Traditional rulers from 14 local government areas in Benue State have alleged that there are plans by Fulani herdsmen to eliminate people across three states.
The traditional rulers, who represent the Tiv people in the state, alleged that the plan is to kill all their people in Benue, Taraba, and Nasarawa states.
They made the allegation on Tuesday when they paid a visit to the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.
According to the spokesperson for the group, Chief Daniel Abomtse, Tiv people are constantly being driven away from their homes and farmlands by Fulani herdsmen.
He, however, alleged that the murderous actions are carried out with the support of the “authorities in those states”.
They, therefore, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the safe return of displaced Tiv people and the land that had been taken from them.
Ortom described the treatment of “some parts of the country” by the Buhari-led government as “uncalled for”.
According to the governor, over 1.5 million persons are at the internally displaced persons’ camps, leading to a food crisis in the state.
Bandits invaded the palace of Alhaji Ahmadu Attahiru, the Emir of Kagara in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, on Tuesday.
Details of the attack are still sketchy but a palace source told Daily Trust that the monarch was absent when the gunmen struck.
The source said the attack took place around Maghrib prayers.
The Emir reportedly left Kagara for a programme in Minna, the state capital, on Monday.
Daily Trust learnt that the mobile network Service in Kagara was disconnected on Friday.
“I cannot give you the details now. The people who called this evening are no longer reachable again. The network in Kagara has been disconnected since Friday.”
“I believe even those who called went to bush to access network But it is true that the palace of Emir of Kagara was attacked,” a Minna-based indigene of Kagara told Daily Trust.
When contacted, the Niger State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, promised to get details and revert.
The Emir ascended the throne after the death of Alhaji Salihu Tanko, his predecessor.
Tanko died in Minna after a protracted illness in March.
Kagara became very popular among some Nigerians following the abduction of some students in the emirate.
At least 20 fishermen were killed accidentally in a Nigerian military strike on a jihadist camp in northeast Nigeria, two security sources and locals told AFP.
A Nigerian fighter jet early on Sunday bombarded Kwatar Daban Masara in Lake Chad, which straddles Nigeria and neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, the sources said.
The area is a bastion for the IS-affiliated Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
The reports of casualties came less than two weeks after officials say another airstrike on a village killed nine civilians in Nigeria’s northeast where the military is battling a 12-year Islamist insurgency.
ISWAP recently lifted a ban on fishermen in its territory, allowing them to move in and fish in the freshwater lake for a fee. That led to an influx of fisherman who had abandoned the area.
“Any fisherman that goes to that area does so at his own risk because it is an enemy territory and there is no way of differentiating them from the terrorists,” one local intelligence source said.
“From the information we have been receiving the death toll is much higher than 20.”
Local fisherman Labo Sani told AFP by telephone that the jet strike hit Kwatar Daban Masara at around 6 am (0500 GMT), killing around 20 fishermen.
Kwatar Daban Masara which is on the shores of the lake is the “gateway to ISWAP’s camps on several islands” and a supply route for the jihadists, said Sani from nearby Daban Masara.
Another fisherman, Sallau Arzika, said the fighter jet struck the village “killing many of our people who are there for fishing”.
“The initial death toll was around 20, but the figure has been increasing with the deaths of many of the injured,” Arzika said.
News of the incident was slow the emerge due to limited telecommunications in the region.
A Nigerian air force spokesman did not immediately respond to a message seeking confirmation or comment.
The intelligence source who works with anti-jihadist militia in the region said the strike was based on “credible information” of a gathering of ISWAP fighters in the village since Wednesday.
He said aerial surveillance and reports from other sources revealed terrorists were amassing in Kwatar Daban Masara and it was obvious they were planning an attack, the source said.
‘Preemptive strike’
According to another security source, the village was subjected to surveillance in the past 10 days after scores of men suspected to be foreign fighters arrived in several vehicles and were ferried to camps inside the lake.
