A tragic internal military incident has been reported in Kano State, where an unidentified soldier allegedly opened fire on a colleague, killing him instantly during a dispute while on duty.
The deceased, identified as Sergeant Suleiman, was reportedly shot by a junior colleague, a Private attached to the 21st Nigerian Army (21NA), during an altercation at a private security post in the state.
Military sources said both personnel were on guard duty at the residence of a retired senior officer when the incident occurred earlier in the week.
According to one source, the disagreement between the two soldiers escalated into a fatal encounter shortly after an argument.
“Both of them were guarding the residence of a retired General in Kano. The Sergeant stepped away to the restroom after a disagreement. As he was coming out, the Private allegedly fired at him three times,” the source said.
Another military source confirmed that CCTV footage reportedly captured the incident, adding that the suspect had recently been redeployed from operational duty in Borno State, where he had been engaged in counter-insurgency operations under the ongoing campaign against the Boko Haram insurgency.
The incident has sparked renewed concern within military circles over rising cases of internal violence among troops, particularly those returning from frontline deployments.
The Nigerian Army has yet to issue an official statement on the incident as of press time.
However, security analysts and military insiders have repeatedly warned about the psychological toll of prolonged combat exposure on soldiers, especially those rotating from high-intensity conflict zones such as Borno State, where troops remain engaged in counter-terrorism operations.
The development adds to a growing list of similar incidents within the armed forces in recent years, raising fresh questions about mental health support, welfare, and discipline management in the ranks of the Nigerian Army.
In previous years, multiple cases of soldier-on-soldier violence and suicides have been reported across different theatres of operation, particularly under missions linked to Operation Desert Sanity and other counter-insurgency campaigns..
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