soildiers clash with civilian jtf

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.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/soldiers-
civilian-jtf-clash-in-adamawa/202316