“It was a preemptive strike to destroy whatever plans the terrorists were making,” said the security source.
“You don’t expect an innocent civilian to be at that location and whoever is found is certainly part of the terrorists,” he said.
On September 16 a Nigerian airstrike on a village in nearby Yobe state killed at least nine civilian residents, according to officials.
The Nigerian air force said at the time its fighter jet was pursuing a group of jihadists in the area and it was investigating the incident.
Since 2009, Nigeria’s armed forces have battled a grinding jihadist insurrection in the northeast that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced nearly two million from their homes.
The conflict spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to end the violence.
In January 2017 at least 112 people were killed when a fighter jet struck a camp housing 40,000 people displaced by violence in Rann near the border with Cameroon.
The Nigerian military blamed “lack of appropriate marking of the area” for the bombardment in a report it issued six months later.
In July 2019 at least 13 civilians were killed when a Nigerian fighter jet hit Gajiganna village, 50 kilometres from Borno state capital Maiduguri, as it targeted fleeing jihadists after they attacked a nearby base.
Gunshots from security agents rented the air in Gwarinpa Estate along the Kubwa Expressway in Abuja on Tuesday, as members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) otherwise known as Shi’ites and security agents clashed.
Six persons were reportedly killed in the incident while many sustained injuries.
Joint security operatives were said to have opened fire on members of the sect when they were about to round off their Arbaeen Symbolic Trek.
The incident, which occurred at the Gwarinpa gate near Galadimawa when the gun-wielding security agents arrived at the scene, threw the trek into confusion as people scampered for safety.
Two people were also said to be shot at a new generation bank inside the estate.
The Secretary of Academic Forum of IMN, Abdullahi Musa, also confirmed the incident when contacted by SaharaReporters.
“They are just shooting people. As I am talking to you now, six people have been killed. They even carried some dead bodies away,” he said.
Members of the sect had on Tuesday morning come out in continuation of their procession to mark the fortieth day of the murder of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad who was killed on 10th Muharram.
The protesters in their numbers hoisted two flags, one red and the other black, with the chanting songs.
The Senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial district, Danjuma La’ah, has revealed reasons he shed tears on different occasions on the floor of Upper Chambers while presenting motions on banditry attacks in his constituency.
The Federal lawmaker stated that some of his senatorial colleagues thought that banditry activities in Southern Kaduna seemed like a Southern Kaduna issue alone.
Speaking on the development in his senatorial district, the La’ah recalled how he told senators that one day, all the 109 Senators would encounter insecurity, in form of bandits, kidnapping insurgency and other forms of criminality, stressing that his words had become realities.
He said, “I have wept times without number, but I knew time shall come and time has come because while I was weeping in the chamber when presenting motions on banditry in Southern Kaduna, I said that one day somehow, that these things will affect every one of us.
“Because we were thinking that it was just meant for Southern Kaduna, but tell me which state in this country has not been affected by bandits?
“Bandits don’t have friends, they don’t know tribes; they don’t know religion. Whoever, you are and they found you, it’s about money.”
The lawmaker said after he presented a motion on insecurity in Southern Kaduna several times, he stopped talking, stating that if he continued based on what he knew, “heads would roll and the world will turn upside down. So, it is better I allow the sleeping dog lies.”
He said banditry activities in Southern Kaduna were not new, while he hoped that in the ongoing clampdown against criminal elements in the north, those who raised and trained bandits should drive them away.
He added, “All these things are not new. Bandits, Boko Haram and insurgents and my motion has all along not been changed from what it is. We can only pray. Those that raised them over there should be the same people that will come and drive them out of this place.”
Asked to speak on Constitution amendment, Senator La’ah disclosed that the Senate leadership intentionally refused him to be a member of the Constitution Review Committee chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, because they considered him too stubborn to be there.
