By Ishaq Zaki
Some people, suspected to be hoodlums have attacked fire service personnel while performing their lawful duty at Hayin-Buba quarters in Gusau, Zamfara.
An eyewitness told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Gusau that the event happened on Saturday.
He said the fire service personnel were attacked when they went to the area to quench a fire which gutted a house in response to a distress call.
The witness further said as the firemen were trying to put out the fire, the hoodlums stormed the scene and disrupted their intervention with the use of force.
According to the eyewitness, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also said the hoodlums attacked the firemen to pave way for looting within the vicinity of the incident.
The Commissioner for Works and Transport, Alhaji Mu’azu Nalado, who visited the injured personnel at the Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital, Gusau on Sunday, condemned the attack, describing it as unfortunate.
Nalado said that the victims should have been appreciated for their efforts to save lives and property from destruction rather than being attacked.
The commissioner assured the people that the state government would do everything possible within its power to ensure that the suspects were arrested and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.
Nalado said the attack would have been worse but for timely intervention of some patriotic members of the public who arrested one of the hoodlums and handed him over to the police.
“If not for Allah’s intervention that some people came out and disorganised the hoodlums, the incident would have been worse.
“As I am talking to you now, two of the fire service men are receiving treatment at the accident and emergency unit of the Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital in Gusau,” he told NAN.
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Zamfara State Command, DSP Muhammad Shehu said the police had received the reports of the attack, adding that one of the hoodlums was in the police custody.
He appealed to members of the public to furnish the police with relevant information that could lead to the arrest of the remaining suspects.
