One of the military personnel keeping watch at the popular Banex plaza in the Wuse 2 area of Abuja, has slapped a lady into coma, Daily Trust reports.
The plaza has remained under lock and key four days after thugs beat up some soldiers who had a disagreement with a trader.
The newspaper reports the soldiers accosted the lady after she crossed a barricade at the plaza.
The lady was trekking on the barricaded road when she was stopped by soldiers.
After asking her some questions, one of them slapped her heavily and she collapsed. They quickly put her into a van and left the scene.
It is unclear if she was being taken to the hospital for medical attention.
Meanwhile, traders have been counting their losses over the military action, which they said could have been resolved without the lockdown.
Lamenting the situation, Chibuzor Ike, a phone repairer at the plaza, i said: “I am already counting losses. It doesn’t seem like they will leave anytime soon. We are pleading for the reopening of the place for business.”
Trouble started when thugs beat up some soldiers who had a disagreement with a trader in the plaza.
The trader had reportedly sold a bad phone to someone who invited soldiers. Rather than resolve the issue amicably, the trader reportedly invited thugs who assaulted the uniform men.
They descended on at least two soldiers and another man in mufti. The thugs who broke into groups slapped, kicked and beat up the soldiers.
Although the police stepped in to resolve the situation, soldiers later stormed the plaza, forcing traders to shut down immediately.
Some videos on social media showed soldiers chasing a crowd of people and punishing a few others.
The army has been silent on the action at the plaza as Onyema Nwachukwu has not made an official comment as of the time of filing this report.
