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Tag: Nasarawa

  • Policemen killings: Report to be released – IGP

    Policemen killings: Report to be released – IGP

    The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, said on Monday that the report of investigation into the killing of 49 policemen in Nasarawa State would be made public at the appropriate time.

    Abubakar gave the assurance in Abuja in a chat with journalists shortly after the inauguration of 12 patrol vehicles for the Abuja-Kaduna Highway.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that 49 police personnel and 10 operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) were killed at Alakyo Village in Nasawara State on May 7.

    They were alleged to have been killed by members of the Ombatse cult from the ancestral shrine of the Eggon speaking people of Nasarawa State.

    Abubakar vowed that nobody or group of persons operating under any name would kill the personnel of the force and go scot- free.

    “Investigation is ongoing and the outcome of the investigation will be revealed to Nigerians at the most appropriate time.

    “We cannot keep quiet to allow anybody in this country, whether individual or group of persons, under whatever canopy they call themselves, to kill officers of the police and go scot-free.

    “There has never been speculation, we have always given the number out, that we lost 49 police officers, ’’ he said.

    Commenting on the closure of Wonderland Amusement Park and Amigo Supermarket, the IGP said the closure was part of measures to secure the nation.

    “There is nothing new, security is security. You know what is happening in the country.

    “We will go ahead to take any measure that deserves to be taken to ensure that Nigeria is safe and Nigerians are given safe and secured environment.

    “We shall do everything humanly possible beyond reasoning to ensure that Nigeria is safe and our people are safe and secured no matter what it takes,’’ he said.

     

  • Nasarawa killings: Ekweremadu urges Police, DSS not to be discouraged

    The Deputy President ofthe Senate,Chief Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday urged the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Police Force not to be discouraged by the recent killing of their personnel in Nasarawa State.

    Ekweremadu spoke during separate condolence visits to the Director-General of the DSS, Mr. Ekpeyong Ita, and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, in Abuja.

    He said the Senate was deeply saddened and condemned the development in totality.

    He added that the upper legislative chamber would give all necessary support to ensure that the culprits were brought to book.

    Ekweremadu’s Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu,in a statement yesterday, quoted him as saying: “It is sad indeed that these patriotic Nigerians lost their lives, more so, in their prime while on the line of duty to maintain law and order.

    “We stand by you as always and will employ all legislative resources, including improved appropriation, to assist the Nigerian Police to adequately tackle crimes and criminals in all their ramifications.”

    The Deputy President expressed shock and grief over the fast-deteriorating value for human lives among bad elements in the country.

    He said such developments were out of tune with civilization and the country’s religious and cultural values which placed high premium on human life.

    He added: “The world over, it is a monumental crime to kill an officer of the law and we, as a nation, must not be different , hence no matter what it takes, the perpetrators of this heinous crime against the state must be fished out and made to face the wrath of the law.”

    In their respective responses, Mr. Abubakar and Mr. Ita described Ekweremadu’s visit as reassuring and thanked the Senate for its support.

    They, however, said though the losses were heavy and unprecedented in the history of the DSS and the Police, they would nevertheless leave vengeance to God, while following the due process of law in addressing the matter.

     

  • ‘More arms, bodies recovered in Nasarawa’

    ‘More arms, bodies recovered in Nasarawa’

    THE Nasarawa State Government yesterday said it has recovered some arms and ammunition from the Ombatse militia group.

    A statement by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Hajiya Zainab Abdulmumini, said some bodies have been recovered and handed over to the victim’s families. But the statement did not give any figure.

    It also said some have been recovered and handed over to the police.

    The statement reads: “The government has, through concerted efforts, recovered some bodies of the victims and handed them over to their bereaved families. The government has also recovered some arms and ammunition from some suspected members of the Ombatse cult group. The weapons have since been handed over to the police.”

    Efforts to confirm her claims of the recovered arms and audition as well as the bodies of the slain police officers, however, were unsuccessful.

    Police spokesman Michael Ada, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), declined to comment on the development.

    He said only the Force Headquarters could make a statement on the matter.

    At the time of filing this report yesterday night, Force Headquarters’ spokesman, Frank Mba, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), could not be reached. The calls to his mobile phone did not go through.

    A new Police Commissioner, Umar Shehu has resumed duty in Nasarawa State.

    The new police chief, who assumed duty on Monday, yesterday said the police command is “totally committed to a full restoration of peace in the state”.

