Soldiers Fire At Chairman Of Northern Elders Forum

The chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Ango Abdullahi, narrowly escaped death Wednesday as soldiers opened fire on his vehicle in Bauchi.
Narrating what happened, Mr. Abdullahi said he was on his way to the Bauchi State University, Gadau, for an assignment when the soldiers attacked his car.
Mr. Abdullahi is the chairman of the Governing Council of the University.
“It was in the morning as I was traveling in my official car with my driver,” he said.
“I was going to Gad for a meeting. We had just passed the Awala Hotel roundabout when I saw a military convoy moving very slowly.
“I was trying to catch up for the meeting so my driver overtook the military convoy. The next thing I knew they opened fire at us.
“The bullets damaged the engine of the car, damaged the car that we had to park by the road side.
“The soldiers came out and were shouting angrily at us.
“They were demanding to know why we wanted to overtake them. Didn’t we know that the soldiers were exporting sensitive materials?
“That is how they just left us there and continued their movement,” Mr. Abdullahi said.
“I have never seen such a reckless act.
He said the state Commissioner for Higher Education and told him about the attack.
“The Commissioner for Higher Education called the security agencies chiefs to inform them of what happened.
“The army later sent one Captain who apologized and promised to investigate and know from which unit the soldiers are from,” he said.
When contacted, the State Commissioner for Higher Education, Ibrahim Mohammed, confirmed that Mr. Abdullahi was attacked.
The Commissioner said he was pleased with the quick response of senior military officiers, immediately he informed them of the incident.
“They all apologized to the professor and he was happy at their response but he was traumatised because his driver said a bullet nearly caught the professor, because the bullet penetrated the door where he sat.
“The car was riddled with bullets but thank God no one was hurt but the car was badly destroyed,” he said.
The Nigerian Army could not be immediately reached Wednesday.