By LAMI SADIQ

The home where Abdulkarim Bala Na’Allah was found dead on Sunday had been burgled two months before his murder, a friend and classmate of the deceased told Daily Trust on Monday.

Na’Allah, the son of Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah, who represents Kebbi south, was found tied and strangled on Sunday in his Malali home in Kaduna.

Kaduna State Police command said the assailants had escaped with the deceased’s Lexus SUV.

Our correspondent, who spoke with the deceased former classmate at Police Secondary School Minna, gathered that they had chatted briefly on video call on Friday evening before the civilian pilot told her he had an emergency to attend to.

She said: “I had earlier called him on video call on Friday afternoon but during our call, a trailer passed and so I couldn’t hear him and told him that I would call him back later.

“He then called me back the same day around 6pm and seconds into our discussion, I was going to ask him what was the matter because his face appeared worried but he then told me that he had an emergency and that he was going to NEPA and would call me back later.”

She said it was the last time she heard from him but told Daily Trust that two months back, the pilot had informed her that his home had been burgled and that he had been robbed of some gadget.

“The same house was broken into, they broke the wall and entered the parlour from what he told me and I asked him to leave the area since it was no longer safe for him but he told me he had been attached with a bodyguard,” she added.

The old classmate, who is also Kaduna-based in the midst of sobbing, told our correspondent that: “He said someone had duped him about N50 million.

“He gave someone money to change to dollars for him and the person duped him. The person was able to pay him N15million but the case is in court in Kano.”

She described the deceased as a humble person who was free-spirited and wanted to instil discipline among Nigerians.

“The gap between the two of us is not much but he used to tease me and say he is my father. He like hardworking people which is one of the reasons we have been close since our secondary school days,” she said. (Text, excluding headline, courtesy Daily Trust)

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