He said, “I am not a member of the Constitution Review Committee. When the members were sent to the Constitution Review Committee, they didn’t want those of us they consider too stubborn to be there.
“What else will I say? I will not say what I don’t know. It’s good that people accuse me, if they don’t, then I am not a Senator because what affect one Senator affects all.”
The Taliban have warned barbers in Helmand province in Afghanistan to desist from shaving or trimming beards.
The Taliban said shaving off beards breaches their interpretation of Islamic law.
In a report by BBC, the Taliban police said anyone caught violating the rule will be severely punished.
According to the report, in a notice posted on salons in southern Helmand province, the Taliban officers warned that hairdressers must follow Sharia law for haircuts and beards.
Some barbers in the capital of the country, Kabul have said they also received similar orders.
“No one has a right to complain,” the notice reportedly read.
The instructions suggest a return to the strict rulings of the group’s past tenure in power, despite promises of a milder form of government.
The Taliban have promised an inclusive government and a more moderate form of Islamic rule than when they last ruled the country from 1996 to 2001.
During their last reign, men were required to grow beards while the women were made to wear an all-encompassing burqa, covering both their hair and face.
Music was banned to prevent the promotion of vulgarity, while citizens could only listen to religious chants.
The Taliban also banned television and cinema, and some electronic products were outlawed as un-Islamic.
The latest development suggests an imposition of former Islamic laws that governed their past tenure.
A barber was quoted as saying the Taliban enforcers keep coming to their shops to monitor them.
“The fighters keep coming and ordering us to stop trimming beards,” a barber in Kabul reportedly said.
“One of them told me they can send undercover inspectors to catch us.”
The barbers reportedly said the new rules are making it hard for them to make a living.
In August, Taliban fighters quickly captured most of Afghanistan last month and celebrated the departure of the last U.S. forces after 20 years of war.
Since then, they have carried out harsh punishments on opponents. On Saturday, the group’s fighters shot dead four alleged kidnappers and their bodies were hung in the streets of the western city of Herat.
Bandits feeling the heat of the ban on the sale of petrol in jerrycans are now making use of camels, according to locals.
Over the last one week, the police made multiple arrests of persons reportedly smuggling petrol to bandits in the forests.
At least three North West governors imposed a ban on the sale of petrol in jerrycans to check the activities of bandits.
A resident of Sokoto, who pleaded anonymity, told Daily Trust that bandits fleeing Sokoto from the neighbouring Zamfara are now regrouping in Isa forest in Sokoto on the invitation of a notorious bandit leader known as Turji.
He said there are currently over 20 groups of bandits in the area and they all came on camels because they could not fuel their motorcycles.
The source added that the bandits were using the same camels to attack their communities and kidnap people.
Commissioner for Carriers and Security Matters, Colonel Garba Moyi (retd), said there was no evidence that bandits were regrouping in the area.
Meanwhile, the District Head of Isa, Alhaji Nasir Ahmad, has sworn with the Holy Qur’an that he is not aiding banditry in the area.
The palace of the district head and the residence of Moyi were attacked last Monday by some angry mob who accused them of shielding bandits.
The traditional ruler reportedly stood up at the Juma’at mosque shortly before the congregational prayer and swore that he was not in anyway aiding banditry.
“If I have ever facilitated any attack on my community or inform bandits about military movement or any subject in my domain, may God not allow me to witness another week,” he said.
In a video clip of the traditional ruler which has gone viral on social media platforms, the Sarkin Gobir Isa, said he is more pained about the attack on his community than anybody in the area.
Bandits are now using the network service of Niger Republic to coordinate attacks, according to Aminu Almustapha Gobir, member representing Sabon Birni North Constituency in the Sokoto House of Assembly.
As part of measures to check banditry, the Nigerian government had shut down telecommunication services in three states – Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina.
This had reportedly cut off communication between bandits and their informants.
But as a means of circumventing the security measure, bandits have now resorted to using the telecom service of the neighbouring country which shares border with Nigeria through Sokoto.
