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

*Abuja mother begs IGP

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.

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

It was 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. (Vanguard)