An unidentified policeman has shot a resident of Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, Anas Wada over tea order on Sunday.
It was gathered that around 7:15 p.m., Anas (Mr Wada) was sitting with some friends and older colleagues when one of his bosses asked him to go to a tea seller stand and place an order for him.
“When he crossed over the road beside Unity Restaurant, Anas told the tea seller his boss’s message and was turning back when the policeman, who was sitting on one of the benches waiting for his order, asked him to stop talking to the tea seller,” Mr Ahmed, Wada’s counsin recounts.
Mr Wada, a medical health worker at the state-owned Farida General Hospital, told the policeman that he was not there to collect anything but to place an order.
“The policeman was in mufti, but he was holding a rifle. So, he stood up and started shouting at my cousin, saying since he met several people there, he shouldn’t have said anything to the tea seller but wait for his turn. My cousin turned to leave, but the policeman dragged him and continued insulting him.”
He claimed Mr Wada, 40, did not respond to the harassment but tried to leave the place, but the policeman was relentless.
“When the policeman said he thought my brother was saying something otherwise, my cousin said he didn’t say anything but responded that he was only delivering a message to the tea seller. Then the policeman said if he had said something otherwise, he would have beaten him mercilessly. So, my brother responded that he couldn’t beat him because he had done no wrong. The tea seller and other clients were already trying to douse the tension when the policeman started beating him, and my cousin retaliated,” he said.
Mr Ahmed said the policeman used the butt of the rifle to strike Mr Wada on the head.
“When he (Mr Wada) grabbed his head with his hands because blood was gushing out, the policeman started firing shots. He fired five times, but only two bullets got Anas in the thigh. We believe the other shots were meant to scare the people away,” Mr Ahmed, who is at the Federal Medical Centre Gusau with Mr Wada, said.
“Some policemen came to the hospital and took Anas’s (Mr Wada) statement. They said the policeman had been arrested, and the CP (Commissioner of Police) has also been informed,” he said.
The police spokesperson in the state, Mohammed Shehu, didn’t respond to enquiries on the incident.
