By Imelda Osayande

A 47-year-old man, Anthony Ogbevon, on Friday, approached the Edo Judicial Panel of Inquiry for Victims of SARS and Related Abuses in Benin, seeking financial compensation of N50 million.

In seeking for the compensation, Ogbevon alleged that he was wrongly paraded as a criminal suspect by the Police on June 8, 2020.

Narrating his ordeal,  the petitioner, said he was arrested and dragged to the police station by some vigilante group on the allegation that he was a kidnapper because he refused to grant them their request.

He said that when the police arrived, instead of investigating the said allegation, he was arrested, detained, and paraded alongside other criminal suspects, just as his vehicle was also impounded by the police.

“It is a case of unlawful seizure of my vehicle. After the arrest, the police did not wait to investigate before they paraded me as a kidnapper and an armed robber.

“I was arrested on Sunday, June 7, 2020. On Monday, June 8, I  was one of those paraded at the police headquarters as an armed robber and a kidnapper. After that, I was thrown back into the cell.

“On Tuesday, after some hours, they took my statement before going to the scene of the crime in Idu village at Upper Sakponba, in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government of the state.

“At the end of the day, the recommendation of the Investigating Police Officer, (IPO) clearly vindicated me that I was accused falsely by the so-called vigilante in that village, because I was going to my own village to see my aged mother and my farm.

“They begged me to help them take kidnapped victims to Benin, which I refused, because I was going to my village.

“When I was coming back, I picked a teacher in my village and seven seasonal Hausa farmers.

“When I got back to Idu village on my way back, the same vigilante said I disobeyed their chairman. Consequently,  they started beating me, dragged me out, collected my N12,500 and said, I was carrying kidnappers.

“They dragged my passengers out and started beating them, except the teacher.

“At the end of the day, they called the police that they have arrested armed robbers and kidnappers. We were at the police headquarters until 7p.m.

“The IPO, after his investigation, said I was falsely accused because of malice and that I should be considered for bail.

“They charged me to court, and I was  taken to court along with others in my car on June 18, 2020. I remained in the Correctional Centre until the DPP advice came that I had no case to answer.

“When I came out, I demanded for my vehicle, they refused to give it to me, saying that the court didn’t order that it should be released,” Ogbevon said.

He said he decided to approach the panel for justice.

“We are demanding for N50 million as compensation and consequential order that the vehicle should be released to me,” he said.

However, when the location of the vehicle turned into a debate, Chairman of the panel, Justice Ada Ehigiamusoe (rtd) sent some of the members to the state police command to ascertain whether it was still there or not as claimed by the petitioner.

This was when the police counsel claimed ignorance of the whereabouts of the impounded vehicle.

Ehigiamusoe adjourned sitting until Monday, Jan. 11. (NAN)

By Abubakar Ahmed

The  Police Command in Zamfara has confirmed the kidnap of six children of one Alhaji Sani Gyare and one other in Kadauri village, Maru Local Government Area of the state.

The Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Shehu Mohammed, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Gusau.

He said the command received information on the abduction of seven children, six of whom are children of Alhaji Gyare and the seventh, a female picked from a neighbouring house all in Kadauri village in Jabaka district of Maru LGA.

“The Commissioner of Police in the state, CP Abutu Yaro has deployed a combined team of CTU and Police Mobile Force who are currently on the trail of the suspects.

“The CP, who said that peace had been restored in the area, vowed to rescue the victims soonest.

“He charged the local communities to continue to give useful information to law enforcement agents, especially the Police, in order to bring the criminals to book,” Muhammed said.

NAN gathered that the suspected hoodlums, in their large numbers, invaded the village in the early hours of Friday to carry out the act.

Speaking to newsmen, father of the six victims, said he suspected the abductors came for him but missed him and took away his children instead.

“I was informed that when they got to the village, they went straight to my house and when they discovered l was not home they went away with my children and the daughter of one of my close friend and neighbour, Alhaji Sani Yellow,” he said. (NAN)

Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina State on Friday said that security forces have rescued 103 kidnapped victims.

By Sumaila Ogbaje

The Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation Lafiya Dole has inflicted heavy casualties on Boko Haram terrorists in their hideouts at Alagarno and Sambisa Forest area of Borno, Defence Headquarters says.

Alagarno lies 150km from Maiduguri, the Borno capital.

The Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, in a statement on Friday, said that a compound housing some high-value Boko Haram leaders was also taken out.

Enenche said the compound located on 2.3km North East of Kafa in Damboa local government area of Borno and concealed under thick vegetation was being used by the terrorists to coordinate their nefarious activities.

He said the destruction of the locations was achieved through multiple air strikes executed on Jan. 6 when the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets and attack helicopters engaged the target areas in day and night raids.

According to him, the terrorists were spotted under the dense vegetation of the locations and the NAF attack aircrafts took turns in engaging the targets, neutralising several of them.

“The Armed Forces of Nigeria will not relent until all enemies of the Nation are neutralised and normalcy is restored to all troubled zones.” (NAN)

By Joy Mbachi

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Anambra says 2021 will be tighter for drug traffickers in the state.

The NDLEA Public Relations Officer in Anambra, Mr Charles Odigie, made the assertion while speaking with some journalists on Thursday in Awka.

He said the state command had completed plans to achieve its set goals in the area to checkmate drug abuse and reassured drug traffickers of hard times in the state.

“Anambra NDLEA is ever ready to seek and apprehend drug traffickers for legal prosecutions; we desire to get rid of traffickers in the state.

