By Clara Obi
[caption id="attachment_53586" align="alignleft" width="590"] Major General Idris Alkali (rtd)[/caption]
The General commanding 3 Division, Major General Benson Akinroluyo who led the Nigerian Army and cordon in search of the missing retiring General, Major General Idris Alkali discovered that the missing General was killed and buried in a shallow grave by unknown men.
According to general Akinroluyo, the retiring general was killed by some angry youths who barricaded the road during a protest. The late general who was travelling along the jos road in his black Toyota corolla was stopped and killed by the youths even after introducing himself as a general in the Nigerian army.
How far has the Nigerian Army gone with the search?
A lot has been put to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. While in search of his missing body, a shallow grave was discovered in a place called “no man’s land” which was identified by four suspects and sniffer dogs which led the troops on a search and rescue operation to the place where the corpse of the general was earlier buried but subsequently removed.
General Akinroluyo reported that the four suspects were not known to each other but they all differently took the team to the same shallow grave as well as the well trained Sniffer dogs. He said those sniffer dogs were trained with the wears of the missing officer and when they reached the spot where the missing general was buried, they stopped and hover around the spot and concurrently, this was the only place they were led to by the sniffer dogs and the three different suspects.
Interestingly, three of the suspects voluntarily brought themselves to the plateau state police command in jos. The Village head dura-du district in jos south local government area of plateau state,Yakubu Rapp a tipper driver, Timothy Chuwang and youth leader of the community, Mathew Rwang were those suspects who voluntarily showed up in the state police command 24 hours after being declared wanted by the police.
While some suspects are still waiting to see how those in the police custody would be treated, briefing newsmen at the headquarters, Akinroluyo said the missing general’s car was found weeks ago in the community abandoned pond and the troops had to evacuate everything from the pond to see what is inside but while in the process, some women barricaded to protest against the evacuation of the water saying the water had been of a cultural significance to the community.
The leader of the protesters, Mary Yakubu told Gen Akinroluyo that “if the water is drained out, it could lead to death of our sons and husbands” she cried but according to the general “nothing is going to stop this act except it is a directive from the Army headquarters.
The Army general Akinroluyo did not fail to evacuate the pond as no directives were put to stop them from their headquarters. According to gen Akinroluyo, the missing general's toyota alongside three other cars were found in the pond. A blood stained T-shirt, a short and a pair of shoes were also found in the car while some other of his belongings such as phone, laptop cash and clothes were said to have been shared among the unknown killers.
Subsequent to the recent findings of his corpse, car and some other belongings found in the community, a meeting was held and a specialist was contracted with immediate effect. His corpse which was earlier buried in a shallow grave was exhumed and relocated away from the community and the specialist who was contracted for the job was later arrested and now in the police custody. Well it’s obvious that the whole community should be at stake but the Nigerian Army is trying to fish out the perpetrators and pleading the community should cooperate with them.
Other rising controversy
Still in search of the suspects, one Idris Ahmed of citizens United for peace and security “an opponent of the people of plateau state and an enemy to the Nigeria army “ was accused to have been posting some wrong statement about the state government and the search of the general by Nigerian Army.
He said “the committed effort of Nigerian Army and the chief of Army staff, lieutenant general Tukur Yusuf to get to the end of the whole story behind the disappearance of General Alkali is a remarkable one but unfortunately just like any country it has its own sad story to share”.
In this regard the president of PPJF, Alexander Mamedu and other members of the state finds it unethical and irresponsible saying that Idris Ahmed has put himself into the highest authority to have declared the retiring general Alkali dead to an extent of already paying tribute to his family.
Ahmed also claimed that the resignation of the late general from the Nigerian Army was as a result of the general’s inability to tolerate corruption that was going on at the highest level of the military hierarchy. It was seen that his post of instigating the people against the Army and the government of the state with the Berom ethnic nationality of becoming the hate speech is almost on a hit as followers like Awwal Yusuf and Fatima A Santuraki have embraced his taught and call for a conflict against Beroms.
According to daily post, Mr Ahmed was told to allow the Nigerian Army do its job perfectly and not to create unnecessary thought in the minds of the people.
The leaders of the community have also called on the people of the state to cooperate with the Nigerian Army so as to do justice to the case of the missing general.
The Nigerian Army said the operation has been conducted in line with respect for Human rights that is why they try to keep target on just the perpetrators and all efforts are being made to bring them to justice and call on everyone within its area to be vigilant and report any suspect case of insurgency.
Finally, the division also wishes to commend members of the pubic for their support and still solicit for anyone with sound information on where the retiring general was reburied.
