Police probe extra-judicial murder of Professor Falaki, in the name of Boko Haram

*Africa’s Leading agriculturist killed by a mob under police watch
*The ABU don wrongly accused of being a Boko Haram kingpin

Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba , has asked AIG Tambari Muhammed to head an investigation into the cold blooded murder in Kano of Prof. Ahmed Falaki of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria by a mob inside a police station.

Abba wants the police to unravel the circumstances surrounding the attack and death of the renowned Professor of Agriculture.

Some of the attackers have been arrested, said the police in a statement by Acting police commissioner, Emmanuel Ojukwu, who also announced the recovery of Falaki’s Toyota Hilux van in Bauchi state.

According to family accounts, Falaki was returning to Kano, from a visit to Yadagungume in Ningi LGA of Bauchi state on 14 February when his car developed a tyre problem, in Fala Village in Tudun Wada LGA of Kano. Along with his brother and driver, they stopped to fix the tyre.

They had completed the tyre change, when two men on a bike, accosted them and hijacked the vehicle.

Unknown to the hijackers’ victims, the men, suspected to be Boko Haram members were running away, after participating in an attack on a police station in Kibiya LGA. There were six of them who assaulted the station: two were killed, two arrested and two escaped on a motor-cycle. And they ran into the professor, his travelling companions and the Hilux van, which attracted them.

“They turned back and pointed a gun at my father, his driver and brother. They demanded the key to the Hilux jeep. My father asked the driver to hand over the key. The gunmen now asked if the jeep had an immobilizer. The driver said ‘No.’

“Not convinced, the gunmen started the jeep and revved it for about five minutes. When the engine didn’t go off, they loaded their motorcycles and sped off, ” said the professor’s son in an account published by ThisDay.

Moments after this ordeal, the Professor’s greater ordeal, a fatal one began.

Villagers who had watched the Boko Haram suspects escape in the Hilux vehicle became “funny,” the driver recounted.

“They began interrogating us on what we knew about the Boko Haram people whom we just gave our jeep to, as if we were suspects. None of our explanations appeared to convince them.

Under this pall of suspicion, the professor and his co-travellers were dragged to the police station at Kibiya, at where, under police watch, a mob beat Professor Falaki to death.

Here is the driver’s narrative: “We were led to the police station. There, the police accused Prof of being a Boko Haram kingpin. He showed them his ABU identity card. On sighting the card, the police claimed it was fake. All attempts by Prof to convince them he was a university lecturer fell on deaf ears.

“At this point, one of the villagers hit Prof on the head with a big stick. They also hit Abbas, but concentrated more on Prof. The villagers then took turns to hit Prof with all manner of weapons in the police station until he died.

“After Prof was confirmed dead, the police and villagers began jubilating that they had killed a Boko Haram kingpin. They said we would meet our end in Kano SARS (Special Anti Robbery Squad).

“When the SARS men came, Prof’s body was dumped in the back of a pickup. Abbas, who sustained serious injuries, and I were handcuffed and driven all night to Kano. Prof’s body was dumped in the mortuary in the early hours of Sunday. Abbas was admitted in hospital but with handcuffs and leg iron.”

Police had celebrated the killing of the professor as one of their anti-Boko Haram feats, until the scale began to fall from their eyes that they had partaken in the murder of a leading agriculturist in Africa, a man whose services were often demanded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Falaki, 66 years old, began teaching in ABU in 1975. In the course of research, he had visited 75 countries in five continents and had over 85 published works to his credit.