How Police Officer Killed My Husband – Late Bitram Boyi Bakas' Widow

 

“My husband was innocent. He was not part of the quarrel, in fact, he didn’t know anything about it, but he was murdered in cold blood. How do you look at the two babies he left behind in their face and tell them that they will never see their dad again,” the grieving widow, Mrs Hauwa Bitram, said in tears.

“They didn’t have to kill my husband, said Hauwa, wife of Mr Bitram Boyi Baka, a staff of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, who was allegedly shot dead by a policeman. 

She is appealing to the authorities to do justice over the killing of her husband by a policeman near the Gombe State Police Command.

 
Narrating the incident, Mrs Bitram said her husband was recently shot dead by a corporal at a restaurant near the police headquarters in Gombe.
She said on that fateful day, her husband went out to see some friends in the evening and that before he arrived, there was a disagreement between a corporal and an inspector and that the corporal went out and returned with a gun.
“But before he returned, the inspector had left the place and my husband came in and sat on the chair he left, not knowing what had happened. 

The account we received was that immediately the corporal came in, he opened fire and killed my husband,” she said.
She said they faced a lot of challenges since her husband was killed, and lamented that the police authorities didn’t even condole the family.
 

The widow said they had expected the police authorities would do justice.
A relation of the deceased, Solomon Baba Didi, said the deceased left two children, Stephanie and Stacy, adding that the family expected the police authorities to assist them in taking care of the two orphans their father left behind.

 
A witness told reporters in Gombe that the incident took place at a restaurant frequented by policemen from the command headquarters, and that ‘’on the fateful day, two police officers - an inspector and a corporal - went there. 

The inspector sent the corporal to buy cigarette for him which led to a disagreement as it angered the corporal who, instead of buying the cigarette went and brought his rifle. 

The people around advised the inspector to leave. When the corporal came back, he shot Bitram three times, probably not knowing that he wasn’t the inspector. Bitram was confirmed dead at the Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe.’’

 
Family of the deceased said they are seeking for justice because Mr Bitram was their bread winner. They said they have been encountering many difficulties since he was killed.
When contacted, Gombe State  Police Commissioner, Mr Austin Iwar, said, “The police had dismissed the suspect. Presently he is in prison. There is nothing to hide.”

 
The question that many people and sympathisers are asking is when will the police condole the family of the deceased and bring the culprit to book?