Gunmen kill tea vendor in Maiduguri

BY NDAHI MARAMA
MAIDUGURI — Violence erupted again, in Maiduguri, the BornoState capital, yesterday, as gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect shot dead a tea vendor (name withheld) at his Maduganari T-junction shop at 6.30am.

Maduganari is one of the peaceful areas of Maiduguri Metropolis, until of recent that it witnessed two killings by suspected terrorists.

The gunmen, according to an anonymous eyewitness, came in a tricycle from the Maduganari neighbourhood and fired four shots into the vendor’s head and chest, he died immediately.

He said: “We were waiting at this bus stop, when gunmen in a tricycle fired several gunshots at the tea shop, 55 metres away and people started running in different directions, before soldiers rushed to the scene at 7am and evacuated two other people injured by stray bullets to the hospital.

“The area was also condoned off to prevent further attacks and killings, but the gunmen had already fled into the neighbourhood without being arrested.”

Our correspondent also learnt the tea vendor was in January threatened with a warning letter to vacate the area, but the reason to vacate the neighbourhood was, however, not stated in the threat letter of the Islamists sect.

The spokesman of Borno State Police Command, Gideon Jubrin and that of the JTF, Leuitenant Colonel Sagir Musa could not confirmed the incident as their phone lines were not recharble as at the time of going to press.