Eyewitness Accounts: How ‘Task Force,’ Taxi Drivers’ Clash Triggered Protest In Abuja

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By Chimezie Godfrey

Hell was let loose at Wuse Bus stop and its  environs  in Abuja on Wednesday  as the clash between the Abuja Joint Task  Force and the Taxi Drivers led to the shooting of one person and scores   of others injured.The clash triggered a massive protest that disrupted the flow of traffic Wednesday.

The Abuja Joint  Task Force Officials  had in the course of their duty gone to arrest a  taxi  driver at the Wuse Bus Stop Wednesday  morning but the driver’s  resistance led to his being manhandled.This led to other taxi drivers coming to the  rescue of their colleague.The situation  eventually degenerated to a  full blown clash resulting in the firing of gun  allegedly by Task force members .

Abubakar Audu, himself a driver  and one of the eyewitnesses  who spoke with Newsdiaryonline said,”because the driver refused to be  arrested,they started beating him until he was  unconcious,and was shot by one of  the task force  members on Army uniform.”

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According to Audu,the Task Force after shooting the driver took him into  their vehicle and drove to  an unknown destination.He also said  that the driver resisted arrest because he had been arrested for about three times this week by the same task force and  each of these times he paid them to secure his  release.This time around,  he could not afford to comply with them  .

Another taxi driver,  Ugochukwu Francis,while  lamenting the ill-treatment meted to  them by the Abuja Joint task force said that they are being  enslaved  because  almost everything  they make each day goes to settling the task force,and  they drivers are  left with nothing for themselves.

Francis said that  sometimes members of the Task Force disguise as passengers  only to show their true intention when  in  their vehicles.”They are criminals,we don’t need any Task Force,we don’t need any V.I.O,”he said.”

Isaac Andrew,also one of  the taxi drivers, confirmed to Newsdiaryonline  that the driver was beaten   black and blue,and shot by a suspected member of the task force because he refused to cooperate with them.”We will continue to protest and mount road blocks until the FCT  Minister comes to address us,because the task force claims  that they are carrying out the mandate given to them by the  minister,” he said.

The rampaging drivers out of anger and retaliation to the shooting  of one of them  and injuries inflicted on their members mounted road blocks  on the roads in Wuse to Berger, preventing vehicle  movements.Some of the aggrieved drivers were carrying placards with inscriptions such as,”We don’t want any task force,they are criminals.”

It took the combined efforts of some men of the Nigerian Army and a team of  policemen from FCT police command to restore  order in  the troubled area.

A member of the police team,ACP,Ayodele E. Sonubi advised the angry mob to maintain a peaceful protest  and assured them that thier grievances would be addressed by  the appropriate authorities.

 

 

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