Narrating his ordeal, Alhaji Suleiman said
his only daughter, late Fauziyat, a Dental Therapy student of School of Science and Health Technology Makarfi, Kaduna State, was supposed to be getting married in January, 2015 but little did he know that her life was going to be terminated so soon.
According to Mallam Suleiman who could not control his emotions as tears flowed from his eyes uncontrollably, “my daughter went out with her friends on the 3rd August, 2014 to attend a wedding ceremony; she was so full of life and in a joyful mood when leaving the house. It was not long after that I was called and told that she was shot by a police man on their way home from Ungwa Rimi, venue of the wedding. An eyewitness Mallam Hassan, who was also hit by the bullet that pierced my daughter’s abdomen but survived it, said there were six policemen in an Operation Yaki vehicle and all of a sudden they stopped. Then the inspector came down from the vehicle, aimed at my daughter and shot her abdomen at a close range, killing her on the spot. The driver of the vehicle confessed that the inspector ordered him to forcefully stop the car which he did being his superior.”
Mallam Suleiman said the impact of the gun shot that bruised Mallam Hassan forced him to be hospitalised for three days but he survived it, but that was not the case with his only daughter who died on the spot.
Continuing, he told LEADERSHIP Sunday that he reported the case to the divisional police office at Ungwa Rimi where the
incident occurred and subsequently to the Kaduna police command headquarters where he was told the man was arrested and detained. According to him, the police inspector confessed to the crime in the presence of an Assistant Commissioner of police and some other top police officers.
He said he called the state police spokesperson Aminu Lawan who failed to neither pick nor reply his text message.
“When the incident occurred, the Operation Yaki vehicle attempted to speed away but was prevented by people around the area. My daughter was then taken to 44 Army reference Hospital, Kaduna in a pool of blood and medically confirmed dead. On reaching the hospital, when I was called about the incident, the driver of the Operation Yaki vehicle called me aside and asked if I was the father of the girl, I answered yes and he pointed at an Inspector whom he said shot my daughter.
He told me that he warned him not to shoot her but he refused and went ahead to shoot her. I looked at the name tag on his chest and that was how I got to know he is Ahmadu Usman.
When I went back to the police headquarters, all the police told me through the Officer in charge of X squad was for me to present the certificate of death to authenticate that my daughter actually died. So I went back to the hospital and
demanded for the death certificate which I was given on the 27th August, 2014 and the cause of death as contained in the certificate was that my daughter died of cardio respiratory arrest Hemorrhage BID following gunshot wounds” and handed over a photocopy of the death certificate which was signed by one Dr AA Agada as the attending Physician/Surgeon,” he said, as he shed more tears.
He continued, “On the 29th August, 2014, I decided to take the death certificate to the police command only to get the greatest surprise of my life. I saw the inspector who killed my daughter and who was said to have been detained, roaming about within the premises. In fact, before that day, the said
Inspector would always call to threaten my
life and will ask me,
“How do you feel now”? If I ask who was on the line, he will answer and say he is Inspector Ahmadu Usman. Because of the
persistent calls, I was forced to change my number.
“It has been 30 days now and nothing has been done about the case. I have written a petition to the police commissioner and copied the governor, inspector general of police, chief justice of Kaduna State, Chairman Public Complain Commission and
the DSS. All I am asking for is justice; that is the best I can do for my late daughter since nothing will bring her back to life.
If all these efforts to seek justice fail, I will have no option but to take legal action against the police for the brutal killing of
my daughter” he said.
But when LEADERSHIP Sunday visited the police Headquarters to ascertain the claim of Mallam Suleiman, the police confirmed
the incident and added that investigation was in top gear to bring the culprit to justice. According to the Kaduna Police
Command spokesperson SP Aminu Lawan, he confirmed that he received a text message from the complainant and had replied him accordingly.
“Yes, it is true that there was such complain brought before the command and the police have long begun investigation into the matter. We detained the accused person and the other members of the team and they have been under detention since the incident occurred in what we called ‘orderly room’ trial. It is police terminology.
“it is not true that nothing is being done on the matter. At the receipt of the complaint, we invited the father of the deceased who gave a statement of what happened, we will soon call other witnesses in the course of our investigation which is at an advanced stage now.”
SP Lawan shared in the pains of the father whose only daughter was sent to an early grave by an overzealous policeman, adding that, “in fact as you can see, I have before me a preliminary investigation report on the matter, and want to assure you that the police will stop at nothing to ensure that
justice is done.
Let me assure you also that at the conclusion of the investigation, if the accused is found guilty and whoever is found guilty in the subject matter will certainly be made to face the full wrath of the law” he assured.
If the saying that whoever kills by the sword should also die by the same sword is anything to go by, can it be expected such
will be applicable in this circumstance should the accused be found guilty? Only time and result of the police investigation
will tell.
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