Dr Zakariya, the Unilorin lecturer, who was beaten to the state of coma by a student of the school, says her attacker set out to end her life
By Kehinde Okeowo
The news of the attack on Dr. Rahmat Zakariya, a lecturer at the Department of Microbiology, University of Ilori, by a student, Waliyullah Salaudeen, a.k.a Captain Walz went rival recently on social media.
The student had approached the lecturer, who was the SIWES coordinator in the school to help him cover up his failure to perform the mandatory program.
She turned down his request and advised him to re-register for the program since it contributes considerably to the final score of students, and is even more significant than the final course project.
The student who was dissatisfied with the response of the lecturer took matters into his hand and beat her to a pulp; she was eventually rescued from him.
ALSO READ: How I battered my teacher to stupor – UNILORIN student
The school authority later set up a disciplinary committee, which has since expelled the student, he was also handed over to the police for prosecution.
Dr. Zakariya, after recovering from the injuries sustained during the encounter, has now stated in an interview with Daily Trust, that the attack was premeditated and that the student set out to end her life.
She said before the incident, he had told her that he spent only a month at the place he underwent his SIWES program and that he left the place when he fell sick.
Based on that, she advised him to get a medical report which he should take to where he performed the program so that they can help him fill his logbook, but he didn’t heed her advice.
He later barged into her office on another day and started banging her table in anger, he then accused her of sending someone named Azeez to attack and kill him.
In her words: ” When he barged into my office, he did so with a smile on his face. The courteous thing was to knock and open but he just pushed the door with force, addressing me by my name that Zakariya why am I after his life and why did I send one Azeez to come and kill him. He was asking me in Yoruba how much I paid the people I sent to kill him. What do I have to do with someone of such character?”
Thereafter, Salaudeen pounced on her and started beating her, attempts by the two female students who were around to intervene were met with a threat to kill them too. He also told her that those who tried what she did, paid with their lives, before walking out.
“I started pleading with him to calm down. Then he started banging on my table, asking what can I do to him, swearing, and using the F-word. Imagine him telling me that. All of a sudden, he moved closer to my chair and started punching me, and by that time I was already screaming for help.
“There were two of my female students in the inner lab who came pleading with him to let go of me. One was a Niqobite and the other one was a very slim girl. But he threatened to kill them before he kills me if they moved closer. He later went outside, saying that those people who did what I did to him in the past lost their lives in the process and that I wouldn’t try it with him again in my life” Dr Zakariya said.
The 40-year-old lecturer at this point tried to get help from her colleagues but there was none around, the attacker knowing she was vulnerable came after her once again.
She managed to escape into the lab and locked the doors, when he noticed she had locked the door he broke in through the windows, she had to open the doors and run for her dear life once again.
He ran after her and caught up with her and started beating her on the floor. According to the lecturer, it was his third attempt at killing her; she was eventually rescued and taken for treatment.
“I had now gone outside opening several doors to my colleagues’ offices screaming for help but none of them was available. So, when he noticed I couldn’t get any help, he turned back and started chasing me until we got to the General Lab. When I got there, I quickly locked the door and he kept banging the door. There were two offices inside the general lab but they were both locked. When he noticed that I had locked the door, he went to window and broke the louvres with his bare hands, I was shocked. He then removed his shoe and used it to clear the broken pieces to enable him enter without getting injured. Although he was strapping a bag, I didn’t see him with any weapon or ammunition. But after that action, I was sensitive to the fact that he might want to use the broken pieces of the Louvres to stab me. So, I quickly went back to the door, open it and started running. He entered through the window and continued pursuing me. He was able to catch up with me and started punching me while I was on the ground, that was the video that many people saw. But that was his third attempt at trying to kill me. If you look at the video properly, you will see that it was until the person who came handed me over to someone else before he was able to chase him. He was initially walking away majestically. He wanted to leave me at that point because he felt I was unconscious and he has accomplished his aim. It was just God that saved me, Alhamdulillah.” she added.
Dr Zakariya, saw herself as a very pleasant and amiable person, who students are happy to relate with, she buttressed her point by saying she won an award as the best level adviser in 2018.
She also said she was in the habit of helping her students financially and otherwise and wonders why he attacked her saying:
“Many students who I am not their supervisor or Level Adviser want to come to me, just go and ask, because they know I will advise them and even support them financially in many instances, including my old students. Although I am still very young in the academics, I will be 8 years in January 2022, but I have students from far and near whom I have influenced and impacted positively. I learnt a lot of things from friends I met in the academic circle but maybe I was overdoing my own because I was too close and attached to my students and took them like my sisters and relatives. I became a level adviser immediately I got the job. I have had about two experiences which some people wanted to misinterpret. In 2018, at our faculty, I was identified and awarded as the best Level Adviser. Since my first year of becoming a level adviser, I have been soliciting for my students. There were some of them I assisted financially – both Muslims and Christians, and their parents will come asking me when to pay back but I declined. I don’t look at religion. So, you can imagine my relationship with them but see what it eventually turned out to.”
She advised parents to ensure that they instill the fear of God and discipline in their children, to forestall these types of occurrences in future.
“We should all try our best to bring up our children in the fear of Allah. We should all play our part and leave the rest to God, that is it. I pray God will have mercy on us with the level of moral decadence. I hope parents are learning from this episode. Though I don’t know how that boy was raised, but we should all instil the fear of God in our children.” she concluded.