Gunmen on Thursday abducted the Madakin of the Shabu community in Lafia local government area of Nasarawa State, Musa Shuaibu.
A resident of the community told journalists on Saturday that the victim was kidnapped a few meters away from his residence and about 8:00 p.m. on Thursday and whisked to an unknown destination.
The spokesman for the state police command, Ramhan Nansel, confirmed the incident in Lafia.
He said police operatives have been deployed to the area to rescue the victim.
“Efforts are ongoing to rescue the victim and arrest the criminals,” the spokesman added.
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Gunmen abduct village head in Nasarawa
Two former staff of Union Bank arrested for stealing N4.1m from dead customer’s account
Operatives of Makurdi Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have arrested two former staff of Union Bank in Makurdi for allegedly stealing the sum of N4,199,500.00 belonging to a deceased customer of the bank.
The suspects, Idah Ogoh and Agbo Okwute were arrested on Friday, June 21, 2024 in Makurdi, Benue State.
According to a statement from Dele Ouewole, head of media annd publicity of EFCC, they were arrested following a petition against them by the bank on fraudulent debits on a deceased customer, Emmanuel Azer Agenna’s account.
Their dealings were said to have been uncovered when the family of the deceased approached the bank for the balance on the account of the deceased for probate processing. The family disputed the balance given to them by the bank and subsequently sent a complaint to the bank regarding unauthorised debits on the account.
He said, “Based on their complaints, the bank carried out an internal investigation and its findings revealed that a debit card was procured on the deceased’s customer account on May 10, 2023 by Ifah Ogoh, one of the bank’s Sales and Service Associates which was authorised by the bank on the same date
.”Further findings by the bank showed that the procured card by Ogoh was handed over to another Sales and Service Associates, Agbo Omwute who eventually delivered the card to an accomplice for transfer and withdrawal of funds from the account of the deceased. Several withdrawals were allegedly made by the suspects through the accomplice”.
He also revealed that the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
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Six arrested for “one chance” robberies in Abuja
No fewer than six “one chance” operators have been arrested by operatives from the Federal Capital Territory Command.
The suspects are Abubakar Adams, Ismail Salisu, Yusuf Bello, Nasiru Saidi, Sani Usman and Ibrahim Kasa.
According to a statement on Saturday by the FCT command spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, the suspects rob passengers who board their vehicles, motorcycles and tricycles and push them out afterwards.
The statement partly read, “The operatives of the police command attached to Utako divisional headquarters, on June 16, 2024, acting on credible intelligence, trailed and arrested six armed robbery suspects: Abubakar Adams, Ismail Salisu, Yusuf Bello, Nasiru Saidi, Sani Usman and Ibrahim Kasa who specialise in attacking unsuspecting residents who board their vehicle or tricycle, robbing them of their valuables and pushing them off the moving vehicle or tricycle.”
Adeh said their arrest was a result of complaints from victims.
She noted that cutlasses and knives among others were recovered from the suspects.
“The suspects were apprehended on the heels of complaints received from multiple victims of these atrocious acts, some of whom reported losing their mobile phones, money, gadgets, and other belongings to these criminal individuals who have since confessed to the crime.
“Light weapons such as cutlasses, knives, and a phone believed to have been stolen from a victim were recovered from them.”
Adeh stated that while the investigation was still ongoing, the commissioner of police FCT, CP Benneth Igweh reaffirmed the command’s commitment to ensuring the safety and security of all and sundry.
“He also urged the populace to be vigilant and take advantage of the police emergency lines in reporting suspicious activities through,” the statement said.
In a similar occurrence in May 2024, operatives of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command busted a car theft syndicate that specialises in stealing vehicles from Abuja and selling them in Lagos State.
Parading the suspects, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Benneth Igweh, disclosed that luck ran out of the gang when a friend to one of their victims whose car was stolen in Abuja travelled to Lagos for an engagement only to see the stolen car of his friend at a car stand, put up for sale.
