Tension Threatens District In Northeast Nigeria Following Police Arrests Over Brutal Killing
Peace in a community in Yobe, North East Nigeria, is under threat after the suspect in a brutal slaying was reportedly seen going about his business, days after police arrested him.
There is tension and fear of unrest in a district in Yobe after reports circulated that the person suspected of killing a man has been released by police investigating the crime.
The family of the victim have told journalists that they are afraid “anything can happen” if the people who killed their relative are not properly prosecuted.
The police confirmed to HumAngle that they had arrested a man and his sons in connection with the brutal slaying of Goni Waje in Dako Kangarwa, a community in Yunusari local government area, on June 7.
But sources in the village said the man, a prominent member of the community, has been seen after the arrest, prompting fears he had been released.
Waje was killed by machete-wielding men who set fire to his body and burned down part of the family home.
On Saturday the police arrested three men, known to have had a history of arguments with the victim.
Affair
Waje previously served three years in prison for stabbing a man he said was having an affair with his wife, his family said.
Later, Waje started showing signs of mental illness. His family raised money and took him to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Maiduguri, Borno state.
“He was diagnosed with a mental health issue, and we have been given medications since then. We buy him the drugs every three months,” Sangama told HumAngle.
At the beginning of June, Waje got into another fight with the man who he caught in his wife’s room. Waje was holding a knife and injured the other man, relatives said.
“We were all baffled over what happened. We thought everything was okay until this incident occurred,” said Waje’s uncle.
Soon after, witnesses said, three men stabbed Goni Waje and burned his body. They set fire to the hut where four of his children and their paternal grandmother lived.
Police say they are still investigating.
‘Agitating’
Sangama urged the authorities to ensure justice is done.
“Our relatives are agitating, and anything can happen if justice has not been served.”
He said the man accused of killing his nephew had been seen in the village, causing consternation among the villagers.
But a spokesman for the Yobe State Police Force, DSP Dungus Abdulkarim said the case was under investigation at the Yobe Command’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
“All three are under investigation at our facility,” Dungus said on Monday, June 12.
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