Pandemonium ensued in Yola, the Adamawa State capital on Friday, disruptimg business activities at the popular Jimeta shopping complex, as soldiers and civilian JTF members clashed inside the complex.
The development forced shops owners to close for the day for fear of being killed following the sporadic shooting by the armed soldiers in the market.
An eyewitnesses said trouble started when a group of soldiers in mufti arrived the shopping complex in search of a runaway sister of one of them.
The eyewitness noted that on arrival in the shopping complex , the soldier went straight to a shop owner, whom they suspected was hiding the girl who did not sleep at home the previous night.
He said the soldier inquired from the shop owner where he was hiding their sister and the shop owner directed them to where to meet her.
He further narrated that the soldiers, after accepting the direction of the shop owner, were on their way out of the shopping complex when they met a military Hilux vehicle loaded with soldiers.
According to him, when they narrated their experience to their colleagues in uniform, they were told to go back to the shop owner for proper inquiries about the runaway sister.
He said it was at this stage that the Chairman of the Civilian JTF in the shopping complex, Bako Ali Kurna, arrived to stop the fracas between the soldiers and the shop owner.
The eyewitness said the plea by the JTF chairman did not go down well with the armed soldiers and in the ensuing confusion, the chairman of the civilian JTF was shot at four times, but the bullets could not penetrate him.
He noted that a police Inspector overseeing the gate of the shopping complex was hit in the nose by a stray bullet and was now receiving medical attention at an undisclosed hospital .
He said in the ensuring confusion and as the crowd continued to increase , the armed soldiers led by a Lieutenant started shooting sporadically into the air to scare away the surging crowd.
Our source added that before the soldiers zoomed off, the chairman of the civilian JTF, Bako Ali who attempted to alert the 23 Amoured Brigade of the Nigerian Army had his handset snatched by the fleeing soldiers.
The Chairman of the civilian JTF at the shopping complex confirmed the development adding that a report has been lodged with the military and SSS while the shells of the expended bullets have been lodged with the SSS.
However the Army authorities of the 23 Armoured Brigade in Yola have confirmed the clash between the soldiers and the civilian JTF but added that a full scale investigation was in progress.
Source: ThisDayLive
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