Army/Police Clash In Ibadan

 

THE relative peace being enjoyed by residents of Ibadan was, on Thursday, punctured when some officers of the Nigerian Army stormed Mokola police station, to avenge one of their officers who was shot by an unidentified policeman during a stop and serach exercise on Wednesday night.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that at about 3.30 p.m, some soldiers in uniform, numbering about 10, moved out of the police station and were leaving on motorcycles, when some policemen angrily moved out and started shooting into the air.

The soldiers, it was gathered, had visited the station to avenge the Wednesday night shooting of their colleague by a policeman.

According to sources, the soldier was ordered to stop for a check, but refused, prompting a member of the police team to shoot him at the ankle.

The incident, it was gathered, led to a reprisal on Thursday afternoon.

Some traders close to the station informed the Nigerian Tribune that the soldiers who invaded the station manhandled the policemen, beating them up with belts and destroying some items at the station. 
The sources said it was when the soldiers had finished assaulting that the policemen took their guns and were shooting sporadically into the air.

It was however, learnt that one of the soldiers was arrested as he was walking on the road and was reportedly taken to the Eleyele police headquarters for interrogation.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Mrs Bisi Ilobanafor, said one of the soldiers was actually arrested and later handed over to the Nigerian Army authorities.

“We did not know what happened again today (Thursday) why the soldiers, in large number, stormed the station with cudgels, hammers and the rest, destroying things and damaging vehicles in the premises. The GOC has waded into the matter and we have handed the soldier over to the authorities,” she said.