A clash erupted on Saturday at the Banex Plaza phone market in Wuse 2, Abuja, involving soldiers and traders over a dispute regarding a faulty phone.
According to Drivetvnews, the conflict began when soldiers were allegedly attacked by some individuals at the market, as reported by a trader who said, “I’m not there right now but I called my boys at the shop and they told me there was a disagreement between some boys and soldiers.”
A video of the incident, as reported by the newspaper, showed a group of young men arguing with two soldiers, after which the men divided into groups of three and launched fierce attacks on their targets. A civilian dressed in mufti was also assaulted by the mob, though it is uncertain if he was a soldier.
In a separate video, traders were observed closing their shops due to concerns over potential retaliation from the soldiers.
As of the time of this report, military authorities had not issued a statement on the incident.
However, ParallelFact disclosed that the spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, SP Josephine Adeh, confirmed that the Commissioner of Police, Benett Igweh, had deployed officers of the FCT Intelligence Response Team to the scene of the incident.
“The CP has deployed the Intelligence Response Team to the scene,” Adeh confirmed.