FIJ
On July 23, Isaac Ishaya, a contractor, allegedly attacked and murdered Hamidu Isa Ogana, a member of the Nigerian Legion Corps, Nasarawa State, after labelling him an armed robber.
It all began one week earlier, on July 16, when Charity, Ishaya’s wife, blocked the entrance of You-Nik Academy Nursery and Primary School with her car, preventing other cars from leaving or entering the school.
FIJ gathered that Charity was in the habit of blocking the school entrance with her car anytime she was there to pick up Benita, her daughter.
Mohammed Jubril, a security officer in the school, approached Ishaya’s wife and asked her to park the car properly. This did not go down well with Charity and she resorted to physically assaulting and insulting the security officer.
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After the incident, Ishaya stormed the school on July 19, demanding to see the officer who had ‘insulted’ his wife. Ishaya was said to have head-butted the security man immediately he appeared, leading to a severe nosebleed and his eventual admission to a hospital.
Ishaya allegedly threatened to kill Jubril and pay N30million as compensation to his family.
Reacting to the incident, the management of You-Nik registered its displeasure through a letter addressed to Ishaya on July 23 and also informed him of his daughter’s expulsion from the school.
On the same day, the Nigerian Legion, a security outfit to which Jubril was attached, filed a case of criminal intimidation, assault and threat to life against Ishaya at a magistrate court in Lafia.
However, the court requested that the residence of the defendant be traced to serve him the criminal writ of summons. This made the Legion office send Hamidu Isa Ogana, one of its officers, on a mission to find Ishaya’s house.
“We were at the office when we got a call from Hamidu that he had been able to locate the place but was under attack from Ishaya and John Yusufu, his security guard. He also said he was being held by Ishaya and that he had sent Yusufu to fetch him a machete. He then begged us to come to his aid,” said Moses Adasu, one of Hamidu’s colleagues.
After the call, Adasu, alongside Humphrey Ezekiel, another Nigerian Legion officer, visited Ishaya’s residence, hoping to rescue their colleague. They were fully dressed in their uniform when they visited the scene.
“In truth, Ishaya was still holding on to Hamidu in a tight grip when we got there,” Humphery told FIJ, “and this made Adasu approach the two in a bid to separate them.
“However, this moment also coincided with the time Yusufu emerged with a machete in his hand. And without blinking an eye, he struck Hamidu in the head.”
Humphrey retreated when he saw that the guard had struck Hamidu three times in the head. With the same machete, the guard also attempted to strike Adasu. While he was able to guard his head, he suffered injuries to the arms.
With a heavy blood flow, Adasu managed to flee the scene. At this point, Hamidu had already died.
When Nigerian Legion officers went to report the incident at the C Divison of the Nigerian Police Project Quarters in Lafia, their claim was countered with a statement showing that Ishaya had been to the station earlier to report that an armed robber (Hamidu) attacked his residence but was subdued.
Ishaya was also said to have claimed the robber was supported by two people who later fled.
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With this counter-claim, Adasu and Humphrey were detained. Despite bleeding arms, Adasu was refused medical treatment. In the evening of the same day, Hamidu was released to his family members for burial.
Adasu and Humphrey spent a week at the station before they were taken to the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Directorate (CIID) where they spent another week in detention.
They were later released on bail on August 5.
For several weeks after Hamidu’s death, Ishaya walked free. However, FIJ got reports yesterday that Adesina Soyemi, the newly appointed Commissioner of Police in charge of Nasarawa command, arrested him and his guard.
When FIJ contacted John Okwoli, the police officer in charge of the case, he said he had not been authourised to talk about it. However, Rahman Nansel, Nasarawa Police Command PRO, confirmed the arrests.
This story first appeared in FIJ
