From Olukayode Idowu
At least one person was killed and five others injured in a fracas between security attached to operatives of Borno Geographical Information System and some worshippers at a branch of EYN Church in Maiduguri, the governor of Borno state, Prof. Babagana Zulum has confirmed.
It was gathered that troubled started when some members of the church had confrontation with operatives of the BOGIS, who is saddled with the task of marking landed properties in the state and collecting revenue for the state government, and members of the church on Wednesday.
The confrontation degenerated to a situation while the BOGIS staff and the security escorts were pelted with stones and the security retaliated by firing gunshots with led to the death and injuries.
Speaking on the incident, Zulum ordered the Borno police command to immediately investigate the violent collusion between a joint security task force operating with the Borno Geographical Information System and some worshippers at a branch of EYN Church in Maiduguri.
The Governor, while condemned in strong terms the firing of gun shots by a member of security task force as well as some persons who hurled stones at the task force during an encounter on Thursday, lamented that a person was killed and five persons injured and hospitalized in the confrontation.
Zulum’s spokesman Isa Gusau, said the Governor has commiserated with families of the person who died and those injured.
He said the governor had meanwhile called the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN in Borno State, Bishop Mohammed Naga and spoke with him to commiserate with the Christian community and leadership and family of the EYN church in Borno.
Zulum also invited the CAN leadership for meeting scheduled for 5:30pm on Thursday at the Government House in Maiduguri.
The Governor also directed the deputy governor, Umar Kadafur to visit the hospital where five injured persons are receiving treatment, to empathize with them and also takeover the cost of their treatment.
According to Gusau, the collusion happened on Wednesday when officials of BOGIS, alongside a joint security task force went to church for regulation of land administration and urban development measures, some of which have affected worship centres (mosques and churches) built without obedience to laid down regulations.
The BOGIS has so far demolished dozens of illegally built mosques and churches for ongoing reforms.