Family of Slain Youth in Ambush Demands Justice

By 𝔸bdulrazak Tomiwa

Yusuf Falke has shared the tragic story of his nephew, Uwaisu Sunusi, who was murdered by gunmen on February 23, 2026 while traveling to a market.

Uwaisu and three others were intercepted at a bypass in Barkin Ladi. Unlike the vehicles before them, their car was stopped for a deadly interrogation.

The encounter turned fatal when the gunmen demanded to know the passengers’ identities.

Falke recounted, “When it got to their turn, the armed men asked them who they were. The driver, named Nicholas, who was a Berom person, spoke with them and said, ‘We are together.’ Then, they asked him to wind down the glass of the back door. When they did, the armed men asked them who they were, and one of them said, ‘We are Hausa.'”

Once their ethnicity was revealed, the gunmen opened fire, killing four people. While the driver and two others managed to flee, Falke later called his nephew’s phone only to have a killer answer. The gunman coldly informed him that Uwaisu had already been executed.

Following a difficult search, the family located the victims’ remains in a remote ditch. The attackers had set the bodies on fire, burning them to ashes. Falke was only able to identify Uwaisu by his partially preserved face and the scraps of the shirt he was wearing.

Falke described the attack as an ethnic reprisal, noting that the Berom driver was spared while the Hausa passengers were targeted. The loss is a massive blow to the family, as Uwaisu was the sole provider for his mother and elderly grandmother.

Despite the brutality, the family is pleading for calm and rejecting any form of retaliation. Falke emphasized that they have chosen to forgive, asking only that the authorities arrest the perpetrators to ensure proper legal justice is served.