By Patrick Idowu
Tragedy struck over the weekend in Kaduna as a Naval officer was fatally stabbed by a phone thief while attempting to fix a flat tyre near the pedestrian bridge in Kawo, Kaduna North Local Government Area.
Eyewitnesses said the officer was a senior course participant at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji, and had stopped briefly at a bus stop near the bridge on his way back to Jaji when he was attacked.
According to reports, the assailant approached the officer and demanded his phone. When the officer resisted, he was stabbed in the chest with a locally made knife.
The officer was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. His body has been deposited at the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital mortuary in Kaduna.
A local vigilante who tried to intervene during the attack was stabbed in the hand. However, the assailant was overpowered by a crowd that had gathered at the scene and was lynched.
“The thief was overpowered by the people and killed instantly,” a witness said.
Military authorities have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the officer’s death, while the Kaduna State Police Command is yet to release an official statement on the incident.
