Death, they say, is inevitable but not all mortals know how they will return to their creator. SAMUEL ARUWAN revisits the circumstances surrounding the brutal murder of a teenager, Yusuf Sai’du, by one Mallam Basiru, who is now at large, for allegedly sleeping with his wife.
Yusuf Sai’du, 17, was full of life and hopes for a successful military career in the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) after his secondary school education, an ambition he has been nursing since his mother’s death in his early teens. He found solace in the warm hands of his aged father and other family members, as well as neighbours, who all watched him grow up.
He lived with his aged father Alhaji Sai’du Uwaisu and older sister Bara’atu Sai’du, in their home in Angwan Shanu, Kaduna North local government area, Kaduna State. They were the closest he had to mentors and he looked up to them for every form of sustenance. In turn, they offered their prayers and expected suuccess from a hardworking and unassuming, who had great potentials to excel.
While growing up, he was known to be docile, patient and gentle, and even as a teenager, he was no different.He knew all that and worked towards making everyone around proud of him. But he never knew the friendly banter he and his friends exchanged with Zinatu Bashir, the 36-year-old wife of Mallam Basiru, 42, would result to a gruesome death.
According to Zinatu, on the fateful night, Yusuf had come to see a friend, Ibrahim, who lived in the same compound with her family, with a SIM card in hand. She was eating with her husband, who had their baby in his arms, when they heard Yusuf being welcomed by his friend.
Basiru quietly monitored Yusuf’s visit and when Yusuf made his exit, Basiru trailed him quietly, with his wife’s pestle. Some meters outside the compound, he attacked Yusuf, bludgeoning him with the pestle, until it broke and the teenager lay in a pool of his blood.
When LEADERSHIP SUNDAY reached the families of the slain teenager and the suspected killer, whom the Kaduna State Police Command had declared wanted, Yusuf’s father, Alhaji Sai’du Uwaisu, older sister Bara’atu Sai’du and Malam Basiru’s wife Zinatu, were seen weeping unconsolably.
“When my son returned from the military screening, he said that he was hungry and I insisted he ate something. While he was eating, I overheard him having a conversation with his friend over the phone. He prayed and left. That was the last time I saw him alive. Next I heard was that he had been hit several times with a pestle, and lay unconscious.
“My son was very close to me. He was such a quiet person and we have been living happily with him. It is unfair and unjustifiable for someone to kill him on flimsy excuses that have been proved to be lies,” said his father, Uwaisu,in tears.
His older sister, Bara’atu Sai’du, who was pained and deeply depressed, demanded justice and retribution. She thought the whole thing to be unreal.
“I was with him that night, at about 7 p.m when he received a phone call. All of a sudden he went out. I enquired to know why he left training and returned home, but he said full training had not resumed, that they only carried out medical check-up. Next thing I heard was that there was problem.
“I received a call from an unknown number, and was informed that thy needed my attention. When I got there, I saw Yusuf in a pool of his blood surrounded by crowd, lifeless and unconscious. He was broken in several places; his ribs, back and head were all bloody. Surprised,I called out to him, but he was still. We rushed him to the hospital.”
But how true are rumours that Mallam Basiru allegedly murdered the teenager for having an affair with his wife?
“I cannot imagine what the man was thinking to have taken such a drastic decision on my late brother. What would Yusuf do with a woman who has five children, a woman who is as old as his mother?
“His wife confessed that he had made a habit out of beating her and always fought people whenever she greeted them. Worst of all, you cannot stop people exchanging pleasantries in a rented compound. Yusuf went to the house to deliver a SIM card to his childhood friend, Ibrahim.
“There is no way we will forgive his killer. Though life is better than anything, we want him to face judgment, and be possibly killed, because he killed another.
“We heard that someone saw him in Abuja recently, and he had wanted to know if there had been any uproar in the community. The individual said he only got wind of his crime through someone he met in Abuja.”
His wife, Zinatu, who opened up on hearing the incident, went straight to Yusuf’s house in tears and informed the parents, as well the Kaduna State Police Command.
In clips of her official statement to the police made available to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, Zinatu gave reasons why she went to report her husband’s crime to the police.
“I went to the house and revealed that my husband killed Yusuf, because life is beyond joke and blood never sleeps.
“We were in our room that night. My husband was eating while I was taking care of my baby, and I heard Yusuf talking with his friends, because there is also a girl they used to play with in the house. Suddenly, when Yusuf left, as if my husband knew, he stopped eating and went out, after him, I believe. After sometime he came home looking somehow. It was later, when the news had spread, that it dawned on me that he was the one that did this act.
“It was the same thing he used to do in Abuja, beating me. I kept reporting to our parents. This Yusuf is like a younger brother; I used to carry him on my back when he was a toddler, because we were neighbours. That was why I went to them and I explained that he did it.
“We have been married for over 15 years and recently he has been saying that he will break a record.
“He killed a soul and he deserves to be punished too.”
Spokesperson of the Kaduna State Police, DSP Aminu Lawal, confirmed the incident to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, and added that the man is on the run, rather, his wife was invited for interrogation. He also said she gave them vital information and that the investigation was still on.
Police sources also confirmed that the woman told them that there was no affair between her and the deceased, and that her husband acted out of his jealousy.
As the family continue to mourn their son and expect justice, the suspect is on the run, and only time will tell if he would be brought to book. Yusuf Sai’du has since been buried at the Angwan Shanu Cemetery, Kaduna, according to Islamic rights.
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