Igweh said he subsequently alerted the victim to come to Lagos and check the car. On getting to Lagos, he confirmed the car to be his stolen Toyota Camry and informed the FCT Police.
The CP said police detectives deployed to the scene, discovered that the original Chasis of the stolen car had been changed, the car was recovered and criminals arrested.
Withdraw policemen from LG sects, NLC, TUC tell IG
The Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress have called on the Inspector General of Police, Olukayode Egbetokun, to immediately withdraw policemen from the 23 local government council secretariats of Rivers State.
Rising from an emergency joint state administrative council meeting in Port Harcourt on Friday evening, the two unions frown on the directive of the Inspector General of Police for his men to remain at the LG secretariats until a court rules on the local government issue.
The State NLC Chairman, Alex Agwanwor and his TUC counterpart, Ikechukwu Onyefuru in a joint statement after the meeting, said workers have been denied access to the council for days causing loss of man hours.
The unions also backed the four days ultimatum issued by the state President of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, Cliffor Paul to the police to vacate the councils or the union will mobilise its workers for a protest, saying organised labour is already preparing to do the needful.
The statement partly reads, “The councils-in-session commend the men and officers of the Nigeria Police force on its pro-activeness in maintaining law and order in the heat of recent political upheavals.
“However, the councils-in-session frowns seriously at the sealing of the 23 Local Government Councils Secretariat by men and officers of the Nigeria Police force for the reason of maintaining law and order thereby locking out our members from performing their statutory duty.
“Given the actions of the Nigeria Policemen, the quantum of man-hour loss since the occupation of the security agencies across the 23 Local Government Councils is irrecoverable and the attendant consequences of putting people off their job with no alternative means of engagement in the society are far too weighty to contend with in the instant case.”
The statement added, “Consequently, the councils of both NLC and TUC call on the Inspector General of Police to immediately direct the Commissioner of Police Rivers State Command to allow legitimate workers of the various Local Government Councils to access their offices.
“More importantly, both councils of NLC and TUC unanimously uphold the ultimatum issued by the NULGE for the Nigeria police to vacate and allow unfettered access of Local Government Workers to access their Offices without further delay.”
On the call for the declaration of a state of emergency in the state by the State Caretaker Committee Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in the state, Chief Tony Okocha due to the violence caused by the local government crisis, the union described it as self-seeking.
“The councils-in-session unanimously condemn in strong terms the purported call for a State of Emergency in Rivers State by some supposed political leaders of the State which in all ramifications do not wish Rivers State People well, while we appreciate people’s rights to self-opinion it is also important not to allow self-centeredness override our sense of reasoning.
“The entire workers of Rivers State are hereby put on red alert of possible actions to protect and defend the interest of Rivers State workers.”
Recall that the police took over the council headquarters following the crisis over the tenure of local government chairmen in the state, which has claimed two lives.
A policeman and member of a local vigilante outfit were shot dead during a protest in Eberi-Omuma in Omuma LGA of the state on Tuesday, with the police saying the decision to barricade the councils was to forestall further bloodbath.
Transformer vandal electrocuted in Benue
An unidentified man was electrocuted while trying to vandalise the Jos Electricity Distribution Company transformer located close to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board office in Otukpo, Benue State.
The corpse of the man was found hanging on the transformer on Saturday morning.
Eyewitnesses said the suspect might have been electrocuted while trying to vandalise the transformer.
An eyewitness known as Sunny speaking via phone on Saturday said the dangling body of the suspect was noticed around 5:00 am on Saturday by a passerby who raised the alarm.
He said, “It was around 5 am this morning (Saturday) that a passerby raised the alarm of the lifeless body on a transformer leading to several people besieging the place to catch a glimpse of the suspect.”
A resident in the area said the victim was known as a notorious cable vandal and had succeeded in removing some cable parts before power was restored.
Confirming the incident, the Head, Corporate Communication of JED company, Adakole Elijah expressed shock that the victim could climb the transformer pole despite the tight security.
