Nigerian police operatives have been dispatched to various locations across the Warji Local Government Area of Bauchi state in North-West Nigeria after some youths on Friday, yesterday, embarked on a violent protest. According to a police statement released on Saturday, the blasphemous message was allegedly posted by a yet-to-be-identified 40-year-old woman on social media, leading to the current fracas in the area.
According to an eyewitness account, they and the woman in question who were staff members of the Warji Local Government were working together when she posted a video of a person from Ghana abusing and criticizing Islam on the office’s WhatsApp group. The eyewitness told her to take down the video but their warnings were ignored as they were aware that out of the 20 members of the group, 15 of them were Muslims. Four other people joined the eyewitness to ask the woman to remove the video but all entreaties fell on deaf ears.
This, according to the eyewitness was what angered some people and some youths started gathering around the office at 5 in the evening. Luckily for the woman, a member of the DSS was around to quickly spirit her away before the mob could reach her. Unable to get at their target, the youths took to the streets and burnt some shops though several people have insisted that the damage done is not great as initially thought.
In a statement made by the Spokesperson for the Bauchi State Police Command, SP Ahmed Wakili, the Commissioner of Police in the State, Umar Mamman has made an announcement stating that peace and calm had returned to the area. He also stated that patrol teams had been dispatched to the area to prevent any more chaos.