  • ACN condoles with families of security agents killed in Nasarawa

    ACN condoles with families of security agents killed in Nasarawa

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has condoled with the families of the security agents killed by a militia group in Nasarawa State.

    It described the killing as brutal and calamitous.

    In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity

    Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party prayed that God should grant the families the fortitude to bear the losses and also grant eternal rest to the victims.

    It urged the Federal Government to ensure that the wives, children and other dependants of the slain security personnel are catered for to minimise the impact of their bereavement.

    ACN decried the rate at which insurgents and militia groups are targetting and killing security agents.

    It said the development was unacceptable and barbaric.

    The party enjoined the authorities to declare a zero tolerance for the killing of security agents by ensuring that those who perpetrate such killings are fished out and brought to justice.

    It also called for continuous training and provision of equipment for the security agents so that they could protect themselves while carrying out their constitutional responsibilities of protecting lives and property.

    “A poorly-trained, poorly-motivated and inadequately- kitted security agent is a soft target for the kind of stone-age marauders now rampaging our country,” ACN said.

    The party hailed the police authorities for assuring

    that there would be no reprisal against the community where the dastardly killings occurred in Nasarawa State and for opting for negotiation rather than violence to secure the release of the policemen still said to be in the custody of the militia.

    “By that singular act, the authorities have portrayed the Nigeria Police as a civilised force, which has respect for its rules of engagement, unlike the medieval groups that have been so quick to take the lives of those saddled

    by the State with protecting lives and property.

    “We have always warned the security agencies against descending to the level of the barbarians, who have been unleashing violence against them, and we are glad our gallant men and women in uniform have heeded this warning. That does notmean the perpetrators must be allowed to get away with their heinous crime. It only means that innocent people will not bear the brunt of their actions,” ACN said.

     

  • We lost 56 men in Nasarawa, say police, SSS

    We lost 56 men in Nasarawa, say police, SSS

    •’Why Kuku, Asari-Dokubo, others can’t be arrested’

    SECURITY operatives yesterday announced what they suffered in the ill-fated raid on the hideout of Ombatse cult group in Nasarawa State.

    The police lost 46 men while the State Security Service (SSS) lost all the 10 men deployed in the joint operation that went awry last Thusday.

    The details were given in a statement jointly signed by defence and security information managers of the Army, Navy, Air Force, SSS and the police.

    Their clarification came even as they gave those calling for the arrest and investigation of ex-Niger Delta militant, Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo and Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty Programme, Mr. Kinsley Kuku, a disappointing response.

    The information managers said the duo and several others issuing sectional threats over the 2015 presidency were merely exercising their freedom of speech.

    They said such rights enjoy constitutional backing and that clamping down on them would amount to gagging them and infringing on their human rights, saying that such a development might pit the government against the media and the human rights community.

    The Director of Navy Information, Commodore Kabiru Aliyu said: “We are in democracy and so, it is not easy to gag members of the public. If we do so, the media and the human rights community will complain about infringing on the fundamental rights of the citizenry.”

    Dokubo and Kuku were reported to have stated penultimate week that the Niger Delta region would take up arms if President Goodluck Jonathan failed to get re-election in 2015.

    He went further to challenge the nation’s security agencies to arrest him if they could, threatening national economic havoc in the oil producing areas.

    The Defence and Security Information Managers is made up of the Director of Defence Information, spokespersons of the Army, Air Force, Navy, State Security Service (SSS) and the police.

    The Duputy Force spokesman, Mr. Frank Mba, who represented the police, said out of the 47 police officers sent to Nasarawa State in the operation to dislodge members of an ethnic militia cult, 46 of them were killed.

    SSS spokesperson, Ms. Marilyn Ogar said all the 10 officers of the Service who went on the mission were also killed by the ethnic militia group.

    Mba added that 32 bodies had been released for burial; while Ogar said the SSS had only recovered bodies of four of its 10 officers killed.

    Mba and Ms Ogar attributed the high security casualties to what they described as the decision of the police and the SSS to exercise restraint by applying minimum force during the operation.

    According to them, it was a low profile civil operation that should be deployed while dealing with unarmed members of the public, stressing that it was not a security onslaught as being seen by a section of the public.

    The spokespersons dismissed reports that 10 local government areas in Borno State had been taken over by Boko Haram insurgents, insisting that the state has not lost any of its council areas to the sect members.

    Defence spokesman, Brigadier Chris Olukolade, who chaired the briefing, said troops were deployed in flash points across the nation, including oil installation facilities.

