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Cut down in his prime: Undergraduate shot dead by unknown gunman in school

By Joy Anyim

Misery, agony, pain and sadness are not enough to describe how the Adama family feels, following the gruesome murder of their 21-year-old son, a 300-level undergraduate student of History and International Relations at the Kogi State University.

When on March 25, 2019, the family had bid the deceased, Abraham Adama, goodbye, as he left their Abuja family home for school, little did they know that, that would be the last time they would set their eyes on him alive.

The youngster was sent to the great beyond by an unknown gunman exactly eight days after his return to school.

Abraham left the campus about 6pm on April 2 after his lectures and retired to his off-campus hostel.

A hostel mate, who saw him before he was killed, said Abraham was taking a nap in his room when he was called on phone and he went out immediately.

The eyewitness, who craved for anonymity said: “When he came back that evening,  he said he was tired and just removed his shirt and went to sleep. He had not even slept for long before his phone rang and he picked the call. All I heard him say was, ‘I dey come.’

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“I don’t even know the  person, who called him. He just left the room, not wearing his shirt and that was the end. He didn’t come back that night and we were concerned. We kept calling him but he was not responding to our calls.

“It was the next morning when we were leaving for lectures that we saw his body by a bush path close to the hostel. He was soaked in blood and his phone was kept beside him.

“We were afraid and some of us fled the scene. We only came back after about 30 minutes later. One of us called the Divisioanl Police Officer (DPO) at Anyigba, who sent a patrol team. They took his body away.”

Mother of the deceased, who chose to be identified simply as Mrs. Adama, said she was yet to figure out why her son was killed.

Mrs. Adama, who is a businesswoman, is currently on bed rest, following the shock she suffered on receiving the news of her son’s demise.

She managed to speak with The Nigerian Xpress correspondent, saying, “My son is gone; he was multi-talented and had a promising future. I don’t know what he did to his killers. Why would they just end his life like that?” She asked.

Telling how the family got the news of their son’s death, she said, “It was on Wednesday evening, April 3, 2019 that my son’s friend called me. She asked if I had heard from Abraham and I said we had spoken the previous day.  I asked if there was a problem and she just said I should call him.

“At this point, my heart started racing. I felt something was wrong. I called her back and asked her what was wrong and she said she had called him and the person, who picked asked her to tell the parents of the owner of the phone to call his number.

“I was even thinking he might have been kidnapped. So, I rushed to get airtime and called. A policeman picked the phone and told me that they found my son unconscious and that they had rushed him to the hospital.They requested I come to their station the next day.

“When my husband returned from work,  I told him and he also called and they gave him the same information. All through that night, I was not comfortable. I knew something was wrong. At about 12 midnight, I pleaded with my husband to call the policemen again and he did.  My husband asked him to tell us how bad the situation was.

“It was at this point that the police officer told my husband that our son, our first son, was gone. He said my son was shot by an unknown person. I cried my eyes out that night. The next day, my husband and a few male relatives travelled to Kogi State and it was true.

“The DPO, who spoke to my husband, said Abraham was shot in the neck from behind. He said the gun used was a locally made gun. He said they found his phone by his side.”

Although Abraham has been buried, the  bereaved mother is pained by the decision of the police not to investigate and find the killers of her undergraduate son.

“What pains me more is that when my husband asked the DPO if he had arrested anyone for the crime, he said it was difficult to investigate the killing. This, they said, was because my son’s phone was passworded and they could not unlock it.

“The police said the only way to get his killer was to find out who called him around the time he left his room, but that, they said, was not possible.

“My question is, does it mean that the police do not have a technology that can help them get information from a locked phone? For humanity sake,  this is a pure case of murder.  My son was shot, his eyes, ears and mouth were all covered with blood and the police cannot do anything to get the killers,” she lamented.

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While also insisting on an investigation into the murder of her brother, the deceased’s elder sister, Best Adama, revealed that her brother’s killing might be connected to his recent election, as the director of socials for his faculty.

She said, “My brother was a friendly young man. He was not troublesome but always wore a smile regardless of the circumstance. He had contested and won the post of the director of socials at the faculty level, and I believe his personality gave him an edge. It was after his death that some students were telling us that he might have been killed by the opposition.”

Asked if her brother belonged to any confraternity in school, she said that was not possible. “My brother was not a cultist, I know him very well. He was just a regular guy with a good sense of humour and fashion. Do you even know that his killer also deactivated his social media accounts? Could that have also been a cult-related killing? It is obviously not possible that he belonged to a confraternity.” she said.

Calling on the Kogi State Government to come to their aid, Best pleaded, saying, “Abraham is a son of the soil from Olamaboro in Kogi East. So, I am pleading with the state government under the leadership of Governor Yahaya Bello to order the police to do everything possible to arrest my brother’s killer.”

However, contrary to the allegation by the family that the police have refused to investigate the death of the youngster, the Kogi State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Williams Aya, said investigation into the murder was ongoing.

Giving an official report on the incident,  Aya said, “ The DPO Anyigba division received a distress call that an unidentified young man was shot dead at ECWA church Road, along Egume road Anyigba, by unknown gunmen suspected to be cultists.

“ The DPO led a patrol team to the scene and moved the body to the Grimmard Cospital where he was confirmed dead. The body was deposited at the mortuary at Kogi State University Teaching Hospital for autopsy.

“ Yunusa Adama of Ugbamaka Igah in Olamaboro local government area identified the deceased as his son. The corpse was released to him for burial while investigation is ongoing.”

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