Residents of Gushwet and surrounding villages, such as Shen, Nomansland, Dura, Lopandyet, Doi, etc, have fled their homes for fear that the army may descend on them. It was weeks of intensive search by men of the Nigerian army ever since the sudden disappearance of the army chief. The effort eventually led to a grim discovery for the army. The body of a senior officer, a General, found in a shallow well in a remote village in Plateau State.
Gen. Idris Alkali (retd.) had been declared missing since September 3.
The intensive search for him ended yesterday in a shallow well in Guchwet village, Shen District, Jos South Local Government Area.
The late Gen. Alkali was the immediate past Chief of Administration of the Army.
One of the suspects who relocated the body from the shallow grave where it was initially buried took the military search team to the well, the army said.
Commander of the Search and Rescue Operations Brig.-Gen. Umar Muhammed said: “One of the suspects who helped the criminals in the relocation of the body of Gen. Alkali after voluntarily submitted himselfafter he was declared wanted, led the Joint Team of Army and Police to the well on Tuesday.
Gen Muhammed, who is the Garrison Commander, 3 Division Rukuba Barracks, Jos, added: You know General Idris Alkali was declared missing on the 3rd of September, 2018. The Nigerian Army gave us three tasks, one was for us to find General Alkali dead or alive, two, to find his vehicle which was a Toyota Corolla, and number three, if anything happened to him, to find those who are responsible for anything that happened to him so that they can be prosecuted.
“On 29 September, 2019 we recovered his vehicle and his personal effects were seen, a shallow grave was discovered in which General Alkali was initially buried.
Some people were declared wanted; some have submitted themselves voluntarily and some people who took part in the relocation brought us to where he was finally buried.
We came in this morning (yesterday), we drained the water in the well and we were able to salvage the body, which is the remains of Gen. Alkali. This means the first two aspects of the tasks have been accomplished.
The third phase of our assignment is the prosecution of all those who took part in this heinous act. Let me tell you that nobody, no matter how connected the person is, whoever is involved in this heinous act will not go unpunished.
For those who did not submit themselves after being declared missing, let me tell them that we are on their trail,” Gen. Muhammed said.
The body of Gen Alkali was wrapped in a body bag. A military parade was carried out at the site before it was taken away in a military ambulance.