Author: The Nation

There was protest at Gwol-Hoss community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State yesterday, following the murder of two persons, Dachung Gyang and Zam Sunday, by armed militias.

Scroes of angry women stormed.a military checkpoint to register their displeasure over the killings said to have occurred Tuesday night.

It was gathered that their anger was heightened by the fact that the military checkpoint is located few metres from where the two men were killed around 8:45pm.

The protesters, who blocked the Jos-Abuja Highway and the road leading to the checkpoint of Sector 6, Operation Safe Haven, demanded the substitution of the military for not protecting them.

The road blocks caused major traffic jam in the areas with motorists, commuters stranded.

To ensure that policemen and women serving in Lagos State have decent barrack accommodations, the service has entered into partnership with the state government for the rebuilding of 25 distressed barracks.

This was disclosed by the Inspector General of Police (IG), Alkali Usman, at a press conference on the project held in Lagos.

Usman, who was represented by the Force Public Relations Officer, FPPRO, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the service would ensure all legal occupants of the barracks listed for demolition and reconstruction would be temporarily relocated.

Before alternatives would be provided, he said the police would first carryout audits of all occupants of the various barracks to ascertain the exact numbers of those who are supposed to be living there in line with the service’s barracks rule.

The police chief said the rehabilitation of Police barracks and office accomodations were not being done in Lagos only, noting that his administration had in the last one year, built 200 structures including 120 model police stations across the country.

According to him, the regeneration of the barracks would take approximately two years to complete once initiated, dismissing reports that the police had evicted occupants of the affected 25 barracks without providing alternatives for them.

A non-Governmental and Non-Profit Organization, the Joint Action for Good Governance in Cross River State, has raised the alarm over plots to assassinate the character of Governor Ben Ayade by some desperate politicians for challenging the outcome of the Cross River North Senatorial election.

The group, in a statement in Calabar by its leader, Imbufe Jude, said allegations made against the governor by Network Against Corruption and Trafficking were part of the scheme to malign the governor. He said it was sheer blackmail.

The group also raised the alarm of further plots to blackmail the governor in the days preceding May 29 handover date and even on the handover day.

It slammed the Network Against Corruption and Trafficking for “Its ridiculous, false and baseless allegations against Ayade”, insisting that rather than lend itself to executing the hatchet job for desperate politicians, the NGO should applaud the government for its transparent and judicious management of the lean resources of the state.

“We dare say without fear of contradiction that Governor Ayade has been very transparent in the management of resources of the state and has been above board. Cross River State gets the second lowest revenue allocation in the country. What the so-called NGO said is the most incredulous falsehood of the century.”

The Joint Action for Good Governance described the activities of the faceless NGO as a poor imitation at fabrication, stressing that all that these hirelings needed to have done was to have gone to the Federal Ministry of Finance, to get their facts right. But because they were on a mission to disparage and destroy, they would stop at nothing to concoct falsehood.

The group noted that despite the lean resources of the state, the record of achievements of the Ayade-led administration is unmatchable in the area of industrialization and infrastructural development.

Describing the governor as a silent achiever, the group listed some of the achievements of the Ayade-led administration to include; the world-class Teachers’Continuous Training Institute in Biase, the Obudu-Germany Hospital, the British Canadian University of Law and Medicine, Obudu, the floating of a state airline with two Boeing 737 aircraft, the ongoing Obudu Cargo and Passengers airport, the dualization of the Calabar-Odukpani highway with the spaghetti flyover, the dualization of the 148km Mfum-Okpoma-Bekwarra-Obudu-Obanliku highway and the 23km Boki East-West road.

The group threatened to expose the politicians behind the plot and vowed that henceforth, there will be a tit-for-tat for anyone who maligns the governor.

It also advised those planning to sponsor miscreants to cause crisis during the inauguration of the new administration on May 29 to desist from the fiendish thought “because it will be fire for fire.”

Suspected armed herders yesterday killed 10 persons in Ikobi community, Apa Local Government Area of Benue State.

The incident occurred at about 7pm, when the villagers were about settling down in their homes after farm work.

Apa Local Government is in Benue South Senarorial zone, and the area has recently come under blistering attacks from suspected herdsmen.

The latest attack was said to have taken the people unawares.

Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Kate Aneene, said she was yet to get the report.

However, an indigene of  Ikobi community, Peter Omale, said the  casualty figure was yet to be ascertained as many people were still in the bush running helter skater.

Gunmen have reportedly beheaded an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), identified simply as Agbalagba,  serving under the Abia State Police Command.

The officer was said to be attached to Ndiegoro Police Division in Aba South local government area.

Our correspondent gathered that the gunmen after killing the ASP, fled with his gun and police uniform.

The deceased cop, it was learnt, was said to have led his patrol team on early morning stop-and-search operation on Tuesday when the gunmen attacked him at Cameroon Road by East Street.

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The deceased, a native of Ebonyi State, was said to be due for retirement by September.

Preliminary investigation by the police on the incident, it was learnt, fingered a notorious gang led by one JT who was killed by a police team during a gun battle on April 23, while he attempted to escape through the Aba River.

Residents and business owners along East Street, Ngwa Road, Akpu Road, Ndoki Street, Etche Road, and Ulasi Road could not open for business for fear of being arrested by the police.