Pastor Mike
Agbahime, the husband of Igbo trader killed in Kano, Bridget Agbahime, has
given details of the incident that led to his wife’s death and the things that
occurred thereafter. He spoke with GIBSON ACHONU about how his wife was
murdered and his cry for justice.
What happened the day your wife was
murdered?
I was in one of our shops on Thursday, June 2, 2015. We
usually closed by 3:30 pm and from the shop, we go to church. But there was one
Dauda Ahmed, who had formed the habit of washing his legs (ablution) for
prayers in front of my wife’s shop.
He did that each time he wanted to say his prayers. He would
leave his shop, which was a bit far from my wife’s own, to do that. We reported
the matter to the owner of the shop, one Alhaji Mustapha. Mustapha warned him
many times to desist from doing that. He told him (Dauda) that if he wanted to
do (ablution), he should do it in his shop. Also, the President of the Hausa
Plastic Association in Kofar Wambai market, Kano, Alhaji Aminu, also warned him
when the incident was reported to him. Aminu even told Dauda that they (market
union) would take him to court if he did not change. He (Dauda) continued.
Dauda was also fond of putting his goods in front of my wife’s shop in the
early hours of the day.
Before she got to the shop, he would occupy the frontage of
the shop with his goods. Whenever he was told to stop doing that, he (Dauda)
would start uttering abusive words.
On the day my wife was murdered, a call came from one of our
church members (who also has a shop in the market) while I was waiting for my
wife to leave the shop so that we could go to the church. He told me on phone
that some Hausa people were making trouble with my wife. I asked him why and he
answered, “I don’t know.” It was then I asked him to give my wife his
phone so that I could talk with her. Do you know that the (Hausa mob) did not
allow the man to give her the phone? It was then that I quickly packed my wares
to go and find out the problem. As this was going on, I met the same man who
was with my wife at the market. He said, “Daddy, don’t worry, they have left
her (my wife).” Later, my wife appeared. She told me that it was the same Dauda
that did ablution in the front of her shop. She said that she told Dauda, “Why
won’t you allow me to finish packing before you start pouring your water for
ablution in my shop?”
After telling Dauda this, she told me that he held her hand
and asked her, “Mekai fatah?” This phrase means “What did you just say?” My
wife asked him, “What right do you have to hold my hand?” She asked him
to leave her hand. She stated that if he did not leave her, that she would use
one of the plastic products in the shop to break his head. Immediately Dauda
left her, he started shouting “Allah Akbar.”
What did you do?
I then told my wife that since Dauda had started his trouble
again, that we should go and see Alhaji Mustapha, the owner of the shop.
What happened after?
Alhaji Mustapha ushered us in. He (Mustapha) told us to go
and come back on Saturday, June 4, 2016, so as to speak with Dauda and settle
the disagreement. His office was upstairs. But as we were leaving through the
staircase, we saw a teeming mob with weapons. Alhaji Mustapha tried to disperse
them. He told them in Hausa that he would resolve the matter the next Saturday.
They started abusing him, throwing stones at him. They called him kafir,
meaning somebody who does not know Allah. When Mustapha saw that the mob was
getting more aggressive, he opened his office, told us to go in and locked it.
When they saw that Alhaji Mustapha had let us in and locked his office, they continued
shouting Allah Akbar. As they were shouting, many others joined them.
What did he (Mustapha) do when they were
gathering in greater numbers?
It is painful to tell you that Alhaji Mustapha, seeing how
aggressive they were, slumped. But before he slumped, he had called the police.
The Divisional Police Officer of the area came in with two other policemen. The
three could not calm the angry mob. The mob climbed up in their numbers, broke
the window, and jumped in.
What were you doing
with your wife while this was going on?
We were praying to God to save the situation. When they
later entered the office where we were hiding, they hit my wife on the head
with very heavy iron objects and she immediately slumped and died. Having
completed their mission, they all went back. They did not touch me.
What did the police later do?
The DPO later came in after my wife was killed and asked me,
“Is she dead?” He was the one who told the other policemen to bring the police
vehicle so that they could take her corpse to the mortuary. When they (mob)
heard ‘mortuary’, they reinforced. When the DPO saw that they were coming in
again in greater number, he called the area commander, complaining that they
had killed my wife, adding that their own lives were in danger.
What was the response of the area commander?
The area commander deployed more policemen in the area. They
arrived immediately and started shooting canisters into the air to disperse the
crowd. It was the policemen who helped me to put her corpse inside the vehicle
to the mortuary. The mob continued to throw stones at the vehicle as we were
going to deposit her corpse in the morgue.
What happened next?
Not satisfied, the mob moved to my shop and vandalized it.
They also smashed my car, which I bought not up to a year before the incident,
to pieces.
Did the Kano State Government meet you after
the incident to console you?
The true story was that on June 3, 2016, Governor
Umaru Ganduje called a security meeting that involved
all sheikhs, ulamas, state executive council members, Christian
Association of Nigeria, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Eze Ndigbo in
Kano, Yoruba monarchs, Edo leaders, other ethnic nationalities leaders and the
state commissioner of police. In that meeting, I was asked what happened, and I
narrated the incident. After other comments, Governor Ganduje condemned the
act, saying it was un-Islamic.
What was the resolution reached after the
meeting?
The meeting resolved that justice must prevail and that the
perpetrators of the act must be brought to book. It was also resolved that my
family must be taken care of by the Kano State Government and
lastly, that the state government would establish Islamic schools, where
Islamic scholars would teach the people (Muslims) the real Islamic doctrines
and traditions.
What is your assessment of the way the
police handled the matter?
It is painful to disclose that after a while, the other two
runaway suspects reappeared in the market. The police were informed about
this development, but for a reason which I did not know, they (police) shielded
them (from arrest). Again, when the police had completed their investigations,
they told me that they were ready to prosecute the suspects. But for a reason
best known to the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Kano State,
he refused, for five months, to file a charge against Dauda and the other
arrested suspects.
He (commissioner) refused to take the suspects to the High
Court for prosecution. On the contrary, the police in Kano wrote to the then
Deputy Inspector-General of Police, who is now the Inspector-General of Police,
Ibrahim Idris, for advice. To the dismay of the general public and the
international community, a court recently released the suspects, declaring them
innocent. It is important to note at this point that the case was in the
magistrates’ court for five months without being charged to High Court.
Why did you relocate from Kano State?
I had to relocate because I reliably gathered that some
Muslims were planning to kill me. This was because I am the prime witness to
the matter.
0 Comments