By Desire Emmanuel
The Nigerian Army on Tuesday, November 18, confirmed that a mentally-unstable man actually disarmed a soldier and attacked the officer, which led to his death, adding that the said man was eventually shot dead by other soldiers.
The Nigerian Army disclosed this in a statement regarding the incident by its 81 Division, Lagos, saying the dead soldier and his colleague were deployed for internal security duty in the Imota area of Ikorodu and the incident occurred while they were attempting to de-escalate a chaotic situation in the area.
According to the army, as the soldiers were doing this, the mentally-unstable man attacked one of them and struck him on the head with a log of wood, causing him to suffer a severe injury before taking his rifle.
The army added other soldiers swiftly reacted to the situation by shooting the attacker dead and recovering the rifle taken from the soldier.
“The injured soldier was evacuated to Ikorodu General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was subsequently buried according to Islamic rites with the Acting Commanding Officer and other officers of the unit in attendance,” the Nigerian Army wrote.
The army added that the 81 Division has conveyed condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of the deceased soldier while it has also instituted an investigation into the incident.
Some online platforms on Monday posted the gory photograph of the soldier as they claimed in their report that the mentally-unstable man seized his rifle and shot him dead with it.
