A clash erupted on Thursday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, when a police officer allegedly slapped an Air Force personnel during a confrontation over a tricycle’s movement along Ahmadu Bello Road.
The incident reportedly began at the Yoruba Road Market when officials from the Kwara State Traffic Management Authority (KWATMA), accompanied by police officers, stopped a tricycle conveying an Air Force officer.
According to eyewitness accounts, the officer pleaded for the tricycle to be allowed passage but was met with a slap from a police officer.
In retaliation, the Air Force officer alighted from the tricycle and physically confronted the police officer.
The altercation quickly escalated, drawing attention from passersby and onlookers.
The Air Force officer was eventually arrested and taken to the nearby Kwara Police Command headquarters.
However, the situation worsened when his colleagues arrived at the scene, reportedly leading to a heated confrontation between the two security agencies.
Eyewitnesses reported that police officers resorted to firing tear gas to disperse the Air Force personnel who came to support their colleague.
“They were throwing tear gas at the Air Force officers before they left the scene. I heard that the Air Force officers went for reinforcement. Although everything is calm now,” a witness said.
The police and Air Force officers involved were stationed at different locations around the area—police officers near the Sulu Gambari Road roundabout and Air Force officers along Yoruba Road.
The incident comes in the wake of the Kwara State Government’s enforcement of traffic restrictions on certain vehicles along Ahmadu Bello Way, GRA, Ilorin.
The directive, issued by the Ministry of Works and Transport on November 9, 2024, tasked KWARTMA with ensuring compliance, which might have contributed to the heightened tensions in the area.
PLATFORM TIMES reports that this is not the first time such incidents have occurred between the Nigerian Police and Air Force personnel.
In April 2020, a similar confrontation unfolded in the Nyanya area of Abuja during the COVID-19 lockdown when two Air Force officers driving against traffic resisted arrest by a monitoring team, leading to a standoff that was eventually resolved by senior officials.
Efforts to obtain comments from the Kwara State Police Command spokesperson, SP Toun Ejire-Adeyemi, proved unsuccessful, as calls and messages went unanswered at the time of filing this report.
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