“We are willing to partner other state commands to ensure that trafficking in drugs to other states through Anambra State would be nipped in the bud,” he said.

Odigie said that the command had embarked on sensitisation programmes in communities and on various media to drive its message to all nook and crannies of the state.

“We desire to see people acknowledge the dangers of drug trafficking and abuses, we will continue in our efforts to sanitise the society of drug-related issues till huge success is achieved,” he said.

Odigie said it was painful that in spite efforts by the command to curtail drug trafficking in Anambra, drug peddlers had continued to device new means to move illicit drugs through the state.

He urged other state commands in the zone to partner its command to ensure that trafficking of drugs to other states through the zone would be checked.

“If this partnership is achieved, it will help the agency to stop the atrocious situations where some traffickers use the zone as transit point for drugs to different parts of Nigeria.”

Odigie also appealed to faith-based organisations, NGOs and community leaders to partner more with the NDLEA in 2021 to ensure quality control of activities of traffickers in the state.

“Community participation will be a vital strategy to address the menace of drug abuse in communities and the state at large,” he said. (NAN)

By Johnson Eyiangho

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) says the counter-insurgency operations in the north eastern part of the country is rapidly changing in favour of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

Coordinator, Defence Media Operations John Enenche announced this while giving update on military operations to checkmate criminality across the country in the last one week.

Enenche explained that an indication of this was that the military currently record less direct encounters with terrorists operating in the zone.

“If you look at the briefings I have been giving for the past two or three weeks, you will discover that direct encounters between us (troops) and the terrorists is on the low side.

“I will tell you what that signifies; It means that the game is changing rapidly in favour of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and Nigerians at large,” the coordinator said.

Enenche explained that the military was able to change the game through combination of factors, including surveillance and action, among others.

“We keep increasing the tempo and changing our style (strategy) of operations. Whatever we did before it is never good for the now.

“And whatever we are going to do tomorrow, we are on the table planning constantly and that has been what is responsible.

“Most importantly, the surveillance that we maintain through the air Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) is at the peak in the North East,’’ Enenche said.

He added that while that was going on, the land forces had been aggressive in patrols taking on the insurgents.

In the north western part of the country, he said that troops were now at the stage of dominating the area.

“Information keeps coming in; that is the interesting thing about the North West. They (residents) will tell us the idea (give the information) and when you go there, you find see them — the bandits.

“They — the bandits, are being decimated,’’ he said

Giving update on operation in the South-South during the period under review, Enenche said that troops seized a wooden boat laden with stolen 200,000 litres crude oil and handed them to appropriate agency.

He also said that the troops demobilised an illegal refining site with nine storage tanks and four ovens containing 150, 000 litres at Olaipase Creek in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta.

He added that another illegal refinery site with 15 storage tanks and eight ovens laden substance suspected to be illegally refined 250, 000 litres of AGO (diesel) was located and demobilised in the same community.

In the North Central, he said three suspected gun runners were arrested in Kafancha Local Government Area of Kaduna State and handed over the Department of State Services (DSS).

The coordinator also said that a suspected member of a notorious kidnap gang was arrested at clinic at Ungwa Carpenter village in Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

He said that the suspect was picked up while he was receiving treatment for gunshot wounds sustained during a recent kidnap operation foiled by troops.

He explained that his arrested was followed by the arrest of another wanted kidnap kingpin at Fobur village in Jos East Local Government Area of Plateau.

Enenche added that during the period in the North-Central, another three suspects were arrested in connection with the alleged murder of a Fulani herder at Matyeu village of Zonzon district in Zangon-Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

“Two other suspects, including the prime suspect, were arrested in connection with the murder on Jan. 4,” he said.(NAN)

Gov. Gboyega Oyetola of Osun has applauded the Nigerian Armed Forces for ensuring adequate protection of the nation’s territorial integrity as well as the security and safety of the citizens.

Oyetola made the remarks during the inauguration of 2021 Armed Forces Remembrance Day emblem on Wednesday in Osogbo.

The governor also commended the contributions of the armed forces to nation building, particularly the avowed commitment to containing the activities of terrorists and bandits across the nation.

Represented by his deputy, Mr Benedict Alabi, Oyetola described the Armed Forces Remembrance day as a unique opportunity to publicly salute the courage and extol the onerous roles of the outstanding patriots whose preoccupation was the protection of the territorial integrity of the nation; and the collective security and safety of the citizens.

He said: “We say thank you for your role in containing the activities of terrorists and bandits in our nation, especially the north eastern part of the country.

“We thank you for giving up your own comfort so that we all can sleep with our eyes closed.

“We thank you for fighting to safeguard our unity as a sovereign nation.

“We thank you for serving humanity with the outstanding roles you constantly play in global peace keeping operations.

“We thank you for your unparalleled patriotism, which continues to set the pace for us to give our best in the service of our beloved nation. We will never forget.

“As an administration, we are grateful for your sustained commitment and support.

“We pledge to continually do all within our abilities to support causes as this and to work with you in our collective quest for the protection of lives and property.”

In his remarks, Mr Oladimeji Olalere, Chairman, Nigerian Legion, Osun Chapter, lauded the administration of Oyetola for creating an enabling environment for members of the legion to thrive.

Olalere also commended the tremendous achievements recorded by the administration in the last two years.

He said the administration had done excellently well in all the sectors of the economy as manifested in the myriad of infrastructural development across the nooks and crannies of the state.(NAN)