‘How my husband slaughtered our 3 children’

Goru is a quiet and sleepy village, but was brought to the attention of Nigerians a week ago when one Idris Samaila slaughtered his three children - Shamsudeen (7),  Fatihu (4) and Sherifat, (5 months) in their sleep minutes after his wife left their hut to ease herself.When Daily Trust visited Samaila’s wife Nafisat, who is still in shock, she narrated how it all happened. “I went to ease myself. The children were sleeping so I left them with him. When I returned, I was shocked to find them dead; their father had slaughtered them. I shouted out loud, threw myself on the ground crying and people rushed out. They were all terrified to see what my husband had done to his three children.”Nafisa said after her husband killed the children, he ran away.Nafisa told Daily Trust that she has been married to Samaila for almost a decade. “We didn’t quarrel, so I’m confused.” She admitted, however, that he would sometimes act unusual, as if mentally ill. “But it didn’t bother me, and I didn’t tell my parents about it because he had never hurt me. Anytime his behaviour starts, he takes his drugs and becomes normal again.”Yahya Samaila, elder brother to Nafisa’s husband,told Daily Trust that after he committed the heinous crime, he ran out of the compound and jumped into a deep well at the centre of Goru village. “Those who saw him when he was running away told us they saw him jump into the well. We went there with police, and he was brought out. We were all shocked that he was stillalive.”The police took him away, first to Yeldu and later to Kangiwa. “But he is now at the psychiatric hospital in Jega,” his brother said, adding that he has never been known to be violent.“Most times, he sits in a corner all alone and shouts but he has never attacked anybody. He doesn’t quarrel with his wife; they always sleep together inside this hut. If he had been fighting her I believe she won’t be comfortable staying with him all these years. We are still in shock.”Locals told Daily Trust that government has takenover the issue, with the governor even visiting thevillage.Residents who know Samaila say during the rainyseason, he farms and sometimes gathers fire wood to sell and feed his family.    Samaila’s father, Malam Adamu Muhammed, saidhis son has been suffering from mental illness for over three years. “He developed the illness after returning from the bush where he had gone to hunt. When we discovered that his behaviour was abnormal we took him to different places for treatment. Anytime we noticed that his sickness was coming up, we would give him drugs and he would be alright

Daily trust