Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of Nigeria’s Federal House of Representatives has confirmed that his security aide killed a newspaper vendor in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
Gbajabiamila on Friday disclosed he has suspended the security aide and said he deeply commiserates with the family of the deceased.
On Thursday November 19, a man named Ifeanyi Okereke was killed by Gbajabiamila’s aide while Gbajabiamila’s convoy passed through the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
Eyewitnesses say the shooting happened when Gbajabiamila himself summoned the newspaper vendors.
In his account of the incident, released on Friday, the lawmaker said he had summoned the vendors to exchange pleasantries with them, before his convoy was obstructed by some unknown men.
The obstruction of his convoy has led to his security aides shooting in the air to disperse the crowd, according to the lawmaker. He said he was told moments later that one of the newspaper vendors was hit by a stray bullet.
“Some hours later, after getting to our destination, it was brought to my attention that someone was hit by a stray bullet, contrary to an earlier report by men in the convoy that they applied their security discretion to shoot in the air,” he said.
Gbajabiamila, representing Surulere I Federal Constituency in Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous city, has said he values human lives and wanted to meet the vendors because of the respect he has for them.
In Abuja, seat of the Nigerian government, newspaper vendors and other residents are holding a peaceful protest to air their grievances with yet another killing of an innocent man.
Recall that Nigerians recently protested against the extrajudicial killing of citizens tagged #EndSARS, and it gained global attention.