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A security operative on Friday killed an onlooking Keke NAPEP rider in Minna, Niger State, during a free-for-all between artisanal miners and suspected hoodlums.
The clash was said to have started on Thursday around some parts of the city, including the Metunbi and Tunga Bye Pass, over some undisclosed issues, which eyewitnesses said were linked to mining locations in the city.
According to the eyewitnesses, during the Thursday conflict, one of the miners got his hand cut off by the hoodlums and this resulted in serious fighting which led residents and traders in the affected areas to run for dear life while shops and business places were hurriedly shut down.
Arewa PUNCH gathered that by the following day, the miners were said to have regrouped for a reprisal. In the process, they invaded the town looking for their attackers to carry out revenge as both parties were said to be armed to the teeth.
Their sight and presence scared innocent residents to hurriedly lock up their shops and houses to avert being innocent victims of the attack.
Our correspondent learnt that the hoodlums and miners converged at the MI Wushishi Estate gate when a security patrol team comprised of the Police, Civil Defence and vigilante personnel arrived at the scene of the clash to enforce law and order.
It was in the process that one of the security officials allegedly shot the two bullets, which hit the onlooker who incidentally was a commercial Keke NAPEP rider, identified to be a Hausa man who died instantly.
Arewa PUNCH further learnt that after the shooting, fresh pandemonium broke out as Keke NAPEP operators who witnessed the killing of one of their own grouped themselves and started chanting solidarity and war songs, insisting that they would not accept the killing.
They carried the corpse of the rider along with his Keke NAPEP and placed it at the City Gate while they stopped every oncoming Keke NAPEP rider from freely riding on that road, maintaining that they would join in the protest to demand justice for their slain colleague.
It took several hours before calm could be restored in the town as the miners and the hoodlums continued their clash while the Keke NAPEP operators insisted that they would not leave the City Gate until the governor and the Commissioner of Police came to address them.
One of the eyewitnesses, Aisha Dauda who spoke to Arewa PUNCH, said she was in her provision shop in Metunbi when she and other shop owners heard noises from a few poles away but could not initially make anything out of the noise.
“We heard the noise from afar. When I looked, I saw people coming in our direction. They were carrying weapons, and we realised that they were going to attack somebody, or some people, and in order not to fall victim, I quickly closed my shop,” she said.
Yakubu Abubakar, a resident of the Tunga Bye Pass, said he saw how the hoodlums cut off one of the miner’s hand. He said the security operatives did not visit the scene on Thursday when the incident first started, and so the hoodlums took over the entire area.
“I really don’t know how it started but the hoodlums came in their dozens and started to insist that they would not allow the miners to continue to make money from the gold which they said, belonged to every Nigerlite. The miners on their part were insisting that it was their right and they would continue to mine in the area.
“In the process of the fracas, one of the hoodlums cut off the hand of one of the miners, and all hell was let loose the more, following which the residents took to their heels.
The fight continued for a long time since the security agents were nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, the miners could not get any of the hoodlums.
“We thought it was over only for the miners to regroup the next day and start looking for the hoodlums to take their revenge. The whole Minna was very hot as the miners and hoodlums continued to brandish dangerous weapons, threatening everyone around,” Abubakar narrated.
A Keke NAPEP operator, Anosike Jonathan, also narrated to Arewa PUNCH what he witnessed at the MI Wushishi Estate gate when the Keke NAPEP rider was shot.
“We were watching what was happening from a safe distance. The miners were rampaging carrying dangerous weapons and threatening to kill the hoodlums when this patrol van arrived at the MI Wushishi Road. It was carrying some police officers, civil defence personnel, and some of the vigilante groups.
“The security operatives jumped out of the van and were trying to take different positions to quell the crisis. Suddenly, we heard a loud bang from a gunshot that rang out twice from the same direction.
“I saw this civil defence officer shoot, and immediately, the Keke NAPEP rider who was washing his tricycle nearby just fell and died instantly from the gunshot.
“There was confusion. Everybody was trying to escape. When some Keke NAPEP operator saw that one of their own had been killed, they started making noise, saying that they would not accept it. They said the killed Keke NAPEP man was not a part of the clash.
“The Keke NAPEP people formed a group and carried the corpse of the colleague to the City gate, stopping every movement on that road. They insisted that they would not leave the road until the governor and the Commissioner of Police came to address them,” he explained.
Arewa PUNCH made several calls to the spokesman of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mohammed Muti, to react to the killing of the Keke NAPEP rider but his line could not be reached.
Muti who had recently been discharged from the hospital following an attack by some phone thieves who stole his phone on Monday, disclosed that investigations were going on to ascertain the security operative that killed the Keke NAPEP rider.
“It wasn’t our people that shot the person. We heard the information late. When we got there, we met other security agents there.
“It is not true that a civil defence operative shot him. That’s not true at all. Of course, our people went there, the place is not a new place to us anytime there was distress there, they always gave us a call.
“When they called us, our people went there, and they even made two arrests, and immediately they made the arrest they brought the suspects to the office. But our people went there when the incident had already happened. Investigations are ongoing to ascertain who did the shooting,” he insisted.
The Niger State Commissioner of Police Shawulu Danmamman, who spoke to Arewa PUNCH on Saturday during a telephone chat, said the incident was still under investigation. As such, he would be unable to give any details.
“The incident is under investigation, and there are no details I can give now until after the investigation is over,” CP Danmamman said.
