The pain of losing a child cannot only be indescribable but also shocking and traumatising. For Dr. Tukur Abba, the father of the late Abdullahi Abba, a schoolboy who was tortured to death in Yola, Adamawa State, the death of his son in the hands of those who are paid with taxpayers’ money to protect lives and property is what he is yet to come to terms with.

With a stammered and murmured voice, Abba said, “My brother, how could you describe this kind of thing? When the police came to my house and demanded to take Abdullahi to their station for questioning over an allegation of phone theft, my first son resisted, but I calmed him down and asked him to allow them to go with him with the understanding that nothing would happen to him.

“I was wrong to have entrusted my son in the hands of people who would eventually tortured him to death. I was thinking that as law enforcement officers, they would be professional in their conduct, but I was wrong, not knowing that my son was on a journey of no return,” Abba stammered and coughed as he managed to speak.

Abdullahi, according to his father who is the immediate past Librarian of Modibo Adama University, Yola, was sitting for the third term examination in Senior Secondary II at Shabir Rashat Secondary School Yola, before his dream of becoming an Army officer in the future was cut short by men of the Operation Farauta.

In an emotion-laden voice, Abba said, “They killed my son- a promising young boy full of life and a bright future, but as a Muslim, I believe that Allah knows better why Abdullahi has to go now.

“My wife is a strong woman and a strong believer in Allah. We have left everything in the hands of God, but we want justice to be done. I want to thank Amnesty International, the Commissioner of Police and federal lawmakers in our constituency who have reached out to me and the family.

“I want to thank the PUNCH Newspaper for keeping tabs on this development and civil society organisations that have shown special interest in ensuring that justice is done in the case. We will not relent until justice is done,” he said. (The PUNCH)

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