The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has suspended his security aide who shot and killed a newspaper vendor in Abuja, he announced early Friday.
In a statement on Friday, the Speaker said he was distraught by the incident, which he only got to know long after it happened.
Gbajabiamila said he did not know that someone was killed in the attempt to protect him until he arrived his destination.
The shooting occurred late afternoon on Thursday in Abuja at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, and led to a panic in the area.
The victim, identified as Ifeanyi Okereke, was subsequently rushed to the National Hospital by his brother and some police officers, where he reportedly died.
Eye witnesses said the shooting happened when Okereke and other street vendors selling on the Shehu Shagari Way, Three Arms Zone, flocked around the convoy of the Speaker, who is known to be in the habit of giving out money anytime he passed them.
“A horrible incident has taken place. This evening as I left the national assembly, I stopped as usual to exchange pleasantries with the newspaper vendors at the corner. Many of them have known me since I first moved to Abuja and it was a friendly exchange,” the Speaker said in this statement.
“Unfortunately, after the convoy set out in continuation of movement, unidentified men obstructed the convoy which got the attention of security men in the convoy who shot into the air to disperse them.
“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.
“I have caused a report to be made to the local police station and an investigation has commenced.
“In the meantime; the officer who fired the fatal shot has been suspended from the convoy pending the conclusion of the investigation,” he explained.
According to Gbajabiamila, “My value for human life and my respect for all people – irrespective of social-economic status – is what endeared me to these vendors and these are the reasons why I stop my convoy quite often to connect with them. For one of them to have been shot by my security detail is horrific and I cannot begin to imagine the grief and loss Ifeanyi’s family must feel on this sad day. No family should have to go through this.
“I am personally distraught about this incident and my deepest sympathies go to the victim, his family, and Abuja vendors.”
