Panic as tricycle operators protest In Taraba

On Friday, there was panick in parts of Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, as operators of tricycles, commonly called Keke NAPEP, protested the killing of one of their colleagues, Yahuza Abdullahi.

The tricycle of the deceased was also allegedly stolen.

The protest, which started in the morning, forced many shopowners to close their shops.

A Keke NAPEP rider, Ibrahim Hassan, told PREMIUM TIMES that the protest, which was meant to be peaceful, was hijacked by hoodlums and soon became violent causing tension in the city, and forcing residents to scamper to safety.

“The protest forced many shop owners to close their shops as the hoodlums attempted to break into shops to loot shops.

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Mr Umar said: “ There have been reported cases of Keke theft in Jalingo. This issue has been on for a while now until we decided to carry out a protest today over the killing of one of us”.

The state chairman of the Tricycle Riders Association, Abdullahi Bello, said the protest created tension but the police and the military quickly intervened to avoid further crisis.

Mr Bello said, “Hoodlums hijacked the protest and turned it violence, even my office was destroyed.

“Soldiers and police officers deployed to the area dispersed the protesters,” he said.

Motorists and other road users along Michelin, Nukkai and ATC were trapped as they were asked by security operatives to keep off the route for restoration of normalcy.

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When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Usman Abdullahi, confirmed the incident.

“We got information this morning that a corpse was cited around Nukkai and we mobilised our men to go and evacuate it, but on reaching there the Keke NAPEP riders hijacked the corpse, barricaded the roads and attacked our men.

“However, we have been able to restore calm and the Command has launched an investigation into the incident,” he said.