Nasarawa: 20 killed, houses burnt •As Ombatse fight spreads

TWENTY people were, again, killed on Saturday, while many houses also razed in another fracas between outlawed Ombatse militiamen and Alago people at Assakio community in Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
The latest unrest was a fall out of Angwan village’s pandemonium in Obi Local Government, on Thursday and Friday, in which over 25 persons were also said to have been killed and houses burnt.
Investigations by Sunday Tribune revealed that Saturday’s hostility, which began at Technical College, Assakio, spread to many areas in the community, culminating in razing of many houses by the Ombatse boys.
It was learnt that the militiamen, who had, as early 6.00 a.m., mobilised themselves in a neighboring community, invaded Assakio, another Alago settlement, around 7.00 a.m. and started wrecking havoc before the arrival of the Joint Task Force (JTF) who later brought the situation under control.
Informed top police source told Sunday Tribune that over 500 security operatives, including soldiers, riot policemen and other agencies, armed with rocket launchers, have been deployed in the area.
It will be recalled that two Eggon militiamen were arrested by the JTF on Thursday, with arms, at Angwan village in Obi Local Government, while strategising on how to wreck havoc in the area.
As a result, some Alago youths mobilised themselves and set the five buses convening the Ombatse militiamen to the area ablaze. Since then, it has become free-for-all between Ombatse and Alago people.
In the same vein, two persons lost their lives on Saturday in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, when youths, called ‘Civilian JTF’ in local parlance, accused a policeman of killing one of them and promptly avenged his death.
The rampaging youths had blocked highway, stopping the convoy of the state governor, Kashim Shettima, in protest over the killing of their member, in front of the Borno Express Terminus, by a trigger-happy policeman.
It was learnt that the youths, in retaliation, also hacked the policeman to death.
They nearly threw the state into another round of crisis, but for the intervention of Governor Shettima, who promise to pay diya of N3.5 million and attend the burial of the youth volunteer today.
One of the youth volunteers, Mohammed Umar, said the civilian JTF, after arresting a Boko Haram member, were controlling traffic along Bullumkuttu highway when a police van came, driving against the traffic.
According to him, when the youths stopped the van, one of the policemen in it threatened to shoot the young man that stopped him and, indeed, shot him when an argument ensued.
“He shot our boy and we hacked him to death. We want the people of Borno to know that the police are the Boko Haram; we do not want to work with them, if we are to continue to help government in bringing back peace to the state.
“We sacrifice our lives for peace to reign in the state. We work better with and understand the military; but the police have always been the problem,” he said.
Governor Shettima, in an address to journalists faulted the police for the act, but pleaded with the youths to be calm as government would do everything possible to address the issue.
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