Tag: Hoodlums

  • Hoodlums protesting against tinted commercial buses arrested in Imo

    Hoodlums protesting against tinted commercial buses arrested in Imo

    The Imo State government has arrested several individuals protesting against the clampdown on commercial vehicles operating with tinted glasses and covered plate numbers in the state.

    Over 500 commercial bus owners marched through Owerri, the State capital, protesting the clampdown on drivers with tinted glasses.

    The state government alleged that those resisting the clampdown might be linked to the recent transborder organ trafficking incidents in the state.

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    However, their efforts to disrupt the enforcement were resisted by the state government backed security operatives, who overpowered and arrested some of them.

    Commissioner for Transport, Emeka Okoronkwo, said those arrested would be prosecuted, adding that the enforcement was being carried out by a special committee constituted by the governor.

  • Hoodlums after my family, businessman alleges

    Hoodlums after my family, businessman alleges

    A Lagos Businessman, Smart Emenya, has cried out over threats to his life and that of his family members by some hoodlums.

    Speaking to The Nation, Emenya said a group of hoodlums recently attacked and attempted to kidnap his teenage son (name withheld) on his way home in his Mafoluku, Oshodi area of Lagos, inflicting body injuries on him in the process, before he narrowly escaped.

    He said this would be the second time the boy would be experiencing something similar, having narrowly escaped being run-over by an on-rushing vehicle, which, according to him, deliberately left the road to target him on the sidewalk, days earlier.

    Emenya, who resides in Lagos, is elder cousin to Castro Omozokpia Oriabore, whom The Nation, earlier in the year, reported went missing, following series of attacks and threats to his life by hoodlums in Ughelli, Delta State.

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    According to Emenya, Castro had left Ughelli for Lagos after some hoodlums on the aftermath of military manhunt that followed the killing of 17 soldiers in Okuama Community in Ughelli Local Government Area on March 14, 2024, came after him, accusing him of being one of the informants to the military, but went missing soon after.

    “They had trailed Castro, who was then based in Ughelli, to Lagos and almost kidnapped him, before he went missing. Since then, the whole family has not heard from him, despite all efforts. My fear is that the fate that befell Castro does not befall my son. This is why I am appealing to them to let my son be, he has never lived in Ughelli and knows nothing about the incidents in Okuama.” Emenya further explained.

    He is also appealing to the police to step into the matter and help rein in the hoodlums.

     “Even the Castro they are after repeatedly denied being involved in any informant role before he went missing. As it is now, our prayer as a family is to find him alive, wherever he may be.” Emenya said.

  • Okada/tricycle riders protest: Kwara NSCDC arrests seven hoodlums

    Okada/tricycle riders protest: Kwara NSCDC arrests seven hoodlums

    Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) says it has arrested seven suspected hoodlums for allegedly engaging in violent and unlawful conduct.

    The command specifically accused the suspects of the alleged hijack of a peaceful protest embarked upon by commercial tricycle, okada and cab operators on Thursday last week.

    The protesters vented their anger against the recent fuel price hike in the country.

    In a statement, NSCDC Spokesperson Ayoola Shola said that “On Thursday, September 5th 2024, a female in Ilorin reported a case of criminal conspiracy and theft at the station office of the command.

    “She stated that while on her way to her office on a motorcycle, she was attacked by a group of youths, suspected to be hoodlums, who forcefully took her bag, phones, and other valuables.

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    “Upon receiving the report, operatives of the command arrested seven suspected miscreants involved in unlawful and violent conduct, as well as mischief, during a protest by commercial tricycle and motorcycle riders in Ilorin on the same day.

    “After a thorough investigation, it was discovered that the suspects were part of the group of hoodlums responsible for terrorizing and causing public unrest in Ilorin, particularly the Sango area.

    “The protest was overtaken by hoodlums who exploited the situation, engaging in theft of personal belongings such as bags, phones, and other valuable items, which led to increased unrest in the Ilorin metropolis.”

