WITNESS TO MURDER

That was why I was reluctant to read the Kano mob killing report: it would just be another tragic commentary on the terrible lack of security in the country; another confirmation that life in Nigeria is worthless, and people are spared only by the special grace of God; otherwise if anybody out there decide to have somebody killed, the law is there to assist them, because they would do it and get away with it. In cases where the law is caught pants down, that is where the evidence is so overwhelming and already leaked to the public, the law (defined as the police and in some cases the courts), devises another tactics to truncate the case. It begins to trivialize the issues, playing politics with human life, until even the bereaved are wearied of the case, and then silently close the case or hand over some ridiculous sentence that is an insult to life.

The same Kano state for instance, where that unfortunate taxi driver was lynched, witnessed the high profile murder trial of one Nafiu Rabiu in the early 80s; who was accused of killing his wife. But due to strong family connections, the case became political and the accused ended up spending only a few years in jail: for what offence, is still unclear, because it certainly couldn’t have been for the murder of his wife; in Nigeria the punishment for murder is death, not a few years in jail! And more than three months on, we are yet to know who was responsible for the gruesome murder of Abubakar Abba Umar, a former special assistant to the Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission; Abba was my next door neighbor, his wife exchange visits with my wife, his kids play with my kids, and we used to share thoughts on many issues when he was alive. I woke up one morning to be told that he had been found killed and burnt in his car. That morning and up till today, life has never been the same for most of us that knew Abba. The killers are still at large. And what is happening to the case of the Jigawa state former commissioner of information, who is being tried for the (ritual) murder of two children? According to reports, it is supposed to be an open and shut case, because the evidence available is virtually incontrovertible; now the case is getting cold. What is happening to the investigation of the murder of former AIT correspondent Mr Efenji Efenji, who was murdered in an Abuja suburb last month? What about the murder of Bayo Ohu the slain political editor of The Guardian newspaper? Who killed Ja’afar Adam? Who is going to be next?

It is when the law shows such glaring ineptitude, or in some cases even conspiracy, that the mob, such as the one that murdered the Kano taxi man steps in. As it turned out, the man was actually innocent, or at least there are strong doubts about his guilt. But now he is killed; just like that.

Anyhow, I publish below, the very touching account of someone that actually saw the killing and burning of the Kano taxi man. The special irony, and a tragic one at that, is that the narrator is a mother and a medical doctor, a personality combination that must have made her experience even more painful, who was forced by circumstances to witness the callous destruction of the life she toils, everyday and often at odd hours, to preserve.