The Nigerian Presidency has described the appearance of service chiefs at Sunday’s launch of President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign manual as “mistaken assumption.” Mr Buhari on Sunday presented his campaign document at an event tagged “Next Level 2019” which held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja. The nation’s military chiefs were reportedly at the event but left early. Pictures of the service chiefs went viral on social media with most commentators condemning the “politicisation of security agencies.” Punch Newspaper also allegedly published a report on the appearance of the military top brass leading to an explanation by the presidency. The spokesperson to President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, in an email to PREMIUM TIMES Monday evening said, “Punch should have asked what brought the Service Chiefs to the “Next Level 2019” event at the State House, only to leave before it got underway”. Mr Shehu said the military chiefs were “mistaken in their assumption that this was a non-political event, to showcase the achievements of the administration, the success of which they are a part.” He also said hardly were they seated “did the Minister of Defence, Brigadier General Mansur Dan AlI (Rtd) ask them to leave as this was a political gathering.” Mr Shehu added that the military chiefs “quickly left, even before the arrival of the President and for the event to get under way. The fuss over this in therefore absolutely unnecessary.”

“Taofeeq was coming from where he went to eat when this officer stopped him. He and the NSCDC official had an altercation and the next thing we saw was that the NSCDC man brought out his gun and pulled the trigger,” the eyewitness said.

An officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has shot a man identified as Taofeeq Abdulquadri in the head.

The yet-to-be-identified officer was alleged to have shot Taofeeq multiple times in Oke-Odo community of Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State.

According to residents, Taofeeq was shot multiple times, his head was visibly shattered and his skull blown open.

An eyewitness who narrated the incident to SaharaReporters said that Taofeeq, aged 30, was on his way to his house around 9pm when he was stopped by the officer. He added that the duo engaged in a short argument and the incident resulted in Taofeeq being shot.

“Taofeeq was coming from where he went to eat when this officer stopped him. He and the NSCDC official had an altercation and the next thing we saw was that the NSCDC man brought out his gun and pulled the trigger,” the eyewitness said.

Residents in the community said the official was recently deployed to the area to join the team on ground as part of efforts to address the increased pipeline vandalism in the community.

They also lamented that the NSCDC had been intimidating residents in the community by shooting indiscriminately.

“It is an open secret in our community that the NSCDC, who are supposed to be guarding against vandals, are the vandals themselves. The NSCDC invite tankers in the middle of the night to scoop petrol. They are doing nothing here, absolutely nothing. We don't need them here again," a victim of the harrassment by the officials told SaharaReporters.

Taofeeq's sister, Nifemi Basirat, revealed to our correspondent that his body is currently in the custody of the Police, while the suspect has been detained by the Police.

“After my brother was killed, some police officers from Oke-Odo Police Division, which is the nearest station, came into the community and they took away his body. When we went to request his body for burial, we were told that we can’t take it yet," she said.

Our correspondent gathered that the youth of the community, angered by the killing of Taofeeq, destroyed the NSCDC office in the area. Police officers were deployed to maintain peace and order in the community.

When contacted, spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, SP Chike Oti, tactically declined comment on the issue, saying he would call our reporter for comments on the killing. However, he failed to call back even when sent a reminder.

(Sahara Reporters News Nigeria)