Hell was let loose on Monday evening in Aba, Abia state as more than fifty
\nsoldiers invaded the Aba Area Command of the Police threatening to burn
\ndown the station if they did not produce a policeman who allegedly slapped
\ntheir colleague.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trouble started when a policeman in company of his pregnant wife who is
\nalso a police officer, rammed their Mercedes Benz car into another car
\ndriven by a man in mufti later identified as Captain Abubakar who was also
\nin company of his colleague.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to eyewitness accounts, the soldiers got out of their car
\ndemanding to know why the policeman hit their car. The situation was said
\nto have led to an exchange of words between both parties with one of the
\nsoldiers landing a slap on the policemen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Angered by the action, the policeman returned the slap while the soldier
\npulled a gun threatening to shoot but was held back by the wife of the
\npoliceman who insisted that they be shot together.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The exchange which held up traffic at the Jubilee road junction near the
\nold site of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital(ABSUTH), a
\nshouting distance from the Aba Area Command, attracted some policemen who
\nran back to inform their colleague about the development.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Another group of Policemen converged at the scene pleading with the
\nsoldiers to let go of the incident since both parties should work
\ntogether. But unknown to them, one of the soldiers had contacted their
\ncolleagues who stormed with area with an Armoured personnel Carrier
\n(APC)and five Hilux jeeps.<\/p>\n
On arriving at the gate of the Aba Area Command, the angry soldiers
\nstarted beating anyone they on sight, including policemen. Even shop
\nowners and passersby were not spared as they were horse whipped.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The policemen who ran for cover were said to have been embarrassed when
\ntheir colleague simply identified as DSP Rotimi was stabbed on his head
\nand hands. The policemen ran into the Area Command and brought out guns
\neven as another Hilux jeep filled with soldiers landed at the area.
\nRotimi was said to be discussing with an Army captain on how to settle the
\nmatter when a soldier pulled a dagger and stabbed his hand and head.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The situation further enraged policemen who also brought out their own
\nAPC, blocked the gate of their premises and started shooting tear gas.
\nSome of them went into the premises and returned with guns, threatening to
\nreturn fire for fire.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The incident which lasted more than two hours would have degenerated but
\nfor the intervention of the Aba Area Commander, ACP Tunde Mobayo who
\nrushed back to the Command to douse the situation. Sources hinted that the
\nerstwhile Area Commander in Aba, ACP Rabiu Dayi who is on transfer to Edo
\nstate Command was contacted to help douse the situation. Dayi was said to
\nhave contacted some of the soldiers he worked with at Aba, some of whom
\nexpressed surprise that he didn\u2019t inform them that he has gone on
\ntransfer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A policeman who spoke on the condition of anonymity told
\nPointblanknews.com that one of the irate soldiers almost attacked the Area
\nCommander who was on mufti, but was stopped by his colleague who
\nidentified the former.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sources said a senior police officer also contacted one Major Bello who
\nserves as the head of the Army Unit at Ngwa road, Aba who also stormed the
\nscene and pulled out his men who threatened to burn down the offices of
\nthe Aba Area Command unless they produce the officer who slapped their
\ncolleague.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not happy that soldiers will attack us at every opportunity, even
\nwhen their colleague was the wrong party. How can they attack us at our
\noffice every time? We refused to be intimidated, that is why we stood up
\nto them. It would have been deaths on both sides if they crossed our
\ngate,\u201d a cross section of MOPOL men told Pointblanknews.com<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When the fracas died down, not less than 2 policemen and 5 shop owners and
\npassersby sustained injuries inflicted on them by soldiers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to one of the injured shop owners, a patent medicine dealer, \u201cI
\nwas attending to a customer when soldiers came into my shop, asked me what
\nI was doing there and used their horse whip on me. I ran away. Even Keke
\nriders and other people who were going through Hospital road at that time
\nwere beaten mercilessly. They even collected our money, everybody closed
\nshop and ran away\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As at the time of filing this report, the injured policemen were said to
\nhave been invited to the office of the state Commissioner of Police,
\nAlhaji Usman Tilli Abubakar at Umuahia, the state capital.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Abia Police spokesman, ASP Ogbonna Geoffrey who described the incident as
\nunfortunate, added that it has been resolved as the two agencies will
\ncontinue to work together to maintain law and order in the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hell was let loose on Monday evening in Aba, Abia state as more than fifty soldiers invaded the Aba Area Command of the Police threatening to burn down the station…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n