Elijah said, “The truth is that the transformer is properly safeguarded, the transformer was mounted on a pole, so, it beats my imagination that someone would climb that pole.
“That tells you it was deliberate, a clear case of vandalism. I’m sure he went with a very terrible motive and unfortunately, he has paid with his life.”
Efforts to get the Police Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene for her reaction were not successful as her phone rang out.
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Atiku visits Buhari in Daura
22nd June 2024
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Saturday paid a visit to former President Muhammadu Buhari at his residence in Daura.
A former presidential aide, Buhari Sallau, shared a video from the visit on his X account with the caption, “The former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar visited former President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura.”
The purpose of the visit is yet to be disclosed.
Watch Video Below:
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Army chief seeks stronger judiciary to curb insecurity
The Director General of the Nigeria Army Resource Centre, Major General Garba Wahab has said that the judiciary arm of the government has one of the keys to eradicating insecurity in the country.
The country has been plagued by various forms of insecurity, resulting in the deaths, abductions, and displacement of millions of citizens.
However, while speaking at a two-day round table discussion in Abuja on Friday, themed “Asymmetrical National Security Challenges, the Army, and National Development,” Wahab emphasised that the judiciary must fulfil its role to deter impunity.
He said, “One of the ways to curb insecurity is that the judiciary must be alive to its responsibilities and the local government should be allowed to function.
“Let the judiciary start doing its job. Because if they don’t, we’re encouraging impunity. People will believe nothing is going to happen to them. They will do whatever they like. There is one slide we use to show when we give lectures here. It is about an elephant that saw an antelope running. He said, Mr. Antelope, why are you running? Replied that they are arresting goats and they are taking the goats to court.
“He said, ah! But you are not a goat, he said, in a Nigerian court, it will take 20 years for him to be able to prove that he is not a goat, that he’s an antelope. The elephant too ran. That’s what is happening. The former president mentioned it. It takes 10 years for a simple case of stealing to be decided in Nigeria.”
Wahab also said the local governments should be allowed to function well, adding that the localisation of security in the country would also help in curbing some crimes.
He said, “What we are asking those in government to do is to find a way of ensuring that the judiciary and local government are allowed to function well. When you allow local government to function, then you can localize the security architecture.
“We should go to the battalion level because these battalions serve the state and so they relate with the state and local government. We shouldn’t wait till we get to divisional headquarters whenever there is a problem. Divisional headquarters in most cases busy attending to five or six States.
The Executive Director, Defence Space Agency, Prof. Okey Ikechukwu, said the round table seeks to drive a new narrative by getting Nigeria’s various publics to see and understand their roles in the wider national ecosystem of synchronized security.
“We will use the round table to re-emphasise the specific and general roles of the military, particularly the Nigerian army, in the cocktail of structures, activities, and processes that constitute the national security architecture,” Ikechukwu said.
In April 2024, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, directed field commanders and troops to be adaptive and embrace innovation to ensure adversaries of the country are brought to their knees.
This was as he said that the nation was in a more volatile and complex period than before, urging the commanders to be innovative.
He also implored them to restore peace and stability in areas experiencing security challenges across the nation.
He also noted that Nigeria is currently facing security challenges, such as banditry, terrorism, and kidnapping among others.
Gunmen abduct Nasarawa traditional ruler
A top traditional title holder, the Madakin of the Shabu community in the Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Musa Shuaibu, has been kidnapped by gunmen.
The gunmen were said to have invaded the area at exactly 8 pm on Thursday and whisked him away to an unknown destination.
A resident of the area who pleaded anonymity because he was not permitted to speak on the matter, told our correspondent that Shuaibu was kidnapped a few meters away from his residence after observing the Muslim dusk prayer (Isha’i) in a Mosque in the area.
“We heard that he was kidnapped just a few meters away from his house. The gunmen came in their numbers and took him to an unknown destination.
“We also heard that the police are already following up on the matter to ensure that he is rescued unhurt. Our prayer is that he should return to this community (Shabu) in good health and sound mind.
