Table of Contents
A Nigerian army investigation is underway after a soldier guarding an industrial site in Akwa Ibom State allegedly shot a 13-year-old boy on New Year’s Day, renewing scrutiny of firms that rely on troops for protection and of the military’s record of unlawful killings nationwide.
Witnesses in Ikot Abasi said Timothy Daniel, a junior secondary school student, was walking home after a crossover church service with his 15 year old sister when a soldier approached the girl near a compound housing Chinese workers. The sister protested the alleged harassment and Timothy stepped in after hearing her cries, witnesses said. The soldier fired a rifle, killing the boy on the roadside. The army said military police had taken over the case and opened an inquiry.
Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong said on social media that the soldier was attached to Sterling Global, a cluster of businesses controlled by Indian brothers Nitin Sandesara and Chetan Sandesara. The army has not publicly confirmed the commercial posting. Messages sent to contact addresses listed for Sterling’s Nigerian operations were not returned.
Sterling’s footprint in Nigeria runs from upstream oil production to industrial development. Its exploration arm, Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Co., says it operates under a production sharing contract for OML 143 and produces the Okwuibome Blend, a low sulphur crude marketed to buyers in North America, Europe and parts of Asia. Commodity trader Vitol said Okwuibome output was estimated at about 10,000 barrels per day in 2011 and expected to rise.
A 2023 Bloomberg report, cited by Nigeria’s BusinessDay, said the brothers flagship Nigerian companies pump roughly 50,000 barrels of crude a day under arrangements linked to the state oil firm, now the Nigerian National Petroleum Company.
In India, the Sandesaras have been accused of defrauding banks through their former pharmaceutical venture, Sterling Biotech, and related firms. Reuters reported that India’s Supreme Court agreed in November 2025 to quash criminal proceedings if they pay about $570 million, around a third of what prosecutors say was a $1.6 billion fraud. The brothers have denied wrongdoing.
In Akwa Ibom, Sterling is also linked to Sterling Petrochemical and Fertilizers Ltd, registered as a sub zone developer in the Liberty Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone at Eastern Obolo. Public records describe multi million dollar investments but do not spell out daily production targets or a date for full scale output.
The death of Timothy has sharpened attention on how soldiers end up guarding private gates. Nigeria has increasingly deployed the military for internal security, from oil facilities in the south to checkpoints and protest crackdowns in major cities. Rights groups say accountability is rare when civilians die.
Amnesty International said soldiers and police killed at least 12 peaceful protesters at Lekki and Alausa in Lagos on Oct. 20, 2020, during the EndSARS demonstrations. Human Rights Watch said the army’s December 2015 assault on a Shia procession in Zaria, carried out to clear a route for a convoy, killed hundreds and appeared unjustified. Human Rights Watch also documented a 2013 military raid in Baga, Borno State, where residents said 183 bodies were counted and more than 2,000 buildings were destroyed.
Amnesty has also accused the military of systematic abuses in the northeast, saying in a 2015 report that forces extrajudicially executed more than 1,200 people in operations against Boko Haram.
Local leaders in Ukpum Ete have demanded that the soldier linked to Timothy’s death be identified and prosecuted. The case has stirred a wider fear: in Nigeria, a brief argument, a complaint, even a child’s protest can end under a soldier’s trigger.
