Boys hacked my husband to death over soccer dispute with our sons’

Tunga Maje on the outskirts of the Federal Capital Territory
( FCT) was thrown into mourning as 59-year-old Shuaibu
Tijani was allegedly killed by a group of boys from Koro 
village.

Besides the Gbagis, who are natives of the FCT, Koro
people are also regarded as indigenous people in Abuja.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that Tijani, who hailed from
 Ofejiji- Oganenugu in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, was killed following a dispute between his children and Koro boys, who were described as notorious.

“A visit to the deceased’s residence, located at Angwa 
Bassa by New Poultry in Tunga Maje, revealed an
 atmosphere enveloped by mourning as neighbours and sympathisers thronged the place to console the family.

One of the late Tijani’s sons, Sani, said the boys, 
numbering about 12, stormed their residence at Angwa
 Bassa, brandishing cutlasses, knives and sticks, with the 
aim of attacking him and his brother, Salam.

Narrating how it all started, 23-year-old Sani said: “We
 were playing football at a field in Tunga Maje, on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, when a boy came and he was asked to be the
goalkeeper for my team, but I declined, because he was not
good. I decided to be the goalkeeper and the boy insulted me.

“My younger brother, Salam, who was at the field, cautioned
the boy to stop insulting me since I am not his age mate.

“The boy and his colleagues started threatening my brother
and me, boasting they would come for us later.

“At night, around 8pm, they arrived at our residence, about
 12 of them, with cutlasses, knives and some of them 
holding sticks. They started looking for Salam, who was at 
a chemist store watching television. I quickly ran to him,
 called him out and urged him to go and hide in the room.
 But as soon as I came out, I saw my father advancing to the boys to ask them what could have gone wrong.

“They attacked him and he fell down. They hit his head on a
stone. “Even while my mother and all of us were battling to rescue my dad, the boys stayed around threatening to deal with me and my brother. It was then that my mother left my dad and went to report the case at Tunga Maje Police Station.”

According to the wife of the deceased, Habibat Tijani, who
wept as she narrated the killing, said the police officers at
Tunga Maje were reluctant to follow her as they were afraid 
of the Koro boys.

“Even the police officer that later followed me home saw
 that despite my husband’s condition, some of the boys
 stayed around, threatening to do and undo. With the officer, we carried my husband to the station at Tunga Maje,”she stated.

“There, they transferred the case to Zuba Divisional Police
Headquarters and we carried my husband to the station in
Zuba. It was in this process that my husband died”.

Mrs Tijani, who called on well-meaning Nigerians to 
intervene in the matter, appealed to the Inspector-General
 of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to ensure that the killers of her husband were brought to justice.

“While speaking separately, some residents of the area
described the late Tijani as friendly and easy-going.

At the Zuba Police Station, the Investigating Police Officer
(IPO) in charge of the case, Alhassan, popularly called Dan-
Fulani, described the incident as unfortunate.“

When asked if any arrest had been made, he said the police
were on the trail of the suspected killers.

“It is a case of homicide. We have to be careful on
 how we carry out arrest so that the boys do not end up fleeing,” he said.

Efforts made to see the DPO were unsuccessful. 
However, sources at the police station revealed that the 
village where the boys reside had been a serious concern to the police.“

One of the sources described the area as a den of criminals.

“Last Friday, two policemen were killed by the overhead
 bridge at Tunga Maje. In fact, sometime ago, those Koro
 boys threatened to burn down our station at Tunga Maje. So if we swoop on the village to arrest the boys, that may be
dangerous. We want to go through their village chief and we
are working on that,” the source said. Calling back the IPO,
Alhassan, a week later to get the update on the killing, he
explained that they had met with the District Head of Koro 
and they were advised to tread cautiously to be able to nab the boys using their parents.

He dismissed the insinuation that the police were not 
doing enough to arrest and prosecute the alleged perpetrators, adding that the complainants, Sani and his brother, who knew ‘those boys’ had traveled for the burial of their father.

“We have met with the village head and he promised to 
assist us, but he advised us to follow it calmly because
 those boys are at large”, the IPO said. He said he (village head) will get the parents and the parents will know how to 
get their children.

“We also met with the chief of Igala in Tunga Maje and he
 said we should give him time to resolve the issue.

“They (Sani and his brother) are the ones the district head 
will use to point the boys house by house for us to get
 them, because we (police) don’t know them.

“It is not that the police are reluctant to do something. 
Action is seriously taken.

The late Tijani has since been buried in his home town,
 Ofejiji- Oganenugu, according to Islamic rites.