Jealousy: How man, 20, robbed, killed own brother

…Opens up on operations with criminal gang specialised in robbery, kidnapping

Chioma Joseph

A 20-year-old man, Ibrahim Abdullahi, who has confessed to the murder of his elder brother, said jealousy and strife, forced him into perpetrating the heinous crime.

According to Ibarahim, who was recently arrested by operatives of of the Inspector -General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), his elder brother Kadade Abdullahi, was favoured above other children by their father.

The native of Amana MaiKasuwa village, in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, said his father’s preference for his brother was so obvious that he trained Kadade to secondary school level, while the others only went to Arabic school.

He also revealed that his father handed over the family’s cattle business to his brother, and taunted him for being irresponsible.

To proof a point, Ibrahim said he joined an armed bandit, notorious for cattle rustling, kidnapping and armed robbery.

He led the six-man gang to his family house on March 21, 2020, to rob his brother of N1.7 million proceed from the sales of cattle, and killed him to take over his position in the family.

A police source, whose identity cannot be mentioned, said Ibrahim and one Hassan Amadu, were arrested May 2, 2020, while four other members of the gang, Auwalu, Kiri Jumare, Nakaduwa and Yellow, are said to be at large.

The source said: “Sequel to the receipt of intelligence, the operatives of the IGP-IRT attached to operation puff adder Kateri Annex swung into action together with the local vigilante group, and proceeded to Amana MaiKasuwa, a village in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, and arrested Ibrahim Abdullahi, 20, and Hassan Amadu, 20.

“During interrogation, they confessed to have actively participated in the gruesome killing of an innocent unarmed civilian, Kadade Abdullahi, and many other acts of armed robbery, cattle rustling, and kidnapping, along Kaduna Zaria Express-way.

“Ibrahim confessed that the deceased was his brother, and that he contacted Amadu, and other members of his gang to assassinate him. He said he killed his blood brother because their father trusted him more than any of his other children.

“He said the sum of N1.7 million that his father realised from the sales cattle, was kept with his brother, which they also intended to steal”.

Telling his story, and painting a picture of what growing up was like, Ibarhim said: “My father is very rich, he married four wives and had so many children. For my father, Kadade was a special child. He treated him with so much love that the other children would even wonder if he was the one that gave birth to us.

“I was never sent to school to get formal education, but enrolled in Arabic school in Kaduna. It was only Kadade that attended primary and secondary school. My father said it was not necessary to train us in school, because he wanted all of us to be farmers. Yet he kept calling us illiterates that cannot speak English.

“How can I speak English when my father did not send me to school? I learnt how to cultivate corn and rear cow. I had to get married to convince him that I am old enough to handle responsibilities. As soon as I got married, my father gave me only 20 cows and two plots of land.”

Speaking on how he joined the criminal gang, he said: “I met a friend, simply identified as Haruna, who is also a farmer, but into robbery and kidnapping.

He asked me to join them and since my father refused to grant me easy access to his money, I decided to join him. We started by stealing ram, goat and sheep. Gradually when he was able to secure enough AK47 rifles, we started rustling cows.

“I sold three of my cows at N100, 000 each to get enough money to take care of my new wife. I never kept the stolen cows because my father would notice and accuse me of stealing. So any cow we steal, we kept in the bush and sold later.

”My friend also introduced us to one Abdulahi, who lived in the forest. The man made us promise to start kidnapping people who are rich in our community and when we get the ransom, we will give him a percentage. Most of the people we kidnapped were Fulani cattle rearers that are known to us.

“Normally, we know the very rich ones and when they sell their cows, we kidnap them and ask them to bring the money they got from the sale. It is only on few occasions that we entered the Kaduna Zaria Express-way, to stop motorists.

We avoid that axis because there were so many stronger gangs in-charge of those areas, who sometimes invite us to join them if they need more hands.”

On how he killed his brother, Ibrahim, who said he now regrets his action narrates: “My brother sold some cows and made N1.7 million.

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It was a good deal, he came back home and was making noise about it. My father was also very happy about it and asked him to keep the entire money. We expected him to share the money but he asked him to take it to the bank the next day.

“That day, I was so broke and asked my father for money. He started insulting me and asked me to learn to be responsible like Kadade. I was so bitter and immediately I called Haruna, and told him about the money in my house.

I told my gang members to come that night and also make sure that they kill my brother. Although I now regret my action, then I thought that his death will make my father allow me to control some of his businesses.

“That night around 12a.m., about five of them came. They knocked on my window as a sign to let me know that they were around. They searched every where including my room and before they left, they killed my brother as I instructed them. My father was devastated and I consoled him that it was Allah’s wish.”

The late Kadade, who had thought it was not safe to keep such amount of money at home, had kept a huge part of the money in a safe at the market, while he came home with only N300, 000.

“In the morning, I went to the bush to meet them and they told me that it was only N300,000 that they found with my brother. I collected N100,000 as my share since I was the one who brought the job. It was later when the village heard the death of my brother that we got to know that he kept part of the money in the village market safe.

“Initially, police came and arrested our neighbors because they also heard about the money made from the sales of cow. They were later released and my brother was buried and the matter was forgotten.”

Ibrahim said he was surprised when police came with Amadu weeks after the death of his brother and arrested him.

“I am terribly sorry and hope that my family will forgive me, ” he said.

Amadu, who hails from Rinji village also in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, said he joined the criminal gang because his father had chased him away from home.

Making confessional statement, he said it was Haruna that introduced him to the gang.

He said: “My father sent me out of the house when I was 15-years old, to go and learn how to rear cows from one Alhaji Sani. Although my father is also a farmer, he preferred to send me out because he had so many sons.

“The agreement was that at the end of each year, Alhaji Sani will give me a small cow. This is how I am expected to continue till I get enough to leave and start my own.

It was in the bush that I met Haruna and he gave me an idea on how to make my own money. He told me that Alhaji Sani is very rich and has so many cows, that he will not notice if one is missing.

“I started by leaving one behind every month when I take them out for grazing. Haruna will come back later and carry the cow and sell. This worked for me till Alhaji Sani discovered that his cows were missing and sent most us away. I told Haruna my plight and he asked me to come and start working for him.

“This was how we started stealing cows and gradually Haruna introduced us to robbery and kidnapping. Ibrahim is part of our gang and normally anyone can bring information about anyone that we can steal from or kidnap.

It was the reason why he told us that there was money in their house. I never knew that he asked Haruna to ensure that Kadade was killed.

“We all live around the same village, so I know Kadade very well as a hardworking man and very generous. I will never wish him dead.

“On the day of the incident, I was busy searching the other rooms for money when I heard a gunshot. I thought it was just to scare them and warn us to prepare to move out. It was in the bush that I learnt that Kadade was killed. We only found N300,000 in the house and my share of the money was N40,000.”

The police said efforts are in progress to trace and arrest the fleeing members of the gang.