CHIKA OTUCHIKERE writes about the grief of a 33-year-old nursing mother, Rachel Zacchaeus, whose husband, Zacchaeus Salawudeen, a photographer, was killed by armed men in the Tudun Fulani area of Minna, the Niger State capital on February 27, 2024
That Sunday morning, on February 25, 2024, Rachel Zacchaeus, joined her husband, Zacchaeus Salawudeen, 33, and their three little boys at the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Minna for the devotional service to thank God for life and all the good things He does for them.
They were in a joyful mood. What Rachel did not know, however, was that the church service was the last she would attend with her husband, a Special Assistant on Photography to a Niger State government official.
Two days later, at about 2 am, three young teenagers broke into their two-bedroom apartment located in Tudun Fulani, along the Bola Tinubu International Airport Road Junction, in Minna and stabbed Salawudeen several times until he gave up the ghost.
The hoodlums were said to have tied the door of the two other apartments of the house with cable wire to prevent neighbours from calling or coming to help. They killed Zacchaeus and made their escape the same way they came.
When our correspondent visited the Airport Road Junction residence where the incident occurred, one of the tenants who gave her name as Cordelia confirmed the incident and disclosed that a member of the church came and took the woman and her children away from the residence a few days after the incident. She also confirmed that the doors of the other apartments were securely tied from outside to prevent anyone from coming to help the Zacchaeuses.
“My husband is not at home. We were at home the day the criminals came to the house. They only entered the middle apartment which belonged to Zacchaeus. They did not enter our apartment which is the first, and the last one.
“When we heard Rachel shouting, we wanted to come out and know what was happening but we discovered that we could not open the door. It was locked from the outside. After the criminals finished from that house they quietly left.
“It was when Rachel came and opened our door that we saw what happened. My husband and the other neighbour managed to rush Zacchaeus to the IBB Specialist Hospital but unfortunately, he was dead,” she said.
She told Saturday PUNCH that she was convinced that it was planned attack on the photographer since the assailant did not attack the other apartments in the compound.
“I believe those people came to kill Zacchaeus because they did not enter another apartment. They did not make any noise, they left quietly the way they came.
“This type of thing has not happened in this compound or even this street before. It was later in the day that security agents came to start asking us questions and taking photos,” Cordelia added.
Rachel who also spoke with our correspondent weeks after searching for her new residence said she went to the other apartments after the attack to find out why nobody tried to come to their rescue only to discover that the doors were tied with wire from outside.
“When I started shouting for help nobody came to help, I was wondering what kind of neighbours I had. When the criminals left, I went outside and noticed that the neighbours wanted to come but the hoodlums tied the two doors with a wire.
I had to help them untie it before they came and called a cab to carry my husband to the hospital. He was confirmed dead in the hospital,” she narrated.
The 33-year-old mother of three little boys from Okene in Kogi State said her husband’s killers had shattered her world as she did not know what to do or where to begin. She, therefore, pleaded with the security agencies to ensure that the killers were arrested and prosecuted.
Recalling her husband’s final moments, the widow said, “That very day, in the evening when my husband returned from work, we ate together and went to bed to sleep. In the night sometime around 2 am, I just heard a sound.
“All my thoughts were that the sound was from the kitchen. I didn’t know it was the door that some people were trying to force open. They gave it a heavy kick and it opened.
“Immediately they came in – here were three of them – two attacked my husband with their knives and the other one held me down with his knife. The two men were just stabbing my husband and he was just shouting, ‘Jesus, what did I do?’
“I was just shouting, ‘Please, don’t kill my husband.’ Our second child, a boy, was lying down with the father when the attackers started stabbing him; I had to take the boy inside the room.
“After they stabbed him, they waited to ensure that he had stopped breathing before they went away because if they had left immediately, God could have still done something. But they waited until after they had seen that he was no longer moving before they took the laptop bag and my bag and fled.”
“They didn’t come with a gun; they came with knives, they even hung them on their shoulders. After they were through stabbing him, they took the laptop bag, the camera everything was inside.
