A peacemaker, Aminu Yusuf, has been killed during a fight between two customers in a bar around Volks, in the Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State.
One Jones Ogelejeme and a yet-to-be identified man were drinking at the bar when an argument ensued between the two men.
The argument reportedly degenerated into a fight, prompting 30-year-old Yusuf, who was also at the scene, to intervene.
Ogelejeme, 29, was said to have thought he wanted to join forces with his opponent, as he allegedly used a sharp object to stab Yusuf in the neck.
Some good Samaritans at the bar reportedly rushed him to a hospital, where he was confirmed dead.
A source told our correspondent that the incident happened around 11pm last Thursday.
He said, “Jones Ogelejeme stabbed Aminu Yusuf in the neck. He (Yusuf) was rushed to the Trust in God Hospital, in the Ira area of Ojo, for quick medical treatment; he later died.”
An angry mob descended on Ogelejeme and beat him to a stupor.
“He was also injured and rushed to a hospital, but he did not die. The person that died was the peacemaker,” another source added.
Our correspondent learnt that the case was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba, for discreet investigation.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, promised to get back to our correspondent after being briefed.
He had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of a suspected armed robber, Olawale Samsudeen, in the Bode Thomas area of the state.
The police spokesman, Ajisebutu, in a statement on Thursday, said Samsudeen was nabbed when he and his gang members attempted to rob a store on Eric Moore Close.
Ajisebutu said, “The victim, however, raised the alarm, which attracted a police anti-crime patrol team on a routine patrol in the area.
“The patrol team, in a swift response, raced to the scene and with the assistance of members of the public arrested the suspect, while two others escaped with the gang’s operational motorcycle.
“Items recovered from the suspect included a locally-made pistol and three cartridges. Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed to being a member of an armed gang terrorising residents of Bode Thomas, Surulere, and other parts of the state.”
Babalola Disu, one of the persons arraigned in the alleged murder of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga, has denied the family’s allegation that he had a hand in his death.
Disu, in a letter by his lawyers, David and Co, dated August 19, 2021, described the allegation as malicious and false.
Ataga’s family, in a statement on Sunday, August 15, 2021, instructed their lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, to ensure the perpetrators of the crime were brought to book.
The family decried what it described as the low level of professionalism exhibited by the police in the prosecution of the suspected killers of Ataga.
They also claimed not to be aware when the prime suspect, 21-year-old Chidinma Ojukwu, was arraigned before the Chief Magistrate’s Court, Yaba, Lagos.
Aside from Chidinma, the police also arraigned two others: Onoh Ojukwu, 57, and Disu, 42, for obstructing the police from performing their duties and failing to report a crime.
The other three defendants, Jessica Egbochi, 28; Abayomi Olutayo, 23; and Ifeoluwa Olowu, 23, were accused of receiving stolen items.
Ataga’s family alleged that Disu should have had a weightier charge instead of the ones that gave him a bail of N1m with two sureties in like sum.
Disu’s lawyer, David Orife of Davids and Co., denied the allegation against him.
He said, “This statement was undoubtedly made with the intention of portraying our client as an irresponsible man, a criminal and a murderer. Our client is the only Disu who was arraigned for refusal to report the death of late Ataga.”
Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, on Wednesday ordered the immediate closure of primary and secondary schools in the state following the abduction of a yet-to-be ascertained the number of students in the state.
The Zamfara State Commissioner of Police, Ayuba Elkana, conveyed the governor’s directive while addressing journalists on the new security measures in the state.
“I wish to inform the general public that His Excellency the executive governor of Zamfara State has ordered the closure of all schools within the state, both primary and secondary schools that are existing here are now closed with immediate effect,” the Commissioner said.
The Zamfara State Government’s decision is indefinite, the commissioner added during the briefing in Gusau.
“It’s a threat, you know the bandits will like to go back to kidnap these students, so for their safety the schools have to be closed until peace is restored in the state.”
When asked how many students were abducted, the commissioner of police said, “I don’t know.”
The government also restricted movement – from 6pm to 6am- in 13 local government areas. But for Gusau, the capital, movement restriction will be from 8pm to 6am.
Gunmen had stormed the Kaya Day Secondary School in Maradun Local Government Area of the state and whisked away several students.