    He added that security surveillance was also ongoing, covering the land, air space and water ways.

    The statement jointly signed by the information managers said: “Accordingly, the operational designs for restoring peace, law and order have involved the deployment of the assets of Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force, Nigeria Police, Department of State Security and other security agencies in the country.

    “Internal security operations in the form of vigilance and patrols on land, sea, and air are being conducted regularly in order to deny militants and criminal gangs any freedom of action as they desire.

    “Troops and operatives have been physically deployed in various flash points all over the country and on critical oil and gas facilities to protect them from attack. Cordon and search operations are also regularly undertaken to check the capacity of the gangs and checkmate their activities.

    “Jointly, the Services have been conducting anti-kidnapping operations cordon and search, destruction of militant camps, security for oil and gas facilities, anti illegal oil bunkering patrols as well as anti banditry, anti piracy operations and arrest of terrorists of all shad among others.”

    They, however, admitted the frightening dimension in the nation’s security challenges, saying it is a clear threat to safety and national security.

    They pleaded for cooperation from members of the public in terms of providing useful security information that could aid the operations of their men in the fight against terrorism and other criminal acts.

    Present at the briefing were spokespersons for Defence (Olukolade); Navy (Aliyu); Air Force (Yusuf Anas); Police (Mba); and SSS (Ms Ogar).

     

  • ‘Probe Nasarawa massacre’

    A group, The Eggon Cultural Development Association (ECDA) of Nasarawa State, has urged the Federal Government to set up a high-powered commission of enquiry to establish the immediate and remote causes of the recent killing of about 90 policemen in the state.

    The policemen, on May 7, were reportedly ambushed at Alakyo Village in Lafia East Development Area.

    The group, through its National President, Mr Chris Mamman, addressed reporters at the palace of their paramount ruler in Nasarawa Eggon, about 15 kilometres from Lafia, the state capital.

    It urged the Federal and the state governments to restore normalcy in the affected community.

    Mamman said though the association appreciates the statutory responsibility of the state government to adopt measures it deems suitable to arrest the breakdown of law and order, he added that “it is unwise of the government to discontinue genuine efforts by the people and at no cost to the government”.

     

  • Songs of sorrow from families of missing Nasarawa ambush victims

    Songs of sorrow from families of missing Nasarawa ambush victims

    They left their homes in the morning telling their wives and children they would soon be back. They fell victims of an ambush by the Ombatse cult at Nasarawa Eggon, in Nasarawa State. The bodies of no fewer than 40 have been found, burnt beyond recognition.

    Not a few are still missing. Some of those whose bodies have not been found are: Sergeants Elisha Nugu, Gideon Fadah and Obadiah Yakubu, all of the 38 Squadron Police Mobile Police in Akwanga.

    Wives and family members of the officers whose whereabouts are unknown nor their bodies found yesterday urged the government to help locate their breadwinners.

    Gideon, 21, a final year student of Government Secondary School, Ubbe, in Akwanga, said his hope of being a Customs officer has faded following the sudden disappearance of his father, Sergeant Nugu, last Thursday.

    Gideon said: “Before my father went to work, I asked him where he was going to. He said that he did not actually know the place that he was going to but that when he got there he would call me on phone.

    “When I came back from school, I saw his missed call. But when I asked my mother, she told me that my father went to Makurdi. In the evening, one of his colleagues called and asked if my mother heard what happened. My mother said no and that she had been trying my dad’s number but the number was not going through. From there we did not sleep throughout the night.

    “We have been trying his number since Thursday last week. We later learnt that many of his colleagues were killed but we did not see our father’s body and we did not hear from him. We don’t know if he is among those that were killed because some corpses were burnt beyond recognition. My mother has been to Lafia but she did not see my father there.”

    Gideon said he is the eldest of the missing officer’s five children.

    He added: “We came to Akwanga since 2005. It has never happened that we were calling him and we could not get him. He used to call me anytime I flashed him but I had been trying him but his line is not going.

    “I promised my dad that I want to be a Customs officer. He promised that if he is alive, he will sponsor me but now that we cannot find him, I think that hope is gone. But if the government can help me to sponsor my younger ones, we are four boys and one girl, I will be happy.

    “My mother also needs to do business to take good care of us and herself because right now my mother is unemployed. My father is a nice person. He did not allow my mother to take up any paid job.”

    Sergeant Nugu’s wife Victoria said she saw him in the afternoon of last Thursday before he left for Makurdi.

