A member of a vigilante group in Abuja was on Saturday killed over alleged blasphemy by religious fanatics.
The deceased, Ahmad Usman, was lynched by a mob at at Tipper Garage, Federal Housing Estate, Lugbe District.
According to residents and members of the vigilante group, the violence started at about 1 a.m. when Mr Usman attempted to arrest a fried yam seller for exceeding allowed time in the market.
“No one is supposed to stay in the market beyond 12 a.m. That has been the rule. We all made the rules,” a mechanic, Habeeb Ayinde, told PREMIUM TIMES.
Though not at the scene when the fracas broke out, Mr Ayinde’s workshop is less than two minutes walk to where the heinous act was committed.
Before the mob action, the deceased and the fried yam seller identified as “Malam Lawan”, had engaged in a heated argument where the former allegedly made blasphemous comments against Allah.
He was said to have insisted on arresting Mr Lawan, also referred to as a Shiite cleric, for flouting the market rules even if they begged him “in Allah’s name.”
Abba Bako, a member of the vigilante group interviewed by this newspaper, said the matter was laid to rest by their intervention at midnight.
“We were all in our office around 8 a.m. when his brothers dressed in black came to change the matter.
“They were shouting that he abused Allah and before you know it, there were plenty of them at the front of our office throwing stones,” he narrated.
Mr Bako explained that they were overwhelmed by the mob despite their attempt to escape through the back of their office.
“Those are the tyres they gathered, those were not there before. After beating him, they went into the market to get those tyres and burn him with it,” he explained.
He said some of his colleagues had to run from the scene as the mob destroyed some of their belongings in the office before the arrival of police officers.
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PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the accused, Mr Lawan, is at large.
Normalcy restored
Almost all shops were locked by traders for fear of possible reprisal as fully armed police officers stationed their vehicles in the area.
The FCT police spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, in a statement issued after the incident, said the deceased was in flames when her team arrived at the scene to restore normalcy.
“Upon the receipt of this information, a quick intervention team comprising of The Surveillance and Ambush team of the Command attached to the Gwagwalada Divisional Police Headquarters was drafted to the scene where the inflamed victim was rescued suffering severe degrees of burn and taken immediately to the hospital where he was confirmed dead by a doctor on call.
“Normalcy has since been restored to the situation, while monitoring and surveillance of the area continues. Residents are therefore urged to go about their lawful duties without fear or apprehension of any kind from any quarters as discrete investigation continues to unravel facts surrounding the ugly incident and to effect the arrest of the perpetrators therein,” Ms Adeh said.
The incident occurs a few weeks after a female student was lynched in Sokoto State for alleged blasphemy.
The Sokoto incident was condemned by many Nigerians including President Muhammadu Buhari and religious leaders.
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