One person was fatally shot, and several vehicles were damaged on Thursday following a clash between personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and traders at Chorbe Market in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The clash, according to traders, was triggered when NSCDC operatives, invited by officials of the market traders’ association to enforce the weekly sanitation exercise, attempted to compel traders operating along the roadside to comply.
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Traders who spoke with our correspondent said they resisted the move, insisting that they were not members of the market association and should not be compelled to observe its sanitation directive.
“Our shops are along the road, not inside the market. We told them we are not part of their sanitation exercise, but they insisted we must close,” one of the traders, Sani Musa, said.
Another trader, Mrs Grace John, who sells provisions close to the market, said the situation escalated when the armed operatives allegedly began harassing traders
“They came with guns and started threatening us. When some of the traders refused, they started shooting. One person was shot and, in the process, some hoodlums smashed the windscreens of vehicles parked along the road,” she said.
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A vehicle owner, Ibrahim Yusuf, whose car was damaged, lamented the destruction.
“I just parked my car by the roadside to buy something. Before I came back, they had smashed the windscreen. Who will pay for this now?” he asked.
Our correspondent learnt that, within minutes, streets around the market were deserted as residents fled into their houses and locked their doors.
There was also pandemonium in adjoining areas, including Apata, Alikazaure, Katako and Masalachi, extending to Bauchi Road, areas described as hotspots of frequent clashes in Jos North.
The injured trader was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.
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Efforts to reach the spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, Alfred Alabo, were unsuccessful, as his telephone could not be reached at the time of filing this report.
Punch