Wisdom Supermarket in a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, was on Tuesday night attacked by the yet-to-be-identified gunmen, killing four persons on the spot, including staff with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while another sustained serious injury.
The gunmen, who were said to be five in number, drove to the supermarket in a car and also carted away huge sum of money in cash.
The supermarket is precisely located in One-man Village in Karu local government area of Nasarawa State, a densely populated area.
The incident which happened at about 9:00 pm on the fateful day, had the attackers shooting sporadically, which dispersed people around, including those in the supermarket.
An eyewitness, who gave his name as Peter, said he would have been a victim, if he had delayed in the supermarket a little longer, adding that, a few minutes after leaving the shopping mall, the gunmen began shooting.
“I was at the supermarket on Tuesday, but I left before the incident happened. The name of the supermarket is Wisdom Supermarket. It used to be called Abdullahi Supermarket. It was one Hausa man who sold it to the current owner. But people still refer to it by its former name, which is Abdullahi Supermarket.
“I left the place just about 8:00 in the evening of Tuesday, and the incident happened around 9:00 pm. Some people came with guns. They were in a car, which they parked outside. They came out with guns, about five of them.
“They started shooting at people. They killed about four people there, with one shot in the head. Then they made away with money in a very big bag. That’s what I know.
“I don’t know if any arrest was made so far. But I passed through the place this morning (Wednesday), and the police came there for an investigation. The supermarket was shut down when I passed there.”
Peter, who is also a resident of One-man Village, said the killing did not disrupt daily activities in the area, as security men were mobilised to return to normalcy.
“Residents are going about their businesses normally. But then, this is the first time something of this nature is happening in One-Man Village. I have been living here for years, and this was the first time I experienced this kind of incident.
“About the victims, it’s hard to know their identities. People were running, and besides, it was at night on Tuesday.
Another resident, who pleaded anonymity, alleged that the attention of the gunmen shifted to one of the residents of the area, who is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According to the source, the gunmen chased an employee of the CBN to the supermarket, because they wanted to abduct the CBN worker.
“Kidnappers chased one CBN guy to the supermarket last night. They wanted to abduct him, but instead, they killed him with three people in the supermarket.”
Ramhan Nansel, the state police public relations officer, confirmed the incident saying that four died in the incident.
“At 8:45 pm yesterday (Tuesday), we got information that four gunmen opened fire on customers at Wisdom Supermarket. Upon hearing the information, the Commissioner of Police deployed the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the area to the scene.
“When they got there, they met people who were dead. They took them to Maraba Medical Centre, where they were declared dead. Their bodies have been deposited in the morgue. We have started investigation into the incident.”
