Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, has commiserated with the United Nations resident representative in Nigeria, over the loss of a humanitarian worker who was shot by a soldier in the state.
Samson Zhakom, assistant director of army public relations, in a statement on Thursday, said the soldier also killed another soldier and injured a helicopter co-pilot before he was neutralized.
Zhakom said the injured co-pilot has been stabilized, and that investigation has commenced into the regrettable incident.
“The theatre command Operation Hadin Kai regrets to inform the general public of a sad occurrence at one of our military bases today. A soldier shot and killed a staff of one of the NGOs providing humanitarian support in the North East,” the statement reads.
“Same soldier also killed another soldier and injured the co-pilot of one of the UN helicopters. Own troops on the ground immediately neutralized the errant personnel.
“The injured co-pilot has been stabilized while the corpses of the deceased have been moved to the 7 Division Hospital.
“Detailed investigation into the incident and subsequent remedial actions have commenced into the highly regrettable incident.”
Zulum in a condolence message released on Friday said Alem Muluseta, the humanitarian official, was a staff of the Medicins du Monde (France).
The letter titled “condolence and solidarity’’ was addressed to Matthias Schmale, UN resident representative in Nigeria.
Zulum said the incident is connected to the mental health of the soldier, adding that he is working towards improving mental health programmes for military operatives in the state.
“I am shocked and deeply saddened by the incident in Damboa on Thursday,” the Governor said.
“My condolence goes to the family of Mrs Muluseta, her colleagues at Medicins du Monde (France), and the whole humanitarian community and the UN, who continually make huge sacrifices to support our people.
“My condolence also goes to the families of gallant soldiers who lost their lives in trying to restrain the perpetrator.
“This was a sad, isolated incident the like of which we have not seen before, and which may not be unconnected with the mental health of the soldier involved.”
The Governor said the injured pilot is recovering, adding that his government would continue to support him.
“The injured pilot has been adequately attended to, and he is recovering well. We will do all we can to continue to support him to get what he needs until he recovers,” he said.
“I want to assure our partners and the general public that this is an isolated incident, and the military is investigating what happened.
“We remain confident that our military and other security agencies are committed to ensuring peace and security of lives and property in Borno.
“We will continue working with the military and our partners to support mental health programmes in their theatres of operations.”