The latest kidnap is happening five days after the students of the College Of Agriculture and Animal Science Bakura earlier abducted in the state regained their freedom
Zamfara, just like other states in the northwest and north-central have been facing serious security challenges by bandits – believed to hole up in Rugu forest, which straddles Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara and Niger states – to increasingly attacking schools, seizing students to extort ransom from parents.
Kidnappings are just one of the challenges facing Nigeria’s security forces, who are battling a grinding Islamist insurgency in the northeast and separatist tensions in parts of the south.
According to the UN, some 950 students have been kidnapped across Nigeria since December.
While most of the hostages have been released after negotiations, some are still being held.
The Enugu State Police Command on Tuesday, said it has launched investigation into the murder of a Rice farmer in Nenwe, Aninri Local Government Area of the state and subsequent retaliatory killing of the alleged assailant.
Our correspondent gathered that a young man of about 25 years old, identified as Ifeanyi Ubah, a native of Nomeh in Nkanu East Council Area of the state had gone to Emudo Village in Nenwe, a neighbouring community and killed his victim who was returning from his rice farm with his wife.
Sources told our correspondent that the suspect who was later killed had cut off the head and hid same in a bag, took it home before luck ran out of him and was caught by his people who later handed him over to Nenwe people.
One of the sources, who gave his name as Dj-stuky Guy, told our correspondent that the said Ifeanyi came to Nenwe and ambushed the victim along the farm track road.
“The victim had gone to his rice farm with his wife to apply fertilizer and other pesticides and while he was returning home with his wife in motorcycle, the suspect struck and pushed them down. The wife was lucky and ran away while the husband was matcheted, and subsequently was killed and head cut off.
“After killing and cutting off his head, he hid it in a fertilizer bag and took it home with the victim’s motorcycle. Unfortunately, for him he was caught in his community when the head fell off from the motorcycle he was riding and he was apprehended by members of his community.
“On questioning, the suspect was said to have told his community that he killed the man because he had unsettled misunderstanding and he decided to kill him.”
Guy, however, disclosed that while he was being questioned by his community members, people of Nenwe who were informed of the incident by the wife of the victim that escaped, stormed Nomeh and demanded for the suspect.
Another community leader from Nomeh, told our correspondent in an interview that his community had to hand over the suspect to the Nenwe community to avoid inter-communal war as result of the incident.
“My community told Nenwe people that we had no hand in the incident and that was why we handed the suspect over to them. That is what I know of the incident.”
However, a community source, told our correspondent that the suspect after he was handed over to Nenwe community, they killed him and burnt his corpse.
He said that the angry community youths chased police operatives who intervened away, before allegedly killing the suspect.
When the State Police Public Relations officer, ASP Daniel Ndukwe, was contacted on telephone, he confirmed the incident.
He simply said in a text message, “A case of murder/jungle justice reported at Nenwe Police Division is being investigated, please.”
Security agents on Monday killed three hoodlums who were purportedly enforcing the suspended sit-at-home directive of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Imo State.
Another set of hoodlums burnt The Nation newspaper’s distribution car after trying to extort N100,000 from the driver.
The incident occurred in Awo Omamma, in Oru East Local Government Area of Imo.
Businesses and offices were shut again in the Southeast as residents stayed indoor for fear of being harmed or killed.
Not even the reassurances of governors and security agencies, as well as the threat of a sack or sanction, could make them come out.
Many said they would rather lose their jobs or daily income than die.
Transporters also stayed away, leaving residents who came out stranded.
IPOB had urged Ndigbo to stay home every Monday to protest the detention of its leader Nnamdi Kanu, who is on trial over treasonable felony charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The 6 am to 6 pm exercise was first observed on August 9, with several deaths recorded and properties, especially commercial vehicles, destroyed.
Despite the subsequent suspension of the sit-at-home based on an order from Kanu, residents had refused to come out on the last two Mondays. It was the same again yesterday.
Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi had threatened to sack civil servants who fail to report to work or sanction business owners who fail to open, but even a petrol station said to belong to him was shut yesterday. His workers were not convinced.
Soldiers killed three hoodlums said to be enforcing the sit-at-home at Umuonyewere, Umuowa in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area in Imo.
An eyewitness, who pleaded not to be named for safety reasons, said the hoodlums dispossessed residents of their valuables.