  • ‘Let’s not give hoodlums platform to wreck Nigeria’

    ‘Let’s not give hoodlums platform to wreck Nigeria’

    Nigerians have been asked to exercise restraint in face of prevailing hardship and trust in President Bola Tinubu to ease it.

    A group, Tinubu/Shetima Foundation, made the appeal during a general meeting of its members in Yola on Saturday, saying it is a matter of a short time for things to take shape.

    The group, which has the nucleus of its membership in Adamawa State, had representatives from each of the state’s 21 local government areas at the meeting, many of who spoke.

    Chairman of the group, Alhaji  Hammanjulde Yahaya, urged proponents of nationwide protest to be calm, saying the chances were strong that such a protest could be hijacked by those who do not mean well for the country.

    Also speaking during the meeting, Secretary of the Foundation, Comrade Julius Kadara, said patience is the word in view of certain unexpected things that could result from street protest.

    Kadara said: “Those planning protest should shield their swords. They may have good intention but hoodlums could take it over and wreck havoc on everyone of us.”

    Read Also: Hoodlums burn 10 vehicles, destroy properties in Jos protest

    Many others at the Foundation’s general meeting spoke in similar vein, urging members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) family in particular to pray for President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima who they described as their son, being from the North East like them.

    Expressing optimism that the APC  would win more states across the North East in 2027, the participants at the meeting agreed that now is the time to start working towards it.

    They said the APC in Adamawa State, for example, suffers disunity, urging the Presidency and the APC top hierarchy to wade in and resolve differences among all the members.

  • Dismay as 15-year-old girl hire hoodlums to brutalise mother’s new husband

    Dismay as 15-year-old girl hire hoodlums to brutalise mother’s new husband

    Kayode Adesile did not prepare for the fate that befell him when he visited his new wife, Oluwaseun Omolara Olusola, on June 25, 2024 at her residence in the Powerline area of Meiran, a Lagos suburb.

    Unknown to Adesile, an automobile technician, he had incurred the wrath of Esther, his wife’s 15-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, for reprimanding on an occasion she disrespected her mother.

    Esther, it was said, invited hoodlums to teach her stepfather a bitter lesson for meddling in her matter. The hoodlums, who were around when Adesile was visiting Esther’s expectant mother, pounced on him while he was about to enter the house, dealt him blows and recorded the scenario with their mobile phones.

    “I verbally reprimanded her recently for being rude and disrespectful to her mother, who is my wife. I didn’t know that she was upset by my action which I took in good faith.

    “They had carefully plotted the assault on me, knowing that I usually visit my wife’s home three times in a week.

    “It was when I came around on Wednesday, June 26, 2024 that I was accosted by Esther who beckoned on the hoodlums to beat me up.

    “I was badly beaten and humiliated as they took their time to make videos of the assault.”

    It was said that after Adesile was assaulted, his attackers ran to the Meiran Police Station to lie that he attacked them. By the time Adesile reported the matter at the same police station he was detained.

    The police, according to sources, would later find out that he was actually the victim of the assault, contrary to the complaint made by his attackers.

    “The hoodlums invited by Esther were led by one Oluwakemi a.k.a. Honour, who supervised the brutality meted out to me and even filmed the scene with his boys.

    “I was severely punched and battered by the hoodlums and left helpless as there was no one to save me from them.

    “Even my wife who tried to save me was slapped silly by the boys and pushed to the ground.

    “The hoodlums then left for the station and lied that I had attacked them.

    “The police detained me when I went there to complain about the assault.

    “It was later discovered that the hoodlums had lied and that they were the aggressors in this case.

    “Hence, I was released on bail on Thursday June 27.”

    He further said: “I started dating my wife six years ago before her mother died, and there was no problem between us.

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    “Her mother had asked her to bring me home for proper introduction after she told her that we were in a relationship.