    Mrs. Nugu said: “He said they were going for a special duty in Makurdi because the Tivs and Idomas were fighting. So, I wished him safe journey and that was the last time I saw him.

    “I don’t want the government to give us any huge money as compensation for my husband. I want them to be paying us his salary so that I can be able to take care of the children.”

    Nugu’s elder brother, Afana Gimba Nugu, said: “All we want from government is our brother. Either they bring him alive or they give us his body.”

    Another police officer said to be missing, Sergeant Gideon Fadah, has two children, Faith and Isaiah.

    His elder brother, Yakubu, said they are praying to either find him alive or be given his body.

    Yakubu said: “The last time I saw him was before Easter because I stay in Abuja. After that we did not see again.

    “The situation is very terrible, especially for us. We have been here since Thursday and since we came it is different versions of stories we have been hearing. We went to Lafia that Thursday. On getting there, we were told to go and check the bodies that were available.

    “The bodies that were there were those that they put inside the ambulance. As we were going through them, some were burnt beyond recognition. We went into the mortuary and checked.

    “The bodies inside the mortuary had name tags. We checked but we did not see him. We went to the emergency casualty unit, we only saw about two people that were affected on the arm and then another one that was operated for bullet wound and then he was discharged.

    “We went back the second day, which was Friday, to Lafia. It was the same story. We only heard it from the news that about 28 people that were held hostage have been released.

    “Up till now, we have not seen any evidence or a close relative who said that their missing brother who they did not see the body has been found or returned home.

    “That is why we are saying that it is not a true story that some hostages have been released. Now, there were 18 bodies that were discovered by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) yesterday in Lafia.

    “We went there to check. The name tags were there, but it seems those ones were fresh killings because they exhumed them from where they were buried.

    “Later in the day, they brought another 13 bodies and our relation was not among them. They later told us yesterday that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is going back to the scene to bring out some bodies that were said to have been dumped inside the well. That is what we are expecting now.

    “Maybe if they bring them out, we will now go and see if our brother is there. Not only our brother, so many police families have the same predicament and some of them are our neighbours. We have four of our brothers that were affected and all of them are from Kaduna.”

    Fadah’s wife Sarah said: “I saw my husband that morning before he went to Lafia. He only told me that they are going for an operation in Makurdi.

    “It was one of my sisters that brought the message to me. I have two children, a boy and a girl and they are 11 and four years old. I want to see my husband alive, but if my husband is dead, I want to see his body.”

    Mr. Samuel Yakubu, the elder bother to Sergeant Obadiah Yakubu, who is allegedly missing, said: “We have not seen our brother’s body up till now. We have been going to Lafia since Thursday.

    “In this situation, we want the government to help look for our brother wherever he is and also to look for solution on how we will be able to take care of his wife and four children.”

    Rahila, 13, the first daughter of Sergeant Yakubu, said: “My dad took me to school that morning and told me that if he did not come back to pick me after school hours, I should ask a motorcyclist to take me home. My father is a kind man. If you have any problem, you can go to him and ask if he can help you to solve it. I like my father and I am missing him. I am a student of JSS1 at Demonstration Secondary School, Akwanga.”

    Other children of the missing Sergeant Yakubu are Blessing, 6, and Emmanuel, 11, the last baby was said to have accompanied the mother to Lafia to search for the sergeant.

    The family of the late Corporal Chinda Apagu, whose body has been buried was mourning when The Nation visited them at Akwanga yesterday. His widow Mary is pregnant.

    The four children left behind by the late corporal are Ruth, 12, Moses, 10, Dorcas, 7, and Happy, 4.

    Speaking through an interpreter, Mary, who is unemployed, urged the police to support her to educate her children.

     

  • Nasarawa: Militia still holding policemen hostage –Abubakar

    Nasarawa: Militia still holding policemen hostage –Abubakar

    About four policemen are still being held in captivity by the Ombatse militia which ambushed a security team last Monday in Nasarawa State.

    The police say 23 of their men and those from the State Security Service (SSS) were killed in the ambush at Alakyo Village.

    The Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, on an on-the-spot tour of the state yesterday said the captured policemen must be released.

    He said the force police will engage peaceful method to set the hostages free.

    Abubakar visited Lafia in company of the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade; the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Zone IV, Mr. Mike Zukumor; the state commissioner of police, Abayomi Akeremale and other officers of the police high command.

