Six feared injured as uniformed men disrupt rally

WHAT children and women had intended as a peace rally to awaken the consciousness of Nigeria and the global community to the conflicts which have troubled Wase Council, turned violent in the southern Plateau town when uniformed men suspected to be from the Special Task Force (STF) stationed in the town prevented the advance of the procession to their scheduled last point of call at the Wase Divisional Police Headquarters.

The participants of the rally organized by Wase Women Development Association (WAWODA) had headed towards the STF base from the nearby Wase LGA Guest House when the uniformed men rose and descended on the participants of the rally who took to their heels.

Interim coordinator of WAWODA, Hajia Safiya Adamu, said in an interview after the incident, “We told them we were holding this peace rally and the Sector Commander assured us of our safety, we can’t understand why they should do this. We can’t continue this peace rally now because we don’t know what these people mean. This is the kind of treatment we get from these men who are deployed to protect us.”

Five school children and a woman were injured, some directly from the whipping of the uniformed men and some due to the stampede in their bid to escape.

Wase has been faced with violent conflicts for more than 10 years.

Meanwhile, Governor–elect, Mr. Simon Lalong has said the recent creation of 13 new districts and chiefdoms by the outgoing Governor Jonah Jang is borne out of mischief, aimed at causing bad blood and crisis in the state.