Killed in the Name of Boko Haram
The recent murder, allegedly in the hands of the police, of Africa’s leading professor of agriculture Ahmed Falaki calls to question the tactics adopted by our security agencies to fight insurgency. Chuks Akunna reports
On Sunday, February, 15, 2015, the Kano State Police Command announced that its men killed two men believed to be Boko Haram kingpins. The deceased, the police said, on Saturday attacked a police station in Kibiya LGA of the state.
According the Command’s spokesman Magaji Majia, some insurgents on motorcycles had at about 5.30pm the previous day attacked Kibiya police station.
Said the police spokesman, “On the spot, two of the sect members were killed and two others were arrested by the villagers. The remaining members ran towards Ningi road that leads to Bauchi State.”
Majia, an Assistant Supritendent of Police (ASP) announced, apparently to the relief of the people of the state, that the two insurgents arrested by the villagers had been handed over to them and were being interrogated.
Few hours after the police briefing, a call came from a lecturer in Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria. The caller told THISDAY that they haboured the fear that the police may have mistaken Ahmed Falaki, a professor of agriculture in ABU, for a Boko Haram member.
Said the caller, “The police have announced that they killed two Boko Haram members on the SumailaKimbiya road. We heard that Professor Falaki’s jeep was snatched on the same road by Boko Haram members at about the same time.”
The caller expressed fears that some inept policemen may have killed innocent Falaki and tagged him a Boko Haram kingpin.
He added that the confusion in ABU was heightened by reports that Falaki’s Toyota SUV was abandoned by unknown persons in Burra, in neighbouring Bauchi State.
Shortly after the call, THISDAY contacted the Bauchi State Police spokesman Haruna Mohammed. The officer confirmed that his Command recovered a white Toyota Hilux SUV with ABU Institute of Agriculture inscribed on it.
According to Mohammed, the vehicle was seized in neighbouring Kano State. He however said he couldn’t comment on the occupants of the recovered Toyota truck.
“All I can tell you is that our men recovered a white Toyota Hilux jeep believed to belong to Ahmadu Bello University. We don’t know who the occupants were or their whereabouts. That is all we know,” submitted Mohammed.
The following day, a clearer picture of what happened emerged after THISDAY contacted Kano State Police Command PRO Majia.
Tasked to comment on the allegation that the Boko Haram kingpin they killed was actually Professor Falaki, he became defensive.
The police spokesman began by “correcting the impression that the men who attacked Kibiya police station were Boko Haram.” He said, “Let us just assume they were gunmen.”
He continued, “Some gunmen attacked a police station in Kibiya. During the exchange of gunfire, one of the gunmen was killed. The others escaped.”
He insisted that “the professor (Falaki) was attacked by a mob.
“We tried to rescue him, but unfortunately he was killed before we got there. We were however able to rescue the person accompanying the professor. He has been taken to hospital for treatment,” explained the police spokesman.
Majia, however, failed to confirm the village where Falaki was allegedly killed, or if the police made any arrests.
When THISDAY eventually got one of the professor’s children, he dismissed the police position as “a fairy tale and an afterthought.”
According to Falaki’s son, “our father had travelled to Yadagungume in Ningi LGA of Bauchi State. On the trip was his younger brother, Abbas, and his official driver.”
Falaki’s ordeal, said the son, began after his official Toyota Hilux SUV was seized by some gunmen suspected to be the same people who attacked Kibiya police station.
According to the son, “Prof called about 6pm on Saturday that they had a flat tyre in Fala village in Tudun Wada LGA of Kano State. He, however, later assured that the tyre was being fixed and that they would soon hit the road.”
According to the son, it was shortly after fixing the vehicle that some gunmen on motorcycles sped past the professor.
“They turned back and pointed a gun at my father, his driver and brother. They demanded the key to the Hilux jeep. My father asked the driver to hand over the key. The gunmen now asked if the jeep had an immobilizer. The driver said ‘No.’
“Not convinced, the gunmen started the jeep and revved it for about five minutes. When the engine didn’t go off, they loaded their motorcycles and sped off.”
