Fresh details have emerged on how a 26-year-old man, Musa Sahada, was accidentally shot dead by a police officer while he was trying to settle a misunderstanding at Tipper Garage junction in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
TORI reported that the incident which happened around 7pm on Friday, led to a riot that led to the burning of a vehicle.
According to the Daily Trust, Sahada, a resident of Unguwar Gade in Kuje metropolis, went to intervene in a misunderstanding between his friend and a group of men in front of a supermarket.
It was gathered that an argument ensued when Musa alighted from a bike he took to the area after he was informed that one of his friends was having altercation with some suspected Yahoo boys, which resulted into scuffle.
According to a witness, Mr Dangana Moses, an argument ensued between an ‘okada’ rider and the men who accused the cyclist of causing obstruction on the road leading to the supermarket.
He said a friend to late Musa, who was on the bike, insulted one of the men and this almost led to a fight.
“Actually, the man who died by the bullet was on a bike when he came across one of his friends having a misunderstanding with some boys, who were insulting an okada man for obstructing their vehicle while driving to the supermarket,” he said.
He said the deceased alighted to intervene and stop his friend from engaging with the boys and the fight degenerated.
He said the police officer in front of the supermarket waded in but, in the process, the trigger of his gun pulled and the bullet hit the deceased in the head.
“The police officer attached to the supermarket stepped in when the argument became tense which attracted a crowd,” he said.
All efforts made by the police officer yielded no result as the argument continued to attract people.
“And when the people became many and the police officer became helpless, he attempted to shoot into the air to disperse the crowd, but the bullet hit Musa, who was trying to intervene.”
He said tension later heightened when some of the deceased’s friends, who reside at Unguwar Gade and Unguwar Kayarda mobilised in their numbers to the supermarket where they set the vehicle ablaze.
Another witness, Ibrahim Yakubu, blamed the group of men for the incident, saying their activities resulted in the riot.
“In fact, I suspected that someone’s hand must have touched the policeman’s gun when the officer interfered trying to settle the fight, which led to the death,” he said.
Moses said it took the intervention of the military and additional deployment of police personnel to bring the situation under control.
A relation of the deceased, Mohammed Nuhu, who confirmed the incident to our reporter through telephone on Sunday, said late Musa left home to buy something by the tipper garage junction when he was killed.
“The painful aspect of the whole thing is that Musa was on a bike while going to Tipper garage to buy something when he saw one of his friends having a misunderstanding with some boys, who insulted an Okada man for obstructing their vehicle close to the supermarket.
’So, he tried to settle the matter when the police at the supermarket came to intervene, which suddenly led to accidental discharge.”
He said the remains of the deceased had been buried.
The FCT police commissioner, Rilwan Olatunji Disu, said the command was aware of the incident.
He said the police officer involved in the incident was already in custody, adding that investigation has commenced.
