From Abdulrazaq Mungadi

Days after a clash between two rival groups of youths, which claimed three lives during a Sallah Durbar procession in Gombe, the suspected thugs have continued to unleash attacks on residents in the state capital.

During one of the attacks, the thugs, who were allegedly on a spree of snatching phones and other valuables, came across a journalist whom they harassed while attempting to snatch his working tools, including a camera he was carrying.

Narrating his ordeal, Muhammad Ibrahim Pantami, with Gombe Media Cooperation (GMC), told Daily Sun that he came across the threat shortly after leaving his office on a fateful Thursday at 5:30pm on his way home.

“I took a tricycle (Keke Napep) to drop me at home, then we came across some youths suspected to be Kalare (thugs) boys around New GRA. They were seven and were carrying weapons, including cutlasses, knives and sticks. They threatened me and tried to snatch my camera. The boys also harassed and slapped the Keke rider.

“They continued to hold us hostage on the lone road until luck came our way. The hooligans quickly ran away when they sighted a vehicle coming towards us. I heard some of them were saying, ‘Beat him, he is a journalist they always report government news’,” Pantami explained.

Reacting to the incident, the chairman of the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Saidu Bappah Malala, stated that the union had plans in the pipeline to engage government officials to ensure the safety of journalists in the state.

“We have seen signs that the 2023 general election is going to be violent and, for that reason, we are planning a series of advocacy and other sensitization to ensure that the safety and security of our members are guaranteed,” Malala told Daily Sun.

He added that the union was also planning to organise a workshop for senior and junior police officers and other security agents ahead of the 2023 elections: “It is going to be a workshop with participants from the media and the security agencies. The issue of safety of journalists will be extensively discussed.”

However, he called on journalists in the state to be extra vigilant and cautious.

“We should be careful of places we go and how we go to those places. We can be the target of these thugs and other threats, therefore, we should mind how we go about our work and daily routines,” Malala said.

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While male and female residents continued to report incidents of phones being snatched by suspected Kalare boys, Daily Sun visited some of the victims of Wednesday’s clash between the youths in the Jekadafari and Bolari communities, where it was gathered that the incident originated from pickpocketing and phone theft during the Durbar procession by horsemen in the entourage of the Emir of Gombe.

At the residence of Hanne Sani, mother of 14-year-old Murtala Sani who sustained injuries when he was shoy with a Dane-gun, it was gathered that the boy was standing at the palace of the district head of Doma in Jekadafari when he was hit by a stray pellets from the shot.

“I was told that my son has been shot; before I got to the scene, he had been rushed to the specialist hospital. On reaching the hospital, we were told that there was no bed space, that we should take him to Federal Teaching Hospital (FTH), Gombe,” Hanne told the reporter.

She explained that her son could not get attention at the FTH, as the workers there were busy attending to other victims being rushed to the hospital.

“We had to take him to a private hospital,” the mother of six said, adding that about 18 balls from the locally made bullet were pulled from parts of the body of the 14 years old innocent Nigerian.

The mother, who condemned the clash and attack on innocent residents, cried out for help, seeking support to treat for her son in hospital. According to Hanne, that was because the hospital bill has since overpowered her means.

She said: “In just these two days we have spent N26,000 and we are still going to the hospital. We still have some drug prescriptions that we have not yet bought and we would soon be going back for them to remove about 19 stitches on his body”.

While the state governor, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, called for calm among residents, Umar Abba Arawa of the Jekadafari community tasked the state government to ensure justice for innocent victims of the attack.

“These boys and their parents should not be allowed to go unpunished. We are aware that the governor has been kicking against Kalare and thuggery in the state, but now is the time to go after those thugs and stop them from causing more mayhem on innocent citizens,” Umar, who lost a 24 years old son, told Daily Sun.

He explained that his son, a final-year student at the Federal College of Education Technical (FCET), Gombe, was gunned down after finishing his teaching practice. “He was killed just when he was about to become a useful material for both his parents and the state.”