Police hunt alleged killers of Niger man over phone

The Niger State Police Command says it has launched a serious manhunt for the suspected hoodlums who stabbed a man simply identified as Abdulmutalib, in his early 30s, to death.

Our correspondent gathered that the hoodlums go about with dangerous weapons snatching phones and dispossessing Niger residents of their valuables.

An eyewitness told PUNCH Metro on Tuesday that before help could come to rush the victim to a nearby hospital, he was already dead.

The tragic incident occurred on Sunday at the Old Secretariat Road around 8 pm when the victim was walking with his mobile telephone right inside the pocket of his pants.
The eyewitness who did not give his name said the phone-snatching hoodlums stabbed Abdulmutalib after they confronted him and demanded that he give them his phone.

“The phone snatchers were all young men in their teens and early 20s. The incident happened on Sunday night. They met him and demanded his phone and before he could react, one of them used a dagger he was holding and stabbed him in the neck. They fled from the area with the phone. Abdulmutalib died before people could come to his rescue,” the eyewitness said.

Another resident, Suleiman Kuta, complained bitterly about the influx of phone snatchers into the state capital lamenting that the state government and the police command were not doing enough to rid the  state of such undesirable elements.
“Thse hoodlums are taking over Minna City. Every day, you hear of attacks, phone snatching and youth restiveness.  On safety and security matters, nobody seems to be in charge. Residents are at the mercy of these criminals whose identities are public knowledge yet the authorities are pretending about their activities.

“I’m beginning to think that the authorities are helpless in this regard. The Niger State Police Command amongst other security agencies needs to step up its game to address this ugly trend that is fast consuming the peace of the city.

“We must begin to ask questions about why the authorities are doing nothing in matters that concern the security of life and property The Bago administration will be considered a failure if the insecurity situation continues to rise in this manner.”

When PUNCH Metro contacted the spokesman for the Niger State Police Command, Wasiu Abiodun, on Monday evening, he did not pick up several calls put to his phone until Tuesday morning when he sent a terse reply confirming the incident.

Abiodun’s message read, “The victim was rushed to (the) General Hospital, Minna, where he gave up the ghost. The incident is under investigation, and efforts to arrest the suspects are intensified.”

Hoodlums, especially young men looking for phones of unsuspecting residents to snatch, have increased in Minna, the Niger State capital. In a recent incident, hoodlums attacked a young man who was cut with a dagger for resisting to release his phones for them among others.