TVC E. A domestic staff who has served in the household of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in the last 40 years, named Yusuf Sarkin Gida, has been arrested by the Katsina State Police Command, for allegedly stealing the sum of N91 million from the wife of the former head of state, Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua.
Confirming the arrest of Gida, the State Commissioner of Police, Usman Abdullahi Mohammed, said a formal complaint was lodged by the former First Lady, leading to the arrest of the suspect.
“We are investigating the matter and all the facts are not available yet. It will actually surprise you to know that the man has been serving the family for over 40 years,” Mohammed said.
Apart from Gida, Hajiya Turai was also said to have had another domestic servant, Malam Yusuf Jikwado, a 70-year-old man who has been with her for many years, arrested alongside his two sons, for alleged theft of foodstuffs and an undisclosed amount of money.
Malam Jikwando who is said to be the longest-serving domestic servant in the Yar’Adua family was arrested two days before the last Eid-el-Kabir in his house at Samji Quarters in Katsina and has been in detention since then.
It was gathered that the arrest followed directives given to the Commissioner of Police by Hajiya Turai to get him arrested for stealing her food items.
But a family member of the arrested man said that when the police went to his house to conduct a search, only a little quantity of rice and a quarter bag of maize was found, and yet he was still arrested with his sons and thrown into detention.
The Jikwando family members have, however, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Governor of Katsina State, Bello Masari and the Human Rights Commission to come to their aid and get their father released from detention.
