Five years after a near similar incident led to the killing of about 11 boys brigade and girls guide squad members, another similar skirmish was timely averted by the Gombe Police Command on Easter eve as youths in a mosque pelted the brigade squad with stones and other objects, destroying their drums and inflicting injuries on others.
Arewa According reports that no fewer than 300 members from different ECWA churches who were in a procession to celebrate the Easter with the Boys Brigade squad comprising parishioners from Nazareth Nayi Nawa, Pantami, Bagadaza and Macedonia were allegedly attacked by the suspected hoodlums and miscreants who attacked the very peaceful and orderly procession.
Narrating his ordeal to Arewa According, an eyewitness who identified himself as Ephraim decried the action of the irate youths who pelted them with stones.
He disclosed that they were attacked around a mosque in Jekadafari, notorious for extremism and crime.
Ephraim said, “We went out for Easter rally at night but when we reached Jekadafari in the night near the Jaurawa mosque they didn’t talk or say anything to us, they just started throwing stones at us and because there were only a few people that are in front that was why they attacked us.
“The ones I saw injured were just two, and I don’t know whether others got injured too,” Ephraim told Arewa According.
However, reacting to the incident through a telephone interview with Arewa According, Gombe State Commissioner of Police, Hayatu Usman, confirmed that a woman was injured during an alleged disagreement between Evangelical Church Winning All Boys Brigade members on procession.
Usman who dismissed insinuations that it was an attack said, “It wasn’t an attack. It was a misunderstanding that happened between them (boys brigade and boys from Jekadafari).”
Clarifying the circumstances surrounding the incident, the CP explained, “I received a phone call roughly around 2am this morning. It was a good samaritan who called to tell me that something was about to happen in the Jekadafari area here between Christians and Muslims.
“The Muslims pray at night during Ramadan from 12:30am to 4am in a congregational prayer. As they were praying and the boys brigade wanted to also pass towards the direction of the mosque that they were praying and the hisbah people asked them not to pass through there because prayer was on going, especially when they were beating their drums.”
Usman noted that while some members in the procession had to divert their direction but the rest insisted on following the route.
“Some changed direction and few among them insisted that they must pass through that same direction and the misunderstanding attracted some few among the Muslims and they started throwing stones at the Christians that insisted on passing their direction and we are lucky that we have patrol vans around that area which include Hattara and immediately, they were able control the matter and escorted them,” he added.
The police top boss further disclosed to Arewa According that only one lady among the brigade boys was injured, thus dismissing insinuations that more persons were affected.
“It was only one woman that was injured, and she was treated and discharged from the hospital. The DPO will confirm the exact number, but according to what he sent to me, it is like very few people were injured. Nobody has reported any more injuries so far, but everything is under control,” Usman assured.
The Gombe CP urged the residents to collaborate with the police before carrying out processions to avert misunderstanding, adding, “That’s why we tell people that if they want to embark on any rally, they should involve the police in order to guide you where to follow. It was a minor issue, and it was immediately put under control because we already have our security team and patrol team on ground,” he narrated.
