A tragic incident occurred at the Shehu of Borno palace in Maiduguri, as a policeman gunned down Donatus Vonkong, a Warrant Officer of the Nigerian Army attached to the Operation Hadin Kai.
Sources told Daily Trust that the policeman was under the influence of alcohol. This has caused pandemonium in the area as aggrieved youths vowed to hunt down policemen seen in the area.
The military is however calling for calm, adding that the incident does not suggest any inter-agency rivalry between security agencies.
When contacted, the Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Jimmy Akpor described the incident as an “isolated case”.
Promising that thorough investigations will be launched to prevent recurrence, Akpor also revealed that there are mechanisms for handling such cases among all the security agencies.
He said;
“In any case, when things like this happen, it could be accidental, but there are procedures for handling such issues. It does not suggest inter-agency conflicts. This is an isolated issue, and when they do occur, the various services have mechanisms for handling them.
“And I’m very sure that Operation HADIN Kai will investigate and carry out the necessary clear mechanism to ensure that it does not happen again. The most important thing is that we guide against future occurrences.
“There are mechanisms for handling such issues, it does not in any way portray conflicts between the military and the police. After all, they are all deployed together for the overall efforts of counter-insurgency operations over there.”