“The Madakin Shabu has been a peace-loving and kind man. He shows love to everyone irrespective of tribe or religion. He does not deserve this challenge that he is facing at the moment.
“I, therefore, call on the Nasarawa State government and the security agencies to work towards ensuring that he is rescued unhurt,” the source said.
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Ramhan Nansel, told our correspondent that officers of the command have been deployed to the area to ensure that the Chief regains freedom, and to arrest the criminal elements.
“It is true that he was kidnapped. Efforts are ongoing to arrest the criminals and rescue the victim,” Nansel said.
Similarly, in January 2024, some gunmen kidnapped the Chairman of Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Safiyanu Andaha.
Sources informed our correspondent that Andaha was whisked away in the night at Ningo village along Andaha –Akwanga Road.
He was said to have been kidnapped alongside a native of the area, Adamu Custom, who was with him around 8.30 pm.
According APPOINTS NEW EDITORS, DEPUTY EDITORS
As part of a recent restructuring exercise across the company’s divisions, the board of According Nigeria Limited has announced changes in the leadership of its editorial division.
In the changes announced by the management on Friday, the Business Editor of The According, Oyetunji Abioye, was appointed the new editor of The According, in acting capacity.
The company also announced Samson Folarin, the Features Editor of the paper’s Weekend Titles (Saturday According & Sunday According) as acting Editor, Weekend Titles.
The current editor of The According, Adedayo Oketola, and Editor of the newspaper’s Weekend Titles, Sola Fabiyi, will hand over to their successors on Monday, July 22, 2024.
The board also conveyed its appreciation to the outgoing editors, Oketola and Fabiyi, noting their positive contributions to the company’s strategic objectives and wishing them well.
The company equally approved the appointment of the Editor, According SportsExtra, ‘Tana Aiyejina, to take over from Olaniyi Odebode, the Deputy Editor, The According, in acting capacity.
The company acknowledged the contributions of Odebode, who served in various capacities in According during his 31 years stint in According and wished him well.
Tessy Igomu, the current Editor, Healthwise, is to take over from Yusuff Moshood as the Deputy Editor, Weekend Titles, in acting capacity.
Moshood has been redeployed to According Digital as the Deputy Editor.
Reacting, Abioye pledged to continue to uphold According’s time-tested journalistic and corporate values. He expressed confidence that these values would enable him to effectively harness the opportunities presented by the current challenges in the media industry
“As one who has been in the system for years, I’m not a stranger to the responsibilities I’m expected to discharge. The lessons and the experience garnered over the years will readily be a compass to guide me through this journey,” Abioye stated on Friday.
A widely travelled and well-respected business journalist, he has reported and written extensively on general news, aviation, finance, money and energy.
During his time as a field journalist, Abioye, who broke several major stories in the aviation and finance sectors, earned a well-deserved reputation as a resourceful and self-driven reporter with a special knack for exclusive stories.
Abioye also had a distinguished career as a reporter, winning major awards including the Nigerian Media Merit Award Aviation Reporter of the Year (2015), National Association of Air Traffic Engineers Aviation Reporter of the Year (2013), and emerging as a runner-up in the Money Market Reporter of the Year category of the Diamond Award for Media Excellence.
He has attended key conferences and training programmes in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Abioye is also a regular at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington DC, USA; Russia-Africa Economic Summit, International Air Transport Association Annual General Meetings and World Air Transport Summit, among others.
A graduate of Economics of Babcock University joined According in 2007 as a correspondent and rose through the ranks to become the News Editor of Saturday According. He was appointed the Group Business Editor of The According, in 2021.
He is an alumnus of the United States Government-sponsored International Visitors Leadership Programme (Financial Journalism) held in Pennsylvania, Chicago and New York; the United Kingdom Department For International Development-Sponsored Media Training; Bloomberg Media Initiative for Africa; CitiBank Media Training; and the Pan Atlantic School of Communications Media Training.