    “I later went to see her mother and we had a very cordial relationship before she died two years ago.

    “When her mother was sick, my wife and I took very good care of her by taking her to a hospital in Abeokuta.

    “She died shortly after we brought her back to Lagos.

    “My wife is currently pregnant for me. I was the one that raised money to send her to school after she finished her JSS 3.

    “I did not do anything to deserve the brutality meted out to me by the hoodlums she invited in connivance with a disgruntled family member of her mother to dehumanise me and even ran to the police to further detain me when in actual fact they were the aggressors.

    “I was released on bail this morning (June 27) and the leader of the hoodlums is the leader a cult group in the community.”

    Speaking with our correspondent, Adesile’s wife, Oluwaseun, who is also Esther’s mother, said her daughter was being brainwashed and used by her unscrupulous family members and neighbours.

    Oluwaseun said: “Esther Adekunle is a product of my former marriage. Her father humiliated me and was fond of brutalising me till we parted ways.”

    She said she had struggled and weathered the storm to ensure that Esther and her two siblings got a good life and education after she parted with their father.

    “There is no work that I have not done to give Esther and her siblings education. I am into cleaning services just so that I can have money to ensure that they feed well and go to school since their father abandoned them for me.”

    The 36-year-old woman said that Esther had formed the habit of disrespecting and insulting her in public.

    “Yet, despite all my struggle to make ends meet and raise them, Esther disrespects me in public and refused to heed my instructions.

    “She would leave home without my consent and return when she wishes. She bedwets and exhibits dirty habits at home.

    “It was recently when she insulted me openly that my new husband called her out and verbally reprimanded her for her misguided attitude.

    “It was for that reason that she further became recalcitrant and planned with my mother’s family members and neighbours to invite the hoodlums to brutalise my husband.

    “My new husband is not a gold digger. I have been dating him before my mother passed on two years ago.

    “He was the one that provided the money we spent in processing admission for Esther to proceed for her Senior Secobdary education.

    “Yet, he is the same person my daughter brought hoodlums to humiliate in public on June 25.

    “While the boys were beating my husband, they also slapped me when i tried to stop them.

    “”To my surprise, the boys came back the next day, June 26, and further assaulted me and there was no one to save me from them.

    “They rushed to the police station and lied to the police that my husband attacked them. The police later detained my husband.

    “The leader of the hoodlums, who is the husband of my daughter’s boss, was also detained when my husband indentified him as the leader of the gang that attacked him.

    She added: “My husband was freed after the police discovered that the hoodlums were the culprits.”

    In an audio recording obtained by our reporter, Esther, confronted by some persons on her complicity in the assault on her mother’s husband, accused Adesile of fondling her breasts about two months earlier.

    “He (stepfather) fondled my breasts about two months ago,” Esther said.

    Asked why it took her two months to avenge her purported molestation and why she did not tell her mother about it, she said: “I told my mother’s family members about it.”

    Adesile and Esther’s mother however described the allegation as a tissue of lies.

    “She is lying. I have never molested her. She is acting a script handed to her by the people that are guiding her to disrespect her mother and myself over my wife’s inheritance which they want to dispossess her of, ” Adesile said.

    Esther’s mother also said her daughter was misguided and told to lie against her stepfather after it dawned on them that their action was criminal and could have consequences.

    She said: “My daughter was told to lie that my husband recently molested her.

    “The truth is that  she is doing a hatchet job for some people who are planning to take over my late mother’s property at all cost.

    “My husband has never molested Esther. She is being used without her knowing.”

    Contacted for comments, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Lagos Command, Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin, did not answer his call and also had not responded to the inquiry sent to his WhatsApp at press time.

  • Hoodlums kill one, injure others

    Hoodlums kill one, injure others

    Hoodlums yesterday invaded Nnewi, Anambra State, killing a security guard and injuring others.

