Army: We’ve arrested soldier who gunned down teenage protester

The Nigerian Army says the soldier who killed a teenage protester in Zaria, Kaduna State, has been arrested.

Daily Trust had reported how one of the soldiers on patrol in Samaru, Zaria, gunned down the victim, Isma’il Muhammad, who was a secondary school leaver, at about 9am on Tuesday.

Samaru community is a host to hundreds of staff and students of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

It was gathered that Muhammad was shot dead at his residence at Sarkin Pawa Street.

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The deceased’s mother, Zainab Sani, said he was playing with his friends and a brother in front of their house, “but when they sighted the soldiers coming towards their direction with one of them pointing his gun at them, they ran into their house and shut the gate”.

The GOC 1 Division, Major General M.L.D. Saraso, visited the residence of the deceased and met with the bereaved family.

Addressing youths in the area after he interacted with the family of the deceased, Saraso said he visited to commiserate with the family and the community over the incident.

He assured that the incident would be thoroughly investigated, asking any community member with substantive evidence to forward for necessary action.

General Saraso described the incident as “unfortunate”, and urged the community to live in peace and always be law-abiding

In a statement on Wednesday, Onyema Nwachukwu, Army Spokesperson, said soldiers were enforcing the 24-hour curfew imposed on Kaduna and Zaria metropolis following reports of violence during the #EndBadGovernance protests in Kaduna.

He said the soldiers were attacked by some hoodlums while enforcing the curfew in Zaria.

Nwachukwu added that hoodlums were throwing stones at security personnel and burning tyres despite the curfew.

The Army spokesperson said the soldier fired a warning shot in a bid to disperse the protesters but accidentally killed the boy.

“On 6 August 2024, troops of the Nigerian Army received a distress call that some hoodlums gathered in Samaru in large numbers, burning tires on the road and pelting stones on security personnel. The troops immediately mobilised and arrived at the scene to disperse the mob and enforce the curfew imposed by the state government.

“On arrival at the scene, the hoodlums brazenly attempted attacking the troops, prompting a soldier to fire a warning shot to scare the hoodlums away, which unfortunately led to the death of a 16-year-old boy Ismail Mohammed.

“The soldier involved has since been arrested and undergoing interrogation as at the time of this report.”

The statement added that  Chief of Army Ataff, Toareed Lagbaja, had sent a high-powered delegation to visit and condole with the family of the deceased.