Heavy sounds of gunshots rented the air at the Imo state headquarters of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) on Monday evening, following a reported clash between the officers of the NSCDC and the Police.
Sources said that the Okigwe road, which is a major route that connects Owerri to the Imo state University and other major communities in the state, was deserted at about 5:45 pm on Monday, as commuters and passersby scampered for safety during the violent clash.
Although, the cause of the clash could not be ascertained at the time of this report, but a security source said the police action followed the arrest and detention of a policeman in the NSCDC custody on the orders of the state Commandant of the corps.
According to the source who pleaded anonymity, the policeman broke into the convoy of the state Commandant on April 24 as he was returning from a trip to Abaezi in Ohaji/Egbema LGA.
Abaezi was the community where an inferno at an illegal oil refinery consumed about 100 people on Friday, April 22.
The source further disclosed that the traffic altercation occurred at the Control Post Owerri, but the policeman who was dressed in mufti and drove in an unmarked vehicle trailed the convoy to the NSCDC office necessitating the commandant to order his detention.
There are no confirmed reports of casualty or injury, but Viral video and photograph of the incident show three persons lying stone dead, while one person was seen crying in a pool of his own blood.
