Abdulsalam Muhammad
24 August 2008
Questions are being asked over the killing of a girl formally engaged to a man in Kano.
RESIDENTS of Mai'adua quarters in Kano municipality are yet to overcome the shocking discovery of an 18-year old bride, Hadiza Haliru, found slaughtered in the family toilet. Tears flowed freely from the eyes of family members and neighbours.
The trauma over the killing was palpable that most of them wished journalists should not seek information on the death, for they had rested their case with God. The killing generated outrage in Kano, especially when reports had it that the family members who discovered the lifeless body in a pool of blood also found beside her a kitchen knife and a kettle of water.
The toilet where the incident was recorded is located about 50 meters away from the main building and, like the main structure it sits on top of a gully that contributes water to Jakara river anytime it rains. Atine, 20-year-old housewife in the neighbourhood, told Sunday Vanguard in tears that the circumstances leading to the death of Hadiza Haliru 'devastated the area', and that the wound inflicted is so 'deep and painful' that they considered enquiries into the matter as an affront on their sensibilities.
Atine's raking drew a motley crowd as she laboured to explain her position that Hadiza was gone forever and that any further effort in that direction was not only meaningless, but a complete waste of time. "We are Muslims and recognize too that the issue is beyond human. So, any further inquiries into the matter contradict the philosophy of my religion for Hadiza is gone forever and deserve prayers for the repose of her gentle soul", she said. According to an uncle to the deceased, Malam Umar Haliru, "the girl was found in the pool of her own blood in the toilet situated 50 metres away from the main building penultimate Wednesday".
Umar told Sunday Vanguard that there was no sign to suggest of any bitter struggle between her and suspected assailants to attract attention and possible assistance from the main house, pointing out that the body of the late Hadiza was found intact at the time of discovery by family members. He stressed that none of the family members could say the exact time the incident happened, maintaining that the death remained a mystery to them. "None of our family members could exactly tell you the cause of her death, she could neither have committed suicide. Hadiza's death remains strange and mysterious to us", Umar explains.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that the deceased was before her death formally engaged to one Ibrahim of Dorayi Karshen-Waya quarters in Kano, and that family of both parties had since slated forthcoming Eid-el-Fitri for the solemnization. Sunday Vanguard learnt that the late Hadiza had been forced into the marriage by the family to keep the family's pride as they consider it too late for a lady of her age to remain a spinster in a predominantly conservative society. The resolve by the family members to let the sleeping dog lie over the circumstances of Hadiza's death was informed by the fear that the corpse may be kept for long to pave the way for proper police investigations.
Ibrahim Haliru, 47-year old father of the deceased runs a local restaurant along Jakara Street in Kano and, in a chat, told Sunday Vanguard that certain issues were compromised to pave the way for Hadiza's burial. "I was not at home when the incident happened, but my wife did report that she trailed Hadiza to the toilet around 9.30 p.m. and found she had been slaughtered there", he said. According to him, "the incident drew a crowd and the police were alerted in good time. The police on arrival conducted preliminary investigation and took the lifeless body to the Murtala Muhammad General Hospital for post-mortem examination". Ibrahim disclosed that a team of medical officers that attended to the body certified his daughter dead and subsequently deposited it in the morgue while family members were asked to report to the hospital the following day to collect the corpse for burial.
He stated that the corpse was transferred to Malam Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital where proper autopsy was conducted, pointing out that it was then they were called to sign necessary documents before the corpse was release for burial. The father, who described the late Hadiza as a 'gentle girl' maintained that her late daughter was too religious to have committed suicide no matter the circumstance. "Hadiza is a gentle girl, she talked less and did not keep large circle of friends. She opted out of secondary school and settled for Islamic studies and exhibited total dedication to her religious duties and would not have taken her life no matter the circumstance", he said.
Ibrahim denied insinuation that the family forced Hadiza into marriage to a strange man, stressing that the claim was a 'baseless and unfounded' rumour'. The bereaved father who took his time to explain what he called authentic version of the story revealed that "a lot of suitors had indicated their interest to engage her as wife, and she never introduced any one of them to the family until recently when she formally introduced one Ibrahim of Dorayi Karshen Waya, and we did what was expected of us in a traditional way".
He admitted that the scare of prolonged investigation forced the family members to overlook certain aspects of her death, stressing that they were convinced that the deceased died a martyr. He lamented that several efforts to draw the attention of authorities to close up the gully as security cover for the house and the entire area had not received attention, maintaining that the death of his daughter would speed up action by those concerned.
Friends close to the groom told Sunday Vanguard on condition of anonymity that Ibrahim was shattered by the incident that he could not talk to the press, adding that emotional trauma was much that put him off balance.
When Sunday Vanguard contacted the police in Kano, the public relations officer, Baba Muhammad, said that no one had been linked to the case. Muhammad stated that the late Hadiza's mother has been quizzed in respect of the death, adding that detectives were working on several options to ascertain the mystery surrounding the death.
Asked to comment on the possibility of unknown assailants laying ambush on her, the police spokesman said that investigations were usually open to accommodate all options, stressing that the police don't rely on hypothesis. He appealed to the public to assist the police with vital information that would help them get to the root of the matter.
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