Police speak as 5 vigilante members torture man to death

The Niger Police Command has arrested five members of local vigilantes in Kontagora for allegedly torturing one person to death.

Three of those arrested belong to the state Hisba Commission while the remaining two are members of Yankumiti vigilante group.

The five were said to have tortured one Ibrahim A. Ibrahim to death over a disagreement.

Alhaji Adamu Usman, the State Commissioner of Police, who confirmed the arrest in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Wednesday, said the victim was from Unguwan Yamma, in Kontagora Local Government Area of the State.

The suspects include Ahmadu Yahaya, 35; Dahiru Abdullahi, 28; Abdulrasheed Atabo, 20, all members of the Hisba commission while Yakubu Usman, 25, and Yunusa Adamu, 24, belong to the Yankumiti vigilante group.

Usman said that operatives from the ‘ B’ Police Division, Katagora, arrested the suspects on Sept. 13, over alleged gruesome murder of Ibrahim.

“The deceased was alleged to be responsible for the abduction of one Maryam Salmanu of Unguwan Yamma in Kontagora Local Government Area, believed to be the girl friend of one of the suspects,” he said.

The police commissioner explained that the suspects had invited Ibrahim and two others, Musa Salahu and Ahmed Mohammed, all of the same address, to their office to ‘investigate’ the alleged abduction of the girl.

He told NAN that the suspects, however, allegedly tortured the trio and inflicted various degrees of injuries on them, but later released two of the suspects leaving behind the deceased in their custody.

”The suspects having realized the deteriorating health condition of the deceased, took him back carefuly to his room at about 0200 hours and dropped him without the knowledge of his family members.

“Although, his parent attempted to take him to hospital after midnight when he was discovered, but he gave up the ghost at about 0300 hours without medical attention”, the police commissioner said.

He said the suspects would be charged to court on conclusion of investigation.

Usman called on members of the different vigilante groups in the state to always operate within the ambit of the law while complementing the efforts of the Police in the protection of lives and property.

“No vigilante group in the state should engage in any operations without the due approval and involvement of the police or any security agency”, he said.

Usman warned that any vigilante group that violated the directive would be decisively dealt with.