MILITARY/POLICE CONFRONTATION IN ABUJA

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001394

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/15/2015
TAGS: ASEC PGOV MOPS NI
SUBJECT: MILITARY/POLICE CONFRONTATION IN ABUJA



1. (U) Classified by Charge d'Affaires a.i. Rick Roberts for
reasons 1.5 (B) and (D).



2. (SBU) In the early evening August 14 Air Force and Air
Force and police personnel had a brief shootout in the
Asokoro district of Abuja. Military and police sources tell
us plainclothes Air Force security personnel were stopped by
a police officer running a traffic light. An argument ensued
and the heated words soon become fists. Our sources disagree
on whether the rest of the action occurred at that site or
moved to the Asokoro police headquarters a short distance
away, but either way soon additional Air Force and police
personnel arrived to assist their comrades. The police used
tear gas and there was a brief exchange of gunfire. Abuja
Police Commissioner Lawrence Alobe and a senior Nigerian Air
Force officer arrived and ended the melee. Despite the
gunfire, there have been no reports of deaths or serious
injury. No AMCITS were involved.



3. (C) Comment: Low-level violence between police and
military is fairly common in Nigeria, and the incident did
not even make it into the local media.
ROBERTS