Pregnant woman shot dead in Maiduguri, Nigeria

A seven-month-old pregnant accountant with the Borno State (Northern Nigeria) Ministry of Finance was, on Thursday, shot dead and her husband injured by gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect at the Bulabulin Ngarannam ward of Maiduguri.

Speaking to newsmen, a junior brother to the husband of the deceased, Babakura Ibrahim, said at about 10.00p.m. on Tuesday, his brother’s neighbours alerted him that three young men were in front of his brother’s house waiting for him. He said he afterwards made several attempts to reach his brother on phone without success.

He said: “After waiting to no avail, they broke into my brother’s house. His name is Abubakar Ibrahim, an operation manager with Stanbic IBTC bank in Maiduguri. When they gained entry into the house, they saw him coming out of the toilet and immediately opened fire on him. He sustained serious gunshot wounds.”

He further narrated that when his brother’s wife heard the gunshots, she came out from the room and grabbed one of the gunmen on the shirt. “While she was struggling with the assailant, the others opened fire on her and she died instantly,”Abubakar said.

When contacted on phone for comments, the Joint Task Force (JTF) spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Hassan Mohammed, said he had not been briefed by the Divisional Police Officer in the area. He, however, disclosed that the JTF had drafted men to the scene of the incident.