Soldiers attached to the 174 Battalion Army Barracks shot to dead a motorcyclist, Babangida Abdullahi during a joint raid with operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency at the Flower Market, Ikorodu in Lagos.
Abdullahi who just returned from his hometown few days after concluding plans for his wedding was said to be in a shanty with his friends when the law enforcement agents raided the market. In the process of running for safety, he was allegedly shot by soldiers.
According to the Punch report, six armed NDLEA operatives and two armed soldiers stormed the market in their patrol vehicles with one of the soldiers shooting at the shanty, where Abdullahi and his friends were.
Abdullahi’s friend, Saminu who was in the shanty with the victim said “Six armed NDLEA operatives and two armed soldiers were involved in the raid. They came in their patrol vehicles and parked at a location in the market and moved in on their target. I was inside the shanty with Abdullahi when people started running. I rushed out and saw the situation and also ran for safety.
“One of the soldiers shot at the shanty, where Abdullahi was, twice and a bullet penetrated the wood and hit him in his rib. Immediately they saw that the bullet had hit Abdullahi, they retracted and fled. We quickly came back to Abdullahi and rushed him to a nearby hospital, but he unfortunately died on the way. He was a commercial motorcyclist like me.”
The Personal Assistant to the Seriki of the Hausa community in the market, Ali Ahmed narrated how the unfortunate event happened stating that the victim just returned from his hometown a few days after concluding plans for his traditional marriage which was to take place this same month.
“Our Seriki is currently not around. All of us were here in the office when we suddenly observed that people were running; we suddenly heard the sound of gunshots. We became worried and someone told us that Abdullahi had been shot.
“We proceeded to the scene of the incident, but didn’t see any of the NDLEA operatives and soldiers there. They left immediately they realised that they had killed someone, but we saw some of the eyewitnesses carrying Abdullahi to hospital.
“When we asked them what happened, they told us that operatives of the NDLEA and soldiers perpetrated the act. Before we got to the hospital with Abdullahi, he had died. The bullet hit him in his rib; we really don’t know what he did for them to have shot him. He was killed four days after he returned from his hometown to conclude plans for his traditional marriage. We were unaware of the raid until we saw people running.”
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