THISDAY gathered from the driver that shortly after the gunmen sped off with the Hilux SUV, Falaki called up one of his brothers and narrated their ordeal. Prof, he said, promised that they would get a commercial vehicle and continue their trip to Kano.
However, shortly after the robbery, said the driver, the villagers became “funny.”.
He said, “They began interrogating us on what we knew about the Boko Haram people whom we just gave our jeep to, as if we were suspects. None of our explanations appeared to convince them.
“We were led to the police station. There, the police accused Prof of being a Boko Haram kingpin. He showed them his ABU identity card. On sighting the card, the police claimed it was fake. All attempts by Prof to convince them he was a university lecturer fell on deaf ears.
“At this point, one of the villagers hit Prof on the head with a big stick. They also hit Abbas, but concentrated more on Prof. The villagers then took turns to hit Prof with all manner of weapons in the police station until he died,” said the driver.
According to the driver, “After Prof was confirmed dead, the police and villagers began jubilating that they had killed a Boko Haram kingpin. They said we would meet our end in Kano SARS (Special Anti Robbery Squad).
“When the SARS men came, Prof’s body was dumped in the back of a pickup. Abbas, who sustained serious injuries, and I were handcuffed and driven all night to Kano.
“Prof’s body was dumped in the mortuary in the early hours of Sunday. Abbas was admitted in hospital but with handcuffs and leg iron,” relayed the driver.
One daughter of the murdered Professor described the ncident as “the most traumatic event of our lives.” She said, “After our father called that his jeep was stolen but that they would get a commercial vehicle to bring them to Kano we were, expectedly, relieved.
“However, our relief gave way to panic when they didn’t return that night. Worse still was that all their cell phones kept ringing out.
“On Sunday morning, we went to the Accident and Emergency wards of most hospitals. No news. My brothers then decided to go to the mortuary. There they found my dad’s body. It was the attendants who told them the police brought my dad’s body early on Sunday morning.
“The question now shifted to the whereabouts of Abbas and the driver. The morgue attendants then gave the number of the SARS officer who brought my dad’s body.”
She continued, “For a while the SARS officer didn’t pick our calls. He later called back that my dad was a Boko Haram member. That Abbas and the driver were suspects and would soon be interrogated.
“It was at this point that we informed ABU authorities and prominent lecturers in ABU and Bayero University. They called to inform the police they just killed Africa’s leading agriculturist,” she said.
‘It was when the police realised their grave mistake of killing a professor that they quickly released his body for burial. This was about 3.30pm on Sunday. He was buried later on the same Sunday,” she added.
THISDAY checks revealed that Falaki began teaching in ABU in 1975. He is reputed to be one of Africa’s leading agriculturists, Falaki, according to his profile on the ABU website, in the course of research visited 75 countries in five continents. The professor had over 85 published works to his credit.
Falaki’s friends and associates described the murdered don as a “jolly good fellow who ran an open door policy to all.”
His immediate family has sent a petition to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mr. Suleiman Abba. The family has demanded an exhaustive investigation into the circumstances that led to the cold blooded murder of their 66- year old breadwinner.
Ironically, Falaki had in a 2011 interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) begged the federal government to curb youth unemployment, particularly in the north.
“The number of youths in Kano and other cities in the country who have no skills or proper education are increasing every year,” warned Falaki.
He raised the alarm that the unemployed youth “always wonder how and why the few wealthy ones in the society flaunt their riches, drive flashy and expensive cars and build exotic mansions, while the poor live in squalor and abject poverty.”
In a twist of fate, the same set of unemployed youth Falaki warned government about penultimate weekend turned their guns on him, snatching his official Toyota vehicle. This, in turn, triggered a chain of events that led to the murder of the university don.
Noted a friend, “Falaki wasn’t just a lecturer in ABU. He was an international figure, sometimes consulting for FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) of the United Nations. His murder exposes the lie we have always lived. Only God knows how many innocent people have been killed in the name of Boko Haram.
“Even if indeed he was a member of Boko Haram, are there no provisions for the arrest and trial of persons suspected of terrorism ? Our demands are clear. Let all those in and out of uniform responsible for the murder of Prof Ahmed Falaki face justice,” he declared.