Two people are reported to have been killed and others injured during a church service in Gidan Waya, Kafanchan Local Government Area of Kaduna State when a soldier went on rampage.
According to him, “A soldier who has been in the area approached the Church’s watch men popularly known as Cadet and ordered them to dismantle the temporary check point during the Church service.
“But the boys refused the soldier’s order on the ground that Church service was ongoing and that they will do so as soon as service was over. But the soldier went back and mobilised his other colleagues who came and started firing at the local guards.
“The gunshot automatically ended the church service. Women and youths immediately reacted to the shooting by confronting the soldiers. Then they started shooting sporadically.”
Another eye witness, Jatau, recalled that a block of flat at a staff quarters belonging to Kaduna State College of Education Gidan-Waya occupied by the military personnel was burnt.
“Six people were killed, a flat occupied by some army personnel burnt, while several people were injured,” he said.
A lecturer at the college, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that a 200-level student was among the people killed by the soldiers’ bullets.
“The soldier has a motorcycle he uses as a means of transport. The cadet boys manning the Church during Mass had told him that each time there is Church programme, he should not increase the acceleration of his motorcycle because the sound was very laud. But he refused to abide by what the boys told him,” he explained.
“Today, he was passing during Church Mass and the road was closed. He started shouting at the boys on why they block the road. As the argument was ongoing, he returned to a check-point and mobilised other army officers and they came shooting.
“As they were shooting, a certain man coming back from another church was hit by the army bullet and he died instantly. One of the cadet boys was shot but he died at a hospital,” said the lecturer.