Following the killing of a youth by an unidentified driver in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, at least two young people have been arrested by officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) for protesting, attacking commuters, and stealing belongings.
A retired commandant of the NSCDC and an army captain’s vehicles were smashed by the hoodlums who hijacked the protest and in the process their phones and other belongings snatched from them.
Parading the two suspects before journalists at the headquarters of the NSCDC, the public relations officer disclosed that the rampaging youths operated for about eight hours before security intervention to dispel them.
The two suspects according to him, were traced through the stolen phones of the NSCDC commandant, while others are still on the run.
”On 26th December 2022, there was an accident that occurred along Natu junction where someone was knocked down and residents of the area came out in their number to protest and unfortunately some hoodlums took over the protest.
”The hoodlums came with weapons smashing cars, causing gridlock, snatching wallets, phones from commuters.
”Unfortunately for one of our retired commandants who was passing along that axis fell victim of the rampage and his phone and wallet not spared ”
”They also did same to an army captain who was also commuting along that road. Our men were called upon alongside men of the Nigerian army and they swung into action by dispelling the irate youths, but before then the youth had operated for about eight hours.
”Through the phone snatched from our commandant we were able to trace and arrest these suspects before us on the 30th of December 2022. The suspects are safiyanu ahmed aged 20 and parisun hosea aged 22,” the official stated.
He stressed that the rapid response, as well as special weapons and tactics used by the NSCDC team has been fully activated by the commandant for regular patrols of the metropolis to curtail such occurrence going forward.
The NSCDC spokesperson further disclosed that the suspects confessed to have committed the crime and will be charged to a court of competent jurisdiction.