“On the day of the incident, Auwal took his newlywed wife, Rabi’atu to a maternity ward at Masukwani quarters as early as possible for pregnancy related problems. Later in the day after the Isha’i prayers his brother, Rabi’u visited him along with his wife, A’isha. They took-off time discussing about life, until when Rabi’u sought to go back home with his wife
“No sooner had they left, Auwal was lying on a mat in a sitting room, while his new bride was sitting beside him, when all of a sudden, a group of kidnappers with guns barricaded their house. They did not shut the entrance gate to the house because it wasn’t late into the night. They gave a marching order to Auwal, but he ignored it, when they frowned that they would be carrying along Auwal and his wife, again Auwal said they were not going anywhere. Auwal stood up to block the entrance to the main room, but unfortunately, they shot his hand.
“Auwal’s hand was badly hit with almost all its bones broken into pieces. The gang attempted to take away Auwal’s wife, but he resisted, saying they were going nowhere. They again shot him in the stomach thrice, and he instantly fell down in a pool of blood. Thereafter they took away his wife. Auwal’s brother, Barde was inside his room during the incident, but lacked the courage to come out, and it was only after the gunmen left to the understanding of Barde that he was able to come out from the room with a loud shout saying they have killed Danlami (Auwal).
“It was then that Barde got the sympathy of family members. However, despite the condition he found himself in, Auwal was shouting for help, saying “pick me up, they also took away my wife, and kept on saying pick me up to the time he could not even utter a word”. This was the episode related by a close relation about the killing by gunmen of the newlywed Auwal Isah, in addition to taking away his wife, who was then Pregnant, in Jere town along Abuja – Kaduna Road in part of Kagarko Local Government Area one Friday night.
In fact, this was the third time gunmen were invading Jere town kidnapping people. The first was at Cabiho quarters where a young person was kidnapped with the sum of twenty million naira paid as ransom. The second was at Ma’aji quarters where over seven persons were kidnapped and a ransom of twenty-five million naira, including three motorcycles were paid for their release, after they killed two out of the seven, they kidnapped where they were held hostage.
In whole, it was not more than a month after the release of the five out of the seven they kidnapped when they came back again, penetrating deep inside the town at Galadanchi quarters where the killed the newlywed and took away his wife, in addition to some women and children in the house of Kaduna state former commissioner for poverty alleviation, who was also the PDP chairman of Kagarko Local Government chairman, Hon. Abdulrahman Ibrahim, popularly known as ‘Apo’.
Our source said, “The kidnappers were said to have entered the house of Hon. Abdulrahman in the early hours of the night of the incident, just around 11pm. As God had it, all his wives had shut their rooms except Hajiya Ladidi who had women visitors that were to spend the night with her in the same room.
There were some male children watching some video clips in her room, but when the gunmen came in, the occupants of the room were lucky to use the kitchen exit to vamoose. So, they only took Hajiya Ladidi away along with her baby, in addition to the junior sister of Abdulrahman, Rabi’atu who also came to the house from Zaria, together with Hajiya Ladidi’s sister, Walidah”.
In addition, our source said that the gunmen attempted to enter the House of Lere traditional ruler, Yeriman Lere, Alhaji Abdulkarim, but were not able to break the gate of the house.
In the same token, another source told us that the gunmen bolted into the Jere town through the Sabon Kasuwa market, where they went away with one tea seller, Malam Yakubu and another person who was there to buy the tea by name Baba Isah, together with vibrant young person named Mubarak.
Narrating his ordeal, Malam Mubarak said, “I was on my way back from our main house, just beside a long wall while lightening my handset touch light close to the house of one Alhaji Abba, when suddenly I heard a voice saying come here, no sooner had they catch hold of my gown and made me to sit down, along with one Yakubu who was already in their hands. Not long after, I was able to grasped out of their hands, leaving them with the gown and being taken away. One of the gunmen, he was the giant among them, followed me on the run, but unfortunately and fortunately for me his gun magazine fell down, and luckily, I entered a nearby house in which I met some young guys, telling them to run for their dear lives, having been confronted by kidnappers. The guys immediately shun the main gate of the house and run inside. I was trying to cross over the wall of the house but it fell down with me. In front of the house, one of the gunmen open fire into the sky and left, and it was there that I was able to come out from the house and run home”.
It was related that the leader at the Jere Area Police Command, ACP Umar Faruk has sought the assistance of soldiers who keep vigil of the area, though the soldiers fell short of expectation because they only fired in the air after the gunmen had left.
Also giving us a rundown of the ugly scenario, a trader in Jere market by name Malam Muntari said, “One of those kidnapped, Malam Yakubu said the soldiers went to a close by rail line in an attempt to get hold of the gunmen, but to no avail, instead they only fired into the thin air. At a point the gunmen ordered all of us the captives to lie down, and later changed the route to their den.
Additionally, another captive kidnapped the following day by the gunmen said, another female captive with the gunmen had her legs bleeding and he had to take-off his shirt for the woman to tie the bleeding legs. He explained that ever since they were kidnapped, the gunmen gave him the custody of a breastfeeding child whom he became accustomed to her. They were in a resting place when the head of the gunmen left for his freedom.
Efforts to get the police side of the story could not yield any positive response, as the Lere Area Commander of the Force, ACP Umar Faruk referred us to the command’s PPRO by giving us his GSM number, though his number was not going when we rang, as he did not also response to our text message. In the same vein our correspondent in Kaduna, Shehu Yahaya has reached the PPRO, was however said to be in a meeting with a promise to ring back after, but there wasn’t any response up to the time of filing this report.
Other police source however confirmed the arrest of some suspects that included, Laurat Abdulrahman, Safiyah Abdulrahman, Rabi’at Ibrahim, Rabi’at Abubakar Zakariyya (bride of the slain groom), as well as Walidah Surajo Musa, all women and children.
Responding at the funeral prayer of Auwal Isah, some of the teachers in Jere, Imam Abdulrahman Musa, Imam Ibrahim Tahir and Malam Ibrahim Zakari, encouraged people of the town to be up and doing in nipping into the mud the insecurity problem bedeviling the town, saying people should very vigilant, especially with unknown faces in their midst, imbibe moral upbringing to the youths, as well as continued offering prayers for Allah to bring to the end of such misfortunes.
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