RE - Vigilante Kills Suspected Bandits In Taraba

Our attention has been drawn to an online publication with the above caption. The publication contained a report on the killing of three people in Sansani Chiefdom of Gassol local government area of Taraba State. 

The killings took place on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 April, 2023. Those killed were Shehu Alhaji Umaru and his brother Debbu Alhaji Umaru at their settlement at Kauyen Sa'idu village area as well as Alhaji Mustafa Adamu popularly known as Sarkin Shanu in Sansani town.

 

The killing was murderous, callous, barbaric, cruel and inhuman, as it was done on innocent people who were not aware of what they were accused of.

 

The perpetrators of the killings used a vigilante group to achieve their secret motive of eliminating perceived enemies of Jankada of Sansani Chiefdom Abdulmutallib Nuhu Muhammed. 

This is evidence from the said news report which was tactically planned to cover up the presence of the Chief in the barbaric act instead of reporting what led to the killings, how it happened and evidence that links the suspects to banditry and armed robbery.

 

The writer of the story devoted more than 80% of his writeup on depending on the Chief as a result of people's outcry in Sansani Chiefdom on the killing of these innocent souls especially that of Sarkin Shanu. 

 

In the said report, Jankada was explaining that he was not aware of the activities of the vigilante, numbering three hundred. "During their two days stay at Sansani Primary School none of them came to me so I am not in any way in the picture of their operations", according to the Chief. 

As a good leader who has his people at heart, the Chief should have enquired about the presence of the vigilante and their activities in his domain. However, he tried to distance himself from them in order to cover up.

 

The Chief went ahead in an effort to legalize the nefarious acts of the vigilante by attributing their activities to the state governor, His Excellency Darius Dickson Ishaku, "Last year traditional rulers in Gassol and Bali Local Governments were summoned for a meeting with His Excellency the Executive Governor of Taraba State Arc. Darius Dickson Ishaku where we were mandated to form a strong Vigilante group to fight the menace of all types of criminalities in the two Local Governments to flush out bandits in the communities the operation started since last year".

 

We want to emphasize that every person is innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of justice. Sarkin Shanu should have been put under investigation by constituted authorities and brought before a court of law.

 

He was a husband of three and father of seventeen with many dependents. A very respectable person, God fearing, very generous and a philanthropist who was well known in Sansani and its environs as a great person with pious heart.

 

His only crime was not supporting the Chief of Sansani especially in terrorising people in issues related to land grabbing and forceful collection of fish ponds.

 

Salisu Gadzema,

For Sansani Concerned Citizens