Folarin, the new acting editor of the Weekend Titles, (Saturday According & Sunday According) is a graduate of Mass Communication of the University of Lagos.
He joined According as a correspondent in 2013. He was, at different times, the Metro Editor of The According; Contributing Member, According Editorial Board; and Features Editor, Weekend Titles.
Folarin is a well-garlanded investigative journalist whose career has reflected a very strong passion for human rights.
He was awarded the Investigative Reporter of the Year by the Nigeria Media Merit Award in 2018, 2020 and 2021, and was voted Print Journalist of the Year in 2019 by the NMMA. He also won the Print Category of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Journalism in 2019 and 2020. Folarin won the maiden edition of the Lagos Reporting Category at the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence in 2014.
He has just concluded his postgraduate studies in Investigative Journalism at City University of London, United Kingdom, as a Chevening Scholar.
According to him, the sound training he has received over the years in According has prepared him for this new assignment.
“This is definitely a huge task, but I pledge to apply myself to the job to ensure that According’s ascendancy in the media industry is sustained,” says the new acting Editor, Weekend Titles,
Also, the current online editor, Olalekan Adetayo, has been redesignated the Editor, According Digital, the restructured digital operations unit that incorporates all of According’s digital publications.
Adetayo is a 2008 graduate of Journalism of the Lagos State University who joined According in 2001 as a reporter. He became a Sub-Editor in 2005.
Adetayo, who, at various times, covered crime and politics, was the State House correspondent, Abuja, before he was appointed as the Politics Editor and later promoted to Abuja Bureau Chief of According.
He rose to the post of News Editor, The According, as well as the Metro Editor of the same title. Adetayo equally served as Acting Deputy Editor, Weekend Titles.
He is a multiple award winner including emerging as the According Outstanding Employee of the Year in 2009 and the pioneer winner of the Media Integrity Award category of the Diamond Award for Media Excellence (2009).
Aiyejina, a graduate of English of the Ambrose Alli University and the pioneer editor of the According Group’s sports title, is credited with the rapid growth of the title.
He joined According in 2008 as a correspondent. Aiyejina, who rose through the ranks in the organisation, currently serves as Editor, According Sports Extra as well as the Sports Editor, The According.
A widely travelled sports journalist, the new Deputy Editor is a multiple award winner, winning the Nigeria Sports Awards twice as Nigeria Sports Journalist of The Year (Print) and the Nigeria Pitch Awards for five consecutive times (Best Football Journalist of The Year) as well as being nominated for the Diamond Award for Media Excellence. He also won the AIT Sports Journalist of The Year award in 2010.
Igomu, a graduate of Mass Communication of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University joined According as a Chief Correspondent in 2020.
A well-regarded investigative journalist, she is the Editor of Healthwise, a specialised health digital publication with a strong and growing presence. She was at various times the Acting Deputy Editor, Weekend Titles; Ag. Online Editor; and Head, Investigations.
Igomu is a multiple winner of both national and continental awards, including the AFCON Prize for Environmental Reporting, Nigeria Media Merit Awards 2022; and the West Africa Journalist of the Year – WAMECA 2022 Awards (Ghana), where she emerged as the first female winner in West Africa.
Her other awards include Environmental Reporting – WAMECA 2022 Awards (Ghana); and the 2021 Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Journalism – Commendation Prize.
Moshood, a holder of a Master’s in Public Administration from Lagos State University, joined According in 2020 as a Sub-Assistant Editor in the Online Department.
He had served creditably as Acting News Editor, The According; Healthwise editor and Assistant Editor, Online at different times.
Moshood, a highly-experienced journalist and line editor, currently serves as the Acting Deputy Editor, Weekend Titles.
Suspended Abia health commissioner under probe — Otti
The Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has said contrary to media reports, he did not sack his immediate past and pioneer Chief Press Secretary, Kazie Uko and his pioneer Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ngozi Okoronkwo.
