Police arrest union boss over mob attack
From Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar, in Yola
& Abdulrazak Adebayo, in Ilorin
Police in Adamawa state yesterday arrested a top official of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) over the attack of Road Safety officials and the destruction of their vehicle in the state.
Rampaging mob had at the weekend attacked and injured six corp marshals and destroyed their vehicle, a Peugeot station wagon following a disagreement with a driver who had allegedly overloaded his commercial vehicle with passengers.
Armed policemen were drafted at the state headquarters of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Yola to keep vigil and protect the headquarters from mob attack.
The state police command on Monda arrested a top official of the drivers’ union in Jimeta-Yola and the driver at the centre of the disagreement with the road safety officials.
The area commander of the police in Yola, Yahaya Garba Ado, told journalists that the union official and the driver were arrested for alleged involvement in the attack of the road safety personnel.
The state sector commander of the commission, Mr. Micheal Nyam, told journalists that the corp marshals were overpowered by the mob because they did not have any weapons to protect themselves.
He also disclosed that the mob had stolen the communication gadgets of the road safety vehicle they had destroyed during the attack.
Mr. Nyam called for the arming of road safety personnel to prevent similar incident in the future and to put them in a better position to carry out their work more diligently.
Meanwhile about 27 suspects, including two bunkerers and 23 student cultists in police net were paraded yesterday by the Kwara state police commissioner, Alhaji Mohammed Dikko Abubakar.
Addressing a press conference at the police command, the commissioner said 20 of the student cultists, arrested were from federal polytechnic, Offa, while four were students of the University of Ilorin.
Alhaji Abubakar commended the spirit of cooperation now manifesting from students and authorities of the tertiary institutions in the state capital and the judiciary for the renewed effort on eradicating cultism in the state.
The police commissioner also paraded two bunkerers arrested along Ogele/Eiyenkorin area with intent to vandalise and tap fuel. The suspects, Shola Oyedokun of Oluwole Bujuwon from Ijumu local govt area of Kogi state were arrested by a combined team of vigilante group and detectives with one tanker, registered XB 856 DGB, one pumping generating machine, one long hose, one knife, and one Nissan Blue Bird Saloon car registered EC 221 KJA Ikeja.
Two other armed robbery suspects who usually disguise in Fulani attires to rob victims on Idofian-Ilorin road, Yabani Gudu and Umoru Damuna, both of Baba Sango compound near Balanta Oro-Ago were also paraded before newsmen.
The police commissioner while announcing that community policing had started gradually in Kwara state appealed to the public and communities to assist the police with useful information to fight all manner’s of crimes and criminal activities.
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