Category: Metro

Following new bandit attacks, residents of the Mada district within the Gusau Local Government have left their homes.

After killing one local vigilante and kidnapping about seven people on Thursday, the bandits began their most recent attacks in Mada and the nearby villages.

At around 5:00 pm on Friday, the same Mada Community was the target of a new attack by the bandits, who also kidnapped three more people while firing heavy gunshots at the occupants.

Twelve people were killed later that day when gunmen attacked the Gidan Bangi community in the Ruwan-bore under Mada district.

Many residents were forced to leave their homes and move to safer areas like Kwatarkwashi as a result of the frequent attacks.

One of the community members claimed that members of the affected communities had planned to demonstrate in response to the attacks, but the planned demonstration was suppressed by the security forces.

SP Mohammed Shehu, the state police command’s spokesperson, did not return calls left for him, making attempts to reach him unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, the government has instructed citizens to purchase firearms in order to defend themselves against bandits who appear to be raging through the state as part of efforts to stop the rising trend of insecurity within the state and its environs.

The order was announced on Saturday by Mr. Ibrahim Dosara, the Zamfara Commissioner for Information.

According to a portion of the statement, “Government has directed individuals to prepare and obtain guns to defend themselves against the bandits, as government has directed the state commissioner of police to issue licences to all those who qualify and are wishing to obtain such guns to defend themselves.”

In the Ikabigbo community of the Etsako West local government of Edo State, a Catholic priest named Rev. Fr. Osia has reportedly been kidnapped.
On Sunday morning, as Osia was getting ready for Mass at home, he was kidnapped.

A source with knowledge of the situation claimed that local vigilante groups are trying to save the priest.
The source claims that the assailants shot one of the neighbourhood boys while looking for the cleric.

He claimed that although the victim was taken urgently to a hospital in Auchi, Irrua specialised hospital was recommended for treatment.

The community’s traditional leaders, Bramah Alegeh, confirmed the development but added that efforts are still being made to secure the priest’s release.

Alegeh claims that security organisations and vigilantes are searching the bush to secure his release.

In another development, two alleged armed robbers were shot and killed by the Edo State police command.
It was discovered that on Sunday morning, the suspects robbed a gas station in the capital city of Benin.

After the robbery at the gas station, the thieves left the area and went to another, where they were met by police, who engaged them in a duel.

The command spokesperson, who noted that other gang members managed to escape with injuries, confirmed the development.

He claimed that armed robbers had broken into the Rubec Oil and Gas Station off Murtala Mohamed Way in Benin City and that the police had received information to that effect.

The spokesperson claimed that after being immediately mobilised to the scene, the police and Vigilante discovered that they had relocated.

He claimed that the security team followed the robbers to their destination and that when they saw them, the robbers opened fire.

Two of the armed robbers were killed during the incident, while others managed to flee with varying degrees of bullet wounds, the spokesperson said.

The suspects’ deaths were confirmed at the Police Cottage hospital, he continued, after they had been taken there.

Rev. Fr. Vitus Borogo, the chaplain of the Catholic Community at the Kaduna State Polytechnic, was killed on Saturday on a farm off Kaduna-Kachia Road by alleged bandits.
According to a statement made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Kaduna by Rev. Fr. Christian Emmanuel, the Chancellor of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna, the incident was true.

According to Emmanuel, late Fr. Borogo was murdered at Prison Farm, Kujama, along the Kaduna-Kachia Road, following a raid on the farm by alleged terrorists.
The Kaduna Chapter of the Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests Association (NCDPA) was headed by Father Borogo, a 50-year-old chaplain for the Catholic Community at the Kaduna State Polytechnic.

The Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna, the Most Rev. Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso, expresses his condolences on behalf of the deceased’s immediate family, the NFCS Family of Kaduna Polytechnic, and the entire Kaduna Polytechnic Community. He assures them of his prayers and close friendship.

He promised to give as much notice as possible regarding the specifics of his funeral arrangements.
He continued, “In the meantime, we commit his soul to the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and call upon all men and women of goodwill to continue to pray for the peaceful repose of his soul and for the consolation of his bereaved family, especially his mother.”

In response to a request for comment regarding the incident, DSP Mohammed Jalige, the Kaduna State Police Command’s spokesman, promised to look into it and get back to the NAN correspondent with more information.

A Minna Chief Magistrate’s Court 1 has arrested and detained Alhaji Mohammed Shaba Aliyu, the District Head of Mokwa, in a Correctional Centre.
The monarch is accused of firing at protesting youths in his domain, killing one Jiya Mohammed and injuring several others.

The royal father is accused of committing the crime under Section 221 of the Penal Code, according to the case’s First Information Report (FIR).

On May 11, 2022, the youth were reportedly protesting the kidnapping of one Kudu Tswacha from a nearby school when the traditional ruler pulled out his single-barrel gun and began firing randomly at the crowd.

