Four men including the brother and cousin of a village head who murdered him as a result of the decision made by the man have been arrested by men of the Niger State Police Command.
The deceased, Bawa Barde, aged 53 years, head of Zhilu Village via Fuka District in the Munya Local Government Area of the state, was also said to have been killed after he accused one of those involved of having an affair with his wife.
It was gathered that on August 23 around 7:00 a.m., a distress call was received by Gwada Divisional Headquarters of the command from Fuka outstation which indicated that some hoodlums attacked the village head.
Police operatives attached to the divisional headquarters mobilised to the scene and found the village head in a pool of his blood with machete injuries all over his body at the back of his residence.
The operatives also gathered that the victim was attacked in his house at about 3:00 a.m. of the same day by some persons.
The man was rushed to a nearby medical facility where he was confirmed dead by the doctor on duty.
However, in the course of investigation, four persons were arrested on August 25 and 28 in connection with the attack and they were Zegi Dogari, Danjuma Galadima, Bashir Umar and John Doma.
During their interrogation, the arrested persons were said to have confessed that they conspired and attacked the village head because they were not satisfied with his decision during an incident between Bashir and one other.
It was further revealed that because the village head warned Bashir, who is his cousin, to pave way for grazing routes from his farmland, they conspired, attacked the victim in his house and macheted him to death.
Danjuma Galadima was said to be the deceased’s brother, Bashir, his cousin while others are also related to the village head.
“Other underlining issues established indicated that Zegi Dogari, who is a herbalist, was suspected of having an affair with the deceased wife, he was confronted and he admitted to the allegation, while he was instructed to pay a fine of N700,000. Suspects claimed that all these culminated in attacking the victim,” the command said in a statement on Sunday, September 6.
The four men have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Minna, for further investigation and they will be arraigned in court upon the conclusion of the investigation.
