By Yemi Akinsuyi
The death of retired Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), John Hamza Ahamadu, brought to limelight the sleepy Unity Estate, Karu, Abuja as different class of vehicles have been driving in and out of the place, all to commiserate with the wife, Mary, and other family members of the late super cop.
The one-storey building with many sitting rooms could not even contain the sympathisers, who spread to neighbouring houses along the street.
The calm but sorrowful widow could not just come to terms with the sudden death of her dearly beloved husband of over 27 years.
The 47-year-old lady, a lawyer and Deputy Director with Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), looked far away from the throng of sympathisers who besieged her once quiet house. Her mind seemed to be wandering and wondering what comes next. They had five children, the first being 27 years old.
Speaking on the life and death of her husband was something Mary found a bit difficult, as the tears kept tumbling from her eyes. Amidst sobs, the dark and beautiful woman said: “I can’t say categorically if my husband had premonition of death on Sunday. But what baffles me up till now is that on that day, he woke up early in the morning and gathered all the children together in my room upstairs and said they should all carry me.
“I was shocked and when I demanded the meaning of such action, all my husband could tell was that himself and the children did not want me to fall as I did the previous Sunday. The Sunday before the sad one, I had fallen sick and in a bid to climb down the staircase, my leg slipped and I fell. So, jokingly, my husband and the children insisted on carrying me downstairs. We all left joyfully early in the morning to our church, Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) in Wuse II, Abuja.
“While in the church, I kept thinking about the early morning incident. Although we have been having fun at home but that of last Sunday was a bit different. He thrilled me and I started thinking that my husband was acting strange. I thought of missing him dearly because of his trip to Ekiti via Lagos. There in the church, I blessed God for giving me such a wonderful man as husband. Little did I know that that would be the last I would see of him on earth.”
She said some time ago, her husband had trained some people on vigilante for Lagos State government and when the Ekiti State governor saw the success of the training, he invited him to submit a proposal towards training his own local security personnel.
Born in Kashimbila, Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State on November 16, 1955, Ahmadu had BA (Hons) in Sociology, a certificate in International Criminal Justice and its Administration, and also an alumnus of the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Plateau State.
He served in various police formations including Sokoto and Delta State Police Commands. He held challenging positions such as DIG Operations and later the DIG in charge of ‘D’, Investigations Department at Force Headquarters, Abuja before his retirement on December 14, 2010.
