Relatives of a recent university graduate have accused a trigger-happy soldier in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State, of killing him and stealing his car.
Two relatives of 22-year old Mohammed Sulum, a physics graduate from the University of Maiduguri, told SaharaReporters that the deceased was waiting for his posting for the one-year mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) when he was allegedly shot dead by a soldier.
The father of the deceased, Konto Sulum, said the homicide happened last Wednesday about 6 p.m. in Maiduguri. According to him, a soldier had asked his son to give him a ride to his duty post, adding that the soldier shot and killed his son before they could get to the destination. He alleged that the murderous soldier then took his son’s car.
“The soldier thought my son was dead as he dragged his corpse out of the car, took the car, and zoomed off. But then Mohammed struggled to crawl to the roadside near Asita Hotel in Bolori Ward where a good Samaritan called the attention of civilian JTF [Joint Task Force] and they tried to rush him to the hospital but he died before reaching the hospital,” said the victim’s father.
He said his son provided information to the civilian JTF about his killer before the young man died.
“The next day, my son's friends saw the same car with the same plate number being driven by a soldier with another man at a fuel station along Baga Road, waiting to fuel the car. They immediately alerted the civilian JTF who arrested the soldier,” he added.
He said the military authorities had not contacted him about the crimes.
A military source told a correspondent of SaharaReporters that the arrested soldier and his friend were being interrogated at the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri. But we were unable to get an official confirmation from the division.