By Adesina Soyooye
For about 49 minutes, Philip Schekwo, the murdered Nasarawa State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, his wife and members of his household called for help in vain.
They did when gunmen invaded his home. The late Chairman was their target.
For the 49 minutes it took them to shoot at, and break the walls, the protectors, and finally, the very strong doors, they desperately called every security number available to them. But nobody answered, or came to their aid, They were unresponsive.
As the State Chairman of the APC, Mr Schekwo had the phone numbers of the leadership of all the Security Agencies in Nasarawa State. He would have that of the Governor, the Governor’s ADC and CSO. Yet, after a 49-minute ordeal, he was picked up like a Christmas chicken by his assailants, and killed a few meters away from his residence.
And, he lived in the State capital, Lafia.
The State Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Longe, was quick to say he strongly suspects assassination.
He is right.
When the news first filtered- in that the Chairman had been abducted from his home on Saturday, at about 11.00pm, everybody concluded it was a case of kidnapping, the most lucrative business in Nigeria.
But it turned out to be false. The circumstances point to Kidnapping. He was abducted on that Saturday, and within hours, his bullet- ridden body was found near his house. Meaning he was killed as soon as he was abducted.
CP Longe said he was shot at “the back and on the side.”
He said nothing was taken from the house. He said no money for ransom was asked for. Just nothing.
But a source, Joseph Gudu, told the sad story of how the late Schekwo, his wife and children desperately sought for help and protection to no avail. He also said the gunmen came with all kinds of weapons, including diggers, to break a door in the house.
According to him, “His wife, children and the Chairman himself made several calls to Security Agencies in the State, but nobody responded.
“The Operation lasted about 49 minutes before the gunmen entered the bedroom of the Chairman after disarming his security guard. They took him away, and killed him just a metre away from his house. They hung his car key close to his lifeless body.”
The outrage which has accompanied Schekwo’s assassination has been like claps of thunder.
President Muhammadu Buhari while mourning him, asked Security Agencies to bring the murderers to book.
Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, and former Governor, Umaru Tanko Abdullahi, expressed shock. And so have the APC and many prominent Nigerians.
The questions, however, remain: For the about 49 minutes the operation lasted, and for the number of times the assassinated Chairman, his wife, and children phoned Security agencies for help, where were they? Why were they unresponsive?
