Two people were allegedly shot dead yesterday morning as they joined hundreds of others in a demonstration in Gurin, a community in Fufore Local Government Area of Adamawa State, against the enforcement of a ban on use of motorcycles.
The state police command last month put in place the ban on use of motorcycles throughout the state.
The police explained that criminals were using motorcycles to steal and to abduct residents for ransoms.
A resident of Gurin, who spoke to The Nation in confidence yesterday afternoon, said two of six demonstrators, who were shot by soldiers, had died.
“Yes, two people died as a result of shots by the military people,” the resident said.
The source added that the people embarked on the protest because they could not see the reason for the ban on motorcycles in their area.
“The people are mostly farmers and need their motorcycles. It is their mode of transportation here,” the resident said.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Suleiman Yahya, confirmed the protest in Gurin.
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He said the Commissioner of Police had drafted a team to the area, which, he said, was yet to report on whether people were killed or not.
In a reaction to the protest, the state government asked Adamawa people to take the ban on motorcycles in good faith.
A statement signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information & Strategy, Mr. Polycarp Ayuba, said: “The use of motorcycles was banned because it was a major means of transportation used by kidnappers and other miscreants to easily carry out their inhuman and criminal activities.”
The permanent secretary added that the ban was never intended to inconvenient law-abiding citizens, but to safeguard their lives and properties.
Ayuba said the ban would be lifted “as soon as the security situation improves”.
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