The peaceful atmosphere of Naka and its environs in Benue State
was punctured last Sunday by a man Iorhinja Gyado, who went berserk and killed
five persons within an hour. JOHNSON BABAJIDE was at the area and brings the
report.
The serene atmosphere at Tse Alaigwu,
Ikyabev district, a few kilometers to Naka, the headquarters of Gwer West Local
Government Area is beautiful and attractive. It is dotted with thatched houses
scattered around and trees, lined up as if they were planted to add to its
beauty. Its proximity to the nearby dam also adds colour to the environment.
This peaceful environment was taken
over by terror, penultimate Sunday, when a 30-year old mad man, who went
berserk, within three hours of insanity sent six persons, including himself, to
their early graves with attendant weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Contrary to the earlier report, the
mad man had cajoled his 15 year old cousin, Ir-Or Torguma, to a block moulding
site to see how he could get some blocks to continue with his building under
construction and oblivious of the intention of his uncle, Torguma innocently
accompanied him. While walking ahead in front, the mad man, who was behind him,
was said to be cracking jokes as they marched on. On the way, they were said to
have met a woman, Mrs Nyishima Tyosue, a 30-year-old and her nine year old
daughter, Terhile Tyosue, who were coming from the stream where they had gone
to fetch water and were a few meters away to the block site. They were
witnesses to how the mad man hacked his cousin down.
Not done with that, he turned to the
nine year old Terhile, with a pot of water on her head and meted out similar
treatment on her. Her mother, who saw the ugly incident, was said to have
raised the alarm and shouted as she was running away, while the mad man was
said to have given her a hot chase. Seeing that the mad man had closed up with
her, she knelt down, pleading for mercy, but the mad man was said to have
severed her head with the same cutlass he used on his other victims.
At this time, the husband to the
woman, Mr Tyosue, was said to be close to the scene. He was attracted to the
place upon hearing his wife’s wailing, and he watched how his wife’s head was
severed from her body. Irked by the ugly sight, he gave the mad man a hot chase
but his strength failed him as he slumped and was later rushed to the Father
Matthias Health Centre, and as at the time of filing this report, he was still
in coma.
According to an eyewitness, one
Torgande, a neighbour to the mad man, the cries of Mrs Tyosue drew their
attention to what was going on, and explained that when he heard the cry of the
woman shouting, ‘he has killed my daughter, please help me”, they rushed out to
find out what was going on.
Said he, “I rushed out and ran to the
area where the noise was coming from. Lo and behold, my neighbour was with a
sharp cutlass, while the woman knelt down, with her bucket of water on her
head, pleading for her life. I could not dare to move close because it was a
different person entirely that I saw in my neighbour. As I watched from a
distance, the woman’s husband attempted to rescue her but the havoc had been
wreaked, so everyone had to run when he was done with the woman, except the
husband who pursued him yet he could not go far because he slumped.”
Torgande further said that the mad
neighbour later came to his thatched house looking for him but that before he
could search the place, the gathered crowd had surged in and the mad man
escaped in the process of pursuing him. Before then, he was said to have also
macheted two children; Joy Ortwav, a nine year old girl and Dangote Samuel, a
10 year old boy.
The mad man, Iorhinja Gyado,
popularly known as Nomjov, according to the wife, Phenomena Gyado, a
21-year-old lady, was a teetotaler who could not hurt a fly, adding that,
within the two years of living together as husband and wife, “he never behaved
strangely, he neither indulged in drinking nor smoking. He was a quiet man and
lovely husband”, she had said.
She stated that at the time the ugly
incident occurred, she was in her family house in Naka (a few kilometres away
to the hamlet), where she had gone to plait her hair, only for her to learn
that some people had killed her husband.
In his own explanation, the mad man’s
step brother, Daniel Gyado, who confirmed that his brother was in 2003, treated
for mental illness at the psychiatric unit of Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi,
said that since then, he had not, at any moment, shown any trace of strange
behaviour.
According to him, “the young man was
a cool headed person, though, in 2003, when he was still in secondary school,
we discovered that he was behaving strangely so he was taken to the psychiatric
unit of Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi where he was treated. Since then, he
had been normal. After his secondary school education, he proceeded to a
private College of Education here in Naka.
“On Saturday, a day before the
incident, he called and told me that he was asked to go and pay the bride price
of his wife and that he would want me to lead the family members to his wife’s
family to pay the bride price of his wife. On Sunday morning, he still gave me
a call to remind me of what he discussed with me the previous day and I told
him we would put things in order”.
“So, at about 8 p.m. that Sunday,
somebody called me and told me that my brother had killed some people and that
they were looking for him. Immediately, I went to his house to look for him. On
getting there, I was told that he had escaped to Makurdi Road. I quickly joined
in searching for him but not long after that, I received another call that he
had been killed on the way to his in-law’s place and so I had to rush there. On
getting there, I saw many people and his lifeless body there”, he said.
His step brother, who was answering
questions on what might have caused the strange behaviour, however, submitted
that there was history of madness running in the deceased mother’s lineage.
According to the step brother, ‘no one can say the reason for the terrible
behaviour. Like I said earlier, he was once treated for mental illness in 2003
and there was a history of madness on his mother side. This, I can confirm
because his mother and maternal aunt once suffered mental ailment, his elder
sister is also having that illness and is presently chained somewhere where she
is being treated.”
Narrating the ordeal of the family,
Richard, a cousin to the murdered woman’s husband, said that his cousin’s wife
and daughter had gone to the stream to get water for cooking when they met
their untimely deaths.
The matron of Father Matthias Health
Centre, Reverend Sister Juliana Egbuma, said that the husband of the slain
woman was brought to the centre on Wednesday and that he had yet to recover
consciousness. She, however, expressed optimism that he would soon bounce back
to life with the treatment he was being given at the centre.
The chairman of the council, Mrs
Eunice Mbajwa, who also corroborated the Gyados’ family history of madness,
said that one of the boys that was macheted was rushed to the General Hospital
in Naka but died later that night, adding that the remains of the deceased were
deposited at the morgue of the General Hospital in Naka.
Mbajwa, who described the
incident as horrific said that the area, aside the invasion of Fulani herdsmen,
had never experienced such an ugly incident in many years adding that security
operatives had been put on alert not to allow any breakdown of law and order
again in the area.
The state police spokesman, DSP
Daniel Ezeala, who confirmed the report, said that no arrests had been made but
decried the jungle justice meted out to the mad man, adding that investigations
on the matter was on going.
Source: Tribune
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