Gobir said he received a threat from one of the bandits who using Nigerien network service.
“The bandit was threatening to lead his gang to attack me and my community,” he told Daily Trust.
Gobir also confirmed the attack on a military base in Sabo Birni Local Government area of the state.
Daily Trust had reported how bandits raided the military base, killing security personnel and setting patrol vans on fire.
“It is true that they attacked a military base at Dama and killed about 12 of them while many are still missing.”
“This is why I faulted the government for shutting GSM network in the eastern part of the state without a serious military operation taking place there.
“The bandits are now using Nigerien network to communicate within themselves and perpetrate their heinous activities in the area.
“I expect our Governor to provide Divisional Police Officers and the military deployed to Sokoto East with Thuraya phone which could enable them to communicate within themselves and with their superior officers if they need help since there is no GSM network.
“This is what the Governor of Zamfara did and it’s paying off positively,” he said
The spokesman of the 8 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major Yahaya Ngulde, could not be reached for comment as at the time of filing this report.
But the Police Public Relation Officer, ASP Sanusi Abubakar, said he was not aware of the attack on the military base.
He did not also comment on the use of Nigerien telecoms service.
However, the Commissioner for Carriers and Security Matters, Colonel Garba Moyi (rtd), confirmed the attack on the military base but that he was not sure on the number of death.
On the bandits using foreign networks to coordinate attacks, he said that could be possible because of the proximity with Niger Republic.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew has been placed on Ado Local Government Area of Benue State following brewing crisis among some villagers in the area.
The Chairman of Ado LGA, James Oche, announced the curfew at the weekend while urging security operatives to clamp down on offenders of the directive.
Oche based his action on the recent frenzied development among youths and the brewing tension in Agila district as well as its escalation to Apa ward in Ado Local Government Area.An official of the LG council told Daily Trust on phone that the brewing crisis was not unconnected with the age-long royal and non-royal palaver bedeviling the people of Agila district in Ado.
The official said the stereotyping of certain people in the area allegedly belonging to the non-royal class by those who claimed to have royal status had in the past created bitter rivalry which led to lost of lives and property.Meanwhile the council chairman in a statement indicated that the curfew was declared after consultation with the Ado Divisional Police Officer, Wards and Clan Heads, “to place a 6pm to 6am curfew in Agila District to take immediate effect from Saturday the 25th Day of September and to be in force till further notice.”He said, “The premises of Akpa Ofu Unazi and Jesus Cottage all of Apa Ward are sealed forthwith till further notice.
“That all gatherings of whatever sort or clustering for whatever purpose are hereby banned except with the permission of the Chairman first sought and obtained.
“That a 6pm to 6am curfew is hereby declared in the whole of Agila district.“That the Police, the Benue State Community Volunteer Guards and other Enforcement Agencies are by this notice directed to enforce these directives decisively.
“That all immigrants to Apa Ward within the last two months should immediately turn themselves in to the office of the ward head within the next seven days to report their presence or risk being arrested and dealt with appropriately.
“That all those harbouring persons not hitherto known to the communities must account for them when need be and all those whose premises are used for illegal congregation shall be arrested/prosecuted in accordance with the relevant state laws on criminality and such houses shall be destroyed.
“That violators will be brought to book in the manner most consistent with legal prescriptions as applicable, as there would be house-to-house arrest of violators.
He added that all travelers and transporters should take note that vehicular/motorcycle movement after 6pm to 6am to and fro Apa and Akpoge Ogbilolo are banned and violators would be treated in like manner as other violators.
