she has a problem on her legs. So the kidnappers set her free to go back, and that was her saving grace. She was the one who identified them as Fulani.
“By the time she came back to the car, she discovered that my sister was already dead. This woman remained at that spot, hoping that police would come, but, according to her, the kidnappers operated for two hours without any security man coming to their rescue. They only arrived after they had finished the operation. My sister was not the only person killed that day; about nine other persons were said to had been killed. The police carried eight corpses to the mortuary that very day, but discovered another corpse the following day and also moved it to the mortuary. This was how my sister met her death. I cried like a baby. The last words I had with her was when I told her that Nigeria is not safe to travel at night, even in day time. I told her instances where people were kidnapped along Abuja-Kaduna highway. I told her that as a woman, don’t travel at night; leave early wherever you want to go so that you can arrive at your destination early enough.
“After seven days of operations, the kidnappers allegedly still remained on the same spot, collecting ransoms from those they kidnapped. One Dahiru took a ransom to them on behalf of his brother. He walked a long distance into the bush, but at a point he was tired. The kidnappers ordered him to stop and wait for them. As soon as he stopped, he saw them jumping down from trees. They collected the money (N500, 000), counted it to ensure that it was complete before they allowed him to go with his brother. They even sent apologies through him to the families of those that were killed. They said it was the younger and newly recruited ones among them that did the killings.”
Kaduna govt reacts
In the meantime, the Kaduna State government as well as security agencies in the state have given assurances that insecurity will soon be a thing of the past across the state. Samuel Aruwan, Governor Nasir El-rufai’s media spokesman, told Saturday Sun that insecurity cases in the state are being investigated with the view to arresting culprits and bringing them to justice.
He added that the Pambegwa/Saminaka incidents would not be an exception to ensuring that peace prevails in the entire state. The Security Council meeting chaired by Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai received briefings from Garrison Commander, 1 Division Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Base Commander of the Nigerian Air Force, Director DSS Kaduna State, Commissioner of Police and heads of other security agencies operating in the state, he revealed.
The Council, he said, also reviewed the security situation in Birnin Gwari, Southern Kaduna, Kaduna-Abuja Road and Zaria-Kubau-Giwa axis. Further means of enhancing security in the areas were discussed and actions recommended for prompt implementation.
It deplored massive circulation, by “mischievous persons”, appealing for reprisals, of disturbing images of dead bodies, and injured victims, arising from recent violence that erupted in Kajuru Local Government Area of the State and warned those engaging in the act to desist from it.
Security agencies are making remarkable progress in trailing suspects still at large and are closing in on them, he told Saturday Sun. “While Kaduna State Government is involved in multi-dimensional approach towards mediation and peace building, the Governor wishes to appeal to the affected communities to resist appeals for reprisals and to also refrain from taking laws into their hands.”