Fred Itua, Abuja
There was commotion in Abuja following a face-off between officers of the police and the Air Force. The incident happened along the Abuja-Keffi road.
Trouble started when two young officers of the Air Force drove against the traffic. They were stopped by the monitoring team of the Federal Capital Territory.
Policemen, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) officials and men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) on the team directed the two men to turn back and follow the right way.
This angered the young officers who started hurling insults at the police officer, Azeez Idowu.
This infuriated the policemen and other officers on the team who tried to arrest the young men after a little shoving around.
The situation degenerated when some Air Force men arrived at the scene to rescue their colleagues from the grips of the policemen, but their effort was resisted.
Chairman of the FCT Ministerial Taskforce on Traffic Control, Ikharo Atta, had a hectic time bringing the situation under control.
A new detachment of the Air Force arrived at the scene some minutes later with the policemen insisting on taking the two young officers to the police command.
This led to another round of quarrel as the uniformed men continued the resistance with the two teams wielding gun squaring up.
Normalcy, however, returned as officers of the Air Force team asked the young officers to apologise to the senior police officer.
Attah appealed to residents to comply with the restriction order, saying only those on essential duties will be allowed free movement.