Maiduguri University Student Shot By JTF Dies

Abdulmumini Abubakar, the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) student who was shot on January 4 by the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri, Borno State, has died.

Lieutenant Col. Sagir Musa, the JTF spokesman, claimed in a statement at the time that Abdulmumin, a 400 level Adult Education student, was hit in an exchange of fire between the JTF and Boko Haram militants, and that he was escorted to the hospital where he was “receiving medical attention and responding to treatment.”

Relatives and other students disagreed with that statement, describing the student as another victim of JTF's infamous and reckless acts of extra judicial killings in the Maiduguri area.

Writing in SaharaReporters on January 10 in response to the Lt. Col. Musa’s statement, Abdulkadir Bamoto, a Maiduguri resident who witnessed the incident, strongly disputed the spokesman’s “inconsistencies and false claims.”

According to Bamoto, “In his account, the spokesman had claimed Abdulmumin was hurt in a shootout between Boko Haram fighters and the JTF. This is far from true [because] no matter how immune nobody will advance towards an on-going battle.

“The spokesman also miscalculated the timing in his doctored report as he claimed the incident had occurred at 5:50am. The curfew in Maiduguri is not new, and rationally no taxi will hit the road before approved time. If the time to move wasn’t right, the previous checkpoints would have stopped them long before they got to Gwange. In fact, a passenger had even dropped before the incident. It was 6: 15 when the bullet hit Abdulmumin.”

Bamoto also commented on the spokesman’s claim that Abdulmumin was escorted to the hospital and was receiving treatment.

“Unfortunately, the military vehicle didn’t cross into the hospital gate to talk to medical personnel and expedite treatment, so where did Sagir get his ‘receiving treatment’ from?” he asked.

With reference to the scene of the shooting, Bamoto wrote as follows: “From the distance where they (JTF) were seated, one shouted stop, the driver heeded, and instantly one of the soldiers headed towards them and pulled the trigger. That was the bullet that hit Abdulmumin, seating by the door side.

“The driver had just complained that one of his passengers was hit, when JTF men asked him to lay flat, face-down, another replied "so what?" And they even further threatened to even shoot him if he is not mindful of his utterances.”

SaharaReporters learned that doctors extracted some bullets that were lodged in Abdulmumin’s head, but they could not save his life.