Tension in Abuja as okada riders clash with soldiers

Gunshots rented the air  in the early hours of Sunday at St. Marry’s Catholic Church, Karu in Abuja,  as commercial motorcyclists  clashed with soldiers over alleged plans to burn the church.

An eyewitness who craved anonymity told our correspondent that trouble started when an okada rider attempted to drop a passenger directly in front of the church building, but was resisted by a female soldier who was on duty, who  asked him to go further before dropping the passenger, but the directive, which apparently did not go down well with the okada man, led to hot argument between them.

“The soldier asked the okada rider to do frog jump and was beaten  to a pulp. That was how his colleagues mobilised themselves to the area with dangerous weapons such as iron, cutlasses, among others, threatening to burn down the church.

“They barricaded the roads and made bonfire all over the place. One the soldiers fired a gunshots but  I could not confirm if anybody was hit or not,” the witness narrated.

Another eyewitness who identified himself as Dauda said that the skirmishes would have degenerated into a religious crisis because most of the commercial cyclists were Hausa Muslims, but the timely intervention of the security agents who stormed the area saved the situation.

When our correspondent visited the area, armed security operatives had condoned off the road from Yanyan Bridge to Karu Village, making both human and vehicular movement difficult.

Motorists were asked to raise up their hands as they passed through the area, while okada riders were asked to carry their motorcycles on their heads.

As of the time of this report, calm has return to the area, but security officials were all on the alert in case of any eventuality.