65-year-old Pa Yakubu Jah who resides in Jos, Plateau state has been thrown into mourning and despair after his 29-year old only son, Phillip, pictured above, was murdered in a clash between two rival cult groups, Red Axe and Black Axe, in Kabong community in Jos North Local Government Area.
In a chat with The Sun, the devastated father said he’s in great agony because he’d lost other sons few years ago.
According to Pa Jah, on the day of the unfortunate incident, his son Philip was at home in the evening and chatting with himself and his wife when his phone rang. Within seconds he left the house, to meet with his friends at the market square, which is not far from the house.
Whilst he was out, a fight between the two rival cult groups broke out and spilled into the place where Philip and his friends were playing. In the ensuing confusion, he was stabbed severally with a knife on his chest and neck. Bleeding profusely, Philip was rushed to Bingham University Teaching Hospital for urgent treatment but he died before getting to the house. His corpse was subsequently deposited at the morgue after doctors certified him dead.
Pa Yakubu who was about to have his dinner, was thrown in shock after he was informed of what had happened to his only surviving son.
“If I had the premonition that my son would die, I would not have allowed him go out when he received that phone call that made him go to the place of his death. His friends said it was a military man that called him out of the house, but I don’t know who actually called him. I don’t know where to start now, this boy has been very supportive in the family, he has been killed, I couldn’t believe the story which sounded like a movie until when I saw the corpse at the mortuary the following morning. I am finished.” he said
Philip who was the fourth child in the family of five, left behind three children – Pam and Davou, eight and five years respectively. The youngest, Bitrus is two years old and was abandoned by the mother one year ago. Philip lost his elder sister in a mysterious manner several years ago while the elder brother, Luka, died in 2015 in a fatal car accident. As if that wasn’t enough, the younger brother also died after a brief illness in 2016, leaving behind two girls. Pa Jah says he was yet to recover from the rude shock of losing his children only for him to be hit again with the sad news of the death of Phillip, the bread winner of the family.
“I don’t know why my children always die in these circumstances. I lost the first child many years ago in a brutal manner, and the elder brother died through accident in Delta State. Somebody gave him a vehicle to drive without my knowledge and he had accident and died. Now Philip has been killed by his friends. People have always encouraged me to seek for justice but if I remember how they died. I don’t want to go into that, particularly regarding the death of Philip because it will be a waste of resources and precious time. Some people even spread the rumour that he was a cultist. I don’t know about that, I have left everything to God.” the bereved father said
The family was however thrown into further shock when members of a cult group dressed in black came over to their home with claims that Philip was their member and insisted that the family should release his corpse to them for burial according to their norms. Sunday Sun learnt the boys came out in their numbers as early as 8:00a.m and marched to Bingham University Teaching Hospital Jos, where they created a scene as they demanded for the corpse from the family.
The cult group, which was made up of young boys and girls, threatened to unleash terror on innocent members of the public, and even attempted to burn a popular hotel, which is said to belong to the leader of the rival cult group.
To save the day, teams of the Special Task Force (STF) in charge of internal security in Jos and its environs rushed to the area just as the Nigerian police and men of the Department of the State Services were called in to join in restoring normalcy and pave way for the burial which took place behind Government Secondary School, Kabong.
