By Enyichukwu Enemanna
It was a chaotic situation in the Lugbe area of Abuja as a member of a vigilance group whose identity could not be ascertained as at the time of writing of this report, was on Saturday lynched to death by a suspected mob of extremists over alleged ‘blasphemous comment’.
Our correspondent gathered that members of the vigilance group guarding the Timber shed market at the popular FHA Lugbe area had attempted to arrest some residents wandering around the market in the early hours of Saturday for questioning on what their mission is.
Sources said the residents had appealed to the vigilance group to free them in the name of Allah.
It was gathered that one of the vigilante operatives insisted that even if “God comes down”, he will not release the person arrested to go home.
The comment provoked the mob, who regrouped and brought down the vigilante office to rescue their man.
The mob reportedly attacked, killed, and set ablaze the vigilante personnel who had insisted that he will not release the arrested person from detention.
A trader in the market who witnessed the incident but pleaded anonymity said, “The guy is known as Small Hundaru, and that was not his first time of insulting the prophet before the action was taken.
“He was caught after buying food in the market in the afternoon, because when the blasphemy occurred it was just few people who were there, then a stick was used to hit him in the head. Though he had a gun with him, it was retrieved before the beating.
“Thereafter, he was stoned before he ran to the office. His colleagues at the office were aware but they couldn’t shield him due to the number of people that chased him. After he was unconscious, petrol was poured over him and not to stoke any fear in the market, he was burnt in front of the office.”
At the time of filing this report, security operatives had been deployed to the scene of the incident to calm down tension in the area and prevent reprisal attack.
