Sunset at dawn

•How corps member was stabbed to death while jogging in Kaduna

By Jude Owuamanam

It was a solemn moment as Mrs. Mankat Joel recalled the unfortunate fate that befell her only child, Chalya Grace Joel, a youth corps member, who was murdered in Kaduna.

Mankat, a retired nurse, had concentrated her time and energy to single-handedly train Chalya in the university after the death of her husband four years ago. It was, therefore, a monumental tragedy when all her efforts shattered like a piece of glass in that moment of madness when Chalya was cut down in her prime while taking a morning workout in Barnawa, one of the notorious areas of Kaduna metropolis.

When our correspondent visited the Joels in Zaramaganda area of Jos South, Plateau State, her obituary was pasted on a wall on the street while a stream of visitors was seen coming and going to console the family.

Inside the house, Mankat reclined on a settee, surrounded by other women. After some pleasantries with the women, she extended her hands to welcome our correspondent to her house with a voice that was barely audible.

After directing our correspondent to a seat, all she could mutter was, “It’s her time.” When asked about her daughter’s death, she simply called one of her relatives to talk to our correspondent.

Ms. Gwamkat Gwamzhi, who relayed the feelings of the family over the tragedy, said that the family was yet to come to terms with the fate that had befallen them.

She said: “From the information we gathered, she had recently moved from the Corpers’ Lodge to Barnawa, where she secured an apartment. What we know about the circumstances surrounding her death is very scanty. We only gleaned from eyewitness accounts that she was stabbed by some hoodlums while she was on early morning jogging.”

Asked whether she had previously reported any threat to her life, Gwamzhi said:“We did not hear of any threat to her life. In fact, as I said earlier, she had moved to this place about two weeks before the incident. Even one of her cousins spoke to her a day before the incident and she did not relate any impending danger to her life. What we knew about the attack on her was only gleaned from eyewitness accounts.”

The atmosphere was no less mournful at the church service on Friday at Church of Christ in Nations (LCC Dachum, RCC Dadin Kowa, in Jos South LGA of the state, where friends and well-wishers paid their final respects.

Presiding, Rev. Moses Dafurum, in his sermon, described Chalya’s demise as painful, more so as she was the only child of her mother, a widow.

He, however, counselled the family to accept the incident as an act of God.

Dafurum called on security agencies to do everything possible to apprehend the perpetrators of the act, and the government to ensure the security of lives and properties of citizens.

In his tribute on behalf of family and friends, university don, Professor Wuyep Ponchang, called on the authorities to ensure that the family gets justice by arresting the culprits. He said justice for Chalya was justice for all those who had been killed unjustly.

“Her blood will not go in vain; it will be the reason such senseless killings will come to an end,” he said.

Head of corps welfare, National Youth Service Corps, Kaduna State, Mr. Samaila Haruna, who represented the NYSC, disclosed that the security agencies have been able to arrest some suspects in connection with the incident.

Haruna said that they were not resting on their oars to ensure that she did not die in vain, by bringing the suspects to book.

He said: “We have had a series of meetings with the security operatives and the state government and they are all working towards finding the killers and ensuring justice for Chalya.”

Indeed, the whole congregation at the funeral couldn’t hold their tears as her casket, draped in NYSC colours, were carried by her mates, dressed in corpers’ attire, into a waiting ambulance.

Her body was, thereafter, conveyed to her hometown, Mayanga, in Langtang South, for interment.

Born on September 28, 1999, Chalya Joel was murdered in Barnawa, Kaduna, on October 18, while engaged in an early morning jogging.