Kaduna: How Essence Int’l teacher was beaten to death

It was supposed to be the happiest day of his life and he was understandably on top of the world that morning. His marriage of two years had produced a baby boy. “Thank God for giving me someone that will take over my name,” he exclaimed with joy. Hours later, the joy that heralded the birth of the Chidikaobi Oko junior turned to despair. According to Chidikaobi’s brother in-law, Emmanuel Afulike, “He was full of excitement, then later in the evening, my sister called me around 7.30 on that same day saying her husband went to bury the placenta near the Life and Truth Bible Church along the Celestial Church Close, in the area and some youths smoking Indian hemp there attacked him. I had to go there with my wife who is a nurse to check him.”

He continued: “When I arrived, I met him by the gate with his head swollen from the beating he had received. He said he was trying to bury the placenta they gave him from the hospital in an open field near their house when one of the boys smoking hemp around the area accosted him and demand to know what he was doing there. He told him that he was burying something, then the boy said he wanted to know what he was burying and he told him that his wife gave birth in the morning and he was trying to bury the placenta. He thought the boy had gone only to return with others who attacked him. They beat him to stupor, took his money handset, the torch light he was holding and the machete he had with him for digging.

Afulike said when the beating continued and he started shouting, people rushed to scene and rescued him. “My wife took him to a pharmacy to clean up the wounds while I went to tell some people what has happened, when I came back he was so restless, so a neighbour offered his car and we  took him to Barau Dikko. The next day, when the management of Essence International School, where he works, noticed that he was not receiving good medical attention at Barau Dikko, they took him to a private clinic where it was discovered that he sustained an injury in the head.  Unfortunately as soon as we took him to the emergency ward in the hospital, his condition became critical and they did all they could to resuscitate him but he died.” Afulike added that the families of the eight assailants have come to commiserate with them but the family has not decided on what line of action to take.

Mrs. Ogoma Comfort Emmanuel, the deceased’s wife is said to have developed high blood pressure and is in hospital with her child.

Afulike described the deceased as a peace-loving person someone who does not like trouble, saying it is unfortunate he met his death the way he did. He maintained that the area is known to be peaceful, adding that he does not think the attack on the deceased had religious or ethnic colouration.

Meanwhile, the Ward Head of Unguwan Maisamari, Malali District also known as Unguwan Gado, Yusuf Audu described the death of  Chiadikaobi as unfortunate.

The six suspected assailants, Toba Adekunle, 20, Sunday Andrew Musa, 20, Babangida Jacob, 20, Rabi’u  Bege,10,  Richard Moses, 20,  Mickeal Sam, 21, confessed to the assault.

Andrew, a former student of Malali International School, Kaduna, told Weekly Trust at the Police Head Quarters that he was with friends on the way back home “from where we went to relax in a nearby bush.” Andrew continued: “Then I sighted a man with a machete and a black polythene bag in his hand, as well as torchlight. He came close to a church and I hid inside a bush. He was digging a hole, so I moved closer. As he placed the contents of the bag into the hole he dug, I alerted my friends Rabi’u and Richard, who called on others to come. One of us slapped him when he refused to tell us what he had buried and we continued to beat him until he was rescued. We were really shocked to hear about his death.”

Andrew said it did not occur to them to alert residents when they noticed what the deceased was doing.  “Honestly, we thought he was something bad, like placing a bomb or something,” he said.