He said the security agents engaged the hoodlums in a gun duel at a filling station where they allegedly robbed a fuel attendant of his cash and phones.
Three of the hoodlums were gunned down; others fled into the bush.
Two vehicles, including a Toyota Rav4, two locally-made pistols, five bullet shells, hard drugs, charms, two plate numbers, among other weapons, were recovered from them.
Some of the residents expressed delight at the prompt response of the joint security team.
It was learnt that the hoodlums snatched a vehicle from Emmanuel Chima Ekeh in the Amafor community at about 6:00 am.
“They went on shooting sporadically in the community and stopped by a filling station where they claimed to be enforcing the sit-at-home.
“They assaulted the pump attendants, snatched his phone and all the money he had on him,” the eyewitness said.
The Commander, 34 Artillery Brigade, Obinze, Owerri, Brig.-Gen Raymond Utsaha, advised the people to be vigilant and report suspected criminals to law enforcement agencies.
The Nation van set ablaze A Volkswagen car conveying copies of The Nation to the Southeast was burnt at Awo Omamma in Oru East Local Government Area.
The driver, Lateef Akanbi, said: “They flagged me down but when I noticed that they were armed hoodlums, not the police, I sped into the bush and hid.
“From a distance, I heard them saying: ‘Bring N100,000!’. I had no money with me, so, I did not come out. What I saw next was a cloud of smoke coming out from the vehicle. I then realised they had set it on fire.”
Police spokesman, Michael Abattam, a Chief Superintendent of Police, said an investigation had begun.
“They are thugs. We are investigating the matter,” he said.
Businesses, offices, roads and markets were again deserted in Imo, despite Governor Hope Uzodimma’s claim that the sit-at-home did not work in Imo.
Abakaliki, Ebonyi capital, was deserted. Most businesses did not open despite the threat by the state government that shop owners could lose the right of occupancy of their businesses should they not open.
At the international market Abakaliki, the majority of the shops did not open.
Banks remained shut; a few that had their gates open did not have customers to attend to.
A banker told our reporter that they were instructed to report for work but not to open till they were told to do so.
Some security agents were seen in their vans on patrol of major streets. Students for the National Examination Council (NECO) examinations were seen going to school in the morning.
Major transport companies did not open for business. Filling stations and major eateries did not open, including Brass Filling Station said to belong to Umahi.
Enugu residents urge govt to intervene Some Enugu State residents urged the government to prevail on transporters and traders to end the sit-at-home.
They lamented that the exercise had impacted negatively on their well-being.
A doctor, Cosmas Anibeze, said: “This whole thing is taking a new dimension. Everyone is afraid of being attacked although IPOB, which initially imposed this order, later cancelled it.
“I think what the government needs to do is prevail on the traders and especially transporters to always come out because this economy depends on everyone to thrive.
“Four of my staff could not come out because there were no buses to convey them from their various locations.”
A trader, Josiah Udeh, attributed the situation to fear created by some mischief-makers as well as insistence by transporters to withdraw their services.
Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Calistus Onaga, appealed to agitators in the Southeast to suspend the sit-at-home.
He spoke at the opening of the Second Plenary Meeting of the Catholic bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in Enugu.
He wondered why the agitators, who claimed to be protecting the interest of the poor masses of Southeast, would turn around to inflict pains on them.
Onaga said: “The various leaders of ethnic agitations and interest groups should take care not to employ methods to contradict their intentions in any way or try to reduce their intentions.
“They should take an example from those who have done that in the past. Martin Luther King who died for the Blacks did not punish those he was fighting for.
“Even Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu used his father’s wealth to look for our independence, yet he did not come back to demand return from any of us.”
“When you make us afraid, those you feel you are protecting, what will happen when you get the Independence?”
“This part of the world is known for business; this part of the world is known for education and you tell us to sit at home, doing what?
“What of the parents, who will need to sell their goods to train their children – you tell them to sit at home? Is that the way we can progress?”
Abia, Anambra residents stay home Residents of Aba, Abia State and Umuahia, the state capital, again closed their shops, offices and markets.
Banks, federal, state and local government workers stayed away despite the assurances of their safety by the security agencies.
Security agents were spotted at different locations in their various patrol vehicles.
