Untold story of how General Rabe died in bandits’ den

Fresh details have emerged on late Majir General Rabe Abubakar died and how his widow, Hajiya Amina, survived being shot and abandoned by fleeing bandits in the Katsina bush before a chance encounter with a stranger and arriving troops saved her life.

The widow of late Major General Rabe Abubakar nearly didn’t make it out of the Katsina forest alive — and the harrowing details of how she did are only now coming to light.

Fresh facts have emerged on the ordeal endured by the former Director of Defence Information and his wife, Amina, while in the bush following their abduction, with contradictory accounts surrounding their abduction, captivity, his death and her rescue. Hajiya Amina, who survived gunshot wounds, has yet to grant an official interview, and was transferred to Abuja for further medical attention on Thursday, June 18, after being treated at the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina, in a highly restricted section of the hospital.

Two confidential sources told Weekend Trust what she shared after regaining strength. According to one source, the bandits panicked after General Rabe’s death. “They soon brought their motorcycles and made emergency preparations to flee. They mounted her on one of the motorcycles and fled the location,” he said, noting the gunmen seemed more interested in her than other captives.

As gunfire echoed nearby, the kidnappers scattered in different directions. “The man who was riding with her on his motorcycle soon became frustrated and stopped midway. He forced her to alight from the motorcycle and, probably out of frustration, shot her in the thigh before fleeing the scene,” the source recounted.

Bleeding and unable to walk, she was found by a stranger from a nearby hamlet who fled when gunfire signaled approaching soldiers. “Within a few minutes, the soldiers arrived at the scene and found her lying in a pool of blood,” the source said, adding that troops used a wooden plank, fetched by the same Good Samaritan, to carry her to safety.

Another source, who also said he spoke with Mrs Rabe, while she was on her hospital bed in Katsina, said the widow told them that her husband died in her arms while in the bush.

“Contrary to what the Katsina State Government said, which was widely circulated in both the social and conventional media, she told us that her husband did not have diabetes or hypertension. He was hale and hearty when they were abducted,” the source said.

According to the source, “She told us that there was a likelihood that he was bitten by a snake because when she noticed that his leg was swollen, she drew the attention of the bandits, who reluctantly told her that he had been bitten by a snake.

“They brought some mashed leaves and applied them to the swollen leg, but there was no improvement as the General’s health deteriorated within a short time.

“She told us that he died in her arms. It was a very difficult moment for her,” the source said.

Weekend Trust had earlier gathered that while General Rabe was alive, the bandits wanted to release his wife, but she declined, insisting that she wanted to regain freedom alongside her husband.