As the Police reverted from the gunshot wounds that was alleged to have slaughtered Rimi saying it was heart failure. The
Driver of the late Abubakar Rimi yesterday gave a blow-by-blow account of how the former Kano Stategovernor died, saying Rimi began gasping soon after he saw wounds in
his brother’s head after a brush with armed robbers on Sunday night.
Alhaji Haruna Abdullahi, who worked with the Rimi family since 1979 when the
late politician was elected governor, said their vehicle was forced to
stop by a gang of armed robbers along the road to Darki/Gadar Janna
near Wudil, south-east of Kano.
“The robbers had completely taken over the road when we approached
Darki/Gadar Janna,” he said. “It therefore became compulsory for us to
stop, otherwise they would shoot at us.”
“As we stopped, they searched us and collected our money and our handsets.
They also beat my boss’ younger brother who was seated right behind me.
The security aide to my boss was sitting at the front.
“The robbers were armed, but they did not use their weapons. They asked for
money and we gave them. They asked me to open the boot and when I
opened it, they searched all our luggage, including that of my boss,
but one of the bags was difficult to open.
“At that time, I tried to frighten them by telling them that the police
could come and open fire on us all.” Abdullahi said one of the robbers
responded by saying: “to hell with the police!”
He said after the robbers were done with them, they asked them to proceed
on the journey. As they moved on, Rimi said to him: “You see what
robbery is nowadays. These men have now cheated us.” The deceased then
said he would never travel at night again, because this was not the
first time they encountered robbers.
“They have robbed us once and robbed us twice, therefore we should not fall
victims again,” the driver quoted the late Rimi as saying.
He said at that point, Rimi’s brother Alhaji Sule Sa’a told them he was
injured in the head and arm by the robbers. Rimi asked to see the
wounds and immediately he saw them, he started coughing and gasping. He said as they got to Wudil town, Rimi’s son Nura rang the guard, whose hidden cell phone was not taken by the robbers.
Abdullahi said Nura suggested to them to take the late Rimi straight to hospital
instead of coming home, though they assured him that Rimi was not
physically attacked by the robbers.
“At that moment my boss started sweating to the extent that Alhaji Sa’a
advised me to put on the car air conditioner. As we approached Gano
town, my boss said to me ‘take me to Classic Clinic as soon as we get
to Kano.’” At
the Classic Clinic, Abdullahi said, “after he was examined by a female
doctor, we were asked to take him to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital
(AKTH).” He said Rimi was already unconscious by the time they got to the teaching hospital.
“We—myself, Nura and the bodyguard—lifted him into the emergency ward. They later
asked us to leave the room so that he could take fresh air. So I came
out, but shortly Nura came out and started calling friends and family
members to inform them that my boss was dead,” Abdullahi said.
Rimi, a former minister of communications and presidential aspirant, died
Sunday night of complications from high blood pressure an hour after he
had an encounter with armed robbers on his way back to Kano from Bauchi. (Daily Trust)