Pandemonium broke out in Benin City, the capital of Edo State after several police officers assaulted a Nigerian Army soldier and his wife while enforcing Covid-19 measures in the city.
The incident happened at Lagos Street, Benin after it was shut down by the state government.
According to reports, the street had been shut down because traders and residents refused to participate in a Coronavirus testing exercise embarked upon by the state government.
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Subsequently police officers as well as operatives of the Civil Defence Corps, were stationed in the area to effect the lockdown and trouble started after a police officer asked a soldier wearing a military khaki alongside his wife to put on his face mask.
According to an eye witness at the scene;
“On entering Lagos Street, the soldier and his wife were asked to wear their face mask by the policemen on duty. The soldier brought his ID card to identify himself but the police officer dismissed the ID card as fake.
“The soldier got infuriated when one of the police officer pushed his wife with a gun in a bid to force her to wear the face mask.
“Following the argument that ensued, the policemen descended on the soldier and injured him on the head with the butt of their gun.
Traders and residents fled the street after a truckload of soldiers invaded the area and shot indiscriminately in the air making the police and civil defence officers on ground scamper for safety.
The high command of the Army and Police in Edo State thereafter waded into the matter, with the feuding parties whisked to the Oba Market Police Station.