    However, it could not be ascertained whether they were trying to implement site at-home

    The security man was simply identified as commander were in a Sienna vehicle donated by Senator Ifeanyi Ubah.

    The windscreen of the vehicle was shattered and many people had been rushed to one of the hospitals in Nnewi.

    Read Also; Hoodlums burn 10 vehicles, destroy properties in Jos protest

    The phone line of the Police Public Relations Officer, Ikenga Tochukwu, SP, could not be reached for confirmation, but another senior Police Officer, who pleaded not to be quoted, confirmed the incident.

    He told The Nation that the command, in collaboration with other sister agencies, were on the trail of the hoodlums.

  • Hoodlums abduct another Catholic priest in Anambra

    Hoodlums abduct another Catholic priest in Anambra

    Gunmen have kidnapped another Catholic Priest in Anambra State one month after another one was rescued by security operatives.

    The Reverend Father, The Nation gathered, is the  parish priest of Saint Matthew’s Church in , Ajalli, Orumba North local government area 

    The abduction of the Fr. Christian Ike, it was learnt, happened Sunday around 10am when he was returning from morning mass.

    Rev. Father Basil Chukwuemeka, was kidnapped by gunmen  at Nkpor Junction in Idemili North local government area of the state few weeks ago.

    Read Also: Tension as hoodlums invade Enugu community

     The Nation gathered the Priest was kidnapped with another Catholic faithful.

    Anambra police spokesman, Ikenga Tochukwu, was not reachable when contacted but a Police senior officer, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed th incident. 

    According to him: “Yes, the report is true but the command has already set machinery in motion in tracking down the hoodlums.”

    The letter from the church to the parishes in  Ekwulobia also confirmed the incident.

    The statement was from Diocesan Chancellor of the Catholic Church, Rev. Fr. Lawrence Nwankwo.

    He said Reverend was kidnapped around 9.45 am on Sunday as they were returning from Mass in an outstation of St. Matthew’s Parish, Ajalli, Orumba North

    “Dear Brothers and Sisters, CALL FOR PRAYERS. KIDNAP CASE, REV. FR. CHRISTIAN IKE

    “Please pray for the release of Rev. Fr. Christian Ike and Mr. Ogbonnia Aneke, who were kidnapped this morning around 9.45 a.m as they were returning from Mass in an outstation of St. Matthew’s Parish, Ajalli, Orumba North L.G.A,” the Church wrote. 

  • PHOTOS: Panic as hoodlums attack Lagos police station

    PHOTOS: Panic as hoodlums attack Lagos police station

    By Tunde Bishi 

    Hoodlums, numbering over 100 from a part of the country, on Monday morning attacked Ipaja police station in Lagos. 

  • BREAKING: Gunshots as hoodlums attack police station in Lagos

    BREAKING: Gunshots as hoodlums attack police station in Lagos

    By Tunde Bishi 

    Hoodlums, numbering over 100 from a part of the country, on Monday morning attacked Ipaja police station in Lagos. 

    The attack led to exchange of gunshots during which some of the hoodlums were killed. 

    Read Also: PHOTOS: Panic as hoodlums attack Lagos police station

    Residents said the attack created panic in the neighbourhood. 

    Many reinforcements of police operatives have been deployed to the area. 

    Details shortly…

  • Hoodlums kidnap A’Ibom monarch

    Hoodlums kidnap A’Ibom monarch

    Hoodlums have kidnapped the paramount ruler of Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Ogwong Okon A. Abang.

    The monarch was reportedly abducted at his palace at Ebughu about 9pm on Saturday.

    It would be recalled that doctors in the state have suspended services over the kidnap of their colleague, Dr John Robbin Esu, who is still being held by his abductors.

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    Last week, the wife of Chief Asukwo Eweme Ulap Okon (a.k.a. Levile), a prominent political figure was also abducted in Oron.

    Akwa Ibom State Police Commissioner Waheed Ayilara and other service Commanders have  visited the palace of the victim.