Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on President Bola Tinubu to direct the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, to step aside pending the outcome of an independent investigation into the death of Mary Habila, who reportedly died at the minister’s residence in Uhuru, Ebonyi State.
Atiku also urged the Inspector-General of Police to transfer the investigation from the Ebonyi State Police Command to the Force Headquarters with the involvement of independent forensic experts.
He further demanded an immediate, independent and internationally credible autopsy, with the findings made public, and called for adequate protection for Habila’s family from intimidation or undue influence while guaranteeing them unrestricted access to the facts surrounding her death.
The former vice president argued that asking Umahi to step aside was not a punishment but the minimum standard of public accountability in a constitutional democracy, insisting that no public official facing such scrutiny should remain in office while an investigation is ongoing.
Atiku, in a statement on Thursday, following the death of Habila, who was from Nok in Southern Kaduna, he expressed disappointment with what he described as the Federal Government’s handling of the case, saying the silence of key government institutions had further fuelled public suspicion.
“A young woman died in the residence of a serving Federal Minister. For nearly two weeks, neither the Minister, nor the police, nor any arm of government said a word to the Nigerian people. It took the courage of Sahara Reporters to bring this death into public view,” he stated.
“Three weeks after her death, no autopsy has been performed. No cause of death has been established. The investigation remains domiciled in the very state where the Minister served two terms as Governor and where his influence is beyond question,” the former VP added.
Atiku further questioned why the investigation remained with the Ebonyi State Police Command despite Umahi’s political influence in the state as a former two-term governor, arguing that the circumstances could undermine public confidence in the outcome of the probe.
He said the government’s response had allowed the minister to continue performing his official duties while managing public communication on the matter through his aides and lawyers, even as civil society groups, youth organisations and Habila’s community continued to demand an independent investigation.
“President Tinubu’s administration has instead treated this tragedy as an inconvenience to be waited out. If the death of a young Nigerian woman in a Minister’s residence cannot stir this government to act, then Nigerians must ask: whose life, exactly, does this government value?
While stressing that he was not making any pronouncement on Umahi’s guilt or innocence, Atiku maintained that only a credible, transparent and independent investigation could establish the truth, adding that the government’s refusal to guarantee such a process had become the real issue.
He argued that the protection of lives remains the government’s primary responsibility and that any death involving a serving public official should be handled with the highest level of transparency and accountability.
The former vice president said Mary Habila deserved justice, her family deserved the truth, and Nigerians deserved a government that places accountability above political convenience.
“The measure of a nation is how it responds when the powerful are touched by tragedy and the powerless demand truth. Mary Habila was somebody’s daughter, somebody’s sister, a young professional with her life ahead of her. She was a Nigerian. Her death must not be reduced to a footnote of political convenience,” he stated.
“Nigeria will work again, but only when the life of every Nigerian counts, and when no one, however highly placed, stands beyond the reach of accountability,” the former VP added.