A veteran journalist, Hamisu Danjibga, was killed by his nephew, Mansur Haruna, for refusing to be his guarantor when he wanted to join the Nigerian Army, the police in Zamfara State have said.

The prime suspect, according to the police, also accused his uncle of not facilitating his enrollment into the army, with the slain journalist insisting that he would not assist him because of his unsatisfactory character.

Mr Haruna, was arrested alongside his friend and accomplice, Ibrahim Nababa, by the police.

Recall that veteran journalist, Mr Danjibga, was declared missing last month before his body was recovered from a septic tank behind his house in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital. Mr Danjibga worked for the Voice of Nigeria (VON) for many years.

While parading the suspects at the police command in Gusau on Tuesday, the state police commissioner, Mohammed Dalijan, said Mr Danjibga was stabbed several times by the suspects.

Mr Dalijan said the suspects confessed to the murder, but said their plan was to abduct Mr Danjibga. They only resorted to killing the deceased, when he tried to overpower them, the police chief said, recounting the “confession” of the suspects.

The police commissioner said the nephew, Mr Haruna, stabbed his uncle thrice with a knife before Mr Nababa used a cutlass to cut him twice on the head.

“The prime suspect is the son of Danjibga’s elder brother. He lived with the late Danjibga here in Gusau. He had wanted to join the Nigerian Army but Alhaji Danjibga said: ‘No, with the type of criminal tendencies I’m seeing in you, I’ll never be a guarantor for you to join the Nigerian Army.

“Alhaji Danjibga sent him out of his house and he went to stay with his friend Ibrahim Nababa. It was at the friend’s house they planned how to kidnap Danjibga. When they finished the plan, they went to his house and when they met him, they wanted to take him away from the house but he resisted.

“He said: ‘You, my son, it is you that want to do this kind of a thing to me. I am not going anywhere’. It was at that particular point the boy brought out a knife and stabbed him three times in the chest. His friend carried a cutlass and cut him two times on his head. He fell there instantly and died. They carried his body and put it inside a soakaway in an Islamiyya school,” Mr Dalijan said.

In his lifetime as a reporter, Mr Danjibga was praised for his style of reporting. Several of his colleagues said his “broadcast voice” gave him an edge over others in the industry as he spent over three decades as a reporter.