From NOAH EBIJE, Kaduna
MORE facts have emerged about the tragic abduction of the late Colonel Samaila Inusa, who was killed by the gunmen who kidnapped him penultimate Saturday.
As the Army authorities continue with their discret and diligent investigation to unmask the identities of the perpetrators of the dastardly act, Sunday Sun has learnt from a reliable source that it was Inusa’s wife, who was driving the family’s Mercedes Benz GLK car with registration number, Abuja KUJ 154 TZ on that fateful day, when they were intercepted on the Kaduna-Abuja road.
When the news of the abduction broke, it had been erroneously reported that the slain colonel was driving the car.
The Sunday Sun was told by a source on condition of anonymity that the slain colonel had gone to visit his in-laws at Mahuta area, near NNPC junction, Kaduna. After the visit, his wife took over the steering wheel while her husband sat beside her.
According to the source, as they drove along, the wife was said to have noticed that a car was trailing behind her. But for some reason, she did not consider this as something serious that would warrant alerting her husband.
She was also quoted to have said that within a few minutes, the car behind her sped up and overtook their car and blocked their path. Immediately too, a second car following behind drove up very close. The two cars made it impossible for them to either go forward or reverse.
In a flash, some men came down from the two cars and dragged her out of her car in the semi darkness and drove off with her husband.
Many sympathisers lamented over the abduction and murder of the colonel, which tragically cut short his rising profile of a brilliant military career, which had taken him outside the country at some point in his life.
Remarking on the sad incident, another security source who also pleaded for anonymity said: “In such unexpected scenario, (referring to the abduction) there is nothing an army officer can do with his personal service pistol because you are mobbed unexpectedly by strange persons that are well armed. At that, it is even dangerous to disclose your identity.”
As would be expected, the burial of the late colonel at the old Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) burial ground in Kaduna, evoked emotions.
Younger brother of Inusa, Mustapha Inusa, commenting on the life and times of his elder, said: “My brother was a very gentle person, even as a soldier. He could not hurt a fly, but whoever killed him, we leave everything to God. Judgement Day will come one day.”
Born in 1972 in Nasarawa Local Government Area of Kano State, Col. Inusa attended Ramat Special Primary School from 1979 to 1985 and proceeded to Ahmadiyya Secondary School, Kano, where he obtained his West African School Certificate in 1991.
The late Col. Inusa gained admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1992 as a member of the 44th Regular Course and passed out in 1997 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Science.
He was Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the Vice President of Sierra Leone. He was promoted to the rank of colonel last year. Until he was gruesomely murdered by the abductors, he was a chief instructor at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji, near Kaduna.