Police have accused a village head in Dako Kangarwa, a community in Yunusari, Northeast Nigeria, of storming a man’s house alongside his two sons and gruesomely killing him.
According to locals, they stabbed the victim, Goni Waje, several times using a machete and then set fire to his corpse.
The village head and his sons, identified respectively as Bulama, Jalomi, and Ciroma, were arrested by the Yobe State police command. At the time this report was filed, the village head had been released from police custody.
The conflict between the Bulama and Waje started three years ago. According to the deceased’s uncle, Goni Sangama, the conflict was caused by suspected marital affairs between Waje’s wife and the village head.
Waje began to monitor his wife. Sangama said Waje shared his suspicions with others several times until one day he caught the village head in his wife’s room. “He engaged the village head in a fight with a knife and stabbed him.”
After the incident, Waje was sentenced to three years in prison.
Upon his release, Waje divorced his wife, blaming her for his ordeal. “Waje told us that it is the best fate for him,” Sangama said.
Later, Waje started showing signs of mental illness. His family raised money and took him to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Maiduguri, Borno state.
“He was diagnosed with a mental health issue, and we have been given medications since then. We buy him the drugs every three months,” Sangama told HumAngle.
About a week ago, Waje got into a fight with the Bulama under a tree in the village. Nobody knows what caused the fight, but residents believe the old grudge between the two men was responsible.
“Waje had a knife which ended up injuring the fingers of the village head,” Sangama said. “We were all baffled over what happened. We thought everything was okay until this incident occurred.”
After the incident, the village head was said to have gathered two of his sons and headed to Waje’s house. They set fire to the hut where four of his children and their paternal grandmother lived.
“The village people appealed to the village head and his sons to stop but they did not stop. They stabbed Waje with a machete and used petrol to set fire to his body.” Sangama recalled.
Sangama urged the authorities to ensure justice is done.
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