A 20-year-old suspect, Jabiru Ibrahim, who was arrested by the joint police and military operatives on anti-banditry in Zamfara State, has said that he followed the directive of the leader of his outlawed group, popularly referred to as Yansakai, to kill a suspected bandit, Abdullah.
Ibrahim said that he also cut off the hand of the murdered suspect to keep the bone as weapon.
Ibrahim was arrested in Dauran District in Zurmi Local Government Area as the state police command began investigation into a case of culpable homicide.
According to the command’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP Mohammed Shehu, preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect, who belonged to the Yansakai group, had been terrorising members of Dauran community through jungle justice, leading to reprisal attacks by bandits and terrorists on the innocent members of the public.
The PPRO said that in the course of interrogation, Ibrahim confessed that he and three other members of his gang (currently at large), carried out the gruesome killing of Abdullah, a Fulani by tribe, while he later removed the deceased’s right hand.
“Investigation is in progress, with a view to arresting his partners in crime and unravelling the circumstances of their action before charging them to court,” SP Shehu stated.
According to the suspect: “I work with a vigilante group. I was caught with human hand belonging to a man. The man was arrested by our leader who suspected him to be a bandit. Our leader handed him over to us to kill. After killing him, I decided to cut his left hand from his elbow down.
“We were four that were instructed by our leader to kill the man but only two of us did the killing. My partner is currently at large but I was the one who solely returned to where the body was thrown to remove the hand.
“I wanted to use the bone of the hand as a weapon which would be sharp to harm or stab as a defence.”
The suspect later changed his narrative and said that he just wanted to have the deceased’s hand in his room for keepsake.
He also said it was the first time he had done such a thing. “My leader had been doing it and I had studied him,” Ibrahim revealed.
On why his outlawed group suspected Abdullah to be a bandit, the suspect said that the bandits had attacked the village several times. “Our leader sighted the man and when he was arrested in Dauran Village in the afternoon, our leader suspected him. The villagers saw us arresting him but didn’t know where we took him or what was done to him.
“The man confessed that he was a bandit and that they had killed many. My leader told me that my late brother was among those the deceased’s gang members killed, and I also knew him before he was arrested.”
When asked if they had nursed any grievance against each other before the arrested man was killed, Ibrahim replied that they never had any misunderstanding.