The younger sister to the late Mr. Mohammed Alikali, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) that was beheaded by unknown people alongside his police orderly during the Saturday December 12, 2016 re-run elections in Rivers State -has revealed that the deceased reluctantly joined the Nigeria Police Force in 2009, following the advice of their father, Alhaji Yakubu Alikali, who is a retired Commissioner of Police.

About a month ago, he complained to me that the job was becoming too dangerous because the criminals were always targeting senior police officers who were usually the leaders of their teams for attack in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.”

The sister, who identified herself as Mrs. Safiya Alikali Adamu to the Saturday Tribune at the family house of the Alkali’s in Minna town, Bosso Local Government of Niger state said her brother was already tired of police job with a possible premonition.

She stated that her deceased brother who was attached to the Rivers State Police Command Headquarters in Port Harcourt was the eldest child of their parents, Alhaji Alikali and his wife, Hajiya Rakiya Alikali, adding that the decision of their father to enlist their brother, a graduate of Mathematics and Computer Education from the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, was an attempted to ensure that one of his children continues from where he stopped in the Nigeria Police.

According to Sefiya, in October last year, a similar tragedy befell the family when the immediate younger sister to the deceased identified as Bilkisu Alikali, a Medical student at Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto State also died during a brief illness.

And when asked if after the fate that befell Bomboy as the slain Alkali was fondly called by family members, any member of the family would be allowed to join any security or paramilitary agency in future, she was philosophical in her answer. According to her, “everyone has his or her own destiny, we came through different ways and we would go back through different ways.”

She explained further that the last time the family saw the late DSP was on July 30, this year when he came from his base in Port Harcourt to check on his wife and children as well as the extended family in Minna, after which he returned to his station.

“And on the morning of that fateful Saturday during our telephone conversation, I thought all was okay with him. I asked if he was coming home for the Christmas and the New year celebrations but he said he was not sure because the authorities had placed an embargo on travelling outside his State Police Command and as such he might not be able to come until after the festive period,” she said.

Sefiya however pointed out that she became worried some few hours after her telephone conversation with her late elder brother when she received several calls from different people who were close to him, emphasising that the callers however did not disclose to her why they were calling her persistently that evening.

She said some of the callers claimed they were only calling to check on her. “In fact that was all, not until later in the evening of the same day when the last born of the family, Monsurat called and asked me if it was true that our elder brother had been murdered and I said nobody has called to say anything of such to me”.

Consequently she said she told her younger sister to allow her call their father on his cell phone for confirmation, adding that when she called their father, only his MTN line was on and when he picked it, he just stated that “Mohammed is dead.”

She said her late elder brother would be remembered for so many things, which included the happy moments they all shared together, describing him as a mentor, a father and a brother too.

The emotionally distressed sister whose pregnancy is at an advanced stage tearfully told the Saturday Tribune that in their family, her deceased elder brother was everything to everyone both morally and financially.

“The last disaster that happened in our family was last year; it was our sister Bilkisu, she was a medical student at Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto state. I can still recollect the way our daddy broke the news of our elder brother and the first born of the family to me, he said Bomboy is dead and that the Police High Command were making arrangements to bring his remains.

“And the corpse was brought around 3;40 am to Minna and he was buried in our village, Dawshia along Rafin Yanshi junction Bosso Local Government of the state last Monday,” she said tearfully.

Meanwhile, the widow of the deceased Alkali, Mrs Fatimah Adamu Alkali, in a separate interview with the Saturday Tribune bem0aned her plight and that of her three little children. “I had not seen my husband in more than three months before his death. And we spoke on phone in the morning of that fateful Saturday and as usual we exchanged pleasantries and he asked after our children”.

The bereaved widow, who is a staff at the Health Department, Bosso Local Government of the state, however disclosed that it had become a tradition since her late husband was transferred to Rivers state Police Command in Port Harcourt to travel with her children during festive period like this to spend their holidays with him there after which she would return to Minna with the children shortly after the yuletide period.

She said prior to the unfortunate incident, her late husband had informed both his colleagues and subordinates that she would be coming with the children to Port Harcourt, adding that everybody including her late husband was looking forward to her arrival and the children also looking forward to meeting their father.

“He had already told them I was coming for the holidays. And I am really going to miss everything about him including the love he showered on me,” she stated.

The mother of three – Bilkisu, Aliyu and Rabi — noted that in the afternoon of the day that her husband was murdered, she called his telephone lines in order to talk to him but said it was not reachable except for the MTN line.

“But shortly after that I started receiving calls from some of his colleagues and his junior officers, immediately I knew something had happened to my husband,” she recalled amidst tears.

The late Alkali is survived by his aged parents, two younger sisters, a younger brother, his wife and three children among other dependants.