Some officers of the Nigerian Army, one of them identified by his name tag as Ahmed, have killed a civilian and injured one other at a burial ceremony in Lagos State.
The uniformed men, numbering 15, were said to have arrived at the venue in an attempt to stop the corpse from being interred on the premises of the deceased.
This led to a confrontation, as one of the deceased’s sons, Victor, was hit in the head with an iron, while Chinonso was shot in the chest.
The children of the deceased, accused their sibling, Richard, of leading the attack, which happened on Saturday, November 19, 2022.
One of the children, Victoria Abimbola, said Richard was planning to acquire their father’s house and had demanded that the deceased be buried in their hometown in Akwa Ibom State.
She said, “My father gave birth to 10 children, and before he died, he told us that Richard, his second son, built a house for him in our village. We were happy when we first heard until Richard told him that the house he built was in exchange for my father’s house in Lagos.
“The rest of us disagreed with the decision and we told him that the house is the only property our father has in Lagos and it is more like a family house to every one of us. After that, he started putting pressure on our father, who later fell sick and died on September 5.
“After our father’s death, he (Richard) prevented us from burying him in the house. He also tried to stop us with policemen the day we took the corpse from the mortuary for burial, but we restricted him.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident.
He said, “We are aware and the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department. The military officers were invited and they provided the information needed and their details. I will do a follow-up to confirm the update.”
