According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the incident was said to have happened when a hand held grenade exploded killing the soldier and two others in Bari village, Bangi local government area of Niger state.
The Niger state police spokesman, Bala Elkalla, the explosive also injured four other people in the village.
Mr . Elkalla said the soldier, who is serving in Maiduguri, obtained permission to travel to his village and was with his relations when the tragedy struck.
“The soldier, who is a private in the Nigeria army, was demonstrating how the army successfully captured sambisa forest when the grenade exploded and killed him and two onlookers on the spot,” he said.
The police official said the anti-bomb unit of the command had been drafted to the village and the resident of the late soldier to conduct a search “just in case there are more explosives”.
“It was not an attack; it was purely an accident. Normalcy has since returned to the village,” he said.