…Arrest Correctional Officer Behind Fatal Shooting
THE FCT Police Command has explained the circumstances that led to angry mobs setting ablaze several vehicles and shops at the Wuse Market in the heart of the city of Abuja on Tuesday.
A statement signed by Superintendent of Police (SP) Josephine Adeh, FCT’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), stated that preliminary investigation revealed that the violence was a reaction by angry mobs following the fatal shooting of a 27-year-old man, Ibrahim Yahaya, by a Correctional Service officer.
Although the police did not say the offence committed by the slain Yahaya, media reports have it that the deceased was a hawker who was arrested by the AEPB Task Force who prosecuted him, among others, at a mobile court where he was summarily convicted.
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The police statement, entitled; “Wuse Civil Unrest: FCT Police Addresses Situation, Restores Normalcy in Wuse Market and Environs,” reads:
“Following the report of a civil unrest at Wuse Market today being 12/03/2024 at about 3:30 PM, the Commissioner of Police FCT Command, CP Benneth Igweh psc, mni, personally led a team of Police operatives to the scene, assessed and swiftly restored order.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that one Ibrahim Yahaya ‘27 years’ was apprehended by operatives of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) Task Force and was taken before a mobile court which sits every Tuesday in Wuse Market, and he was convicted.
Suspect alongside others were being conveyed to the prison, when he reportedly jumped from the vehicle and took to his heels in an attempt to escape. Two armed corrections personnel who were in the vehicle went after him and in the process, shot him. The said Ibrahim Yahaya was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors on ground confirmed him dead.
“The development led some irate mobs who witnessed the situation set ablaze eight (8) vehicles and ten (10) shops in the environ. The whole fire situation erupted uproar from residents but was brought under control by combined effort of Federal fire service and other security agencies present.
“While normalcy has since been restored, and investigation still ongoing, the Commissioner of Police FCT, CP Benneth Igweh psc, mni, enjoins residents to peacefully go about their lawful businesses without fear.”
The police, in an update on the fatal incident, later announced the arrest of ‘CA2 Usman Ishaya Magaji’, the Correctional Service officer, who shot and killed the deceased.
The PPRO’s brief update announcing the arrest of the officer, reads: “The FCT Police Command has arrested the Correctional officer by name CA2 Usman Ishaya Magaji ‘M’ the officer who shot the victim one IBRAHIM YAHAYA OF Gishiri Village MABUCHI. Suspect presently in police custody as Investigation is ongoing.”
