The Kano State Police Command has launched an intensive investigation after two women — a senior and junior wife — were brutally killed and set ablaze inside their matrimonial home in the Tudun Yola area of Gwale Local Government.
The horrifying incident occurred in broad daylight on Thursday, at a time when the husband was away and the neighbourhood unusually quiet. According to residents, the attackers entered the home without raising suspicion and remained inside for hours before carrying out the assault.
Police spokesperson, CSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, confirmed the development to journalists but declined to provide further details, saying, “We do not want to jeopardise the ongoing investigation.” He, however, disclosed that two mobile phones believed to belong to the suspected attackers were recovered at the scene. Investigators also found evidence suggesting that the senior wife had been injured before being set on fire.
A friend of the husband said the attackers had slipped into the home long before dusk, unnoticed by neighbours.
One of the victims’ children, Anas Sha’aibu, narrated the devastating scene.
“I was at home at night when my father called and asked me to rush to the family house because there was a fire. But when we arrived, what we found was something else entirely. The junior wife was already burning. My mom had locked herself inside the bathroom,” he said.
He recounted how the family struggled desperately to force open the bathroom door. “When we eventually broke it open, we found her dead. Her room had been set on fire, and the flames were pushed into the bathroom through the ventilation.”
Anas added that CCTV footage from a neighbour showed the attackers arriving at about 12:30 p.m., entering the house quietly and remaining inside unnoticed until after the Maghrib prayer.
“One of the children returned home after sunset but found the door locked from inside. He knocked and called my parents’ phones repeatedly but got no response. That was when he alerted my father, who immediately sent me home — only for us to meet this tragedy.”
Initial suspicions of an accidental fire were dismissed after a closer inspection of the house.
“The main sitting room was untouched,” Anas explained. “We found a jerrycan of petrol. The generator had been tampered with, and fuel was poured around.”
He said one of the women was burnt while still seated on a chair, while petrol had been splashed across every corner of the junior wife’s room, including the bed.
“The entire mattress was burnt. Everything was deliberately set on fire.”
As police intensify their investigation, the Tudun Yola community remains in shock, struggling to comprehend the brutality of the attack that claimed two lives in such a calculated manner.