There is confusion in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, as police officers deployed to the state on special duty took to the streets, barricading the highway to protest six months of unpaid allowances.
The police officers were said to have been deployed to Borno State from various units across Nigeria to help in the fight against insurgency.
The angry police officers were also shooting in the air on Monday morning forcing motorists nearby to scamper to safety.
One of the police officers, who asked for anonymity, told PREMIUM TIMES that “we can no longer tolerate this; for over six months now we have no allowances not any decent accommodation; we sleep on corridors of officers and sometimes in the open air; enough is enough”.
The Commissioner of Police in Borno State, Damian Chukwu, who spoke to journalists on phone said the police is aware of the situation. He explained that the unpaid allowances had to do with the delay in signing the 2018 budget.
Mr Chukwu said Borno state has the largest deployments of police officeers on special duty in the country. He said there are about 44 units of such deployments in the state.
Details later…