The governor disclosed this in Umuahia Friday night in a chat with newsmen, stating, “We did not sack the former Chief Press Secretary. We only did re-organization. No appointment is permanent.”
Also explaining the position of the state Commissioner for Health who he suspended a few weeks ago, Otti said, “Suspension of the Commissioner of Health is on allegation based on suspicion. Already, a committee has been set up and the result will come in.”
The governor further said, “Nothing is wrong in suspending a person when there is a prima facie case. If found not guilty, she will return to her job, if not, she will face the consequences of the infraction.”
The governor, who restated his avowed commitment to bringing to account anyone remotely or directly involved in the recent killing of soldiers at the Obikabia Junction a few weeks ago, said, “This government takes security seriously. We are leaving no stones unturned to ensure that everyone connected with that dastard act where soldiers were murdered is brought to book. We have been getting the feedback. At the appropriate time, we will let you all know. We have empowered Operation Crush to crush crime anywhere in the state.”
Otti disclosed that he has engaged a Chief Information Technologist to prepare the state for digital transformation that would herald the broadband technology in the state that is already in its final stages of discussion, announcing that in the days ahead, he would disclose the name of the Chief Information Technologist.
Giving reasons for this appointment, Otti said “We are preparing our state for the next century. Wherever you are, you can have access to data”, disclosing that his government plans to digitally transform Abia’s economy and boost technology in the state through the project that will be heralded by the broadband technology which would provide unlimited access to internet in the state.
While noting that internet access is the key to a thriving economy, Otti assured that his infrastructural revolution will be extended to all the nooks and crannies of the 17 LGAs in the next few months, and vowed to make infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, security and others the focus of his second year in office.
His administration, he said, has completed, rehabilitated, constructed, reconstructed and built more than 106 roads, some of them through direct labour.
He said, “We are very strategic on roads which is strategic to the economy. We will touch every local government in the next 12 months.”
General Hospitals in the state, he said, are receiving attention, as well as all Primary Healthcare, but in batches, stating that they will work and function, noting that his administration is doing much in the sector.
The governor said his government is paying a lot of attention to the agriculture sector, disclosing that the first batch of 300 beneficiaries drawn from various wards of the state has been sent to the CSS Farms Nasarawa state to be trained on various agricultural value chains. He also stated that the government is partnering with organizations and companies in areas of palm oil, cocoa, and rice production as well as in other agricultural value chains.
Reacting to the issue of long overdue staff promotions, conversion and confirmation, Otti said he had directed the Chairman, Civil Service Commission and Head of Service to look into the matter to give the matter the needed attention.
“At the last EXCO meeting, I had instructed the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission and the Head of Service to sit down and look at promotions and the like and from the report that I got, I think the last time promotions were done was in 2021. So, that throws up quite some challenges.
“At least, let’s look at it and see what we can do. We are not ignoring it. But you must also admit that a lot of things went wrong just like every other sector”, Otti said, adding that his government is prioritising the welfare of workers, hence he has been regular in salary payment and pensions, assuring that arrears of leave allowances would be paid.
“My understanding of leave allowances is that they are due when you go on leave. We don’t have any problem paying people who are going on leave. If there are arrears that have not been paid, the state is going to deal with the new minimum wage and the leave allowances.” He disclosed that as of that Friday, “every ABSU staff has received his salary up to date”.
Asked about his romance with other party faithful, the governor said, “We run an open door government where every person from other political parties are welcomed. I just received one of our former governors in the state and this demonstrates that what we are talking about is the welfare, and well-being of all Abians, political party not minding. I am not a governor of one party, but of the state and all must have a say”, adding, “We have thrown away feeding bottles and all involved should go and find something doing”.
Questioned on the killing of staff at Inner Galaxy company in Ukwa, Otti said, “The foreigner involved in the killing is under detention since”, adding that he opposes the closure of the business because of one man’s crime, as it will affect Abians employed in that company.
Otti used the occasion to reveal that a committee has been set up to rid the streets of the state of mentally challenged individuals.