Category: Crime

The Plateau State Police Command has vowed to continue its investigation to unravel those behind the kidnap of the Kanke Local Government Chairman in the state, Henry Gotip.

The command stated this on Thursday in a statement issued by its spokesman, Alabo Alfred, following the release of the council boss by his abductors.

Gunmen had in the early hours of Wednesday stormed the residence of the council chairman in Kwang community, Jos South LGA and whisked him away to an unknown destination.

But the police in a statement on Thursday said, “The Plateau State Police Command wishes to inform members of the public that Hon. Henry Jan Gotip, the Executive Chairman of Kanke LGA who was kidnapped on 06/09/2022 by unknown gunmen, has been released by his abductors unhurt yesterday, 07/09/2022 at about 2300hrs.

“The Kanke Local Government Council Chairman has been reunited with his family and will soon be debriefed by the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Command to build up to available intelligence that will lead to the arrest of his abductors”

The statement reiterated the commitment of the police to making the state habitable for all Plateau residents.

The police also and urged members of the public to continue to assist the the scurity agency with timely information to enable it respond swiftly to incidents.

The President, PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, in an interview with journalists in Abuja, blamed soldiers and other security agents protecting pipelines in the country for the continued oil theft.

He said the association would halt oil production if  the government failed to stop the theft.

He also disclosed that the  association would hold rallies simultaneously on Thursday (today) in Abuja, Warri, Kaduna and Lagos.

According to him, the rallies would   let the government know that PENGASSAN members were tired of producing oil that would be stolen eventually by thieves despite the protection of pipelines by security agencies.

The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, had last week Tuesday said the spate of vandalism had prompted the NNPC to shut down its entire network of pipelines conveying petroleum products nationwide.

“When we say we are losing several 700,000 barrels of crude oil daily, we mean it. This is opportunity loss. There is no company that will produce oil and then you lose 80 percent of that and continue to produce the oil.

“So we deliberately shut down the pipelines whenever we see these infractions getting to a limit that we cannot manage. So that means as we speak today, we know for sure, there’s at least 700,000 barrels that we could have produced that we can’t because we cannot guarantee the safety of the pipeline,” Kyari explained.

Lamenting the effect of the oil theft,  Osifo called for the imprisonment of security officers assigned to protect pipelines from where humongous volumes of crude oil were being stolen daily, stressing that many oil companies were shutting down operations due to this development.

The President, PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, told journalists in Abuja that the international oil companies such as Agip, Total, Shell and Addax, had stopped oil production in some wells due to the theft, as the jobs of workers in these firms were currently threatened.

He said, “If after this rally there is no traceable progress, as an association, we may be forced to withdraw our workforce from the operating companies, because we cannot continuously send crude oil into the pipelines and at the end of the day the pipelines are vandalised by people who don’t know how the oil was produced.

“Some of these pipeline vandals, when you stop production into a line, they call our members and threaten them, asking our members why they stopped production into the line and that they should open the line.

“So, the lives of our members are even at risk. For someone to have your phone number and call you, that means the person knows you. Therefore, we can no longer condone this, government must sit up.”

The Osun State Police Command has apprehended one Abbas Audio for murder and armed robbery.

According to Yemisi Opalola, the Command spokesperson while interacting with journalists in Osogbo on Tuesday, the 36-year-old suspect, Adio, who claimed to be a physician in one of the Kwara State Government-owned hospitals, allegedly murdered the taxi driver he hired during a trip to Benin City, Edo State in July.

Opalola stated that, “the Edo State Police Command had sent a distress call to the Osun Command that a white coloured Toyota Camry car with registration number YAB368CN was stolen from Benin City and tracked to Osun State.

“The Police Command swiftly put a security mechanism in place and the said car was intercepted along Ejigbo/Ogbomoso road while the occupant was arrested.

“During the preliminary investigation, the suspect claimed to be a medical doctor working in one of the hospitals in Kwara State.”

Opalola had earlier stated that the suspect, who travelled from Kwara State to Benin in Edo State sometime in July had met one Emmanuel Oyiobo, a taxi driver whom he contracted to drive him for the number of days he spent in Benin City.

The Command spokesperson revealed that, “Thereafter, the suspect and the deceased became friends and exchanged phone numbers and have been communicating since then.

“The suspect communicated to his friend (victim) in Benin that he wanted to sell his car and they agreed that the suspect should bring the car to Benin where it was sold for one million, four hundred thousand naira only (N1.4m).

“The suspect in the course of his stay in Benin after selling his car trickishly injected his friend (deceased) with a substance suspected to have killed him on 03/09/2022.

“He subsequently dumped his corpse in a nearby bush and made away with his white Toyota Camry muscle.”

Opalola stated that Adio will be charged to court as soon as investigation into the case is concluded.

Daily Post

Gunmen suspected to be armed robbers on Tuesday invaded branches of UBA, Zenith and First Bank in Ankpa, Kogi State.

Reports say the incident which occurred at about 2pm, triggered tension in the area.

An eyewitness, Lucy Yongu, who narrated the development said the gunmen numbering about 30 invaded the town and went straight to attack the UBA branch before proceeding to Zenith Bank and later First Bank.

According to her, the assailants carted away unspecified sum of money from both customers and the bankers.

She said, “They came in on convoy of several vehicles shooting sporadically while the attack was happening. They were there for more than one hour and no security personnel intervened.

“Some residents are still unable to come out of their houses. We are still in shock on how these men successfully carried out the attack for that long time without the military or police coming out to help, it still amazes me”.

It was learnt that after the gunmen had left, a combined team of security operatives moved towards the area to restore normalcy.

Efforts to reach the State police command proved abortive as at press time, as the Police Public Relations Officer, SP William Aya could not take his calls or respond to text messages sent to him.

Daily Post

A commercial bus driver, Salvation Harry, has been killed by gunmen who ambushed him and his passengers around the Abonema/Degema/EmuohaEmuoha/Kalabari area of the East-West Road in Rivers State.

After killing the driver, who was conveying his passengers from the Mile One Park in the Doibu axis of Port Harcourt, to Buguma, the gunmen also abducted eight passengers and fled the premises.

It was gathered that the suspects took advantage of the bad portion of the road to perpetrate the crime on Saturday and later released one of the victims, who reportedly paid N150, 000.

A driver, who did not want his name in print for security reasons, lamented over the frequent attacks that had been affecting motorists plying the road.

“We had protested on the Kalabari-Emuoha-Buguma road because of the series of kidnap incidents and the shooting of our drivers and passengers.

“Even the state Commissioner of Police sent a representative. But there has been an increase in kidnapping attempts and incidents.

“Yesterday the worst happened; the miscreants killed one of our drivers, Salvation Harry and the occupants of the vehicle are in the bush with the kidnappers.

“We don’t really know what to do because we have lost confidence in the government. They cannot protect lives and property again,” the driver said.

Contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, said an investigation to ensure the rescue of the travellers as well as the arrest of the abductors was ongoing.

She said, “Yes, we are aware of it and we have launched an investigation into the incident, and a manhunt to ensure the kidnappers are apprehended.”

PUNCH