“Several youths sustained bullet injuries in the process,” according to the FIR, “and as a result, one Jiya Mohammed suffered serious inquiries and was rushed to the Mokwa General Hospital for treatment, where he later died.”

The suspect “is standing trial on culpable homicide, an offence which contravened Section 221 of the Penal Code, punishable by death,” according to the police prosecutor, Inspector Aliyu Yakubu Kuta.

However, Hajiya Hauwa Kulu Isah, the presiding Chief Magistrate, refused to accept his plea, claiming that her court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

She instructed the prosecutor to send the case file to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the state Ministry of Justice’s Attorney General’s office for legal advice.

She then put the case on hold until the legal advice was received.

The heads of security agencies in Enugu State paid a visit to Mgbuji Eha-Amufu, an Enugu community besieged by Fulani herdsmen, on Friday, just days after an exclusive report.

It was reported that on Monday and Tuesday, Fulani herdsmen killed five residents and set fire to hundreds of homes, sacking 14 farm settlements and displacing over 3000 people.

It was also reported that when residents were attacked, the police and military did not respond, instead arriving to carry corpses and extort money from bereaved families before they could bury their loved ones.

Following the report, the state commissioner of police, CP Abubakar Lawal, along with the state director, Department of State Services (DSS), H. M. Daluwa; the commander, 82 Division Garrison Command of the Nigerian Army Enugu, Brig. Gen. M. K. Ibrahim; and the commander, 553 Services Base Group of the Nigerian Air Force Enugu, Air Commodore I. A. Taiwo, and other senior police officers, visited the troubled community on

The visit was to ascertain and assess the security situation in the area, “alleged to have been caused by farmers and herders’ crises within farm settlements of the community, bordering Enugu and Benue states,” according to a statement by the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe.

He said Abubakar, the Police Commissioner, had used the visit to address and interact with members of the community at Obibi-Mgbuji Village Square, assuring them of the police and other security agencies’ commitment to effectively combat violent attacks in the area.

According to Ndukwe, the Commissioner urged community members to be vigilant, law-abiding, and to promptly volunteer useful information that would aid Security Operatives in containing the assailants’ activities.

“The CP and his entourage were received and guided by the Area Commander, Udenu Area Command, ACP Edwin Egwuekwe, and a team of Isi-Uzo Local Government Area leadership, led by Vice Chairman, Mr. Ogechukwu Nnamani,” the statement reads in part.

“It will be recalled that on 13/06/2022, the yet-to-be identified assailants attacked and murdered three (3) male victims, at Ogbete-Mgbuji area of the community, who were confirmed dead by doctors and deposited in the mortuary for preservation and autopsy,” the statement says.

Meanwhile, community members claim that Nwachukwu, the Ikem Divisional Police Officer, used a backdoor channel to extort the bereaved families on Friday.

“After the report,” a community leader named Clement Odo said, “the DPO Nwachukwu called the bereaved families and said he took the corpses of their relatives to go and pay N70,000 for mortuary and N40,000 for autopsy.”

Odo, on the other hand, wondered if there was any hospital in Nigeria that would charge N40,000 for an autopsy on a dead body.

A police officer was killed and a patrol van was set on fire at a police checkpoint in Nsukka, Enugu State, on Friday.

According to a local source, the officer was killed in Nsukka’s Umanu junction, and the police patrol vehicle was set on fire along the Ibeagwa-Ani road.
An eyewitness in Umanu junction, who requested anonymity, said the incident occurred around 6:20 a.m., when sporadic gunshots were heard, and that the lifeless body of the police officer was seen after the gunmen left the area.

“I dashed to my doors, double-checking that they were all securely shut.” Because I thought it was armed robbers, I turned off all the lights in my house and told my wife and kids to stay quiet. “They said the policeman was killed during a gunfight between the police team on the checkpoint and the gunmen,” according to a resident.

An eyewitness to the Ibeagwa-Ani Road incident, where a police van was set ablaze, said he was on his way to Nkwo Ibeagwa-Ani Market in a commercial bus when they saw a police van on fire with five armed men watching it.

“Our driver quickly reversed and drove to a safer distance, where we stood and watched until the gunmen zoomed away, shooting sporadically.” When we arrived at the scene of the accident, the van had already burned to ashes, so we stopped for a few minutes like other road users before continuing our journey,” he explained.

On Friday, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) confirmed the deaths of nine people in an accident on the Gombe highway, with 11 others suffering various degrees of injuries.

In a statement released on Friday, Sector Commander Felix Theman said the accident happened at 8 p.m. at the Bomala Junction on the Gombe Southern bye-pass as a result of brake failure from a trailer transporting litres of vegetable oil.

According to him, the accident involving 20 passengers resulted in 11 persons suffering varying degrees of injury and nine other passengers losing their lives.

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The injured were transferred to Gombe Specialists’ Hospital and the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe (FTHG) for treatment, according to the sector commander.

He warned drivers against speeding, especially in congested places, and said the city’s speed limit should not exceed 40 kilometres per hour.