Photo: the late Tasi’u
Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have killed Alhaji Tasi’u Abudulkareem, a 40-year-old businessman, in an attempt to kidnap him from his shop in Tilden-Fulani of Toro local government area of Bauchi State.
The five assailants, according to an eyewitness account, struck Tilden-Fulani town, which is about 100km from the state capital, Bauchi at about 9:00pm on Tuesday where they attacked the pharmaceutical store of the deceased, shooting sporadically into the air.
A resident of the town who did not want to be identified told WikkiTimes that the gunmen met late Tasi’u in his shop in the midst of his friends and asked them:”who is Tasi’u among you?” But nobody answered them because their faces looked strange.
The eyewitness said: “It was one of the gunmen whose face was covered with a mask that pointed at him (the deceased). They then raided and looted his shop and car at gunpoint before they attempted to force him out of the town on foot without success.
“His body was later discovered behind his shop, bathed with blood and a bullet penetration on his chest,” after the gunshots subsided he said.
Locals from the community tried to block the ever-busy Jos-Bauchi highway out of anger only to be deterred by security operatives mobilised to the town after the kidnappers had left.
Alhaji Tasi’u who is survived by a wife and four children also had over 40 youths under his apprenticeship before his untimely exit, apart from those he had trained and went on to establish themselves too in pharmaceutical business in and around Tilde.
“His entrepreneurial skills and open-handedness earned him the trust of the people of the community to the extent that he was loved by all and sundry. I don’t know anyone he has ever fought with or an adversary of his,” a family friend of the late Tasi’u said of his interaction with people in the community.
SP Ahmad Muhammad Wakil, Police Public Relations Officer Bauchi State Command, while confirming the incident, said that investigation was ongoing to bring the perpetrators to book.
“This is a case of attempted kidnapping with culpable homicide that happened yesterday at about 22:15:00hrs. Our officers on patrol received a distress call from a Good Samaritan that five unknown gunmen stormed the medicine store of one Alhaji Tasi’u, 40 years old, who is now deceased at Tilden-Fulani market.
“They whisked him away in an attempt to kidnap him but he struggled with the hoodlums and the hoodlums shot him on the chest and escaped to an unknown destination,” he said.
