Sheikh Yahaya Masussuka was getting ready to depart his house in Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State, on Monday evening when his spouse, Fatima, accompanied him exterior.
He was going to show his Almajirai college students. But he had forgotten his bag, and she or he returned indoors to retrieve it.
Then she heard 4 gunshots.
“Before I knew what was happening, I heard four gunshots. When I came out, I discovered that he had been shot,” Mrs Yahaya informed PUNCH.
The cleric was shot exterior his residence in Karambanin Ɗan Abba, Bakin Kasuwa. Adamu Abubakar, described by an affiliate as his shut pal, was additionally killed.
In one other a part of Dutsin-Ma, Abdulrahim Sabiu was getting ready the studio the place Mr Masussuka usually performed his evening educating actions.
Gunfire at Karambanin Ɗan Abba
The police mentioned two armed males driving a motorbike attacked Mr Masussuka and Mr Abubakar on Monday, 26 October.
The police positioned the taking pictures at about 7.30 p.m. But Aliyu Ladan, a neighbour who had recognized the cleric for about 20 years, recalled that it occurred round 8.30 p.m., after the Isha prayer.
Mr Ladan informed PREMIUM TIMES that he was coming back from the roadside when he noticed Mr Masussuka popping out and observed {that a} car had been began.
He was close to the doorway when he heard a number of gunshots.
Mr Ladan mentioned he appeared in the direction of the scene after the taking pictures subsided however couldn’t establish the attackers. He was approaching from the south, whereas the gunfire got here from the north, and car headlights obstructed his view.
When he reached the cleric, he discovered him mendacity on the bottom.
He referred to as for help and helped elevate Mr Masussuka right into a car for evacuation to hospital.
Mr Ladan believed the cleric had died earlier than reaching hospital. The police mentioned an attending physician pronounced Mr Masussuka and Mr Abubakar useless on the hospital.
The studio at Hayin Gada
At Hayin Gada, a neighbourhood the place Mr Masussuka grew up and attended college, Mr Sabiu was anticipating him that evening.
A longtime scholar and affiliate who had labored intently with the cleric for about 20 years, Mr Sabiu mentioned he left his companions at roughly 8.20 p.m. to open the studio.
He switched on the air conditioner and ready for the evening’s actions.
Mr Masussuka was anticipated between 8.30 and eight.40 p.m., an arrival time that Ahmad Rufa’i, one other shut affiliate, mentioned was per the cleric’s regular routine.
Credit: Ogalah Dunamis/PREMIUM TIMES
Imran Nasarisu, a scholar, additionally recalled that the cleric had been getting ready to return to the educating venue.
The studio was in the identical neighbourhood as Bani Adam Academy, the place Mr Masussuka had studied. His former instructor, Yahaya Bani Adam, nonetheless lived close by.
While Mr Sabiu waited, a scholar introduced information that Mr Masussuka had been shot.
He went first to the cleric’s residence, the place folks had gathered, earlier than continuing to the hospital.
At the hospital
Mr Sabiu mentioned he discovered Mr Masussuka and Mr Abubakar mendacity immobile when he arrived on the hospital.
Mr Rufa’i, who had additionally acquired information of the taking pictures, went there individually.
He later accompanied Mr Masussuka’s physique to Katsina, the state capital. He recalled arriving at roughly 12.30 a.m. and remaining there till round 4 a.m.
An affiliate conversant in the aftermath additionally reported {that a} driver recognized as Suleiman and a girl sustained accidents in the course of the incident.
The affiliate described harm to a Toyota RAV4, together with damaged glass and obvious bullet impacts.
PREMIUM TIMES couldn’t independently set up the extent of these reported accidents or study the car. The police’s preliminary assertion didn’t present particulars about further casualties.
A former pupil, a revered neighbour
When PREMIUM TIMES visited Hayin Gada after the killing, mourners had gathered within the neighbourhood the place Mr Masussuka spent a part of his adolescence.
Among these grieving was Mr Bani Adam, his former instructor.
Mr Bani Adam remembered Mr Masussuka as a pupil and spoke of his dying by way of spiritual acceptance. He mentioned he didn’t personally suspect anybody of accountability.
In Karambanin Ɗan Abba, Mr Ladan remembered a person he had recognized for about 20 years.
He described the cleric as useful, compassionate and respectful in the direction of his neighbours.
Mr Ladan mentioned residents had been troubled by the taking pictures, significantly as a result of it occurred inside their very own neighbourhood.
[Credit: Ogalah Dunamis/PREMIUM TIMES]
He additionally described Mr Abubakar as a scholar and somebody thought to be a trusted pal of Sheikh Masussuka.
According to Mr Ladan, Mr Abubakar was mentioned to be from a spot referred to as Nasarawa and to have studied with the cleric. But the neighbour acknowledged he didn’t know Mr Abubakar properly and couldn’t personally affirm these particulars.
For the cleric’s college students, the killing interrupted work that they had anticipated him to proceed.
Mr Sabiu mentioned Mr Masussuka had accomplished a Qur’anic commentary generally known as Tafsir al-Quran bil-Quran and was planning a gathering involving folks from totally different spiritual backgrounds.
Mr Rufa’i additionally recalled his ambition to ascertain a college.
Ansaru’s declare, police investigation
Following the killing, the extremist group Ansaru claimed accountability for the assault, as beforehand reported by PREMIUM TIMES.
The declare has not been independently authenticated, and the police haven’t publicly confirmed the id of the attackers.
In an announcement issued after the taking pictures, police spokesperson Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu mentioned the Commissioner of Police, Ali Fage, had ordered tactical and operational groups to research the killings and pursue these accountable.
President Bola Tinubu additionally condemned the killings and directed an intensive investigation.
At the time of this report, PREMIUM TIMES had not independently confirmed any arrest in reference to the assault.
At the Hayin Gada studio, Abdulrahim Sabiu had opened the premises and switched on the air conditioner forward of Sheikh Masussuka’s anticipated arrival.
The instructor by no means got here.
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