Borno State chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Ali Bukar Dalori and some members of the state House of Assembly, who were meeting at one of the government’s lodge in Maiduguri, were, Tuesday, forced to scale the perimeter fences for dear life, following a clash between the police attached to the former and hoodlums claiming to be members of the vigilante group, popularly called Civilian JTF.
A sign near a checkpoint of a vigilante group reads Civilian J.T.F or Civilian Joint Task Force in Maiduguri,. Young men and women have in recent weeks formed vigilante groups, hunting down Boko Haram Islamists who have sneaked back into the city following a military offensive on their camps on the Nigerian border with Niger, Chad and Cameroon with remarkable success. AFP PHOTO
A sign near a checkpoint of a vigilante group reads Civilian J.T.F or Civilian Joint Task Force in Maiduguri..
Although Chat212 gathered that the incident did not involved any registered member of the Civilian JTF, the political thugs claimed to be members of the group.
The clash, according to investigation, erupted when police attached to the APC Chairman attempted to stop some youths, who claimed that the APC Chairman assigned them to carry out certain assignment against PDP, part of which was to remove all PDP billboards, flags in Maiduguri.
The youths said after accomplishing their mission, they ended up disappointed as they were denied payment.
‘They’re impatient’
Sources closed to the APC Chairman said: “The hired thugs are impatient. When they came demanding to see the Chairman, they were told that he is in a meeting. But they were not ready to wait.
“They told the police that they are in a hurry and that it would take nothing for the Chairman to come out and settle them before he goes back to continue with his meeting. But you know, the instruction was given the police and they need to carry it out.”
A Civilian JTF, Mallam Labor Yahaya, confirmed the clash, but said members of his group were not involved in the fracas.
He said: “The thugs, who also carried Dane guns, started the shooting. The police shot one of the rampaging youths in the leg and one of the thugs also shot the policeman in his leg.”
A sign near a checkpoint of a vigilante group reads Civilian J.T.F or Civilian Joint Task Force in Maiduguri,. Young men and women have in recent weeks formed vigilante groups, hunting down Boko Haram Islamists who have sneaked back into the city following a military offensive on their camps on the Nigerian border with Niger, Chad and Cameroon with remarkable success. AFP PHOTO
A sign near a checkpoint of a vigilante group reads Civilian J.T.F or Civilian Joint Task Force in Maiduguri..
Although Chat212 gathered that the incident did not involved any registered member of the Civilian JTF, the political thugs claimed to be members of the group.
The clash, according to investigation, erupted when police attached to the APC Chairman attempted to stop some youths, who claimed that the APC Chairman assigned them to carry out certain assignment against PDP, part of which was to remove all PDP billboards, flags in Maiduguri.
The youths said after accomplishing their mission, they ended up disappointed as they were denied payment.
‘They’re impatient’
Sources closed to the APC Chairman said: “The hired thugs are impatient. When they came demanding to see the Chairman, they were told that he is in a meeting. But they were not ready to wait.
“They told the police that they are in a hurry and that it would take nothing for the Chairman to come out and settle them before he goes back to continue with his meeting. But you know, the instruction was given the police and they need to carry it out.”
A Civilian JTF, Mallam Labor Yahaya, confirmed the clash, but said members of his group were not involved in the fracas.
He said: “The thugs, who also carried Dane guns, started the shooting. The police shot one of the rampaging youths in the leg and one of the thugs also shot the policeman in his leg.”
