By Capital Watch Media
The lawmaker representing Pankshin/Kanam/Kanke Federal Constituency of Plateau State in the National Assembly, Yusuf Gagdi, has called on the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to apprehend the killers of his mother-in-law, Mrs Mary Jonathan and her son, Mark Jonathan.
Recent reports gathered that the two persons were killed by gunmen who attacked their house located around Mista Ali in Jos, the Plateau state capital late October.
Gagdi, who confirmed the incident in a post he shared on his X.com handle on Saturday after the burial of the victims, described the killings as senseless.
The lawmaker wrote, “Today, alongside my wife Jemimah, we laid to rest her mother, Mrs Mary Jonathan, and our brother, Mark Jonathan, who were tragically taken from us by violent and senseless acts. We honour their memories, pray and seek justice. Rest well, Mama and Brother Mark. May God Almighty expose the perpetrators of this heinous crime,” he wrote.
“It is appointed unto every soul to taste death, but yours, regrettably, came through the barrel of some trigger-happy men of the underworld. Nothing would have captured the vanity of human existence better than your senseless murders, alongside your son and my brother, Mr Mark Jonathan. Your tragic murder has created a vacuum in our lives, and we will miss your motherly love and care. Rest well Mama and may God Almighty expose the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Adieu mama”, he added.
Reacting to the murder of the lawmaker’s relatives on Sunday, a cross-section of Jos residents who spoke on Sunday said the assailants who killed the woman and her son must face the full wrath of the law.
According to them, all efforts should be deployed by the security agencies to secure Jos, the state capital, against hoodlums who had been terrorising residents in many communities without checks.
“My prayers are with the lawmaker and his family. Losing two family members in a gruesome manner. This is very painful. How can one stay in his house and just get killed for committing no crime?”, a resident at the Dadin Kowa community, Nuhu Bako, said.
“This sorrowful incident is becoming something else. It shows that nobody is safe anymore. The other day, a friend and her son were in their house in the Bukuru area when kidnappers came and abducted them. They spent three days in the forest with kidnappers before they were released after they paid N1.5m and some cartons of noddles as ransom. I think the police and the other security agencies should look into the emerging rate of insecurity in Jos and do something before it gets out of hand”, another resident, Mrs Kachollom Mark, said.
When contacted on Sunday, the spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, Alabo Alfred, did not pick up his phone nor reply to a message sent by our correspondent to him but sources close to the Commissioner of Police told our correspondent that an investigation had begun to unravel the circumstances behind the acts with a view to apprehending the perpetrators.
