A coalition of different youth groups in Plateau State, operating under the aegis of ‘the Plateau One Voice Group had on May 11, 2015 staged a peaceful protest at the Old Airport Junction of the Yakubu Gowon Way in Jos to register their displeasure on the incessant killings of Plateau State indigenes in various villages as well as protesting the invasion and decimation of communities in Wase allegedly by armed military men.
The protest, which began by 7am and ended by 10am, was peaceful.
It was wrapped up with a communique that was read by Mildred Bako, the spokesperson of the group.
The protest was widely covered and reported by different media organizations.
A twist around the peaceful protest however ensued some few days after it when the spokesperson of the group began to receive phone calls from some persons who identified themselves as soldiers.
They invited Bako for a chat in respect of the protest at the Special Task Force office.
She said she was out of town and would report once she is back in town.
The said soldiers afterwards resorted to use her relations to take her to them at the 3rd Armoured Division (Rukuba Cantonment) on June 12, 2015.
That was a month after the protest.
On arrival, Bako was reportedly dispossessed of her phones, which were checked for sms, call records and Facebook conversations among others.
She was then intimidated and insulted by the soldiers who told her that they had to bring her in because she organized a violent protest.
She objected to this.
They referred to an erroneous report on Silverbird Television where the television station wrongfully used a video of a different protest where tyres were burnt.
Perplexed by this, Bako asked if they could allow her to get back to other members of the group to get all the pictures and video of the peaceful protest as proof that there was never such a thing as burning of tyres as alleged by them.
The soldiers refused and told her they would not release her but deal with her properly for staging such a protest.
She also wondered why she was singled out for detention when it was a coalition of youths in Plateau State that organized the protest.
The soldiers retorted by saying they knew what they were doing and she would not be the one to tell them how to do their job.
One of her brothers, who was not around when she was taken to Rukuba barracks, later got the information and decided to go to the barracks to find out why she was taken there.
On arrival, he enquired about what happened and pleaded with them to release his sister, which they did under the strict condition that he must return her to them on Monday.
And that Bako must report with the names of all the youth group leaders and video of the protest.
Bako was released the from military custody around 7:30pm on Saturday.
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