An Abuja man who was accused of attempting to steal a motorcycle has been set ablaze by commercial motorcyclists, leaving him critically burnt.
The incident happened in Kubwa town in Bwari Area Council of the FCT on Saturday.
The incident happened when Muslims converged for their late afternoon prayer at the Badar Mosque in Phase 2, Site 2 Junction.
According to a source who witnessed the incident, the man had chartered the services of a commercial motorcyclist and that “they went to a POS operator to withdraw cash for payment, but without success.
“The motorcyclist then raised the alarm to his colleagues who concluded that the man must be planning to snatch his motorcycle, hence they declared him a thief and set him on fire.”
Another witness, Ibrahim Muhammad, said the man ran into their tailoring shop around the mosque in an attempt to escape from the mob action which resulted in some damage to their goods and tailoring machines.
He said, “We pleaded with them unsuccessfully to report the matter to the police while we locked the shop to spare his life. But they insisted that the man must be brought out while hauling stones at us in the presence of policemen.”
It was further learnt that the suspect was dragged to a nearby gutter, stoned and then set him ablaze before other policemen arrived and rescued him and rushed him to the Kubwa General Hospital.