In Anambra, commercial activities were paralysed.
Banks, markets, shops and other commercial activities were grounded again in Awka, Nnewi and Onitsha.
It was learnt that there was a gun duel between some criminals and security operatives at Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area.
Police spokesman, Ikenga Tochukwu, did not confirm the incident.
Roads and streets in Onitsha, the commercial city and Nnewi, the Industrial town, were empty.
Markets in the two cities were under lock, including the Onitsha Main Market and Nkwo Nnewi.
A group, the Balance and Equity Group (BEG), appealed to IPOB leadership to ensure proper dissemination of suspension of the weekly sit-at-home.
Its Founder, Chris Arinze, urged IPOB to help save the region’s economy.
He said: “It’s very clear that Southeast governors can’t give a contrary order against that of IPOB for the traders and businessmen in Igboland to go back to their businesses on Mondays.
“Every genuine Igbo accepts that Igbos are not well-treated. There are injustices against Ndigbo and Mazi Kanu cannot be faulted on that, but IPOB needs to do something about this Monday weekly sit-at-home.
“Otherwise, people will continue to observe it from now to December or when Mazi Kanu is released and it is not good for our economy.
“It is, therefore, left for IPOB to order them back to their businesses through the mass media, as a show of love, respect and loyalty.” Nation
Operatives of the Police Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Annex,Alagbon, Close Lagos, have arrested most wanted suspected armed robber and his female amourer in Benin , Edo State .
The kingpin, Stephen Clement and four others including his girlfriend who is the alleged amourer to his gang has been on the police wanted list for series of robbery and other crime related offences.
Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), in charge of FCID Annex Alagbon Close, Mr Usman Belel, who paraded the suspects at the weekend, said the gang , comprising: Ndego Cyril,33, Stephen Clement,33,Amaechi Ani, 32 , Osatin Omorogieva,25, Joy Omowumi,42 and others on the run has been on police watch list for over a period of time.
AIG Belel, said the suspects were arrested in the course of investigation carried out within Lagos and and Edo State,” they have confessed to series of armed robbery and search warrants were executed at their houses and premises where double barrel shotgun, four cartridges and four vehicles suspected to have been snatched from their victims were recovered.
We are making efforts to seeing that other suspects on the run will be arrested and made to face the law”.
However, the suspected female amourer, Omowumi, told our Correspondent that,” actually, Clement Stephen is my boyfriend. I can’t deny him, he has been living with me for four years, but what baffles me is that he was keeping arms and ammunition in my room without my knowledge.
I am a sweeper and after early morning road sweeping ,I would resume at my kiosk where I sell provision. I did not know that my living-in-lover was keeping weapon in my room. I helped the police to arrest him. “He was not at home when the police came, but I called him on phone and told him to come back home and help me to kill a snake that entered the house and he ran home. That was how he was arrested. I regret ever habouring him”.
The Police however, said Omowumi was telling cork and bull story as it was not possible for her not to see the gun where it was consciously kept in the room.
The prime suspect, Clement said it may be possible that Omowumi knew about the gun,: I kept the gun. It was bought for me by my master. We use it to be snatching cars. Each car we snatched, I would take to him and he would pay me. I am happy that he is also arrested”.
The Commissioner of Police, CP, Kaduna State Command, Mr Mudasiru Abdullahi, has ordered a full scale investigation into the assassination of a Nigerian Pilot, Mr Abdulkarim Ibn Na-Allah.
NAN reports that Abdullahi gave the order late Sunday in Kaduna in a statement issued by the command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalige.
“I have directed that a full scale investigation be carried out on what led to his death.
“It’s an unfortunate one but we will ensure that no stone is left unturned until we identify the culprits who carried out the heinous crime and bring them to book,” he said.
He further called on the public to assist with useful information that might assist its investigation into the murder.
Recall that the Pilot, Mr Abdulkarim Ibn Na-Allah, son of Adamawa Sen. Bala Ibn Na-Allah, was murdered in his Kaduna residence on Sunday.
The assassins forcefully gained access into the home of the pilot at Umar Gwandu Road, Malali, Kaduna at night, choked him to death and made away with his Lexus SUV.
Bandits, on Friday, released 32 more students of Bethel Baptist High School, Kaduna.
