By Otunba Rotimi
The Narrative Force
I have followed with deep sorrow and mounting concern the reports surrounding the death of Miss Mary Habila, a 26-year-old Nigerian from Nok, Southern Kaduna, who died on June 27, 2026, within the private residence of the Honourable Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, in Uburu, Ebonyi State.
First, I extend my heartfelt condolences to the Habila family. No family should have to mourn a daughter taken in the prime of her life while also fighting simply to learn the truth of how she died.
But condolences are not enough. Nigerians deserve answers, and it is on this score that the Tinubu administration has failed, comprehensively and disgracefully.
Consider the facts that are not in dispute. 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. 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.
And through all of this, silence from the Presidency. Silence from the Federal Executive Council. Silence from the Inspector-General of Police.
Silence from the National Assembly. Not one word. Not one directive. Not one gesture to assure Nigerians that the life of Mary Habila matters to this government.
Instead, the Minister has been permitted to manage the narrative of a death that occurred under his own roof: issuing statements through his personal aides, deploying his private lawyers to correspond with the police, and continuing his official duties as though nothing has happened, while civil society groups, youth organisations, and the family’s own community cry out for an independent inquiry.
Let me be clear: I make no pronouncement on anyone’s guilt or innocence. That is precisely the point. Only a credible, independent, and transparent investigation can establish the truth, and it is the refusal of the Federal Government to guarantee such an investigation that constitutes the scandal before us.
A government’s first duty is the protection of life. Where a life is lost in circumstances touching a high official of state, the burden on government to act transparently is at its heaviest.
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?
I therefore demand the following: One, President Bola Tinubu must direct the Honourable Minister of Works to step aside immediately, pending the conclusion of investigations.
This is not a punishment; it is the minimum standard of public accountability in any serious democracy.
No official under this cloud should preside over a federal ministry as though it were business as usual.
Two, the Inspector-General of Police must immediately transfer the investigation from the Ebonyi State Command to Force Headquarters, with the involvement of independent forensic experts.
No investigation conducted in the shadow of the Minister’s home-state influence can command public confidence.
Three, a full, independent, and internationally credible autopsy must be conducted without further delay, with the findings made public. The stalemate over the post-mortem, three weeks after this young woman’s death is an indictment of every institution involved.
Four, the family of Mary Habila must be protected from any pressure, inducement, or intimidation, and must be guaranteed unfettered access to the facts of their daughter’s death.
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.
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.
May the soul of Mary Habila rest in peace. May her family find justice. -Alh Atiku Abubakar Speaks
