Hoodlums numbering about 30 on Saturday, killed and set ablaze a suspected thief in Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State.
The incident, WikkiTimes gathered, occurred around 9 am when the victim attempted to hijack a Bajaj motorcycle from a motorcyclist in around Saw Mill area.
According to an eyewitness account, the thieves were three in number but only one was unlucky.
“The thieves were three in number and two others hid in a bushy area in Saw-Mill ”, he said, adding that the unlucky one among them stopped the motorcyclist and began to machete him in an attempt to flee with the motorcycle.
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“The machete did not penetrate the motorcyclist’s body and the deceased would not let him go,” the eyewitness told WikkiTimes. “He kept struggling to get the bike while his colleagues had fled.”
It was during the tussle that hoodlums arrived at the scene and descended on the deceased. According to multiple sources, the deceased’s body was later dragged to the highway where it was set ablaze.
Abdul Ibrahim, another eyewitness said raindrops quenched the fire set on the deceased’s body. He said the victim was too brave to keep dragging the motorcycle despite knowing his colleagues had run away.
When contacted, the Social Welfare Officer of the council, Mohammed Abdullahi, confirmed the incident, but could not talk further about it. “I’m in a meeting now but will call back as soon as I finish here,” he told our reporter.
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Wasiu Abiodun, the spokesman for Niger State Police Command, did not respond to calls. At press time, he had not responded to a text sent to him.
Earlier this month, a similar incident sparked outrage in the town after hoodlums sat alight another suspected motorcycle thief. Before the incident, patrol soldiers tried to prevent the suspect from being lynched, but they were overpowered by the irate hoodlums.
