Kebbi State Man, Slaughter Three of His Children, Shamsudeen (7), Fatihu (4) And Sherifat (5 months) While They Slept

Goru is a quiet and sleepy village in Kebbi State Nigeria, but was brought to the attention of Nigerians a week ago when one Idris Samaila slaughtered his three children – Shamsudeen (7), Fatihu (4) and Sherifat, (5 months) in their sleep minutes after his wife left their hut to ease herself.

When Daily Trust visited Samaila’s wife Nafisat, who is still in shock, she narrated how it all happened. “I went to ease myself. The children were sleeping so I left them with him. When I returned, I was shocked to find them dead; their father had slaughtered them. I shouted out loud, threw myself on the ground crying and people rushed out. They were all terrified to see what my husband had done to his three children.”

Nafisa said after her husband killed the children, he ran away.

Nafisa said that she has been married to Samaila for almost a decade. “We didn’t quarrel, so I’m confused.” She admitted, however, that he would sometimes act unusual, as if mentally ill. “But it didn’t bother me, and I didn’t tell my parents about it because he had never hurt me. Anytime his behaviour starts, he takes his drugs and becomes normal again.”

Yahya Samaila, elder brother to Nafisa’s husband, told Daily Trust that after he committed the heinous crime, he ran out of the compound and jumped into a deep well at the centre of Goru village. “Those who saw him when he was running away told us they saw him jump into the well. We went there with police, and he was brought out. We were all shocked that he was still alive.”

The police took him away, first to Yeldu and later to Kangiwa. “But he is now at the psychiatric hospital in Jega,” his brother said, adding that he has never been known to be violent.

“Most times, he sits in a corner all alone and shouts but he has never attacked anybody. He doesn’t quarrel with his wife; they always sleep together inside this hut. If he had been fighting her I believe she won’t be comfortable staying with him all these years. We are still in shock.”