HOW BUHARI'S SUPPORTERS BUCTURED TOMISIN TEIDE

Facts have emerged on how Tomisin Teide, a corps member, was lain in the violence that rocked many states in the northern part of the country following the recent presidential elections.

Tomisin, 24, was posted to Giade Local Government Area of Bauchi State by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for his primary assignment after the orientation exercise at Wailo Camp last September.

An indigene of Osun State,  he  was among the 200 other corps members recruited as electoral officers by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cover the 20 Local Government areas in the state. 

As it turned out eventually, those of them posted to the northern parts of Bauchi State like Katagum, Darazo, Giade, Dambam Jammare became the biggest casualties of the senseless riots that trailed the presidential polls as many of them were attacked and killed.

The Batch C, 2010 corps member ran to the police station in Giade to seek refuge as their lodge in Giade was attacked. The rioters attacked the station and overpowered the policemen on duty before setting the station on fire. 

They brought out Tomisin, a graduate of Computer Science from the University of Ilorin and about six other corps members and killed them. Daily Sun learnt from reliable sources that the female corps members among them were allegedly raped.

The discovery was corroborated by one of the rape suspects arrested by the Bauchi State Police Command and paraded among the 67 other suspects by the Commissioner of Police posted to the state for the general election, Mr. John Abakasanga in connection with the post-election violence. 

The suspect confessed in an interview with Daily Sun that he saw some of the female corps members being raped in Giade but did not participate in the act. A female corps member who miraculously escaped when the lodge was attacked told Daily Sun that she ran and climbed a tree where she hid before the police came and rescued her.

“It was a horrible thing to witness,” she said. “I will never wish even my enemies to meet this kind of death,” the corps member who also pleaded anonymity told our correspondent. She said that while Tomisin and some other corps members ran to the police station, she ran inside the bush. 

She displayed to our correspondent pictures of Tomisin which she took shortly before the police and other security agents came to rescue them. The horrifying pictures indicate that the deceased was inflicted with several machete cuts on his head and body leading to his death.“I ran out of my room barefooted in my underwear. I did not run to the police station with Tomisin and others.

“When I saw the crowd coming, I shouted and ran out and had to climb a tree. Somehow, they did not see me and I almost fainted on top of the tree,” she said. According to her, the news of her colleagues’ death shocked her beyond imagination.“He was a very nice person and carried everyone along. He did not deserve to die.”

Many of Tomisin’s colleagues and friends were shattered over his death and the killing of their colleagues.

According to the story, Tomisin was preparing a meal of beans when the attackers stormed the Corpers’ Lodge that Sunday afternoon. “They were carrying big sticks, machetes and chanting Sai Buhari, Sai CPC,” one of the corps members who was rescued by the police said. But Tomisin and six of his colleagues made for the police station to escape being lynched.

His friend and colleague who had been evacuated to Port Harcourt shared with our correspondent on phone his last moments with Tomisin. The deceased friend who pleaded anonymity said: “I spoke with him that morning and asked him to come to Bauchi to spend the weekend with me. 

He usually came to Bauchi to spend the weekend with me. I asked him to come to Bauchi as usual. I waited for his call but he did not call which was unusual. I tried his number but I could not reach him.

“I went to ECWA church in Bauchi to see a friend when another friend now called me to inform me that Tomisin had been killed in Giade. It was like a joke to me. I was told that he was at home at the lodge cooking beans when the mob attacked them and he ran to the police station. 

The policemen tried to disperse the mob but they refused. They even fired tear gas at them but they did not run. They now set the place on fire and killed Tomisin and the other corps member. I don’t know the number.”

He described the death of his colleague as shocking. He said: “We met in camp last September and became friends. He was a very lively person. Our last discussion was that he was coming to Bauchi. His dad was even trying to get him a job at NNPC. He also told me that he wanted to go for his post graduate degree after the service.”

Tomisin’s friend said he was posted to both Giade and Bauchi, the state capital as an electoral officer. “I was surprised to see two postings in my name so I settled for Bauchi since it was nearer and it is the capital. I never knew that it would become a killing field.”

Tomisin’s friend said that the parents were devastated by the news.
“I can say that the NYSC is a good scheme but the implementation is very bad. Corps members are just posted to places to serve but there is, in most cases, no careful plan for their welfare and security. It is very sad. 

As for me, I am through with the service. I am not going back to Bauchi for now. I will only go to that state to collect my redeployment letter or certificate.”