Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila has confirmed the death of a newspaper vendor shot by one of his security aides on Thursday.
Mr Gbajabiamila in a Twitter thread early Friday narrated how the incident took place. He said the man was hit by a stray bullet meant to disperse a crowd after he (Gbajabiamila) went to greet the vendors while leaving the National Assembly.
“A horrible incident has taken place. This evening as I left the national assembly, I stopped, as usual, to exchange pleasantries with the newspaper vendors at the corner,” he explained.
“Many of them have known me since I first moved to Abuja and it was a friendly exchange. Unfortunately, after the convoy set out in continuation of movement, unidentified men obstructed the convoy which got the attention of security men in the convoy who shot into the air to disperse them.”
The Lagos lawmaker narrated that some hours after they got to their destination, he was informed that a man named Ifeanyi was hit by a stray bullet.
He said this was “contrary to an earlier report by men in the convoy that they applied their security discretion to shoot in the air.”
The speaker added: “In the meantime; the officer who fired the fatal shot has been suspended from the convoy pending the conclusion of the investigation.”
While sending his condolences to the family of the deceased, Gbajabiamila expressed distraught over the incident.
