Police Protest in Maiduguri over unpaid allowances

There was a sudden township commotion in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital Monday morning as armed mobile police officers took to the streets of Maiduguri township on of their protest of six months unpaid allowances by the police authorities.

It was learnt that the officers were posted to the state in January 2018 to strengthen security of the troubled state which has been bedeviled by Boko Haram insurgency for about a decade.

The mobile police officers, who were fully armed matched in their hundreds to the Borno State Police Headquarters located on the major highway in the town, where they were prevented from having access into the police complex to register their grievances which led to sporadic gunshots in the air scaring motorists and pedestrians within the vicinity.

In retaliation, the police officers subsequently barricaded the highway, shooting sporadically into the air and scaring off motorists and passers by.

The situation led to students and staff /workers of Ramat Polytechnic and Kashim Ibrahim College of Education Maiduguri as well as GDSS COE, GASS Maiduguri and GGSS Yerwa had to turn back to their homes as they could not pass through the barricade.

Some of the officers, who spoke to The Nigerian Voice, lamented that since January when they were deployed to the state on special operation, they have not be given their allowances.

They complained that many of them have had to go through inhuman treatment as they have to sleep on the corridor of the office on returning from duty at night.

When contacted, the Borno Police Commissioner, Damian Chukwu said he was aware of the protest.

He further said that the delay in payment of their allowances may not be unconnected with late signing of the budget.