The Katsina State Police Command and a 200-level student of Education Management, Federal University, Dustin-ma, Najib Shehu, have given different versions of how the student’s 60-year-old stepmother, Asiya Mohammed, died during their confrontation.
While the student spoke during his parade at the Command Headquarters, the police spoke in a signed statement.
Shehu said: “My name is Najib Shehu.
“I am 25 years old and a 200 level student of Education Management, Federal University, Dutsin-ma.
“I have been having issues with my stepmother, but on that Thursday, I had just observed prayers and returned to our house, my father was in the sitting room when my stepmother entered holding a pestle and started threatening me with it.
“She raised the pestle up to hit my head but I defended it.
“Then, she wanted to hit my leg but I jumped up, dodged it and it hit my father’s leg as he was coming to intervene.
“Again, my stepmother raised the pestle up and wanted to hit my head with it but I pushed her, and in the process, the pestle hit her head and caused her to fall down and die.
“My mother was the first wife of my father and they are separated.
“But I have been staying together with my father and stepmother at the Ambassador Quarters in Katsina.
“I regret my action.
“I did not want to commit the crime.”
The spokesman of the Katsina State Police Command, SP Gambo Osah, said during the parade that it was a murder case that must be thoroughly investigated.
Isah, who displayed the pestle used during the confrontation, said: “You know it is a murder case and we must investigate thoroughly.
“We shall arraign him in court immediately after the completion of our investigation.”
But it would be recollected that Isah had in an earlier statement said Shehu killed his stepmother with the pestle.
In the statement on August 18, 2022, he wrote: “He went to the kitchen, grabbed a pestle, hit her head severally with it and she sustained head injuries and was confirmed dead by a medical doctor.
“In the spur of the moment, the suspect also hit his father’s leg severally with the said pestle and he sustained fractures in different parts of his leg.
“The suspect was arrested and he confessed to the commission of the offence.
“The said pestle has been recovered as an exhibit.”