On Monday, April 17, security personnel working with FCTA authorities reportedly shot and killed a commercial motorcycle rider going by the name of Kaura when they were conducting a demolition exercise near the Dei-dei cattle market in the FCT. This week, several improvised businesses in the area were given the go-ahead to be demolished so that a new, contemporary market could be opened behind the cattle market building. When the rider and a few other people arrived to confront the FCTA authorities, they were out to carry out the destruction.
In order to clear the road leading to the location, Mustafa Aliyu, a local, told DailyTrust that the officials began working in the area about 12 o’clock after they arrived. Many teenagers employed at the neighboring security guards were met by the slaughter slab, also known as the jungle boys. Several of them stoned the guards while yelling the Hausa phrase kariya ne, which means “it is a lie.” According to the resident, that is when the security team, which consisted of military, police, and civil defense, started shooting tear gas and firing rounds into the air. Further information revealed that the drill went on unhindered as the deceased’s remains were transported to an unidentified hospital.
A member of the demolition crew, however, acknowledged that shots were fired during the event and said that they were intended to scatter the aggressive demonstrators who were attacking the authorities conducting the exercise. He claimed he was unaware of any demonstrators who perished in the incident. I was not able to observe any dead bodies, but tear gas canisters were fired to disperse the demonstrators, he claimed. The police leadership in the FCT has not yet responded to this development.
