Police, Military operatives clash kill Inspector in Yola

By Sunday Onye, Senior Correspondent

Following a brutal clash between the operatives of Nigeria police and soldiers have killed a police inspector in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.

The deceased Policeman simply identified as Inspector Jacob Daniel, was shot in the course of the confrontation between the two security agencies.

Congress gathered that the residents of Yola woke up Wednesday morning to speculations of an attack on the Adamawa State Police Command Headquarters but there were conflicting versions of the rift between the two security agencies.

However, Members of the public claiming knowledge of the situation had said some military men took a patient to the Police Clinic in Jimeta, Yola, but were denied entry because the soldiers were heavily armed, following which the soldiers attacked the police headquarters.

A resident within the neighbourhood of the Command headquarters said the fierce sound of gunshots distorted the peace of the night and woke many from their sleep.

The Adamawa State Police Command headquarters, located at a notable part of Yola famously called the Police Roundabout, is in the heart of the state capital, Yola, roughly a kilometre from the Government House where the state governor has his home and office.

Versions of the story at daybreak summed up the reality of the attack but the circumstances and identity of the attackers remained largely speculative.

The state Police Command, however, reacted, confirming the clash between its operatives and military officers, lamenting that a police officer had paid the supreme sacrifice.

The state Commissioner of Police, CP Afolabi Babatola who spoke via a press release, traced the “recent conflict between Police and Military Officers” to a part of Jimeta called Target Junction, from where it escalated with the attack on the police headquarters, located about two kilometres away.

According to the press release signed by the Command’s spokesman, SP Suleiman Nguroje, the conflict at Target Junction “resulted in an exchange of fire and brutal attack on the Police Facility (command headquarters) and killing of Inspector Jacob Daniel.”

Nguroje said in the statement that the CP had ordered an immediate investigation into the matter to ensure peace and justice.

“The CP warned that attacks on all security officers in the line of duty would no longer be tolerated under whatever guise, as the Command holds the lives of all security personnel sacrosanct, and such unwarranted conflict would be strictly treated in accordance with extant laws.

“The police boss appealed for calm as the top Management of both security agencies are doing everything legally possible to address the situation,” the Police stated.

In his response, the Commander of the 23 Armoured Brigade, Brig General Gambo Muhammed, said his officers and men acted against the Police after a soldier was shot and taken away by police operatives.

He said in a telephone conversation that his officers merely wanted to rescue one of their own that the Police had taken away.