Relatives share gruesome details of Abuja youth corps member's murder, call for accountability

A 24-year-old civil engineer, Abdulsamad Jamiu, was fatally shot by soldiers from the Presidential Brigade of Guards in his bedroom in the Kubwa area of Abuja on Saturday, April 26, 2026, with the military attributing the incident to a case of "mistaken identity" during a robbery response.

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Abdulsamad, also known as "Kesh," was a National Youth Service Corps member set to pass out in May, having graduated with a second-class upper degree in civil engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, and had plans to enlist in the Nigerian Army through the Direct Short Service Commission.

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His foster father, Engr. MomohSani Jimoh, was in Okene, Kogi State, at the time of the incident, having travelled to bury his mother and observe the Islamic three-day firdau prayers, when he received a call from his daughter informing him of the tragedy.

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According to Jimoh, his daughter's call came at 2:04 a.m., and she exclaimed, "Daddy, daddy, the worst has happened," before the phone went off, prompting him to immediately abandon the prayers and return to Abuja.

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Farida Jimoh, the deceased's sister, was awoken by a gunshot and encountered three men in army uniforms in the corridor, who flashed their flashlight in her eye and instructed her to calm down, claiming they had trailed an armed robber who jumped into the compound.

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The soldiers dragged Farida outside, showing her a section of the perimeter fence with bent barbed wire, before she broke away to check her brother's room, where she found him shot in the head, prompting her to scream in fear and shock.

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A soldier attempted to silence Farida, warning her not to wake the neighbours, and took her phone to prevent her from calling her father, before eventually returning it to her.

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Jimoh stated that the family's compound gate was locked when the soldiers arrived, and the only point of entry was a section of the fence where the barbed wire had been pushed down, which he believes the military used to gain access.

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The family's account of the incident is in contrast to the military's description of a "mistaken identity" during a robbery response, with Jimoh noting that there was no evidence of a robbery or exchange of gunshots in the area.

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A soldier who spoke to Jimoh over the phone in the aftermath of the incident admitted that a mistake had been made, saying, "Oga, don't worry, it was a mistake. It has happened. Calm down."

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When Vanguard visited the family, blood stains were still visible in Samad's room, and the family expressed outrage over the soldiers' actions, including instructing local vigilance team members to clean up the blood and bury the deceased's brain matter outside the compound.

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Farida recounted that the soldiers locked her outside her home, handed the keys to the vigilance team, and summoned 10 additional soldiers to the scene, who took pictures of themselves, before she eventually pleaded with the team to return her house keys.

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Military delegations have visited the family daily since the killing, with Colonel S. Buhari, representing the Chief of Defence Staff, leading one such visit, during which Jimoh demanded the retraction of a press statement describing the incident as a crossfire during a robbery operation.

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Jimoh stated that the delegations have assured the family of a thorough investigation and punishment of those responsible, saying, "They said they are not going to hide this — that this time around they are going to do things that will serve as a deterrent to others."

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A police statement was taken from family members and a neighbour, and the DPO of the area informed Jimoh that officers had been called by the military to remove the body to Kubwa hospital before he personally arrived at the scene.

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Abdulsamad's mother, Habibat Abubakar, who had been in Okene with her husband for the burial and firdau prayers, was shielded from the full news of her son's death until she arrived at the compound gate in Abuja, where she fainted upon learning the truth.

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Habibat Abubakar demanded to know why the soldiers had jumped the fence, entered her son's room, and killed him, and why they had instructed the vigilance team to clean up the blood and bury her son's brains, saying, "He was a responsible boy. He did not joke with his five daily prayers. He was straightforward. He had a bright future."

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She appealed directly to President Bola Tinubu, his wife, Kogi State Governor Ahmed Ododo, and his wife Sefiya, as well as activists and Amnesty International, to intervene in securing justice for her son, saying, "This fight is too big for me. This pain is too big for me to bear."

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Abdulsamad Jamiu is survived by his parents, his sister Farida, and younger siblings, and was 24 years old at the time of his death, having been buried at the Muslim Cemettin Kubwa.