WUSE MARKET FIRE: Inside Story Of How Ibrahim Was Killed On Orders Of Task Force Head Musa

…As Goods, Cars Estimated At N1bn Destroyed At Popular Abuja Market

The devastating fire that tore through Wuse Market in Abuja on Tuesday, destroying at least 10 shops and claiming the life of one Yahaya Ibrahim, a hawker, was allegedly sparked by the actions of Musa, head of the market’s task force, according to numerous eyewitness accounts. Protests erupted after Musa allegedly ordered a prison warder to fatally shoot Ibrahim for trying to flee arrest, igniting unrest that led to the devastating fire.

The chaos began when Ibrahim, a hawker, was apprehended for violating market regulations and made to face a mobile court that sits at the market every Tuesday. Unable to pay bail and fearing another prison term, he attempted to escape while handcuffed. Musa reportedly instructed a correctional officer to shoot, leading to Ibrahim’s death in Wuse Zone 5 after a chase.

Enraged protesters, mostly hawkers at the market, descended on the market police station, setting fire to vehicles including Musa’s car and bus belonging to correctional service. As tensions escalated, a tear gas canister reportedly fired by police to disperse the crowd allegedly landed in one of the shops, sparking the fire that ravaged several businesses estimated at over N1bn.

Loss Of Livelihoods

When THE WHISTLER visited on Wednesday, shop owners were devastated, reporting hundreds of millions of naira in lost inventory. Mr. Ignatius Idokwu, whose shop was destroyed, pleaded for government assistance to rebuild their lives.

“This is a huge loss for us… Looking at what I lost yesterday, it’s nothing less than N100 million,” Idokwu, who sold conference and travel items, told THE WHISTLER. “I don’t know where to start… We really need the government to come to our aid.”

Idokwu recalled, “Around 3 to 4 pm, there was a problem within the market, and we started asking what the issue was and we were told the problem was between the task force, prison warders, and the touts in the market.

“A prison warder shot one of the touts and it escalated into a protest… At that point, we started packing our goods and left. Within minutes, after we left, we were informed that our shops were on fire, that one of the policemen fired tear gas on top of one of the shops and it led to the fire outbreak.”

He lamented, “When anyone’s source of income is being affected, everything about you is affected. How do you start all over? The children are there, how do you take care of them and bills? We really need the government to come to our aid, that’s the only way we can be able to survive this. So far, the market management has not issued an official statement, we are here expecting them to come and talk to us concerning what is happening but haven’t seen them, even the market chairman. We heard that the minister was going to come, and most of us came but he did not come.”

‘All Plans Are Now On Hold… I Don’t Know What To Do’

Mrs. B.O, another affected shop owner who suffered huge losses in the fire, tearfully recounted losing over N150 million in curtains, bedding and accessories. “I don’t know what to do, I just hope the government does something.”

“It happened yesterday, between 3:30 pm to 4 pm after they caught one of the market runners (Osoahia) and were about to take him to prison when the guy ran out from the prison bus, and they started chasing him, and later shot him and he died,” she recounted in an interview with THE WHISTLER.

“Out of anger, the Hausa guys in the market burnt the prison bus and taskforce car, the police were called upon and they started shooting teargas. It was one of the tear gas canisters shot into one of the shops by one of the policemen that caused the fire.”

She added, “People were not able to get their things out because some of us had already gone home. I feel bad, this fire has affected me so much, in this hardship. All plans are now on hold. I lost over N150,000,000 in this shop. I sell curtains, curtain accessories, and bedding. Right now, I don’t know what to do, I just hope the government does something.

“To be frank, the authorities didn’t handle the situation well because this would have been averted if that guy was shot on his leg or hand, at least he would have still been alive. Last year, the Abuja market management served us later to vacate our shops because they wanted to rebuild the shops to a two-storey building and sell them, after we kicked against it, they said we had to pay N60,000,000 to retain our shops. There are about 10 shops on this line, although some people own two. So, after long deliberation, each shop paid N12,000,000 two weeks ago as a deposit to keep the shops standing. They told us that if you couldn’t pay the N60,000,000 that meant you were not worthy to be in the market.”

Others expressed anger that Ibrahim’s life was claimed over mere hawking. “I see no reason why I’m hawking to make daily bread and will have to face so much pain,” said a witness, Elizabeth. “He served prison for two months and came out two weeks ago… His only crime was hustling to make ends meet.”

She recalled, “He was going to pray, and eventually, they saw him and arrested and handcuffed him. So, taking him to prison again, out of fear he started running. That was when they shot him to death and that’s what caused the crisis.”

Another eyewitness, Adamu, a salesboy, directly blamed Musa’s “wicked” order for the whole problem.

“It was the wicked Musa, head of the task force, that instructed the prison warder to go and shoot [Ibrahim] after the guy ran.”

Amid the chaos, tear gas allegedly fired haphazardly by police nearly cost lives. “I almost died because of the tear gas,” recounted hair seller Uche Okolie. “It was one of the tear gas canisters they fired in one of the shops that caused the fire.”

Hair stylists, Esther and Ebere, said the shooting stemmed from Ibrahim’s fear of further imprisonment.

“It was Musa’s guys that arrested him. So, when they wanted to take him to prison again because he couldn’t bail himself, that was what scared him and he tried to escape. In that prison, they will keep you for three months before they will release you,” Ebere said. Esther added, “It was Musa’s guys that informed him that the guy had run away, and he told the prison warder to go and shoot him.”

In their press statement late Tuesday, the police accused touts of setting fire to the shops over Ibrahim’s killing.

SP Josephine Adeh, the spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, said the development led irate mobs who witnessed the situation to set ablaze eight vehicles and 10 shops in the market.

Meanwhile, the market authorities acknowledged a need for improvement after the unexpected violence.

“We owe the dead and every other person who has been affected improvement to our approach,” Innocent Amaechina, head of operations of the Abuja market management Limited, said in a chat with THE WHISTLER on Wednesday. “We can’t do it alone.”

He narrated, “What happened yesterday is very unfortunate, we’ve not seen anything like this before in close to twenty years of operation in the Wuse market and other markets in the FCT. It’s unheard of, and we wish it didn’t happen. We can’t turn the hands of time, but the much we can do is to pick a lesson from the incident and see how we can work together with other stakeholders both within and outside of the market to see how we can improve what we do here so that such doesn’t happen again.”

Amaechina added, “We need the support of the traders and stakeholders whether the government or any external/internal agency so we can make the market safer.

“Our job here is to manage the situation, we are not insisting on anything. The traders are of the view that the market should be shut down, even if we open the market, we can’t force them to open their shops, so we are working together. If not for the police, my staff was wounded and traumatized, their vehicles were burnt down, and the same goes for firefighters, if not for them the damage would have been more.”