While a native doctor and three other people were testing a charm against a gun on a 43-year-old man in Bauchi State, the man was shot and killed.
Muhammadu Ali, a resident of Damaiwa village in Bauchi State’s Bursali ward Zaki Local Government Area, was alleged to have gone to the Damaiwa jungle with the four persons to see if a charm would protect him from bullets.
Unfortunately, when a locally-made gun was fired at him to test the efficacy of the charm, it failed and killed him.
Ahmed Wakil, the Public Relations Officer for the Bauchi State Police Command, mentioned these in a statement made accessible to journalists on Tuesday.
He said that when the police received information of the incident, they rushed to the scene and evacuated the victim to the hospital, but he was certified dead on arrival by a medical doctor.
According to him, two of the suspects were immediately arrested while the others who escaped were being hunted by the police.
Wakil, a Superintendent of Police, said: “On October 31, 2023, at about 8.30am, information received from the officer-in-charge of the Bursali Police Outstation under Zaki Division revealed that one Danladi Ya’u, male (28) of Damaiwa village via Bursali ward Zaki LGA, Bauchi State, a native doctor (mediciner) and three other accomplices now at large, went to Damaiwa bush with the sole aim to test a gun medicine on one Muhammadu Ali, male (43) of the same address.
“While on the process, the said Muhammadu Murtala was unfortunately (shot) with the locally made gun by the said Danladi Ya’u (defendant).
“On receipt of the report, a team of detectives led by DPO Zaki swiftly swung into action, rushed to the scene, and evacuated the victim to General Hospital Jakusko Yobe State for medical attention, where he was certified dead by a medical doctor.
“Moreover, two suspects were immediately arrested, and efforts have been intensified to trace and arrest the fleeing accomplices. The investigation is ongoing, after which the defendants will be charged to court.”
He said that the command called on the public to take this act as a lesson and avoid being used as a cannon fodder to casualise innocent and hardworking citizens, because every human soul is very important and sacrosanct to every bearer.
“Consequently, the Commissioner of Police, CP Auwal Musa Muhammad, assures the family, friends, and loved ones of the deceased that the command will remain neutral and ensure that justice is manifested to both,” he said.
Meanwhile, he added that an armed robber who, alongside others, robbed the Bishop Moore Memorial School Staff Quarters, belonging to the Bauchi Catholic Diocese, on November 4, 2023 at about 4.30am, was killed by a mob.
Wakil stated that operatives attached to the GRA Police Divisional Headquarters led by the Divisional Police Officer in conjunction with local vigilantes swiftly responded to an armed robbery incident at the Staff Quarters.
He said that “upon arrival at the scene, the suspects took to their heels to a nearby mountain. However, they were pursued and arrested. The prompt response of the operatives prevented the suspects from being lynched by a mob. One of the suspects was killed as a result of the mob action.”
According to him, the Commissioner of Police, while reacting to the ugly incident, frowned upon the action of the irate youths “who, instead of taking the suspect to the police for proper investigation and prosecution, mobbed him (the suspect) to death without any recourse to the law.
“CP Auwal described the act as barbaric and inimical to the law governing our dear country and warned the youths that the command under his stewardship will not tolerate or allow some recalcitrant youths in society to take the law into their own hands by killing suspects arrested for alleged crimes in such a dehumanising and unlawful manner.
“He further warned that nobody has the right to treat a suspect in such a brutal manner and that it is wrong for anyone to assume the position of a law enforcement agency, suspect apprehended in connection with any crime should be immediately handed over to the police or any law enforcement agency saddled with the responsibility of investigating and prosecuting such,” he warned.
The PPRO said the suspects arrested are: Suleiman Adamu (19) and Umar Abubakar (19), all males and residents of Kandahar Area of Bauchi metropolis, adding that investigation revealed that the suspects specialised in breaking into students’ compounds with dangerous weapons during dark hours in Wuntin Dada.
Waki, who said a confession from the suspects revealed that they were all armed with cutlasses and sticks when they invaded the students’ compound, noted that detectives recovered two machetes, 18 mobile phones, two laptops and three Mp3 players from them.
He said an investigation into the incident was ongoing to arrest their accomplices and thereafter charge them in court for prosecution.