VAM News Update

THE Adamawa State Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, has urged men of the Nigerian Army and Nigeria Police in the state to peacefully resolve their differences following an attack allegedly carried out by soldiers on the state police command’s headquarters in the early hours of Wednesday, our correspondent has gathered.

The Adamawa State Police Command headquarters in Yola, was in the early hours of Wednesday allegedly invaded by the Nigerian Army, killing an inspector of police identified as Jacob Daniel.

Fintiri had on Wednesday called for calm among the two security agencies and urged them to carry out their statutory duties in peace.

“Both the police and the army are discharging the same duty of protecting lives and property. I want to urge them to resolve their differences and ensure peace reigns,” the governor said in a statement.

But a police Inspector who narrowly escaped death during the attack said intimidation by the military personnel would no longer be tolerated.

“We are all doing the same job of protecting Nigerians and protecting the territorial and sovereignty of Nigeria, so, no sister agency should think the other is inferior.

“What happened on Tuesday ought not to have warranted such a show of force. I am a junior officer, but I think what they needed to do was to call the Commissioner of Police and find out what happened.

“They acted on false information that their colleague was killed by a police officer and without investigating, they moved over 12 armoured tanks on an attack on our headquarters. This is unacceptable,” the inspector who pleaded not to be named told Punch.

This is even as a senior military officer blamed the incident on the alleged unprofessional conduct of the police personnel involved.

“I cannot say more than this for now. We are going to address a press conference later tonight or early tomorrow (today). Just be on standby, we will call you for the press conference where we will state our side of the story.”

The Adamawa State Commissioner of Police, Afolabi Babatola, while condemning the attack on the headquarters by the army, called on his men to be careful and guard against any attack on fellow security personnel.

In a press statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Suleiman Yahaya Nguroje, Babatola strongly condemned the conflict between the police and army personnel along the ‘Target Junction’, Yola North Local Government Area, which resulted in an exchange of fire and brutal attack on the police facility and killing Inspector Daniel.

The commissioner who ordered an immediate investigation into the matter to ensure peace and justice among the two security agencies warned that attacks on all security officers on duty would no longer be tolerated under whatever guise.

The statement read partly, “The command holds the lives of all security personnel sacrosanct, and that such unwarranted conflict would be strictly treated in accordance with extant laws.

“We are committed to the protection of lives and property. We cannot do this alone, it is vital to work with other sister security agencies in protecting the fundamental rights of security operatives, in order to enable them advance their sacred mandate of serving and protecting the citizens better.”

On his part, the Brigade Commander, 23 Armoured Brigade, Brigadier General Gambo Mohammed, told journalists that one of his men was shot and hidden by the police, and his men went to rescue their own.