60-year-old Man Beaten to Death by Airmen over Prostitute

A sixty-year-old man, Ibrahim Bulama,was allegedly beaten to death by two AirForce men during a dispute over a prostitute at a red light zone of Maiduguri.

According to some residents of the town, who spoke anonymously, one of the AirForce men had a disagreement with the old man at the red light zone.

Some youths in the area supported the old man and beat up the airman, who subsequently went to reinforce, bringing another colleague of his.

They said the two airmen engaged the old man, beating him to a pulp. He later died.

Briefing journalists on the incident yesterday in his office, the 105 Composite Commander, Air Commodore Charles Ohwo, said, “Preliminary investigation revealed that on Wednesday, December 7, 2016, an airman, Lance Corporal Kamal Usman, left his duty post at about 10pm, and on his way home, came across some gathering in Okona Hotel, and in an attempt to find out what was wrong, the crowd got scared and took to their heels.

“When he decided to check the surroundings to find out what scared the crowd, he entered one room and found a woman laying on a bed.

“Unfortunately, the deceased old man, Bulama mobilised some people and came back to the hotel and attacked him from the back with matchets, inflicting serious injuries on his head and snatched his rifle.

“On sensing danger, the Lance Corporal left and mobilised his colleague for assistance. Upon arrival at the scene, they descended on the old man, and beat him to death in the process of recovering their rifle.

“The airman is now recuperating at the airforce medical facility in Maiduguri, while his colleague who was involved in the incident has been detained pending further investigation,” Ohwo said.

While appealing to the general public to be calm, Ohwo who said the Air Force was not discounting the rumour that the injured airman was attacked while raping a woman assured that the case will be thouroghly investigated, and whoever is found guilty will be punished accordingly, as the “Nigerian Airforce is a credible organisation which does not want its name to be dragged through the mud .”

Ohwo disclosed that the injured airman was on admission at the Airforce base hospital and his colleague who attacked the old man alongside him was being detained.

When our correspondent visited the hospital, the injured airman, who was chained to the bed, was seen with various cuts on his head.