One person has been killed with several property destroyed in Tanglang community in Biliri Local Government Area of Gombe State, north-east Nigeria.
The incident occurred after angry youths went on a rampage, disrupting police investigation into an alleged rape case of a four-year-old girl in the community.
Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Shina Olukolu, confirmed the incident during an interview with Channels Television on Sunday.
He said the youths burnt the police vehicle that conveyed the policemen deployed to the area for the investigation.
Mr Olukolu explained that some ammunition that exploded from the vehicle while it was burning killed one of the restive youths.
He, however, said the case was already in court while three persons have also been arrested and charge to court.
The father of the victim, Mr Matthew Nwabike, an Igbo man, said he has been living with his family in Tanglang for almost a decade.
He had also alleged that his daughter, Precious, was defiled by one Sham Sunday who lives in the neighbourhood.
The angry youth were also said to have vandalised Matthew’s shop, while the house and shop of his elder brother, Ephraim, who lives in another community were completely set ablaze.
When contacted about the matter, the District head of Tanlang, Mr Audu Tahir, said the youths acted base on an investigation carried out by some women of the area which proved the minor was not defiled as alleged.
But the police commissioner noted that the youths acted in ignorance, stressing that the police established that the minor was actually defiled through the help of a qualified medical doctor in course of their investigation.
On his part, the President General of Igbos in the state, Kenneth Okonkwo, said the entire Igbo community in Gombe had been living peacefully with its host community.
He was, however, worried that the victim’s father and his brother have become refugees in the community as they lack food, clothes and other means of livelihoods since the unfortunate incident.
Okonkwo then pleaded with the state government and other spirited individuals to come to the aid of the affected persons as they await justice in the case.
The chief of Igbos in Biliri LGA, Mr Egwe Charles, also faulted the reaction of the angry youths, saying they had gone too far by taking the laws in their hands without allowing the security agencies to investigate the incident.
