19-Year-Old Apprentice Murdered By His Friend

Sekegh Aku, a 19-year-old apprentice, was allegedly fatally stabbed in Benue State by his friend, a 17-year-old.

The incident took place at Tomahar Street in the state’s Gboko Local Government Area after a brief argument between the deceased and the suspect, Torver Kunav.

Terwase Evelyn, a relative of the deceased, claimed in an interview with the Punch that Sekegh and Kunav were friends before the sad event.

She said, “I was not around when the incident happened; it was my son in Abuja that called me and said I should come back home, that something bad happened on January 9, 2023, around 11 am.

“I am like a sister or mother to the deceased. We stay in the same compound. He is like a son to me; his name is Sekegh Simon Aku. His mother and I are from the same local government and we relate more like sisters. So I was very close to him just like a mother.

“He was just into a mere argument with his friends. They had been friends for some time now; it did not happen in the house, it was in a nearby house because the immediate elder brother of the deceased was there with them.

“According to him, it was just a mere argument, not a serious issue and that in the course of the argument, he tried to stop them from shouting at each other. Sekegh didn’t know that the boy had the intention of harming him. He was talking to his brother when the boy removed a pair of scissors from the bag he had on him and stabbed Sekegh. He died immediately. By the time the news got to the mother, it was too late; he had already died.

“The boy who stabbed the deceased is a very arrogant and troublesome boy; he is known by everyone around to be very troublesome; he has no good qualities or character at all. We had even tried to separate him and our son but we live on the same street. He stays with his parents and he has landed them in trouble countless times.

“The case was reported at Gboko Central Police Station and policemen from the station took Sekegh’s body to the mortuary,” she said, stating that the suspect has been arrested.

“It was the boy’s mother that personally reported the case to the police; I guess for fear that he could be attacked. So, the boy was arrested and detained by the police. But presently, his relatives are nowhere to be found; they packed all their belongings and fled their house,” she added.

19-year-old Sekegh was a good boy, according to Evelyn, who also noted that he had previously disclosed that the suspect had threatened to kill him.

“He was from Konshisha Local Government though born and raised in the Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State where he lived until his death. He was a free-spirited boy; everybody wanted to be around him. He was an apprentice, learning carpentry.

“Sekegh always said the boy always tormented him, and used to tell him that one day he would kill him; that one day he would stab him to death but nobody believed that it was going to happen; we thought it was a joking matter; we thought it was the usual jokes by children.

“The father of the deceased is dead, and it has not been easy with the mother, but the eldest person is the one sorting the case. We are yet to get any from him; we are waiting for him,” she said.