Chaos erupted in the Busa Buji Area of Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State following the attack on residents by hoodlums on Wednesday night.
According to eyewitnesses, the attack, which happened in the late hours of Wednesday night, began following a heated dispute between a Massa seller (a rice pudding delicacy) and a hoodlum who invaded the seller’s Massa spot.
The eyewitness who was at the scene of the incident stated that the hoodlum, who was passing with four other friends of his, insulted the massa seller and threatened to disrupt her business.
This led to an altercation between the woman and the hoodlum, leading to other customers intervention.
Following the altercation, the displeased hoodlum was asked to leave the spot by a customer who was at the massa joint to eat. This led to a fight between the hoodlum, his colleagues, and the customer, simply identified as Peter.
”We were at my sister’s massa spot when one Muslim guy and his friends were passing,” the witness who spoke on the condition of anonymity told our correspondent.
”One of the guys stopped and started harassing one of our female customers who was eating massa.
”My sister told him to stop and not disrupt her business premises. After she asked him to stop, he and his other friends started insulting her.
”This made the Christian guys who were eating massa to ask them to leave.
”However, they refused leaving and started insulting the Christian guys. This led to a fight, and the Christian guys chased them away,” she said.
She added that the hoodlums went and regrouped in multitude, wielding dangerous weapons.
”The guys went and regrouped in multitude. They were carrying dangerous weapons and were coming towards our massa spot when the Busa Buji guys noticed them.
”Seeing them with weapons, the Busa Buji guys picked firewood and were waiting for the Muslim guys. On seeing them, the Muslim guys charged at the Busa Buji guys, leading to a serious fight.
”They stabbed Peter on his arm, and he was rushed to the hospital,” she added.
Aggrieved by the incident, residents of Busa Buji raided all the hideouts where the hoodlums stay to drink and smoke illicit substances.
People’s Hotel, a popular hotel in the Busa Buji community, was raided by the aggrieved residents, who drove all the hoodlums in the hotel away.
Senior Player, a motel infamous for the activities of miscreants, was also raided by the aggrieved youths, and several of the hoodlums were chased out of the community.
Our correspondent, who visited the scene of the incident, discovered that the hoodlums robbed residents off their belongings before taking to their heels.
At the time of filing this report, the Plateau State command had yet to comment on the incident.
The Busa Buji community, in recent times, was thrown into mourning following the deaths of no fewer than 22 students of Saint Academy who died in the collapse of the school building.
Chronicle NG reported that the students who were preparing to write their third term examination died with several others injured when the two-storey building collapsed on them.
