Tony Zitta

2018

FCT, Abuja.

People who came across Tony Zitta believed he was going to make a mark on the world. Tony loved Abuja with a fierceness, utterly dedicating himself to uplifting the creative community in Nigeria’s capital city. As co-founder of The Capital Movement (TCM), a seminal group that championed musicians like Psycho YP and Lady Donli early in their career, Tony was regularly organising events and outreaches that connected the youth population of Abuja.

On the morning of Saturday, July 28, 2018, he was preparing for another edition of TCM’s festival tagged #ForTheCulture scheduled to hold at Harrow Park, Wuse II, Abuja. A picture on his Instagram on that day confirmed Psycho YP would be in attendance at Harrow Park but Tony never made it home.

Returning from dropping off a friend on July 29, Tony’s car was rammed into by a speeding driver on Ademola Adetokunbo Way, Wuse II, Abuja.

Tony lost consciousness. 

News reports said that the police were soon on the scene, but instead of trying to resuscitate Tony or getting him urgent medical help, the police officers had a nefarious plan: to steal the 22-year-old’s money and expensive gadgets.

In an interview with PUNCH, Sowa Alonge, another co-founder of TCM, confirmed this. “The police took his personal effects instead of rushing him to a hospital,” Sowa said. “But some ladies that were around did not allow them to take the items away.”

According to Sowa, the police were complicit in helping the driver escape the scene, collecting a bribe to ensure the car was towed away, and removing the plate number to make the driver untraceable.

Tony was taken to Gariki General Hospital, then the Wuse General Hospital, and, finally, the Gwagwalada Teaching Hospital.

On July 30, 2018, Tony died as a result of complications from his injuries. To date, no one knows the identity of the police officers who chose to rob a dying man.