Bauchi women protest the killing of mother of five

BAUCHI — Hundreds of women in Bauchi Friday staged a peaceful demonstration , condemning the killing of a mother of five, Mrs Charity Augustine, by some soldiers at Anguwan Ngas in Bauchi, the state capital Thursday. 

The women were however persuaded against carrying their demonstration into Government House to lay their complaint to the Governor, Isa Yuguda by both the police and some elders in the area.

The elders appealed to the women to remain calm and allow the family and the authorities affected to handle the situation so that the situation would not degenerate.

The ‘’killer’’ soldiers were said to be among those drafted to quell students’ uprising inside Baba Tanko Secondary School, so that it would not spill over to other parts of Yelwa and Anguwan Ngas in particular.

Charity’s husband said three soldiers entered their compound on that fateful day adding that one of them broke the glass of the door, pointed his gun through the shattered glass of the door and shot his wife twice on the chest.

Augustine, a retired banker, who said members of his family were inside the house when the incident happened said, “She died at the Teaching Hospital in Bauchi. We could not save her.”

The women who carried green leaves decried the killing of Mrs Augustine calling on military authorities to fish out the soldier who murdered the late woman in her matrimonial home.

One of the protesting women, Elizabeth Yahay, wondered why soldiers would open fire on woman who was neither fighting nor a threat to them.

“They went right into her compound and killed her when there was no trouble in the area,” she said. Everybody was ordered by soldiers to enter their house the next thing we knew was Charity was killed. We want the government to intervene so that the man who killed her is brought to book.”

The women’s mood however changed as the atmosphere became charged when Comfort, daughter of the deceased collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.

The protest by the women started from the compound of the deceased and the women vowed to, “Continue to protest and cry until that soldier who killed this innocent woman is brought to justice,” just as they demanded the withdrawal of soldiers from the area.

The women were later addressed by the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in the state, Lewi Pokti, who advised them to allow the authorities and God to handle of the situation, assuring that CAN would convey their grievance to the authorities concerned to ensure that justice was done.

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Source: Vanguard News