The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Babatunde Kokumo

  • Drug barons kill informant in Edo

    An informant for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) simply identified as Sunday has been killed by some drug baron at Okpujie in Owan West local government area.
    Sunday was said to be among the locals leading a team of NDLEA to raid some drug warehouses when he was killed.
    Another informant, Odelu Iyagi, who narrowly escpaed being killed said two of them were hit by bullets.
    Odelu who was arrested for cultism told newsmen while being paraded at the police headquarters fingered one Saturday Ojeagu as one of the attackers.
    He said they were waiting for Odelu Iyagi officials when they were shot at inside the bush.
    On whether they were not scared of the drug barons, Odelu said they were aware of the risk.
    According to him, “I am an informant. The drug dealers know that we are informants.
    “It was Ojo that said that day he is bringing NDLEA officials to the community. We were six going for the mission. We got somewhere and sat down waiting for the NDLEA. We saw people flashing touch lights at us and next thing we heard was gun shots.

    Read Also: Edo budgets N7b for investment drive

    “Some of us ran into the bush and two persons were hit. It is only Saturday that was caught among those that killed Sunday.
    But Saturday who denied being involved in the killing of Sunday admitted that he cultivates indian hemp.
    “I cultivate Indian hemp, plantain, cassava. I have not killed before and I don’t touch informants in our community.
    “I have not attacked informants even though I know them. I was surprised that this boy said I was among those that killed Sunday.
    “It is through indian hemp cultivation that we survive. I cultivate two acres every year.”
    Meanwhile, a hunter, Ewere Saturday aged 25 has been arrested for selling cartridges.
    Ewere said he sold cartridges to hunters even though he does not have a license to sell cartridges or own a gun.
    Police Commissioner, Babatunde Kokumo, said the suspects would soon be charged to court.

  • Police vow to uncover bankers involved in currency sales 

    Edo State Police is currently on the trail of some bankers who engaged in the sale of Nigeria currency.

    It said some suspects arrested have made statements on how they got the naira notes.

    Edo Police Commissioner, Babatunde Kokumo, stated this when he paraded eight persons including two females arrested in different parts of Benin City for engaging in illicit sales of Nigerian legal tender (naira notes).

    The sum of N12.5m stashed in different warehouses was recovered from them.

    Kokumo said the clampdown was the command’s enforcement drive to implementing the Presidential order prohibiting the illicit sales of naira notes as enshrined in section 20 and 21 of the Central Bank of Nigeria Acts.

    Kokumo said the operation was carried out in collaboration with Department of State Security Services and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    He said the clampdown on illegal currency dealers would be continuous until the offenders are completely wiped out.

    The Edo Police boss warned those intending to engage in the illicit sales of naira notes for the purpose of selling to people at occasions to desist from the act.

    Names of the arrested suspects were given as Frankyn Izukwu, Obi Alex, Osazuwa Osagede, Deborah Igbinosa and Elvis Iyomana.

    The suspects said they were only employed to sell the naira notes.

    They said the new naira notes are gotten from Lagos and Abuja while old notes are sourced from local banks.

  • Why I killed, slept with my mother’s corpse

    An-18 year old boy, Samuel Akpobome Emobor, has confessed that he killed his mother and slept with her corpse for the purpose of money ritual.

    Samuel who hails from Oghara in Delta State committed the act at their rented apartment in Ologbo community in Ikpoba-Okha local government area.

    Speaking to newsmen when he was paraded at the Edo State Police Command, Samuel said he was pushed to commit the act by a ritualist who sells drugs in the community.

    According to him, “I wanted to use my mother for ritual. I am 18 years old. My father is dead. It was one man called One Love that told me to use my mother for money ritual. He promised to give me N50,000 if I killed my mother and sleep with her. He said I should cut my mother’s ear and fingers and bring them to him.

    “I wanted to cut the ears and fingers before the people came in. I slept with my mother only once. I pressed my mother’s neck to kill her while she was sleeping. The One Love sells drugs. He put something inside the drink he gave and he told me to go and kill my mother.

    Read Also: Herbalist nabbed for defiling teenage patient

    “The day I went to his house with policemen, the man has ran away. I hail from Oghara. I work in a pure water factory.

    “I now feel very bad because I was beaten badly by people. I did what the ritualist told me.”

    Police Commissioner, Babatunde Kokumo, said the suspect would soon be charged to court.

  • Edo cult killings: Police arrest 58 suspects

    Edo State Police Command said it has arrested 58 suspected cultists in connection with the cult war that has claimed over 20 lives.

    It said the suspects were arrested in various parts of Bénin City.

    Read Also:AAU killings: Council chief faults police on cult killings

    Security has also been beefed up at the popular Third Junction where suspected cultists and police engaged in exchange of gunfire after the killing of an ad hoc staff of Edo State Public Work Volunteer was killed in the area.

    Traders hurriedly locked their shops while passersby fled for safety.

