Five arrested for Niger teenager’s death during clash

Five fleeing hoodlums have been arrested by the police for allegedly killing a 15-year-old Saidu Udu, on Saturday, during a gang clash in Minna, the Niger State capital.

PUNCH Metro learnt from a security source who spoke on the condition of anonymity that the hoodlums numbering over 50 went into a clash over what some eyewitnesses said was related to the sharing formula of the Christmas money they were given by moneybags.

It was gathered that in the process, the hoodlums who were wielding dangerous weapons including knives,  cutlasses and long daggers started threatening to use the weapons on their opponents. Finally, a teenager, Udu, was stabbed in the stomach.

An eyewitness who gave his name as Malik Nurudeen told PUNCH Metro on Tuesday, “These ‘area boys’ were always coming here to threaten us but today, they were more than 50. Initially, we thought they were a group but we later found out that they were two groups and they were arguing. From their argument, it was obvious that they got Christmas money from somebody and did not agree on the sharing formula. They started threatening one another with their weapons until they stabbed that one and everyone started running helter-skelter.”

The residents were already fleeing the Gurgudu area of Maitumbi and Kwari-Berger scene of the clash when the miscreants started brandishing their weapons and threatening to use them on themselves.

When Udu was eventually stabbed and fell to the ground, our correspondent was told, the hoodlums on both sides went berserk and practically went on the rampage, baying for blood. Everyone in the neighbourhood took to his heels so much so that while some ran into their houses, others who operated shops hurriedly locked them to avoid looting by hoodlums.

PUNCH gathered that the clash of hoodlums and miscreants in Minna, the Niger State capital, was becoming commonplace as the hoodlums, called Yan daba (area boys) in local parlance, have turned Minna into a living hell for residents. They acted as if they were above the law and not afraid of the law enforcement agents.

Our correspondent gathered that efforts by the security agencies to contain them have not yielded any results as they dispossessed innocent residents of their valuables at any time of the day or night including phones, wristwatches and even groceries.

Although the Niger State Commissioner of Police, Shawulu Danmamman, in a recent Yuletide statement on Tuesday, said the command had deployed adequate personnel to ensure a hitch-free celebration, the hoodlums might have defied that assertion with this latest clash in the Maitumbi by-pass, where the hoodlums brandished dangerous weapons and the residents ran for dear their lives.

The spokesperson for the Niger State Police Command, Wasiu Abiodun, on Monday night, when contacted, confirmed the incident and disclosed that an investigation was ongoing to arrest the other suspects.

“On 21/12/2024 at about 1130hrs, some miscreants of the Gurgudu area of Maitumbi and Kwari-Berger attacked themselves which led to the death of one Saidu Ubu, 15 years, from Gurgudu. The police patrol team of Maitumbi Division moved to the scene, and the miscreants escaped while the victim was taken to the hospital where he was confirmed dead.

“In a follow-up sting operation within the area, about five miscreants were arrested, currently undergoing an investigation and more efforts are ongoing to arrest other fleeing hoodlums,” Abiodun said in a WhatsApp message to our correspondent.