Reminiscing on how young Nigerians in all six geopolitical zones united around a common goal to end police intimidation, oppression, and brutality, the leading Civil Society Group; HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned the illegal and gestapo operational modalities of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In a statement issued by the National Coordinator; Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the Rights group frowned at the new way officials of the EFCC chase after suspected criminals by breaking into people’s homes describing it as detrimental to the enjoyment of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human rights recognised in chapter four of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all relevant international human rights laws just as the Rights group says the officials of the Anti-Graft Agency are by these provocative and illegal actions enticing Nigerians to stage a nationwide protests similar to the #ENDSARS PROTESTS against the misconducts of the EFCC.
HURIWA warned that the EFCC, being a creation of the law must be law abiding and so tagged the modalities of operations in which operatives armed to the teeth go into people’s houses in the dead of the night like armed robbers and kidnappers, breaking into people’s houses and climbing in through the fences like hired assassins are antithetical to the law and the principle of the rule of law.
“These unlawful actions are definitely aimed as triggers to instigate the masses to stage; the kinds of demonstrations that will be almost unprecedented in dimension and massive in scale.
HURIWA revealed that Section 36(5) of the constitution is very clear that even persons charged for criminal offence before the courts of law are deemed as innocent in the eyes of the law until a contrary determination is reached by a Court of competent jurisdiction.
“It is therefore unlawful that the operatives of the EFCC will continue to behave like outlaws or persons who are above the laws of the land. EFCC is subject to the law and must be seen to be operating in compliance with the precepts of the law and in strict compliance with the RULE OF LAW”, HURIWA averred.
Continuing, HURIWA expressed worries that there have been over a dozen clandestine operations by the EFCC in which these officials of the law have been seen defecating on the fundamental principles of the law, abusing with reckless abandon the Rules of Engagement as if Nigeria is a banana republic.
Noting that these kinds of crude, debased and bakward application of brute force by the operatives of the EFCC are absolutely condemnable, despicable, reprehensible, outrageous and provocative HURIWA warned that they be checked otherwise “the EFCC should watch and see that in the fullness of time the masses will demonstrate to say enough is enough.
“In recent times, several people have made complaints concerning officials of the EFCC barging into their homes and hotel rooms at odd hours of the day, unannounced. These men do not knock on doors or wait to be invited in, some do not come with warrants or any official notice, they just fly in, eyes darting about, and noses trying to pick the scent of criminals.
The Wednesday, September 22nd 2021 night invasion of the apartment of the Abia-based Journalist; Norah Okafor by operatives of the EFCC, which saw about 25 hooded EFCC operatives bursting into Norah’s apartment in the dead of the night, after disconnecting the wire used to electrify the fence, scaled the wall and broke the gate key to gain unfettered access into the building depicts a horror scene.
“After subjecting the poor lady and other occupants of the building to over two hours of grueling physical stress, emotional trauma and destruction of their properties in the name of searching for non-existent incriminating evidence, the operatives reportedly declared ‘we have just wasted our time’.
HURIWA sees this declaration as a wholehearted, voluntary expression and admission of a disastrous blunder of a mission; that they were in the wrong place clearly for the wrong reason and at the wrong time.
Furthermore, HURIWA recalled that on August 3, 2021, Big brother Naija (lockdown) celebrity; Dorathy Bachor had in a series of Instagram stories, narrated how at 4:45am, she ran out of her room after hearing a loud bang to find EFCC officials in her living room, who told her they were looking for someone who ran into her estate, and then asked her to stay in, lock her door and not say a word.
HURIWA again pointed out that in July 2021, filmmaker; Biodun Stephen also had narrated how officials of the EFCC, “dressed in black with wielding weapons”, barged into her hotel room at 3:00am claiming to be looking for someone, but later apologised because she turned out not to be who they were looking for.
“On February 4, 2021, a man reportedly jumped to his death from the 7th floor of a storey building when EFCC officials raided the 1004 estate in Victoria Island. There are also many other reports of EFCC officials forcing their way into hostels, people’s homes, into clubs, or disrupting night parties to round up people they think are internet fraudsters.
