Crime
Gunmen kill 12 in Taraba
Twelve people died when gunmen opened fire on villagers in troubled northeast Nigeria, police said.
The attackers, dressed as local vigilantes and carrying heavy weapons, invaded a herding village in Bali district in Taraba state, gathering residents in the open before shooting them, state police spokesman Usman Abdullahi said late Monday.
Taraba is one of several northern states struggling with criminal gangs known locally as bandits, who raid villages, looting and killing residents or kidnapping them for ransom.
Some communities form vigilante militias for protection, but they are often accused of abuses and extrajudicial killings in revenge attacks.
“We recovered 12 bodies,” Abdullahi said of the attack, which happened on Sunday. Eight other residents are still missing and soldiers, policemen and local hunters are combing for them in the surrounding areas, he said.
“The attackers posed as vigilantes fighting criminal gangs and told the villagers that they were at the village to arrest some suspects,” he said.
The assailants fled with 130 cattle, several motorcycles and food supplies, Abdullahi said.
Police deployed in the area arrested four of the attackers dressed in vigilante uniforms, riding on motorcycles stolen from the village and carrying looted food, he said.
“The suspects are helping with (the) investigation, we want to establish if the attackers are indeed vigilantes or just criminals using the vigilante uniforms as a cover.”
Nigeria’s bandit violence has its roots in clashes between nomadic herders and farming communities over access to land and water resources.
The cycle of violence has spiralled with the formation of heavily armed criminal gangs who are challenging security forces in northern parts of the country.
Taraba state has also seen a surge in jihadist attacks recently with violence targeting bars and security forces.
Nigeria’s armed forces are battling a 13-year jihadist insurgency centred in northeast Borno state, which has left 40,000 people dead and displaced more than two million more.
A Kaduna High Court on Tuesday ordered that two brothers be remanded in a correctional centre for alleged culpable homicide and armed robbery.
The police charged Hamza Jibrin, 27 and Yusuf Jibrin 24, with conspiracy, armed robbery and culpable homicide.
Justice Aisha Shagari ordered the remand of the defendants, after they pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against them.
Shagari adjourned the matter until Dec. 12 for hearing.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, James Edward, said that the defendants and two others at large, while armed with matchete and other dangerous weapons along Airport Road, Kaduna, on Nov. 7, robbed and caused the death of a 26-year-old man, Rabiu Sani.
He said the defendants stole the deceased’s HP laptop, two cell phones, his wallet which contained two ATM cards and cash sum of N30,000.
Edward said that the offence is punishable under the Robbery and Firearms ( Special Provision) Act LFN, 2004.
The Defence counsel, Habiba Usman, had pleaded with the court to grant her clients bail.
Usman while moving her bail application, urged the court to gtant her client bail on literal terms, adding , that the defendants would be of good behaviour and would not jump bail.
A Jos Magistrates’ Court on Monday sentenced a 20-year-old trader, Darwang Chung, to nine months in prison for attempted theft.
Chung, who resides at Gyel in Jos South, pleaded guilty to the one count charge of attempted theft.
The Magistrate, Mr Shawomi Bokkos, summarily tried and sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the charge.
Bokkos, in his judgement, gave the convict an option of N30,000 fine, or to risk six months in prison and a compensation of N15,000 or another 3 months in prison in default.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Labaran Ahmed, told the court that the case was reported on Oct. 6, at the”B” Division Police Station by one Yohanna Dalyop, the complainant.
Ahmed said the convict jumped over the fence into the house of the complainant and was caught.
He said that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code Law.
The Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Police, on Tuesday arraigned a defendant before a Federal High Court in Lagos, over alleged unlawful interception of digital infrastructure.
The defendant, Ayodeji Oyenekan, was charged before Justice A. Aluko, on a three-count charge bordering on cybercrime.
He, however. pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The prosecutor, Mr M. Y. Bello, told the court that the defendant committed the offence sometime in February 2022.
He, alleged that the defendant intentionally and without authorisation, intercepted digital infrastructure server hosted by Amazon Web Services, property of Meplaylist Classic Entertainment.
According to the prosecution, the defendant caused the said Meplaylist Classic Entertainment Ltd. loss of property, by altering Amazon Web services, which restricted the rightful owner access to its server.
He alleged that the defendant inputted his email address ayodeji.oye@meplaylist.com, and allegedly built a mobility startup called Hellobikee, for purposes of conferring economic benefits to himself.
The defendant was also alleged to have fraudulently made use of the electronic unique identification feature of Meplaylist, through his email, for purposes of conferring economic benefits to himself.
The offence contravenes the provisions of sections 12(1), 16(1), and 22(2)(a) of the Cybercrime ( Prohibition, Prevention) Act, 2015.
The court granted the defendant bail in the sum of N10 million with one surety in like sum.
The court held that the defendant shall remain in the correctional facility, pending perfection of all conditions of bail as spelt out by the court.
He adjourned the case until Jan. 21, 2025, for trial.
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