    State Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Kokumo, who confirmed the arrest, said the suspects belonged to various cult groups.

    Kokumo said they have intensified their patrol and proactive measures to stop the killings.

    He however denied reports that over 20 persons were killed in the cult war.

    His words, “So far, we have nothing short of 58. As at the last count, we have 58 of them cult members of different cult groups; aye, vikings, black axe. The arrests cut across the various cult groups and we have arms and ammunitions recovered from them.

    “We have also increased our scope of intelligence, deployment has equally being made in all the nooks and crannies of the metropolis and we are doing more of feasibility policing so that it would serve as proactive measure on our part to prevent all these cult killings.

    “The killings emanated from inter cult rivalry clashes and this of course is not acceptable to us. We are not going to say that the cultists are killing themselves. We will not fold our arms to wait until the cultists start killing non cult members before we rise to the challenge so we are not taking it lightly. We are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that we nip these criminal activities in the bud.

    “The figure you see in social media is misleading, very, very misleading, false, complete falsehood I will liaise with the CID who are handling it to get the actual figure. I have always said that investigative journalism will help us, yes there is need to tell our people what is happening around where we are but giving false information can be misleading.”

  • Man flogs step-son to death

    Edo State Police Command have arrested one Mathias Otabor for allegedly flogging his three years old step son to death.

    The name of the step-son was given as Destiny Meshack.

    Police said the incident occurred at No. 8 Obanosa Street off 2nd East Circular Road, Benin City.

    Read Also:Man dies after being rescued from lagoon

    State Police Commissioner, Babatunde Kokumo, said Mathias flogged his step-son with belt and cable wire until he collapsed and died.

    He said the corpse has been deposited at the Central Hospital mortuary.

    Kokumo spoke when he paraded 76 suspects arrested for various offences ranging from murder, cultism, kidnapping and rape.

    Among the suspects paraded was one Friday Moses for impregnating his 13 years old daughter.

    It was learnt that it was some youths from Ologbo in Ikpoba Okha Local Government that took him to the police station after they discovered the act.

    The victim (names withheld) who is now five months and one week old pregnant said her father started sleeping with her when she was seven.

    She stated that her father threatened to kill her if she exposed the sexual exploits.

    Her father however denied having carnal knowledge of his daughter.

    According to him, “She told the police that I am responsible for her pregnancy and I told the police that I am not but they did not believe me. They started beating me and because of that, I admitted that I did it.

    Kokumo said the suspects would soon be charged to court after investigations have been concluded.

  • Ex-policeman nabbed for robbery

    A former Police Corporal, Michael Eriarebhe, has been arrested for allegedly engaged in armed robbery.

    Michael was dismissed from the Nigeria Police for offences against discipline and was subsequently charged to court.

    Read Also:Police chief parades 13 armed robbery suspects

    He was also said to have defiled a 17-year old girl and put her in a family way.

    Police sources said he was arrested for robbing his victim the sum of N5, 000 with his former police identity card.

    Michael who protested the charge of robbery preferred against him said the person willingly gave him the N5000.

    He said he was yet to return the police identity card issued to him after he was dismissed.

    On his previous case of defilement, Michael said the girl was above 17 years old.

    Police Commissioner, Babatunde Kokumo, said the arrest of Michael was an indication that the police was right to have earlier dismissed him.

  • We foiled Igarra bank robbery, kill three robbers- Edo CP

    Commissioner of Police in Edo State, Babatunde Kokumo, on Friday evening gave details of how its personnel foiled Thursday’s bank robbery in Igarra, headquarters of Akoko-Edo local government area.

    Kokumo said the attack led to the death of two civilians, one police inspector and three of the armed robbers.

    Speaking to journalists in Benin City, Kokumo stated that it was the resistance and courageous fight put up by his men that stopped the robbers.

    He gave the name of one of the victims as Ojo Ukana who was arrested over a domestic issue between him and the wife while the other was  held for invalid vehicle particulars.

    The police CP said debunked reports that two banks were attacked adding that one of the robbers was nabbed.

    Read Also: Gunmen kill police escort, butcher in Edo

    He said the robbers attacked Keystone bank but they met stiff opposition from policemen who were on guard duty both at the Unity Bank and Keystone bank.

    According to him, “In the gun duel that ensued between the criminals and the policemen, three of the criminals were gunned down. The operational weapons of the gang recovered.”

    “What this gang of criminals did was to divide themselves into two halves; one half had gone to the police station ostensibly to prevent the police from responding to possible distress calls from the banks the attack would have been rest on the back.”

    “The first half that actually went to the police station was there, it was the second half that went to the Keystone bank where they attacked the bank and entered into the banking hall forcefully.”

    Residents of Igarra town however insisted that the claim of six victims was untrue as many victims were rushed to the hospital before the Commissioner arrived the scene.

