A 35-year-old garri seller, Ms Jennifer Atsar, has accused operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of killing her 16-year-old son, Sesugh Atsar, in Makurdi, Benue State, on May 23, 2026, alleging that the boy was shot at close range after being lured to a hotel by EFCC officers in plain clothes, that he was unarmed, that he had been released on bail before the shooting, and that his dying words included the name of the officer who shot him.
The EFCC has given a starkly different account, with the commission’s spokesman Dele Oyewale stating that Sesugh was one of three suspected internet fraudsters who escaped from lawful custody through the roof of a toilet on May 5, that the commission had been on a manhunt for the escapees, and that when operatives located Sesugh, he and others “opened fire” on EFCC officers, resulting in a “gun duel” in which the teenager was fatally shot.
The conflicting accounts have raised serious questions about the circumstances of the killing of a minor, the EFCC’s use of lethal force, and whether the commission’s account of a gun battle involving a 16-year-old JSS 3 student and furniture apprentice is credible.
The Mother’s Account
Jennifer Atsar, who lives in Kanshio, Makurdi, told Punch newspaper that Sesugh was her first child among five children. He would have turned 17 on December 26, 2026. He was a student of the New Educational Teaching Academic College, Makurdi, where he was in JSS 3 and was supposed to proceed to SSS 1. He was simultaneously learning furniture-making at a workshop and did menial jobs including construction site work to help his mother sustain the family.
“He would have gone farther than that, but there was no money. Most of the time, he did menial jobs to complement what I earned to sustain the family,” Atsar said, gesturing toward the mud house where the family lives.
Atsar said she was not at home when Sesugh was initially arrested because her fifth child was ill and she was at the hospital. She said Sesugh later returned home and told her he had been released but that the EFCC had withheld his phone and demanded N100,000 before they would return it.
Two days before his death, Atsar said, Sesugh told her that “EFCC officials arrested him but released him because they found nothing against him.” She maintained that he was on bail and not in EFCC custody at the time he was killed.
“They Chased Him and Shot Him at Close Range”
On the day of the killing, Atsar said Sesugh was at home when a friend came and the two went out together. A few hours later, a neighbour rushed to the house to tell her that her son had been killed.
According to what witnesses told her, two EFCC operatives in plain clothes called Sesugh’s friend to come to a hotel in the community where the EFCC men were staying. When Sesugh and his friend arrived at the hotel on a motorcycle, Sesugh got down, opened the gate, and they rode inside. Upon sighting them, one of the EFCC officers drew a gun.
“I was told that my son ran when he saw the gun. They chased him and shot him at close range,” Atsar stated.
She said that after Sesugh was shot, the EFCC operatives attempted to leave the scene, but people in the area insisted that the officers must take the body. Sesugh was still alive at that point.
When residents insisted the officers must take Sesugh with them, they ordered a vehicle and took him to the police headquarters in Makurdi.
When residents insisted the officers must take Sesugh with them, they ordered a vehicle and took him to the police headquarters in Makurdi.
“How Could My Son Have a Gun?”
Atsar said she went to both the B Division Police Station and the state police command but did not receive any meaningful information. She initially did not know the EFCC was involved until people later told her.
When relatives and neighbours, including Sesugh’s furniture-making boss, visited the EFCC office, the head of the state office told them his men were at the scene undercover and that Sesugh and his friend had attempted to shoot the officers.
“I asked myself, ‘How could that happen? My son cannot be in possession of a gun. How and from where?’” Atsar said.
She said the EFCC also told visitors that Sesugh had written a confessional statement admitting involvement in fraud and having an OPay account, that he had disguised himself as a lady on Facebook, sold drugs, and was a cultist.