Human rights group raises concern over disappearance of Gen Alkali

By Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

A human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has raised alarm over the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Major General Idris Alkali since 3rd September, 2018.
The organization raised the alarm in a press statement signed by its Director Professor Ishaq Akintola and made available to journalists in Abuja.
The army general, who retired a few weeks ago, was the Chief of Administration in the Nigerian Army up till the time of his retirement.
Security agents traced signals from his cell phone to a notorious pond in the Dura-Du District, a Berom community in Jos, Plateau State.
The search for the general which began on 22nd September, 2018 involved the army, the Nigerian fire services and local divers.
The general’s car with plate number MUN-670-AA Kwara State was found at the bottom of the pond after spending more than one week draining it.
The searchers also found his blood-stained army T-shirt with his name tag on it. But the body was nowhere to be found.
The human rights organization affirmed that there was more to the disappearance of the retired army general than meets the eye.
The group said there is every reason to believe that the general was targeted by Berom Christian terrorists because he was a Muslim passing through Berom territory.
According to MURIC, “The Nigerian Army has reported that General Alkali (rtd) disappeared around that Dura-Du axis.
“The fact that more than 500 Berom Christian women protested against the search at the pond in order to stop the army from draining it is a strong pointer to the complicity of the whole community.
“Terrorists and killers hiding behind community women is a most dangerous development.
“It is not a new phenomenon.The fact that four other cars were found at the bottom of the evil pond shows that the spot had been a killing ground for some time.
“MURIC appeals to the Chief of Army Staff, General Buratai, to leave no stone unturned in finding General Alkali (rtd) dead or alive.
Nigerian Muslims want to know what happened to him.
“A whole retired general cannot disappear into thin air just like that. It is a daring assault on the Nigerian Army. This is infra dignitatem. How can ordinary civilians treat a whole general of the Nigerian Army like this?
“We want the culprits identified, apprehended and duely punished according to the laws of the land.
“The army must also find their sponsors no matter how highly placed they may be.
“We are also interested in knowing the identities of the owners of the four cars found along with the general’s car. Of course our strong suspicion is that they were all Muslims driving through Berom territory before they were profiled, murdered and dumped in the pond.
Perhaps their bodies and that of the general were buried elsewhere to ensure that they are never found.
The group appealed to Muslims all over Nigeria to remain calm and law abiding, as “The military is on top of the situation.”