Minna Unrest: Vigilante Commandant fingers top Niger elite

Following his arrest and detention by the Niger State Police Command, Commandant of the Niger State Vigilante Corps, Nasir Mohammed Manta, has ordered the closure of all Vigilante offices across the state.

Manta alleged that some influential individuals in the state whom he met at the Police Commissioner’s office, before his arrest and detention was ordered are the ones sponsoring and financing the urchins to cause unrest in the state capital.

It would be recalled that Manta was arrested and detained for about 24 hours by the Nigerian Police over the Corps’ clamp-down on miscreants in Minna.

It was learnt that the state Commissioner of Police, Monday Kuryas, ordered the detention of the Vigilante commandant over the weekend, based on complaints by influential individuals that he had arrested some of their wards, classifying them as the miscreants disturbing the peace of Minna.

It should be noted that in the past three weeks, miscreants and restive youths have turned Minna into battle field, fighting from one street to another, leading to panic, public disturbance and break-down of law and order.

The police over the weekend announced the arrest of 22 of the miscreants, but there were claims that some of the boys with high connections were released, an allegation the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, denied, arguing that the claim is aimed at smearing the efforts of the Command in curbing the activities of street urchins and keeping peace and order in Minna  (New Telegraph)