     

  • Your children are in the bush, Oracle tells parents

    An oracle consulted on the whereabouts of two children who were taken away by their father’s tenants has told the parents that the children and their abductors are in the bush.

     

    The two children identified as Amanda and Christabel were taken to an unknown destination by two woman identified as Mercy and Rose.

     

    Mercy and Rose had barely spent three weeks in Utese village when they vanished with the children left in their care by their mother who went to the stream to fetch water.

     

    A relative who gave her name as Beauty said a search party has been in the bush since Tuesday looking for the children.

     

    She said the oracle said the abductors have not taken the children out of the bush.

     

    “People are in the bush. The oracle said the children and the women are in the bush but they have not been seen since Tuesday.”

     

    State Police Commissioner, Babatunde Kokumo, said the two women will soon be arrested.

     

    Kokumo assured that the children would be rescued unhurt.

  • Police nab suspected attackers of Edo journalist

    Members of a seven-man gang that attacked and shot a journalist working with the Independent Television, Mr. Ferdinand Osakwe, have been arrested.

    Mr. Osakwe was beaten and shot in the face by the gang who later took away his car.

    Briefing journalists on the arrest on Wednesday, State Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Kokumo,  said the gang abducted and killed one Osagie Amanyavbo as well as kidnapped a nursing mother and her baby.

    According to him, “On the 27th of April, 2018, the command burst a criminal gang and arrested seven members who accosted and kidnapped one Osagie Amanyavbo while driving in his Toyota Corolla Salon Car registered ‘Lagos-JJJ-340-DD’ along Iyansighe Street, off TV road and thereafter killed him.

    “The same gang also on the 19th of April, 2018, along Wire road, Benin City shot one Ferdinand Osakwe on the face and made away with his Honda Acura Car. They also kidnapped one Rita Aborowa of Oduwari Street in Ogida, Benin City and her five months old baby on the 26th of April, 2018. Efforts are been made to arrest other members of the gang with a to recovering the stolen vehicles.

    “The gang consists of one Idowu Ohuobamu 23, Unuaghata Ebose 20, Osasumwen Oni 24, Obata Omorotie 18, Marvis Esewi 18, and Austine Emmanuel 20”.

    CP Kokumo also said items recovered from the paraded suspects includes One single barrel gun, four locally made pistols, three pump action guns, six locally double barrel guns, two cut to size guns, eleven live expended cartridges and some wraps of cannabis.

  • Miyetti Allah vows to fish out criminal herdsmen

    The national body of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has vowed to fish out criminal herders in Edo State.

    It said there was no need for herdsmen to destroy farmlands in Edo because of abundant grass in the state adding that they have requested to allow some of their members be part of the state government committee.

    National President (ARDON ZURU) of MACBAN, Alhaji Mohamed Kirowa, spoke in Benin City at meeting with farmers in the state convened by the State Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Kokumo.

    Alhaji Kirowa whose speech was presented by Secretary General of Association, Alhaji Baba Usman, said crisis between farmers and herders in some states would have been averted if the state governors adopted the body’s initiative.

    Kirowa stated that the peace experienced in Ekiti, Katsina and Sokoto was because the governors followed their initiative.

    He assured farmers in the state that real herdsmen would not destroy their crops again.

    Kirowa told the farmers that any herdsman sighted moving freely with dangerous weapons are cattle rustlers and criminals.

    His words, “We are peace loving association that is what why we have prominent citizens as members of this association. This association has been in existence for more than 30 years. We don’t condone violence in whatever way. We are not a party to whatever form of atrocities.

    “We see the violence as being perpetrated by criminals. What a lot of people don’t know is that our members, the pastoralists are at the receiving end of most of this crisis. Our members have lost over 2 million cows to cattle rustling. Our members also suffer from hands of the kidnappers.

    “The greatest offence of the herders is the destruction of farmlands. We always spoke against night grazing. We don’t like it. Politicians have made the crisis a political ground. They take advantage of the crisis for their political end.  We must fish out criminals in our midst.

    “We suffer from them, we suffer from the kidnappers. They kill herdsmen, collect their cows and continue to move. The Media houses are not being fair us that is way their report is one sided. We have been in Edo for the past three days. We came because of what is happening across the state. We have talked with our members..

    “We have come to sensitise and told them how they should be behaving. We are not a violent association. We are a responsible association. If you respect your cows, you have to respect the farmlands of people.

    “It is our hope that things will begin to change. We are here because Governor Obaseki has concern for security. We are mediating with farmers. I am sure from now on things will begin to change. If we continue to sustain this, things will begin to change.”

    Spokesman for the Edo farmers, Osadolor Odunamen, said they would watch out to see if herdsmen in the state would obey the directive of their national body.

    Osadolor stated that it is only when the herdsmen stayed away from their farms before they would believe them and ensure peaceful co-existence.

    Kokumo on his part said the meeting was to ensure that herdsmen are made to be law-abiding.