The father of Abdulsamad Jamiu, a serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member shot dead by soldiers in Abuja, says military personnel who visited his family home admitted that his son’s death was a mistake — a direct contradiction of the Nigerian Army’s earlier account of the incident.
Sani Jimoh, whose son was killed by soldiers of the Guards Brigade Quick Response Force in Dei-Dei, Shagari Estate, Abuja, made the disclosure during a visit by an army delegation on Monday.
Speaking with THE STAR, Jimoh said he spoke directly with the soldiers involved, who explained that they had been chasing a suspected thief.
According to him, the soldiers claimed they noticed signs of tampering with the barbed wire fence around his compound and assumed a suspect had entered the premises.
“They said that they were pursuing a thief, but they couldn’t see the thief, so they went through the back and saw that the barbed wire was altered, and they thought someone had jumped through it inside my compound,” he said.
“I asked how they gained entrance into the main house, and they said that it seemed the door was not locked.”
He said when the soldiers gained access to the house, they attempted to force open his son’s room door, and “somebody was there trying to block them from opening the door, and what happened now happened.”
“I asked them how it led to my son being shot inside his room,” Jimoh said. “They told me to calm down and said it was a mistake.”
The admission stands in stark contrast to the military’s official position. In an earlier statement, the Guards Brigade said troops had responded to a distress call over an alleged robbery attack and came under fire from fleeing armed robbers, with Jamiu caught in the crossfire during an exchange of gunfire.
The family rejected that account entirely, insisting that physical evidence at the scene does not support claims of a shootout. They stated that the soldiers’ admission that the shooting was a mistake was made in the presence of the Divisional Police Officer and documented in a written statement.
Jamiu’s sister, Farida, also alleged that the soldiers used force after the shooting. She said she initially believed her brother had escaped until she discovered he was dead, and that one of the soldiers warned her not to speak about the incident.
She also claimed vigilante members were later called to clean the scene.
The deceased’s mother, Habiba Abubakar, said she had travelled with her husband for a burial in Kogi State when a neighbour alerted her to gunshots in the area in the early hours of April 25.
She alleged that soldiers gained access to their compound by scaling the fence rather than through the gate and went directly to her son’s room.
Jamiu, 24, was serving at a Government Junior Secondary School in Nasarawa State at the time of his death.
Jimoh also disclosed that the Divisional Police Officer in Dei-Dei described the incident as both unfortunate and careless, and that police authorities requested a formal written statement and an undertaking from the family before releasing Jamiu’s body for burial.
The family has called for an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Jamiu’s death, to be conducted outside the military’s chain of command and with full civilian oversight.
They also demanded the identification, suspension pending investigation, and prosecution of the personnel responsible for the shooting, as well as a retraction of the military’s earlier statement and the issuance of a corrected account consistent with available evidence.
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