There was pandemonium on Thursday in Abuja as a policeman attached to the convoy of Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, allegedly shot dead a newspaper vendor, Elechi Emmanuel, at the Federal Secretariat.
The deceased was allegedly hit in the head.
The victim was seen gasping for breath and unconscious in a video while one of his colleagues tried desperately to revive him immediately after the shooting.
It was gathered that newspaper vendors upon sighting the Speaker’s convoy gathered to hail him but the overzealous security detail opened fire on them, killing Emmanuel in the process.
A source confirmed to our correspondent that the victim was rushed to the National Hospital where he was confirmed dead.
The media aide to the Speaker, Lanre Lasisi, did not respond to calls and a text message from our correspondent at the time of this report.
The incident comes weeks after Nigerian youth took to the streets across the country to demand an end to police brutality and extrajudicial killings especially by operatives of the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad unit of the Nigeria Police Force.
