Bauchi, Gombe Border Clash: No life lost – Police
From Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
The Bauchi State Police Command has disagreed with a member of the State House of Assembly, Gazali Wunti, who alleged that an undisclosed number of people were killed in a border clash between the Gungura community in Ganjuwa local government area of the state and the Buri-Buri community of Dukku local government of Gombe State.
The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Mohammad Ahmed Wakil, who gave the explanation while answering questions from journalists in Bauchi on Thursday, said no life was lost in the incident.
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It was reported that there was a border clash between the two states on Wednesday at about 3:00 am which claimed an unspecified number of lives, while houses and farmlands worth millions of naira were destroyed.
Wakil said the truth of the matter was that some communities from Gombe State crossed the river, invaded some farms of Bauchi communities in Ganjuwa local government area.
He said the attackers started shooting sporadically in the air, destroyed farms and left but they didn’t kill anybody from the report received by the command.
The Officer stated that after the attackers left, the District head informed the Police and they visited the area and restored law and order.
Wakil said, “after the incident, the commissioner of police of Bauchi and Gombe State summoned a meeting between the police commands, Special advisers on security who represented the state governors, Commissioner of youth sports, local governments chairmen, traditional and community leaders from the areas and all the relevant stakeholders, where they held a fruitful discussion on how to ensure sustainable peace in the area.”
He said as part of the resolution, a formal complaint was lodged before the National Boundary Commission.
According to him, another meeting between the Governors of Bauchi and Gombe State, council chairmen of the affected communities, traditional and community leaders from the area, will be held separately to discuss the way forward as part of efforts to ensure sustainable peace among the communities.
Wakil said the commissioner of Police of the two states will deploy policemen in the area where the attackers are crossing to prevent the other communities from crossing over to cause any problems.
The Police Spokesman who said, the state community of police has deployed policemen presently to the affected communities to maintain peace, also appealed for calm and solicited cooperation from all stakeholders.
