…. says he slept in the station for three nights, paid N50,000 to fuel vehicles and asked to go and not feel offended
A Fulani herdsman, Alhaji Ibrahim Inuwa, is seeking for justice over the killing of his 35-year-old son, Abdulrahman by unidentified hoodlums in Agejeju in Dakina Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Alhaji Inuwa, who spoke to newsmen in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, said after spending three nights in Dakina Police Station where he went to report the killing of his son, a father of five children and after paying over N50,000 to police officers, all he was told by the police was: “Don’t be offended by the death of your son.”
According to the aggrieved father, the Area Commander of the police in Ayangba collected N25,000 in addition to another N30,000 he spent to bribe the Dakina Divisional Police Officer as well as to refuel the police vehicles and other expenditures, saying: “All of such efforts ended in nothing.”
Narrating the story, Alhaji Inuwa said on that fateful day, August 8, he went out on his motorcycle with his late son in Itakwe village of Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, where they had lived for close to 10 years.
He said on their way back to their house, the son took permission to stay behind to observe the late evening prayer before returning home.
Inuwa said he was surprised to hear that some people from another village called Agejeju, about 15 kilometres apart, went to where his son was, picked him up after shooting him in his two legs and drove him to their village.
He said the unidentified people, who have been having some misunderstanding with Fulani people in their village, simply brought his son down from the vehicle and shot him to death, along with four others, including one Mallam Saidu, with whom his son was taken away.
Alhaji Inuwa said what pained him was that since he has been living in Itakwe with his late son, they had never gone to Agejeju where he was eventually taken to and killed.
He also said he and his family have been living peacefully with neighbours for all the years they stayed in the village, adding that even before they were allowed to settle in the village, they were screened by the local chiefs and security agents and certified to be humble, friendly and peace-loving.
Inuwa said when the report reached him that his son had been brutally killed, he rushed to Dakina police station to lodge a report, but that the police did not attend to him until after he had spent three consecutive days and nights.
He said: “And when they turned their attention to me, they asked me to fuel their vehicles, pay for all sort of things before they would move to the site of the crime.
“Even when they were going, they asked me to remain behind. When they returned, they merely told me that ‘those people’ said that they did not take my son. They asked me not to feel offended and that I should go.
“Even when I reported the case to the Area Commander in Ayangba, it did not help the matter; that was after I had been made to part with N25,000 for the Area Commander.”
However, senior police officers in Dakina, who preferred to be anonymous, confirmed that Alhaji Inuwa lodged complaint about the killing of his son, but that when the police went to the village concerned, no one was ready to point out to the police those who killed the man.
“We can’t just arrest anybody on sight since no police was there when the crime was not committed,” the police source said.