A serving officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) is in police custody after allegedly firing a pistol into the air during a dispute at Kubwa Market in Abuja on Sunday, according to the FCT Police Command.
Police identified the officer as Onoja Samuel, a Deputy Superintendent of Corps. The Kubwa Market shooting, police say, followed a dispute linked to reports that some traders had assaulted his wife.
The first sign of trouble was a distress call to Kubwa Police Division at about 1.50pm on 25 October, according to police spokesperson SP Josephine Adeh. The caller reported that a man was firing a pistol into the air at the market.
Officers from the division were sent to the scene. They disarmed the man and arrested him.
Adeh said a CZ pistol and 17 rounds of live 9mm ammunition were recovered from him. Her statement on the Kubwa Market shooting did not mention any injuries.
Preliminary investigations suggest Samuel went to the market after reports that some traders had assaulted his wife. The police account has not established whether that alleged assault occurred or clarified the circumstances of the original dispute.
Commissioner of Police Ahmed Muhammed Sanusi told journalists on Wednesday, in remarks carried by Daily Trust, that Samuel fired several shots into the air during the argument that followed.
The police statement did not say whether investigators are also examining the allegation against the traders. Nor did it specify the charges Samuel may face. It said only that he remains in custody and will be charged in court once investigations are complete.
Police made the arrest public three days after the Kubwa Market shooting. The NSCDC had not publicly responded at the time of writing.
Sanusi used the briefing to address coordination between security agencies. He urged personnel of sister agencies to exercise restraint and notify the police division covering an area before carrying out sanctioned operations in the FCT. The aim, he said, is to improve coordination and reduce clashes.
According to the police account, the Kubwa Market shooting arose from a personal dispute rather than a security operation. Even so, Sanusi’s appeal points to a broader concern about armed personnel from different agencies operating in the same streets.
The case also comes amid wider scrutiny of discipline within the corps, although there is no reported link between Samuel and a separate incident involving NSCDC personnel in Niger State.
On 17 September, 37 suspected illegal miners died in the custody of the corps’ Niger State Command. Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo subsequently established a 10-member independent panel and suspended the state commandant and 20 officers, according to a statement carried by Voice of Nigeria.
Voice of Nigeria has also reported that the corps sanctioned 79 personnel for professional misconduct, while stressing that their conduct did not represent most of its officers. These cases form part of the wider institutional context in which the response to the Kubwa Market shooting will be assessed; they do not establish a connection between the incidents.
The outstanding questions remain specific to the Abuja case: what triggered the confrontation, whether the allegation against the traders is being investigated, and what charges Samuel will face.
Police have yet to provide those answers publicly. The eventual charges and the findings of the investigation should clarify how the authorities intend to address the alleged firing of a weapon in a crowded market, as well as the circumstances that preceded it.
