There was pandemonium at Mokola area of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday as men of the Nigerian army engaged the police in a shootout.
Though, no one was killed, the incident landed men from both sides in hospitals.
We gathered that the problem started, Wednesday night, when a police woman in mufti raised alarm that she was being attacked by two men on a motorcycle. This made the policemen on duty to come to her aid.
While trying to protect their colleague, one of the policemen allegedly shot one of the two men on the motorcycle on the ankle.
Unknown to them, the two men were soldiers, who later reinforced and allegedly stabbed a policeman on the buttock.
But, yesterday, there was sporadic gunshots at Mokola area which made passers-by and traders in the area ran for dear lives.
An eye witness said: “The incident started when 10 soldiers stormed the station and beat policemen on duty in retaliation of an attack one of them on Wednesday night by the police carrying out ‘stop and search’ in front of the station.”
It was further gathered that the police on the ‘stop and search’ Wednesday night, stopped the soldiers for routine check and this led to altercations.
Speaking with us on the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Olabisi Ilobanafor, said the matter had been resolved the family way and situation brought under control.
“The issue actually started on Wednesday night when two men on a motorcycle had disagreement with a police woman who was in mufti. The woman called the attention of the policemen on duty to come to her rescue. They fired warning shots into the air. One of the two men who were later discovered to be military men was injured. Later, his colleagues arrived with cudgels and stabbed a policeman on the buttock. Another soldier wanted to stab him again but was resisted”.
“About 3pm yesterday, some military men stormed the station beating and injuring policemen on duty. Warning shots were fired. We reinforced from the command to make sure the matter did not get out of hand. We thank God that nobody died in the process. The injured ones both policemen and soldiers were later taken to hospital.
“Authorities of both the police and Army came together and resolved the matter as a family. This is one of isolated cases we had. We are the same family. We should work together to fight criminals not to fight ourselves”.