Nigerians on Tuesday lambasted soldiers of Operation Safe Haven for their reckless killing of a polytechnic student, Muhammed Mado, who was attending a wedding alongside his relatives in Dengi in the Kanam Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Some of them demanded justice for the deceased, while others insisted that the Nigerian Army must not tag the incident as fake news in its usual tradition of denying atrocities committed by its personnel.
SaharaReporters had exclusively reported on Tuesday that soldiers attached to Operation Safe Haven in Plateau State on Saturday shot dead Mado and injured three other relatives heading for the wedding.
It was reported that the soldiers placed an illegal checkpoint at Kyamsagi village and when Mado, a student of Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi State, and other wedding attendants got to the scene on motorcycles, the soldiers opened fire on them.
It was gathered that the young men were heading for their elder sister’s wedding in Jarmai village in Wase, the Kanam LGA, when they encountered the military checkpoint.
According to eyewitnesses, the soldiers did not allow the wedding attendants to identify themselves before shooting at them, believing that they were bandits or kidnappers.
A cross-section of Nigerians on Twitter and Facebook has however called for justice for the deceased.
For instance, Armayau Haladu (@Armiwase) said, “This is a true story because this incident happened in Wase LGA, my own town. And we’re seriously demanding justice for his soul. Because this young boy was not caught for any crime. And therefore, his life was very precious to us in the community.”
Muhammad Muhammad (@MMAdamu) also tweeted, “This is sad. This foolish soldier only knows how to kill innocent citizens but can’t do anything when they see Boko Haram.”
On Facebook, someone wrote, “And the government is mute about all these things?”
“It was #EndPoliceBrutality, it may soon be end military brutality,” another person wrote.
“A day of reckoning is at hand when the Nigerian Army will account for their roles in these killings. Nobody guilty will be made to walk free,” still another commentator said.
