There was a serious confusion and pandemonium which could have led to the death of many lives in Yola, the Adamawa state capital on Friday as soldiers and civilian JTF clashed at the popular Jimeta Shopping complex.
The complex which has been under suspicion of harbouring all sort of miscreants where most of them under the cover of GSM dealers and repairs stays as it was gathered that many of them came from Borno state. Trouble started when a group of soldiers in mufti arrived at the shopping complex claimed to be searching of a sister of one of them, which was later discovered to be a girl friend to one newly recruited soldier. On arrival in the market (shopping) complex, the soldiers went straight to a shop owner, whom they suspected was keeping the lady. The soldier, inquired from the shop owner where the lady in question was hiding and the shop owner directed them to where to meet the lady. The soldiers, after accepting the directives of the shop owner were on their way out of the shopping complex when they met a military Hilux vehicle loaded with soldiers. When they narrated their experienced to their colleagues in uniform, they were told to go back to the shop owner for proper inquiries about the runaway sister. It was at this stage that the Chairman of the Civilian JTF in the shopping center Bako Ali Kurna arrived to stop the fracas between the soldiers and the shop owner. The plea by the JTF chairman did not go down well with the armed soldiers and in the ensuing confusion, the chairman of the civilian JTF was shot four times, but the soldiers missed the target. A police Inspector who was close to the scene of the incident, who came to intervene over the issue was hit in the nose by a stray bullet and is now receiving medical attention at an undisclosed hospital. In the ensuing confusion and as the crowd continue to increase, the armed soldiers led by a Lieutenant started shooting sporadically into air to scare away the crowd.
Before the soldiers zoomed off, the chairman of the civilian JTF, Bako Ali who attempted to alert the 23 Amourd Bridgate of the Nigerian Army had his handset snatched by the fleeing soldiers. The Chairman of the civilian JTF, in charge of security in the shopping complex has confirmed the development adding that a report has been lodged with the military and SSS, while the shells of the shot bullets have been lodged with the SSS. The Army authority of the 23 Armoured Bridgade in Yola have confirmed the skirmishes but said that full scale investigation is in progress.
Source: Universalreports
