Sodiq Rabiu
OGUN, Nigeria – A detachment of soldiers and police on Tuesday, clashed with some Hausa youths over their insistence on killing an army officer alleged to have been part of a two-man gang who had attacked one of them and wanted to disappear with his motorcycle in Ilisan Remo in Ikenne Local Government Area of Ogun State, South-West Nigeria, a local newspaper reported.
While one of the alleged thieves had been clubbed and burnt to death, the other young man alleged to be wearing an army uniform escaped into one of the buildings after being stabbed, The Punch newspaper reported.
The Hausa youths, however, mobilised themselves and vowed to deal with the escapee the same way they dealt with his accomplice.
All entreaties by the leaders of the community and the police who first responded fell on their deaf ears as they insisted on killing the military personnel in hiding, explaining that they have suffered so much from those who usually attack them and collect their bikes.
A detachment of soldiers in two pickup vans later came around shooting sporadically into the air and sending people to scamper to safety.
The Sagamu Area Command of the Nigeria Police had earlier responded with an armoured tank stationed at Ilisan junction to quell the crisis, according to a Punch’s reporter.
A resident of the town who craved anonymity said that many of the Hausas have lost their motorcycles to these assailants, but condemned their insistence on taking laws into their own hands.
“Some of these Hausas have lost their motorcycles to these attackers in recent times but the right thing to do is to follow the law,” he told Punch newspaper.
“It is wrong of them to be insisting on carrying out jungle justice. This was how they almost burned down the police station about three years ago because they insisted on killing two suspected bike thieves who were being held in custody at Ilisan police station.
“Today, they have killed one of the suspects and we gathered that the one wearing an army uniform who escaped into one of the buildings might not make it too because he had been wounded with a knife. This can’t continue, it is wrong.”
The Chairman of Ilisan Development Association, Otunba Wemmy Osude, in a statement on Tuesday, confirmed that the Hausa youths apprehended two suspects for stealing a motorcycle (okada).
“One of the suspects was caught by a mob and tragically set on fire. The other suspect, who was dressed in an army uniform, sought refuge in a nearby house.
“A large crowd of over 200 young northerners gathered outside the house, demanding the release of the suspect. Despite efforts to disperse the mob, they remained defiant.
“The situation intensified until the Army intervened with a commando-style rescue operation, successfully evacuating the suspect.
“During the operation, a shootout occurred as soldiers responded to the increasingly hostile crowd, who began throwing stones and damaging two vehicles.
“The soldiers displayed remarkable bravery and professionalism, using tear gas to disperse the mob and restore order to the area,” the statement read.
The Assistant Director Army Public Relations 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta, Captain Idereghi Akari, told The Punch that the soldier alleged to have been wounded by the Hausas was not a thief while the person killed was a civilian.
“The soldier is not a thief. The deceased person is a civilian,” he said on Wednesday.