Police nab cyclists over UniAbuja hostel fire

en of the Gwagwalada divisional police headquarters, Tuesday afternoon, arrested two commercial motorcycle riders in connection with the alleged burning of the apartments of some students of University of Abuja in Gwagwalada.

A witness said the incident happened around 2:13p.m. following a disagreement between a student and a commercial cyclist in the area over N100 change.

He said an argument ensued after one of the students, who boarded a motorcycle at SDP junction disembarked at a rented apartment occupied by some students of the university at Zion hostel, behind Nitel office in Gwagwalada.

He said when they arrived at the hostel, the student gave N1,000 note to the cyclist and he demanded for change, which the cyclist could not provide.

According to him, the cyclist refused to seek for change and returned the N1,000 note to the student, saying in the process, the student went inside the hostel and met with one of his roommates, who gave him N100 to pay the cyclist.

“The Okada man became annoyed that the student delayed him, and before we realised what was happening, some of his colleagues had started scattering the places and set fire on some apartments being occupied by the students,’’ he said.

He stated that residents in the neighbourhood alerted the police, who rushed to the scene to arrest two of the cyclists while others escaped.

Our reporter gathered that the cyclists were provoked over the arrest of some of their members by the police, which prompted them to go on rampage and started destroying other property and setting other apartments on fire.

When contacted, the Gwagewalada Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Chief Superintendent of Police Danjuma Yahaya, confirmed the incident, saying two suspects were arrested in connection with the incident and have been charged to court.

He said a house comprising of 12 bedrooms and two flats being occupied by some students of the University of Abuja, were allegedly set ablaze by the hoodlums.

“The management of the University of Abuja, seized 25 of their motorcycles, but we are able to intervene through the chairman of the Okada union to resolve the matter and retrieve the motorcycles back to the union,‘’ he said.