By Alabi Williams

The unfortunate death of nurse Mary Habila, provides the plot for crime fiction. An Agatha Christie (the Queen of crime), would have jumped at it, connect the dots and disentangle the mystery.

The beauty of crime fiction is that it does not end without a culprit. The puzzle of it is that the least likely suspect might turn the brain behind the crime, usually a murder. The crime does not get buried in officialdom. It keeps resurfacing until it is busted.

But sadly, the case of Mary Habila is not fiction. Death happened to her under circumstances that have made Nigerians to become curious. She was supposed to be protected by the State and if an accident happened, it is the responsibility of the State to step forward with the facts. It is the job of the police to fix the jigsaw, not to abdicate.

As the story went, Mary was first a physiotherapist, later said to be a nurse. She was also identified as a Community Health Extension Worker. She was said to be a staff of David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, Ebonyi State.

She was seconded to the Federal Ministry of Works in Abuja, where she allegedly worked for three years. The earlier story was that she traveled from Kaduna with another female physiotherapist, Anita Baaki, and arrived at the Minister of Works, David Umahi’s country home in Uburu, Ohaozara council area of Ebonyi State.

An updated account said she traveled with minister Umahi’s team on June 24, 2026. That on the evening of June 26, she was last seen alive by her colleague and close friend, Baaki. The next morning of June 27, she was found unresponsive until she was confirmed dead at David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital. Scanty Police report said she was found alone in her apartment, unclothed, with bloodstains around her nose and mouth. The police were invited to the hospital after she was confirmed dead.

Minister Umahi said a number of things regarding Mary Habila’s death. Commendably, he requested for investigation, a comprehensive autopsy before the body of Mary is released to the family. This, he said was to ensure transparency and to establish the true cause of death. His lawyers from Toy and Associates wrote to the Police on July 15, 2026, requesting the autopsy.

The minister later expanded his explanation, to include that the deceased was like a daughter to him, and also confirming to have spoken with the boyfriend of Mary, who had spoken to her on the night before she was found dead. That suggested family ties and a relationship that went beyond official limits.

A latter clarification by the minister’s lawyers was that Mary and Baaki on the night before Mary was found dead stayed in a staff accommodation, not in Umahi’s personal residence and that only the two of them occupied the building that night. The latter clarification did not however explain where other team members that traveled from Abuja were quartered and what their identities are. Were they all female nurses?

Baaki’s story: Mary’s bosom friend, Baaki hasn’t said much. Curiously, she opted to do an affidavit sworn on July 15, at Ebonyi High Court. She described herself as a physiotherapist, employed by David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences. She is a friend of Mary and they worked together under Minister Umahi, for three years and became friends. Baaki had worked with Umahi since his days as governor of Ebonyi State.

On the fateful day, when she did not see Mary as usual, she called her phone, but the call failed to go through. Then she left her room to knock on Mary’s door and there was no response. She claimed the door was locked from the inside. But she still went to search around the compound. Not finding her, they forced the door opened. “Lo and behold, she was found on the floor close to the door.” And was rushed to the DUFUD Teaching Hospital. Sounds tutored!

Family’s response: Mary’s distraught family, through their lawyer, K.A. Yusuf, petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, demanding the release of her body for burial, without autopsy and investigation. They accused the Ebonyi State Command of “unlawfully withholding Habila’s corpse weeks after her death.”

In their sworn affidavit, filed at the Ebonyi State High Court, the father, Tanko Habila said: “I also wish not to proceed further with the investigation and further request to have my daughter’s body released to me for burial.” They want Habila’s body and organs left untouched.

There are gaps in the stories and it is the police that should provide the missing links. First, much of what the public knows on Habila’s case are from other sources that ought to be channeled through the police. It is the police that ought to announce the case, but not until a media leak that broke the story.

Was there an attempt to cover up something? The reporting was delayed. Why? In other climes, it is the duty of the law enforcement to report crime and give periodic update. But the briefing is done by minister Umahi and his team. Have they taken over the duties of the police? That hurts credibility.

Nigerians would love to know details of the expanse of minister Umahi’s country home, and the location of the staff accommodation where Mary was found dead. What’s the distance of the crime scene from the minister’s residence? Is it a walking distance? If the official assignment of the health workers was to administer some health routine (physiotherapy) on him, what was the schedule and for how many days? The minister called Mary’s boyfriend; was it on Mary’s phone? Was it when she was announced unresponsive, or after she was confirmed dead? The phone conversation should be part of the investigations.

The minister’s country home must have its security outfit as well as staffers who cater to guests. Who are they and how many are they? They must be familiar with Habila since she had worked with the minister for three years. Their accounts would mean a lot.

There must also be CCTV recordings of movements around the residence and adjoining areas, including the accommodation where the two ladies were lodged. All the details must be played without distortions to get to the root of the matter.

The minister spoke highly of Mary. The death is apparently a personnel loss that has caused him much pain. He is in touch with Mary’s boyfriend. Is he also in touch with Baaki’s boyfriend? It is really kind of the minister to pay particular attention to workers under him. Not a good number of bosses pay close attention. Many don’t care.

It was suggested that May may have had some underlying and unreported physical conditions. An autopsy should take care of that.

Mary’s father pleaded culture and religion as reasons the family desires to opt out of forensic autopsy. The family’s preferences are well acknowledged, especially in their moment of grief. But they must be persuaded to let the State carry out its responsibility to the deceased. The family cannot know more than government. The matter has left their province.

Mary’s body was reported moved to Abuja, clandestinely. Wherever the body is, the Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) is interested in the details. SOKAPU sued the minister over Mary’s death in his home. Millions of Nigerians are equally interested. The minister is fighting back, claiming innocence and doing no wrong.

The Nigeria Police have their job well cut out. Go out and fix the puzzle. It demands professionalism and strict adherence to the rule of law. It will test the integrity of the police under IGP Disu. They must not fail Mary Habila. They must not fail Nigerians, bearing in mind that an Agatha Christie is out there, no matter how long it takes.

Suddenly, PFIPC tricked everybody
The Accountant General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, told Nigerians that Adeniyi Adeyemi of the failed Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), hijacked a letter sent to the State House, that could have revealed that documents used by PFIPC were forged. He told the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the PFIPC scandal and the N1.3 billion allocated the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act.

Ogunjimi told the committee that his office (OAGF) first encountered PFIPC in November 2024, when it received a genuine request from the State House for the creation of an administrative code for the council, to facilitate budgeting, accounting and financial reporting. The OAGF, he said, created an administrative code and in line with standard procedure, issued a response to the State House on November 29, 2024, with a copy sent to the Budget Office of the Federation. The response, he said, never reached State House because ubiquitous Adeyemi hijacked the letter.

Who was the courier of the letter and who are Adeyemi’s moles in the office of the Accountant General that tipped him or handed him the letter? Adeyemi couldn’t have been all over the place all alone, doing the hijack and insertions in the budget.

On the deployment of staff to PFIPC, Ogunjimi claimed the two officials deployed to work with Adeyemi were originally posted to the office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President in 2010 and 2013. He said: “We never knew. We believed, based on records available to Treasury, that those officers were still with the office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President. It was when all this matter came up that we got to know two of our staff were actually working or had been absorbed by the fake agency.”

So, the fake agency had the capacity to deploy and absorb staff that the OAGF and Treasury had lost knowledge of? Some stories don’t add up.

The other time, Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives reported that Adeyemi also tricked him. Adeyemi tricked all of them to insert PIFPC in the budget and hosted investment meetings!

Adeyemi deserves a medal for fakery!