Protest: Shop owners, vigilantes guard markets in Gombe

Shop owners and traders in major markets in the Gombe metropolis have joined hired vigilantes and hunters in securing their shops against vandals as Nigerians protest the hardship in the land.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that traders, vigilantes and hunters barricaded major entries and exit points at the markets.

Some of the barricaded places included Gombe Main Market, Gombe Local Government Shopping Centre and the Old Market, close to the Gombe roundabout.

Major shops in the metropolis also had the presence of hunters and vigilantes carrying locally-made guns and preventing hoodlums from gaining access to the shops.

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While some personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were stationed at the Gombe Main market, other security agencies were observed patrolling the markets, bank areas and other flash points in the metropolis.

This followed the looting of the office of the Gombe State Bureau of Public Service Reforms located close to the Gombe Government House by some hoodlums, who also made attempts to set the office on fire.

Some valuables looted from the building included a television set, chairs, tables, burglary, the roofing sheets and some bags of fertilisers kept inside the building.

Malam Umar Hamisu, a shop owner at the Gombe Main market, said they had to contribute money to engage the services of vigilantes and hunters to complement the efforts of conventional security agencies towards protecting their investments.

Hamisu said that they foresaw a situation whereby security personnel would have more tasks because of the protest, hence the need to protect their shops.

“Our life investments are here and we cannot allow hoodlums to cart away our goods in the name of protest.

“That was why we came out to join the security personnel and vigilantes and hunters to protect our shops,” he said.

He urged the youths to resist the temptation of looting shops as that could impoverish shop owners and defeat the essence of the protest.

Another shop owner who spoke on the condition of anonymity said he contributed N100,000 for the engagement of vigilantes and hunters to guard their plaza at Jekadafari throughout the period of the protests.

He appealed to the youths to embrace peace and dialogue, adding that violence would not benefit anyone in the state. (NAN)