Mobile policemen shut down major highway in Maiduguri

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7 years ago

POPULAR Jos and Kano road in Maiduguri was shut down this morning as men of the mobile unit shot into the air protesting about their unpaid allowances.

The allowances are supposed to have been paid to them monthly for coming down to the Borno sector of the war theatre to keep the peace side by side the soldiers.

The TribuneOnline learnt that some of the mobile units involved in the protests which lasted over two hours were posted here in January this year to work with soldiers to keep the peace against the lingering Boko Haram insurgency war.

“The police blocked the Jos road, shooting into the air scaring off motorists who dared to cross. The traffic congestion was massive up to the airport area while Kano Road and Mala Kachalla became a quick divert option for commuters ” said our source.

For students and staff of the government college Maiduguri opposite the police headquarters and Ramat Polytechnic opposite the police training college, Monday became an automatic holiday as they had to go back to their homes as they could not pass through the blockage or even stand the staccato sound of gunshots.

Borno Police Commissioner, Damian Chukwu said he was aware of the protest when contacted adding that the delay in their payments was not deliberate but was tied to the national budget which had suffered a lot of delays.

TribuneOnline learnt that the mobile policemen embarked on the protest for their allowance which should be about thirty thousand a month and 180,000 nairas as at the end of June as accumulation for the last six months.

“We learnt that the Commissioner of Police Demien Chukwu has been promoted to a higher office as Deputy inspector general of police DIG and may leave this week. So we want him to intervene so that these allowances would be paid to us before he leaves ” Said one of the policemen on anonymity.

Every Nigerian uniformed personnel within the lafia dole war theatre receives a thousand naira daily as allowances for staying, fighting and killing Boko Haram on behalf of the federal government and this is not part of their monthly salaries.