Angry villagers at Sabongida area of Iware town in Ardo-Kola local Government Area of Taraba State have murdered a man, who allegedly killed his friend whose trust he allegedly breached.
Daily Trust gathered the murder suspect was said to have been hired by his friend, Mathies Michael, to clear his maize farm in the same village but failed to to do the job after collecting money.
The late Mathies reportedly got irked when he went to inspect the farm but found out that it was not cleared.
He was said to have stormed his friend’s place in anger and was killed in the scuffle that ensued.
According to witnesses, Jacob stabbed Mathies on the neck.
“After the incident, Mathies ran to his family house, shouting, ‘My friend Yakubu stabbed me’ , ‘My friend, Yakubu, stabbed me,” the witness said.
He added that the family members of the deceased raised an alarm and went in search of the suspect immediately.
They were said to have beaten Joseph to coma before setting him on fire.
Father of late Mathies, Mr Micheal Adamu, told Daily Trust that it was around 6.15 am that he heard his late son shouting that Yakubu had stabbed him.
“I am an inspector with Nigeria Civil Defence Service and have been sick for the past two years.”
“It was around 6.15 my son rushed inside our compound shouting my friend stabbed me and that he should be taken to hospital but before the arrangement was done, he slumped and died,” Micheal said.
He said it was the ward head of this area that alerted the police and before the police came, we took the body of my son into the room.
“When the police came, they wanted the body to be taken to hospital but l pleaded that the body should left with to arrange for burial because nothing will bring him to life and l was allowed to retain the body,” he said.
He said he was not aware of what happened to the suspect.
The ward head, Mr Hyginus Jonah, who took Daily Trust round the demolished family house of the suspect, said it was a mob action which the police could not control.
During a visit to the suspect’s house, Daily Trust correspondent observed that the entire three rooms had been demolished and burnt down.
When contacted, the police spokesperson in Taraba, ASP Abdullahi Usman, said he did not have report of the incident and promised to get back when he get details of the incident.