“On October 14, 2019, officials of the EFCC raided a nightclub in Oshogbo, Osun state and arrested 94 suspected fraudsters. On January 17, 2020, they rounded up 89 persons suspected to be involved in cybercrime at 360, a night club located at Ibadan.
“Observably, there is one word that is peculiar with all of these arrests: ‘suspected’. These people being rounded up are still suspected to be fraudsters, which means that investigations have not been carried out to pinpoint who, amongst them all, is the actual fraudster.
“So to get to the fraudsters, EFCC officials barge into innocent people’s homes and spaces, and leave a trail of panic-stricken, horrified, and emotionally traumatised citizens who came face to face with gun-wielding men in black, and perhaps watched their lives flash before their eyes.
“It is not even enough to have warrants or identify yourself after you have barged in, it is abysmal that security agents would even break down people’s doors, or jump people’s fences in the first place”.
Provoked that these days, it is difficult to differentiate between robbers and men of the EFCC as they seem to adopt the same tactics in carrying out their operations, HURIWA opined that EFCC is missing their job description while noting that looters are right in their faces but they are busy chasing regular folks.
“Today it’s N100m missing in a government office, tomorrow N40m, why don’t they go and catch those stealing the common wealth blind? Instead of bringing to justice suspected high profile politically exposed persons who jump from one political party to the All Progressives Congress and are given red carpet reception by the President, the EFCC has become agents of witch-hunt, targeting largely young people”.
Hence, HURIWA emphasized the need for the EFCC to be called to order and made to adopt law based procedures in going after suspected offenders while observing all the tenets and precepts of the fundamental human rights just as the Rights Group advised that the agency must adopt clinical and professional modus operandi that will be in compliance with all the rules of Engagement.
“Why not use surveillance and intelligence gathering to go after suspected offenders in the day time and make lawful arrests instead of behaving like armed robbers or armed Fulani militia members?” HURIWA queried.
Referencing the video released by the Dubai Police last year, which gave an account of the series of investigations carried out before the arrest of Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, known as Hushpuppi and his gang, HURIWA admonished that the EFCC can learn professionalism from the Dubai Police as actions such as breaking into people’s homes and parading those who are still suspects show the insensitivity afflicting the anti-graft agency. This is because, according to HURIWA, EFCC is meant to protect the people and the country against financial crimes, not terrorising people in the same breath
“Observably from the video, the investigation, dubbed Fox Hunt II, was carried out for about 4 months, during which his social media account, fraudulent activities, and the gang’s whereabouts were closely monitored. The Dubai e-police team were tracking Hushpuppi’s every move and taking notes of all his online activities, including all the fake pages of existing websites he and his team created to redirect their victims’ payment to their own accounts.
“They also found out all the corporate emails he and his team had hacked to send fake messages to clients to redirect financial details, and people’s bank details to their own account. Before his arrest, the Dubai police could tell exactly the number of people he had scammed and how much Hushpuppi had in his account.
“During the time of his arrest, they knew exactly where he and his team were, and at what time. They didn’t need to jump fences or break into innocent people’s homes to carry out the arrest. They knew their onions.
“There’s a peculiarity with which our security agents clamp down on those they perceive to be criminals, which includes inadequate investigation, violence, blood-shot eyes, high-pitched command voices, swiftness to inflict pain, and then for many, extortion.
“Perhaps, the EFCC is no different; their recent mode of operation in breaking-in, spreading panic, battering, bullying, and half-true accusations is consistently making a horseplay of an institution that is meant to operate with intelligence and facts.
“It is disturbing that EFCC has joined the bandwagon of uniformed men terrorising the Nigerian people”, Prior to now, waking up in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning to see men clad in black with guns, one would assume being attacked by armed robbers. But with the increase in Controversial raids of public and private spaces by EFCC officers in recent months, it is might be apt to ask “who are you” when you see men jumping your fence, so they can introduce themselves and tell if they are thieves, burglars, or from the EFCC”, HURIWA concluded.
