SAN FRANCISCO, September 14, (THEWILL) – The members of the youth vigilante group, popularly known as Civilian JTF, Saturday in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, declared war on the police over the killing of one of their members by a policeman.
The youths who took to the streets in their thousands chanting, “Police is Boko Haram”, were protesting the killing of a vigilante group member by a policeman on patrol along the popular Kano road.
The protesters caused traffic gridlock along the major roads for some hours as the irate youths barricaded the road, burning tyres and wielding dangerous weapons to scare off motorists.
They also attempted to burn the state police headquarters but were repelled by the soldiers who assisted the policemen on duty.
A witness said many policemen were beaten up by the youths who descended on any person dressed in police uniform.
The riot was said to have been triggered when the youths who were said to be returning from where they went to arrest some suspected Boko Haram members and were about to hand them over to a military post opposite the Borno Express Transport Company were confronted by two policemen who accused them of violating the traffic law by driving against the traffic.
In the ensuing argument, one of the policemen was said to have threatened to shoot one of the Civilian JTF members and the youth dare him to shoot him, then the policeman pulled the trigger immediately.
The policemen were said to have fled the scene after realising that they have killed the young man but one of the policemen was attacked by the youths who went haywire.
The convoy of Governor Kashim Shettima who ran into the irate youths unaware was equally held up for about 40 minutes as the blockade had to be removed to allow the governor pass .
The convoy ran into the protest when returning from the airport where he had gone to attend the flag off of this year’s Hajj exercise by Vice President Namadi Sambo.
The governor, who had to come down to address the youths, promised to address their grievances. Addressing some of the youths at the Government House, Governor Kashim Shettima, who said he was saddened by the incident, commiserated with the family of the deceased and promised to pay them a compensation of N3.5 million.
He also said that he will personally attend the burial of the youth while tendering his apology to the Civilian JTF.
‘’ We are going to do every thing possible to regain the confidence of the youths, they have done a lot in restoring peace to the state,’’ he said.
