There was mayhem at Nyanya, a sprawling slum located at the suburb of Abuja, the Federal capital city, Sunday, as a result of an encounter between a commercial motorcycle popularly called Okada rider and a soldier.
According to a bus driver who simply identified himself as Emeka, a commercial motorcycle rider who had parked his bike wrongly, close to St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Nyanya, was cautioned by a soldier and ordered to park it elsewhere.
Said he: “But the man refused to obey the soldier and even challenged him. The soldier decided to subject him to physical punishment. The soldier asked the motorcyclist to lie down inside a nearby gutter.”
It was gathered that the soldier had forced the Okada rider into the gutter.
However, the motorcyclist who was said to be a Muslim raised alarm that he had been forced to drink gutter water even though he was fasting.
According to Emeka, “the incident attracted other motorcyclists and passers-by. As a result of this, motorcyclists who gathered at the scene suddenly grew into a crowd and turned violent.”
Emeka said the mob attacked the soldier and other motorists who were within the vicinity.
He said: “I was driving my bus through the area when they attacked me. They smashed the windscreen of my bus and hit me several times. I managed to escape.”
Another eyewitness told Vanguard that the soldier who was attacked escaped and reported the matter to military authorities who promptly deployed soldiers to the area.