Crime
Governor Ortom Launches Volunteer Guards to Wage War Against Terrorists with AK-47, AK-49
Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has revealed that the unprovoked attacks by terrorists on unarmed people of the state since 2011 have claimed more than 5,000 lives.
Ortom said this on Thursday, during the passing out parade of the first batch of 500 personnel of Benue State Community Volunteer Guards at Makurdi.
Ortom said the worsening insecurity in the country had complicated Benue State’s security situation, saying other forms of criminality had started creeping in due to the federal government’s refusal to decisively address insecurity.
Ortom said it was due to the failure of the federal government that the state government decided to revisit the Benue State Vigilante Law of 2000, which was enacted to complement the conventional security agencies in the state to address emerging security issues.
He explained that the law had to be amended by his administration to pave the way for the Community Volunteer Guards to assist the conventional security agencies to curb insecurity in the state.
According to the governor, “By the provisions of the new law, the Benue State Community Volunteer Guards can therefore carry legally approved weapons which we have duly provided.”
Ortom maintained that although the campaign of terror had spread across Nigeria, Benue State was specifically targeted because of his, “administration’s insistence on the rule of law rather than the rule of terror and for always standing with my people in their refusal to surrender their land, identity and Judeo-Christian faith and values to the Islamisation agenda,” he said.
According to Ortom “The Benue State Community Volunteer Guards represent our modest attempt to support our communities in their daily struggle to escape the worst of the atrocities of the terrorists Fulani herdsmen.
“As we all witness, the passing-out parade of these able-bodied young men, we believe that security will improve in Benue State.”
The governor also expressed optimism that “The issue of banditry, kidnapping, robbery and most of all, the issue of terrorists Fulani herdsmen attack would be reduced to the barest minimum.”
The Anambra State Police Command has foiled a cult initiation ceremony in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson for the Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Awka.
According to Ikenga, the operation was carried out by police operatives around 9:30am on June 15, leading to the arrest of six suspects at the scene.
Recovered during the raid were one Jojef pump action gun, two cartridges, and a golden-coloured Lexus SUV with registration number ATN 202 AE. Other items found include two cutlasses, two scissors, a cap bearing the inscription of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, charms, and substances suspected to be hard drugs.
“They are currently undergoing police interrogation to get more insight into their modus operandi, after which the case will be charged to court on the conclusion of the investigations,” Ikenga stated.
The police spokesperson reassured residents of the command’s unwavering commitment to fighting cultism and other related crimes across the state.
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Wednesday, remanded two persons, Olaitan Fasasi and Kehinde Tobiloba in a correctional facility over alleged attempted murder.
Fasasi, 40, and Tobiloba, 26, whose addresses were not provided, are being charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and membership of a secret society.
The Magistrate, Mr L.A Owolabi, did not take the plea of the defendants for want of jurisdiction.
Owolabi directed the police to forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
He thereafter adjourned the case until May 31 for mention.
The Prosecutor, Josephine Ikhayere, told the court that the defendants committed the offences at about 5.02p.m on Feb. 15, at Mushin, Lagos.
She said that Fasasi, Tobiloba and others now at large, attempted to commit murder by shooting at a resident, Alfred Ademola.
“They armed themselves with a locally made gun. They belong to Eiye Confraternity, a group proscribed by law,”, she said.
Ikhayere said that the offences contravened Sections 230(1) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2012.
He said that the actions of the defendants also contravened Section 2(3)(a)(b)(c)(d) of the unlawful societies and Cultism Law of Lagos State Law.
An Area Court in Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced one Jeptha John, to three months imprisonment for stealing a Redmi mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The judge, Shawomi Bokkos, sentenced the John after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
The judge, however, gave the convict an option to pay N20, 000 fine and N50, 000 restitution to the complainant.
Bokkos said that if the convict defaulted in paying the restitution, three months should be added to his sentence to make it six months imprisonment.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Insp Monday Dabit, told the court that the case was reported at the B Division Police Station, Jos, on Dec. 1, 2024, by Ms Nerat Danjuma.
He said that the complainant alleged that the defendant trespassed into her house and stole her mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The prosecutor further told the court that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code, Law of Northern Nigeria.
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