3 Held For Killing Taraba Lawmaker
Youths in Jos-north, Plateau State, have accused some soldiers attached to the Operation Safe Haven of shooting to death one Aminu Umar, 17, at a relaxation garden and dumping his corpse at a hospital.
The youths took to social media, posting pictures of the deceased and accusing personnel of the taskforce of deliberately shooting him. However, the elder brother and guardian of the deceased, Kabeer Umar told Daily Trust on Sunday that Aminu visited the garden Wednesday night to receive his daily remittance from a motorcycle rider when soldiers arrived following an invitation by the owner of the garden.
Kabeer said a soldier’s bullet hit Aminu in the stomach and another person on the leg, adding that “they took him to Enron Hospital, but there was no doctor and on their way to Our Lady of Apostles (OLA) hospital, he died so they dumped him in the hospital and told the attendant in-charge that his relatives would come for him.”
He said he approached the suspected soldiers at a checkpoint near the garden and that they confirmed that his brother’s corpse was at OLA but failed to report the matter to the police.
“I reported the matter to the Laranto police station and the DPO has arrested the owner of the garden and opened an investigation. Now we heard the soldiers have been arresting some youths, accusing them of the shootings. But everyone who was in the garden, including the owner said my brother was shot by them,” he said.
The state’s Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Tyopev Terna, confirmed the arrest of the owner of the garden and said investigation into the matter has commenced. Also speaking, the Operation Safe Haven Media and Information Officer, Major Adam Umar said the soldiers had been invited to calm a civil disturbance which he said was part of their mandate.
“There were some criminals who were armed in the garden but a soldier would not just look at an innocent civilian and shoot him,” he said.
Giving more details, the Chief of Staff to OPSH said the12 hourly situation report did not indicate that OPSH personnel shot a civilian but said the taskforce would launch an investigation when facts are made available.