3 cops, 1 soldier killed in Yobe army, police clash
What happened next was not clear, but what residents heard was rapid gunfire.
Two policemen and a soldier were said to have been killed in the shooting but there was no confirmation of this from both sides. Many others were also wounded and taken to hospital.
Both the Army and the police in a joint four-paragraph statement confirmed the clash describing the incident as unfortunate.
A statement by the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Kayode Ogunsoya, said: “The attention of this Headquarters has been drawn to an unfortunate incident that happened between some unguided soldiers and policemen in Damaturu this morning.
“A joint committee between the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Police has been set up to investigate the incident.
“This Headquarters wishes to assure the members of the public that the situation has been brought under control and normalcy has been restored.”
A source at Damaturu Specialist hospital revealed that one of the policemen was brought dead, while the other two policemen and the soldier died on arrival due to excessive bleeding.
Our correspondent, who visited the hospital, confirmed seeing the wounded commandant in charge of 41, Dauda Buba Fika, at VIP8, Amenity ward of the hospital.
“He was just brought out of the operation, two bullets were removed from his body, one from the ball joint and the other from pelvic,” one of the hospital staff revealed.
A joint committee of Nigerian Army and Nigeria police force has been set up to investigate the violent clash.
*There shouldn’t be rivalryYobe Gov’t
It was gathered that a meeting was held at the instance of the state deputy governor Abubakar D. Aliyu, who stood in for Governor Ibrahim Gaidam.
During the meeting attended by heads of the two security agencies, the deputy governor, lamented the incident and urged them to work together so as not to jeopardize the peace that returned to the state after years of fear.
A source close to the meeting said, “He also told them that they should remain partners in progress and not rivals and that the peace being enjoyed was achieved as a result of serious collaboration.”
Meanwhile, residents of Damaturu have condemned the incident in strong terms.
Some residents interviewed said they were rattled by the sound of gun shots that rent the air in the early hours of yesterday.
They described the incident as “an ugly development” that reminded them of the ugly days of Boko Haram terrorists act.
They called on the military and the police hierarchy in Abuja to investigate this “terribly embarrassing incident” that brought the “two security agencies to disrepute.”
The major roundabout in Damaturu, which also served as an intersection that leads to Maiduguri, Gujba and Gashua was blocked by soldiers for hours, a development that grounded movement of vehicles to and out of the Yobe capital.
Halima Ali, a civil servant in Sabon Fegi, said she was rattled by the gun fires from both the mobile policemen and soldiers “over a simple matter that ought to have been sorted out amicably.”
“In all honesty, I thought it was the Boko Haram militants that launched an attack; everybody was scared. When the shooting began I dashed into a nearby house for safety and could not even go out at all,” she said.
Amin Aliyu, another resident of Sani Daura Estate, described the incident as “most unfortunate.”
He said: “Though the sound of the gun shots was only heard in some places, what transpired was impunity of the highest order at a time both the police and the army have gone far in redeeming their image.
“We all forgot when last we heard gunshot in Damaturu but here we’re today, completely traumatized,” he said.
Daily Trust gathered that the commander of the mobile police was taken by soldiers to a military formation at Kukareta in the outskirt of Damaturu.
However, members of his squadron felt slighted and thereafter stormed the army formation at the Presidential Lodge thinking he was being detained there.