Joseph Hayab, Chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), confirmed the victims’ release on Friday, Daily Trust reports.
“Thirty-two of the students have been released this evening,” he said.
Hayab, who said the students have been reunited with their parents, did not go into details.
The development comes one day after pupils of Salihu Tanko Islmammiya school in Tegina, Niger State, regained freedom after 88 days in captivity.
A total of 31 students of the Baptist school are still being held by bandits.
The students were kidnapped on Monday, July 5, 2021, around 2 am on the school premises along the Kaduna-Kachia Expressway, Damishi, Chikun Local Government Area of the state.
The bandits freed one student on the basis of ill health.
The student, it was stated, was returned by two of the abductors.
The first batch of 28 of the students to secure their freedom spent 20 days in the kidnappers’ den.
Later on, four students also escaped from their captors.
On August 3, three more kidnapped students of Bethel Baptist High School, Kaduna reportedly escaped from captivity.
They were subsequently found by security operatives roaming the forest in the Chikun Local Government Area of the state.
The Ebonyi State Commissioner of Police, CP Aliyu Garba, has alleged that some officers stationed in some areas in Effium/Ezza community were attacked.
Recall that Effium/Ezza community located in Ohaukwu Local Government Area has witnessed unrest since January 22, 2021, and have recorded killings of hundreds of people and destruction of properties worth millions of naira.
It was gathered that security operatives including soldiers, police and other security agencies were said to have been deployed to the area to restore peace and order.
Meanwhile, Garba has alleged that officers deployed to the area were attacked by warlords operating in the area.
CP Garba, in a statement signed and forwarded to newsmen by the command’s spokesperson, DSP Loveth Odah, said the command will not tolerate any further attacks on its officers.
The statement reads in part: “The attention of the Ebonyi State Police Command has been drawn to the unfortunate attack on the security personnel posted to Effium for peacekeeping in the crisis-torn communities precisely at Inikiri Bernard and Effium Urban on 23/08/2021.
“The attackers destroyed their camps, setting ablaze their personal effects and one motorcycle allocated to them for domestic use.”
The commissioner warned against further incursion and called on stakeholders to caution their youths.
He however lamented that the incident by suspected Effium/Ezza fighters is unwarranted as the security agencies have always maintained a high level of professionalism by remaining neutral since the inception of the crisis.
CP Garba noted that if the officers had not deployed restraints, the story would have been different.
“I warn that the command and other security agencies would not tolerate any further incursion nor attack whatsoever from any of the warring tribes. The highly disciplined officers are there to restore peace and would continue doing that to the best of their ability,” he said.
He, therefore, called on the stakeholders from both sides of Effium/Ezza to “caution their youths/worries to desist from taking laws into their hands as the security agencies are more than capable of defending their lives in an event of any further attack.”
Hoodlums numbering over 50, yesterday, attacked the member representing Aba South State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Chief Obinna Ichita, during a town hall meeting with his constituents in Aba.
Some journalists who went to cover the meeting were not speared in the attack.
Trouble started when during the meeting, the lawmaker accused the state government of abandoning roads in his constituency, adding that there were no good roads in Aba South.
He gave the state government a seven day ultimatum after which members of the state constituency will embark on protest over the poor state of roads in the area.
The thugs who immediately stormed the venue of the meeting in a five white Hummar buses, armed with machetes and other dangerous weapons, disrupted the meeting as the lawmaker fled on sighting the rampaging thugs.
Many people including journalists suffered injuries while the thugs took over the venue of the meeting as policemen attached to the lawmaker also fled to safety.
Addressing his supporters after the incident; Ichita assured that the incident would not deter him from demanding what is due to his constituency.
“We were not violent, we didn’t fight anybody and we were very peaceful. Not long ago, they came here to attack me and my constituents.
“Before now, I had already informed the world that there is a threat to my life. I have petitioned the National Security Adviser, I informed the Commissioner of Police, I also informed the Director of State Security. We were just having a town hall meeting and they came and attacked us and destroyed our vehicles.
“Thy carted away our valuables. My vehicle has been destroyed. We had a resolution that we are giving the state government seven days ultimatum to fix roads in Aba South constituency. After the seven day, we will embark on protest in Aba. We will make official reports, but I want to assure them that they can never do this again”, Ichita warned.