“They also entered my room and took my handbag which had my purse and some money. When they finished, they just stepped out of the room and walked away,” she added.
The wife of the deceased told our correspondent that she was sure the assailants went away with the items to make it look like a robbery rather than an assassination.
“They did not speak any language. They did not say anything, but they were not robbers; if they were armed robbers, they could not have killed my husband. They just took what they took to cover up. They allowed my husband to die before they took the things they took,” Rachel said.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that Zacchaeus had been appointed as Special Assistant to Governor Mohammed Bago’s Special Adviser on Political Affairs and Strategy, Mohammed Nma-kolo, in 2023 to work in the media unit, before his death.
Four years earlier, he got married to Rachel, his heartthrob. She described her husband as a dedicated man.
“His employer sent some people when the incident happened and even sent some people to the wake. Anytime there was a programme, they used to call him (Zacchaeus) all the time. He was the one doing everything.
“They took him to Abuja, Bida, everywhere. On Sunday, before the incident, they even went to Makunkele airport to take shots. He was in the church service that day when they called him out,” the nursing mother said.
She said though she suspected no one, she had expressed concern when her husband told her that he was the “only Christian among them” shortly after his appointment.
“I do not know who to suspect because my husband did not have any issue with anybody. He was a gentle and quiet person so, he did not have any issues with anybody. But when he had the appointment in 2023, he said he was the only Christian among them and I told him that I was scared of all those politicians, but he said his appointment was only related to photography and that he did not struggle for any position with anyone.
“I can’t explain how I feel, I can’t. I have three children and my husband was the head of the whole family. He was the one catering for the mother, for me and the children.
“His brothers are struggling; it was my husband who brought them from Kogi to Niger State. A part of me is gone. I don’t know where I will start from,” she moaned.
However, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Affairs and Strategy, Nma Kolo, said he was not aware that the photographer was slain.
When our correspondent contacted Kolo for comments on the widow’s claim that her husband was assassinated, he said, “No, I am not aware of this recent development of Zacchaeus’ wife saying it was an assassination. What we rely on is the report from the security agencies investigating the issue.
“Zacchaeus was introduced to me by one of my aides here too as a photographer. So, I engaged him as an official photographer. Later, I got an appointment for him as a Special Assistant on Political Mobilisation.
“When he reported to this office, he was attached to the ICT and Communication Unit. He covered all my engagements. He was somebody very close to me; we worked together, a very hard-working young man, and he was dedicated to his duties. But to God be the glory, we lost Zacchaeus.
“I don’t like remembering that sad incident. Honestly, I get emotional easily because we had a very, very robust relationship. (He was) always with me, most of the time in my house even after working hours and was always ready to receive calls from us for any assignment.
He, however, assured that the government would do everything in its power to ensure that Zacchaeus’ family was not neglected and the culprits of the incident were brought to face justice.
“He is somebody that we really miss but by the special grace of God, the perpetrators of the act surely will be smoked out.
“He had a political appointment, we want to see how the wife will use that appointment for the upkeep of the children. I think that is very generous of the government.
“I think it will be in our best interest to wait for the conclusion of the investigation first then if there is anything, we can seek legal advice from the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice on the way forward. But for now, let us keep our fingers crossed and wait for the final report on the police investigation,” he added.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH on the phone, the Niger State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, said the police were still investigating the matter and assured that the suspects would be apprehended and tried for culpable homicide and robbery, pointing out that the motive for their action would be established once the investigation was concluded.
Abiodun said, “On February 2, 2024, at about 0850hours, it was reported at the Bosso division that on the same date at about 0330 hours, one Zacchaeus, 33 years, of Tudun-Fulani, Minna, was attacked in the house by a yet-to-be-identified person(s), who stabbed and robbed him of valuables. He was rushed to the IBB hospital where he was confirmed dead.
“The police operatives at Bosso division visited the scene. Some exhibits were recovered from the scene and preliminary investigation has commenced into the unfortunate incident.”
