Armed military men led by a captain yesterday afternoon crushed a riot organised by a group of youths to protest the results of the presidential election at Mararaba in Nasarawa State.<\/p>\n
The military personnel arrived the scene one hour after the incident started and apprehended over 20 suspects who were made to lie on the road, facing the sky.<\/p>\n
The suspects were later taken into the premises of a transport company at Mararaba junction to continue with their punishment.<\/p>\n
People walking by the roadside had to raise up their hands, while soldiers searched vehicles and their occupants thoroughly.<\/p>\n
A Mararaba resident, Rose, said the protest began at 12 noon with some armed youths blocking the roads and setting tyres on fire.<\/p>\n
She said the youths smashed windscreens of vehicles with President Jonathan\u2019s posters, including a commercial bus, whose passengers sustained injuries.<\/p>\n
The rioters also smashed the windscreens of five vehicles parked in front of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria\u2019s (PHCN) office in the area, while fire was thrown into the office but which was put out before it consumed the building.<\/p>\n
Our reporter gathered that immediately the protesters sighted the military vans approaching the scene, they fled in opposite directions but some were apprehended by residents, who handed them over to the soldiers with their weapons.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this street we caught a boy holding a sword and handed him to the soldiers,\u201d a resident said.<\/p>\n
Due to the protest, banks within Mararaba and Nyanya shut their gates to customers, while armed police guards were stationed outside the bank on red alert.<\/p>\n
Traders as well as artisans at Nyanya, a satellite town in the FCT that shares boundary with Mararaba, also shut their business and rushed home for safety.<\/p>\n
Their fear was heightened by commercial cyclists who drove into the area at 1 pm to announce riot. The information caused residents to rush into their houses, while armed mobile policemen from the squadron battalion in the area patrolled the streets.<\/p>\n
FCT Police spokesman, Superintendent Jimoh Moshood, said policemen from FCT Police Command were sent to assist those at Mararaba to maintain law and order.<\/p>\n
He said the police experienced pockets of protests at Kubwa and Zuba while at Wuse market, a woman abandoned her car after hearing rumours of riot, which made people around the area assume that a bomb was planted in the car.<\/p>\n
Moshood said police bomb disposal unit had to be dispatched to the scene before the vehicle was removed.<\/p>\n
He said about 4,000 policemen have been stationed to handle crisis that may erupt during the announcement of election results, adding that residents should immediately alert the police once they observed unusual movements.<\/p>\n
At Kwali, youths believed to be supporters of a presidential candidate from Gada-Biyu community, blocked the ever busy Kwali- Lokoja road.<\/p>\n
A witness, Malam Yakubu, said the youth numbering over 50 set fire to tyres on the centre of a bridge which led to a heavy traffic holdup that lasted for about two hours.<\/p>\n
According to the witness, the youths were protesting over election rigging during the presidential polls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI even cautioned some of them but they did not listen to me,\u2019\u2019 the witness said.<\/p>\n
Before our reporter arrived the scene, the road had been opened by two truck loads of soldiers, who arrested 43 suspects.<\/p>\n
When contacted, Kwali Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Chief Superintendent Olubunmi Ogedengbe, said the suspects arrested by the soldiers have been taken to the FCT Criminal Investigation Department.<\/p>\n
Reacting, Kwali Area Council Chairman, Mr. Joseph K. Shazin, condemned the youths\u2019 action and warned that the council would not allow people to take law into their hands.<\/p>\n
He called on security agents to deal decisively with any person found breaching the peace in the area.<\/p>\n
\n
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