In Babanna town in the Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State, a Nigerian soldier reportedly shot and killed a nursing woman and her infant after he injured a commercial motorcycle rider known as an Okada rider over a N200 bribe.
The victims were on their way home from the Babanna weekly market on Monday night when the sad incident took place.
People in the area reported that the soldier shot the commercial motorcycle rider after he refused to pay the N200 bribe he requested; the bullets struck the woman he was carrying as well as the baby on her back and went through his stomach.
According to one of the residents identified as Saidu Babanna, he said: “One of the soldiers deployed in Babanna to protect lives and property shot three people because of a N200 bribe.
“When the victims were entering Babanna in the morning, soldiers collected N200 from them at their checking point, and when they were returning from Babanna to Nigangi in Benin Republic, the soldiers demanded another N200 from them, which they couldn’t afford to pay. That was what led to a soldier opening fire and killing the three people on a motorcycle on the spot.”
Also, another resident who preferred hidden identity said that “The incident happened on Monday evening. The Babanna market is on Mondays. The victims were returning home from the market. When they were coming in the morning, there were many soldiers at the Benin Republic border who stopped them and collected N200 from them.
“So, when they were going back, the same soldiers stopped them again and demanded N200 again, which the Okada man refused to give. They started arguing and the Okada man kicked his motorcycle and zoomed off and a soldier also kicked another motorcycle and followed him until he overtook him. He then fired the gun and bullets penetrated the stomach of the motorcycle rider and hit the woman he was carrying, killing the woman and the baby instantly.”
The resident claims that after the district head called military authorities, the soldier was detained and taken to the 221 Battalion, Kainji, New-Bussa, Borgu Local Government Area. The resident also claims that while the woman and her infant died at the scene, the Okada man was responding to treatment in a hospital in the Benin Republic.
A source also commented on the situation, saying: “It was the arrest of the soldier and the intervention of the district head that saved the situation from degenerating into a fracas between youths and soldiers.”
DSP Wasiu Abiodun, the Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, has not yet issued an official statement regarding the event.
Alhaji Suleiman Yarima, the chairman of the state’s Borgu Local Government Area, acknowledged the tragedy nonetheless, stating that while the mother and her child perished, the motorcyclist lived and is currently being treated at a hospital in Parakou, Benin Republic.
