The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Haliru Gwandu

  • Police recovers arms from varsity lecturer

    Edo State Police Commissioner, Haliru Gwandu, on Tuesday paraded some arms recovered from a Professor in the Edo State owned Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma.

    The recovered arms were one pump action gun, one double barrel gun and one single barrel gun.

    Gwandu said the university don was arrested for alleged gun running and sponsoring of cult activities in the institution.

    Speaking with journalists on Tuesday, Gwandu vowed to go after all lecturers at the university suspected to be cultists or supporting cultists on campus.

    He said any lecturer found wanting would be arrested and prosecuted.

    Gwandu, however, said the matter involving the arrested professor was still under investigation.

    The Dean, Faculty of Law at the university, Prof. Sunday Edeko, had claimed last week that he was brutalized, beaten and detained for several hours at a police station for daring to ask a suspect why he was arrested.

    Prof. Edeko said he was forced to write a letter of apology by the police.

    But Gwandu fired back, saying Prof. Edeko lied with the claim that he was beaten by policemen.

     

     

  • Herdsmen menace: Police, hunters to comb forest in Edo

    Herdsmen menace: Police, hunters to comb forest in Edo

    Edo State Police Command in collaboration with vigilantes and local hunters have concluded plans to commence tactical surveillance of forest suspected to be hideouts of notorious herdsmen and other criminals in the state.

    The exercise, according to the state Commissioner of Police, Haliru Gwandu, was aimed at smoking out all manner of criminals from the urban and rural communities in the state to enable farmers go to farms.

    The Police Commissioner urged them to provide information on forest and bushes suspected to be haven for notorious fulani herdsmen and other criminal elements in their domains.

    He warned local vigilante groups in the state against recruiting criminals or ex-cultists as part of their team.

    Gwandu who spoke at a stakeholders meeting with traditional rulers, hunters and vigilante groups said his command would not tolerate any vigilante group caught working with those he termed misguided elements.

    He said the criminals would hide under vigilante to commit crimes in the state.

    Gwandu told the traditional rulers that plans were on the way to flush out criminal herdsmen from various forest in the state.

    The state police boss assured the gathering that any corrupt police officers found culpable would dismissed from the force.

    “Edo police command under my watch would not tolerate corruption coming from any angle. I didn’t ask anybody to extort money from one  and you don’t  have to be corrupt while doing your job.

    “Government is showing serious concern about the activities of herdsmen in the state through joint forces combing the forest to flush out criminal elements in herdsmen.”

    Leaders of hunters, vigilant groups and representatives of traditional rulers expressed their readiness to sustain the partnership as security in their various communities is paramount.

    Amongst those who spoke at the gathering are the representative of Otaru of Auchi Alhaji Usman Abuda, Chief Raymond Okpai and Chief Sunday Omonua of Ekpoma Kingdom.

     

  • Police nabs suspected killer of Egbeta Chief Imam

    Police nabs suspected killer of Egbeta Chief Imam

    Men of the Edo State Police Command have arrested suspected killer of the Chief Imam of Egbeta Mosque in Ovia North East local government area, Mallam Saka Afolabi.

    Afolabi was killed on March 4th in the presence of his three children by three gunmen while on his way to his farm.

    The name of the arrested suspected killer was given as Ajetena Adebayo Moruf

    Parading the suspect yesterday, State Commissioner of Police, Haliru Gwandu, said the police traversed five states before the suspect was arrested.

    Gwandu said two other suspects were still at large.

    He urged other assassins in the state to repent as the police would do anything to nab them.

    According to him, “The principal suspect in the killing of Chief Imam of Egbeta Mosque has been arrested. The three of them killed the imam. Others are on the run. The sons of the deceased witnessed the killing. It is very unfortunate.

    “After the incident, the suspect went into hiding. We went to more than five states before we nabbed him. We were able to track him to Shagamu in Ogun State.”

    Son of the deceased, Afolabi Wahid, said his late father and some farmers had been having dispute with the suspect since 2014.

    Wahid claimed that he saw the suspect and two others with guns on a motor-cycle while he was going to farm but he didn’t know they were on a mission to kill his father.

    He said his three brothers who were with their father at the time of the killing ran away.

    The suspect however denied being involved in the killing of the Chief Imam.

    Ajetena urged the police to check his call logs to determine where he was on the day of the killing.

    His words, “It is a set up. I am going to be vindicated because there is God. I was not in Shagamu on that day. The deceased was one of my farmers. The issues we are having are in Court. It is an issue that the late Ooni has intervene in the matter. I have about 300 farmers and 20 individuals are causing crisis.

    “I stay in Shagamu and not in the camp. I have been in Shagamu since on the 28th of February. I was not in Egbeta at all. There are people that can testify that I was in Shagamu. I received calls throughout day. The police can check with the network providers. The first call I received was at 6:11 am. The police can verify where I made calls from.”

     

  • Cultists attack Edo police station, free suspects

    Some suspected cultists have attacked a police station at Ibillo, Akoko-Edo local government area of Edo State and freed two of their colleagues who were held for alleged rape.

    The attackers reportedly gained access to the police station by posing as relatives of the arrested suspects and started shooting sporadically.

    A woman was killed by a stray bullet.

    The attackers successfully freed their colleagues and ran away.

    Confirming the report, the state Commissioner of Police, Haliru Gwandu, said the incident happened on February 2.

    Gwandu said some suspects were arrested in connection with the incident on February 8.

    He said more men have been deployed to the affected police station to ensure such incident does not occur again.

    The police commissioner said, “Two rapists were arrested at Ibillo and unknown to the police, the suspects were cultists. Their members went to the police station but the police did not know the people were there to rescue their members.

    “There was sporadic shooting and an innocent lady was hit and killed. Policemen are still mopping up the area. The area is a border town and we have influx of misguided elements.”

     

  • Police arrest 36 suspected cultists over driver’s murder

    Edo State Police Command said it has arrested 36 suspected cultists over the Christmas Day killing of a commercial bus driver in Benin City.

    The identity of the victim could not be verified at time of filing this report.

    The state Commissioner of Police, Haliru Gwandu, who confirmed the arrest, said investigation would fish out the main culprit.

    Gwandu said the killing was cult related.

    He spoke after commercial bus drivers in Benin City protested the killing of their colleague.

    The Chairman of Professional Drivers on Wheel, Comrade Augustine Ehigiamusoe, said the driver was shot while waiting for passengers at Ikpoba-hill, Oregbeni quarters.

    Comrade Ehigiamusoe urged the security agencies to fish out the killers to stop further killing of commercial bus drivers in the state.