A farmer in Ngadan, a surbub village of Andaha Town, in Akwanga Local Government Area, of Nasarawa State, has allegedly killed a boy, aged 12 years, identified as, Johnson Gabriel, after he shot him with a gun.
Many sources in the area told New Vision Newspaper that, the unfortunate incident happened when the boy, in company of his four mates, trespassed into a farm, and allegedly stole some maize combs.
The source said on sighting the boys, the farmer, named, Umar Gabi, shot at them, killing the unlucky boy in the process. While two of his mates sustained bullets wounds, one on the leg, and the other on the hand. Together with the other two, the four of them managed to escape.
Our reporter was told by the sources that, the incident happened on Wednesday, July 30th, 2025. But it was the following day the public got to know about it.
Initially the boys, that escaped the farmer’s gun, were afraid to report the incident to anyone, until the following day when it somehow became public. People in the area said they could not immidiately reach the scene, because it was raining heavily when the news became public. However, a search team later went to the farm and retrieved Johnson’s corpse.
The matter was then reported to Andaha Divisional Police Station. However, that was after the suspect, Umar Gabi, was thoroughly beaten.
“If not because of the elders, and community leaders the man would have been lynched by angry mob, mostly youths” an eye witness said.
Our reporter learnt that it took the spirited combined efforts of the Police, elders and community leaders, to save the suspect from being lynched.
Even when the farmer was locked up at the Police Station, soldiers had to be called to help pacify and dispersed the irate crowd at the station.
“The crowd of people were shouting, asking that the man should be brought to recieve instant justice”, an eyewitness in Andaha, told New Vision Newspaper. At the time of writing this report, the police were investigating the incident.
Meanwhile, the corpse of the boy had been deposited at the Akwanga General Hospital, just as the farmer has also been taken to, yet to be identified, hospital in handcuffs, for treatment.
Our reporter also learnt from sources, that the two other boys were taken to Akwanga General Hospital, and the bullets removed from their respective hand and leg.
Findings by our reporte revealed that, Johnson the boy killed, is an orphan living with his widowed mother in another village, near Ngadan Village, where he was killed. His family were among refugees that ran away from Fadan Karshi District in Kaduna State, which was embroiled in communal crisis some years ago.
Further investigations by our reporter discovered that there is an irony of fate surrounding this unfortunate incident.
It has been discovered that the mother of the boy killed, comes from the same family of wife of the farmer that killed him.
All efforts to speak to the police has been successful. When contacted, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Andaha referred our reporter to the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Lafia, headquarters of the Nasarawa State Police Command.
Our reporter called the PPRO several times, but the calls were not answered. Also, the PPRO did not reply a text message requesting his comment on the incident.
