Residents of Ushafa Community in the Bwari Area Council, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja were thrown into panic on Thursday following the mysterious death of a local security guard, Mr Titus Najin.
OsunDailyNG gathered that Titus, who works with the LEA Primary School in Ushafa was on Thursday morning discovered in a tank containing diesel meant to power an MTN mast near the school.
Local sources told OsunDailyNG that the deceased was found in the tank during a search after he failed to report to the school to open class and office doors for pupils and staff as usual.
The school’s Head Mistress, Mrs Patricia Inya who confirmed the incident to OsunDailyNG, also alleged that her office was vandalized by suspected robbers on Wednesday night.
She lamented that there has been a series of stealing within the school premises in recent times.
Narrating the incident, the school’s Assistant Headmaster, Mr Mailafia Moni told OsunDailyNG that after the deceased was pulled out of the tank, he was immediately rushed to the Bwari General Hospital where he was later confirmed dead.
He said, “Mr Titus helps us to look at the school compound and at the same time he works with MTN to secure the mast. He is the only one that has the key to the mast.
“Mr Titus usually comes very early in the morning to open the classes for us. So when the children came this morning, there was nobody to open the classes for them so they became confused”.
According to him, the HM sent some staff to the house of the deceased but his wife told the staff that her husband left the house at about 5am.
“We were all looking for him before someone noticed that the tank was shaking. When some staff drew closer, it was discovered that he was inside the tank without clothes. He was wearing only his boxers.
“We did everything possible to bring him out but we couldn’t until a teacher forced himself inside the tank and we all pulled him out.
“We rushed him to the Bwari General Hospital but before reaching there, he gave up”, he said.
It was, however, not clear if the deceased was hacked by criminal elements or if he was stealing from the diesel when he fell into the tank.
When OsunDailyNG visited the school, it was observed that teachers were unable to attend to pupils as many children were seen roaming around the compound.
Our correspondent also observed that some men of the Nigeria Police Force were on ground at the incident scene to ascertain the root cause of the incident.
One of the officers told OsunDailyNG anonymously that the incident could be a criminal case, saying an investigation would uncover the mystery.
