For N500,000, ABU Security Guard Kills Childhood Friend

When Kabiru Suleiman Ikara left home on Monday, December 5, 2011, it did not occur to him that death was lurking in the corner. Suleiman Ikara was allegedly murdered by his friend who is a security guard at the ABU main campus; allegedly to hijack the N500,000 that belongs to Suleiman Ikara's father, which  was deposited in the suspect's account.

Suleiman Ikara's father is a retired civil servant that worked with UAC Nigeria Ltd. On retirement, the company requested for a bank account where his retirement benefit can be deposited. Based on trust, Suleiman Ikara and his father gave the account of the murder-suspect, Abdullahi Ibrahim Ikara, since he was a childhood friend of the deceased. That transaction between Suleiman, his father and the murder-suspect was kept secret among the three persons.

The N500,000 has been lying in the suspect's account for quite some time. However, in a desperate attempt to turn the money into his own, the murder-suspect, Abdullahi Ibrahim Ikara, lured his friend, Suleiman Ikara, to ABU campus, Samaru and the rest is now history as Suleiman Ikara was allegedly killed by Ibrahim Ikara.

Recounting the incident to Sunday Trust at their Hayin Bawa residence in Ikara local government area of Kaduna State, the deceased's elder brother, Alaramma Yusuf Umar, said his brother, Suleiman Ikara, left home on Monday, December 5, with the intention of taking some clothes to their owners.

"My brother was a tailor. He took some clothes and his sewing machine to Zaria. He took the sewing machine for repairs and at the same time to give the clothes to the owners. I didn't notice that he was not back from Zaria until Tuesday evening. When we realised that, we decided to follow him the following morning, Wednesday, December 7.

"When we went to Zaria, the suspect joined us in searching the whereabouts of our brother. We went to so many places, including police stations, hospitals, among others. When it emerged that Suleiman Ikara was nowhere to be found, we resigned our fate to Allah and came back to Ikara," Umar said.

He added that on Thursday, December 8, the family heard the news of the killing of somebody suspected to be an armed robber at the ABU, Samaru campus and the police were looking for the relatives of the suspect.

"Despite the fact that," Umar said, "we know our brother can never be an armed robber, we decided to go and check whether he was the one. When we went to the security department of the ABU, we were shown the picture of the corpse. We couldn't recognise it. Nevertheless, we showed the picture that the deceased snapped with two of his friends, including the suspect, when he got married about six months ago. The security personnel were shocked to see that the suspect was in the picture and he was the one who reported to them that he has killed an armed robber."

It was from that moment that the true position of what actually transpired began to emerge, Umar said. The family of the deceased requested for the release of the corpse for funeral rites, which the ABU security obliged, according to Umar.

"From there, the suspect was taken to the Samaru, Zaria Police Division for questioning" Umar explained. "Unfortunately," he added, "the ABU security department secured his bail and from there he ran away. We are now begging for justice to be done on this case. We want to know the truth of what actually happened. We want the relevant authorities to unveil the mystery behind our brother's death. However, clues of what actually happened indicate that the suspect used dagger to kill our brother and he later reported to the ABU security department, where he works, that he has killed an armed.

"We have even discovered that the suspect has made attempt to push the corpse into the seawage of the house of the former Vice Chancellor of the university, where the suspect is serving as one of the security guards. The suspect is still at large but as I said we are looking for justice, especially how the ABU security department handled the whole issue."

Daily Trust