How Gen. Alkali was murdered at Dura-Du, Jos, in 2018 – retired army General tells court
In a high-stakes courtroom drama in Jos, Plateau State, a retired Nigerian Army Major General, Umaru Ibrahim Muhammed, took the stand to provide chilling insights into the gruesome killing of General Idris Alkali.
His testimony reveals a sinister plot that unfolded in Dura-Du village, Jos South, leading to the heinous murder of the military officer.
In his submissions at the court today, Muhammed said the army general was murdered in 2018 in Dura-Du village, Jos South local government of Plateau state.
According to him, the suspects who killed the late General had dismembered his body and buried him in a shallow grave.
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“Late Gen Alkali left Abuja for Bauchi en route Jos in 2018, while on transit, he made the last call around Dura, Du village in Jos South. And from that moment, his phone went off. He never got to Bauchi, and he could not be accessed on the phone. Three days later, his family had to declare him missing on the 3rd of September 2018.
“I was the Garrison Commander Divisions of the Nigerian Army, and I was tasked to conduct a search and rescue operation. My task was to do three things; to find Gen Alkali dead or alive, to find his vehicle, a black Toyota Corolla with registration number 679 AA and to find whoever is responsible for his sudden disappearance.
“I was given one Major General and 30 soldiers to carry out the task. We searched all the hospitals and Police stations without results. We went to MTN for a search and discovered that his phone was switched off in Dura- Du village. That was how we centred our search operations in that village,” the principal witness narrated.
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He noted that his team searched about 32 mining ponds in the village, but the information given made them concentrate on a particular one.
“But the youths of the village mobilised about 500 women to protest against us searching the pond. But in spite of the initial resistance from the locals, we continued with our assigned task.
“We had to go to Taraba state to get Fire service trucks and some divers from Bauchi, and after intensive labour for two weeks, we succeeded in evacuating water from the pond and, on the 29th of September, discovered Gen Alkali’s Toyota Corolla from the pond. Inside the vehicle, we saw his uniform, shirt, shoe, and cap with his name on them.
“We continued our search in the pond, on the 1st of October, we saw a bus in the pond whose driver was declared missing 7 years earlier. We also saw a Rover car in red colour, the owner resides in Bisichi, he was declared missing in the same village. Inside that pond were Tipper lorries, Tricycles, motorcycles etc.
“Having discovered his vehicle, the next is to find his body. We intensified our intelligence and got one of the suspects, who led us to the shallow grave where the remains of Gen Alkali were initially buried by the killers. The suspects confessed that after killing Gen Alkali, his body was dragged round the village before taking him to a location called “no man’s land” and buried him in a shallow grave,” General Muhammed added.
The witness continued saying: “We went to Abuja to bring our sniffer dog, we cultured the dog with his shirt for 3 days. Then we took the dog to “no man’s land”. We discovered they had already moved the body from that grave.
“Further search made us understand that the killers got the service of a mortician who evacuated the body and packaged it in two bags. We got the mortician, and he led us to one Mr Stephen, and Mr Stephen eventually led us to another village called Buchwet which is 10km away from Dura-Du. That was where the remains of Gen Alkali were dumped, we recovered the body on the 30th of October 2018.
“To be sure the body we recovered was that of Gen Alkali, we contracted a renowned pathologist to carry out a thorough examination of the remains. The pathologist rearranged the entire body to show us how he was killed.
“Study showed that the killers sliced the skull into two, and pieces all parts of his body. That showed us he was gruesomely murdered by the suspects. The pathologist further requested Gen Alkali’s x-ray from the wife, and it matched what we recovered. He also went to the shallow grave where Gen Alkali was first buried to fetch the sand from the grave to also confirm the person buried there was Gen Alkali.”
The second witness, Major Arashinga Bulus, a serving officer in the Nigeria Army, Abuja also narrated his role in the search and rescue team, confirmed 21 people as those arrested in connection to the killing of Gen Alkali.
After taking two witnesses, the court adjourned the case to 6th November to take additional witnesses.