    He said: “The killing of these police officers and men and other security men was “callous”. I wish to call on elders and eminent citizens of the state to collaborate with the police in order to fish out the perpetrators.

    “We are making every peaceful effort to ensure that some of our men still being held hostage are released unhurt.

    “There is an ongoing dialogue both in the state, and at other quarters. We are optimistic that the personnel still being held would soon be released.”

    The minister, said: “Such ‘barbaric’ act on officers whose duty is to safeguard lives of others, is unacceptable in a decent society. Somebody somewhere is causing havoc for whatever reason and the society must not allow that to continue. I want to assure you that justice will be given to the slain officers.”

    Two hours after the IGP left Lafia in his chopper, four ambulances drove into Dalhatu Araf Specialists’ Hospital (DASH), with some more bodies.

    Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura had said on Friday that “Every arrangement for their (security operatives’) safety was made. The most unfortunate thing that happened was the betrayal within them. This is what betrayal has caused for not only you (widows), but the rest of the nation.”

    Al-Makura also said the State Security Council (SCC) was aware that four of the security personnel were still held hostage by the militia.

    He added: “The compounding issue is that the place is still insecure. It is not to say we can’t go there. We are trying to get anyone still alive there. We heard up to four men are still being held, but the police are working hard to free them.

    “We are making efforts to recover the remaining bodies of the slain officers, adding that the area of the incident is still volatile.”

    The governor said the militia had been proscribed since January 2013 and were carrying out their activities unlawfully.

    He said most Eggon leaders and elders were not happy at the activities of the group “but could not talk to them for fear of the sophisticated weapons at their disposal.”

    The governor has released N1million to each of the families of security agents who were killed in the attack. He also announced a donation of N3 million to the family of the slain Assistant Commissioner of Police and pledged the support of the state government in settling the medical bills of those who were injured in the attack.

    The governor announced this in Lafia shortly after meeting with some widows of the affected security officers.

  • Nasarawa killing: 28 policemen found alive, 1 suspect arrested, says CP

    Nasarawa killing: 28 policemen found alive, 1 suspect arrested, says CP

    The Nasarawa State Commissioner of Police, Mr Abayomi Akeremale, has confirmed that 28 policemen have been found alive, following the attack by a militia group on May 7.

    Akeremale told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lafia, on Friday the some of the Policemen held hostage by the group during the attack were released on Friday morning.

    He said  that 17 corpses of the slain officers were yet to be recovered, explaining that a total of 93 police men were deployed for the operation out of which 43 were suspected to have been killed.

    Akeremale said that a suspect member of the militia had been arrested and was in police custody, adding that investigations on the incident were going on.

    NAN reports that as at time of filing this report, Akeremale was making arrangements to visit the Squadron 38 Mopol Base in Akwanga.

    The commissioner said the visit was to appeal to spouses and children of the slain policemen who had blocked the Akwanga-Lafia highway in protest over the killing.

  • 23 mobile policemen killed in Nasarawa

    About 23 Mobile policemen and operatives of the State Security Service were killed on Tuesday night in Nasarawa State in an ambush by members of  a militia group called  Ombatse.
    Nine others were critically injured by the militia and eight out of 11 operational vehicles set ablaze by the militia in the village, which is about 10 kilometres to Lafia, the state capital.
    But many  policemen were still missing as at press time amidst fears that they might have been abducted by the militia.
    The development forced the Governor of Nasarawa State, Alhaji Tanko Al-Makura to rush to Vice-President Namadi Sambo on Wednesday in Abuja for presidential intervention.
    The state police commissioner, Abayomi Akeremale, who spoke with newsmen on the attack, said the large contingent was on a mission to raid the shrine.
    He said: “We decided at the State Security Council meeting, because of the frequent attacks on churches and mosques by this particular group, who are forcing people to swear an oath at the shrine, that we carry out an operation and arrest the perpetrators for prosecution, less it turns into a religious crisis.
    “The people; some called them Ombatse, but they call themselves cultural people; ambushed our men and opened fire”, Mr. Akeremale said.
    “The policemen were on operation to raid the place and make arrests, particularly of the chief priest, and other leaders, who  have been torturing worshipers in churches and mosques to force them to swear an oath of allegiance to Ombatse.
    He said the worshipers had tortured and compelled an inspector of police, to swear allegiance to Ombatse, but added that the officer has been freed, and returned to his duty post.
    “We are still after the persons “administering the oath forcefully on people. We will make sure we bring the perpetrators to book.”
    The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Michael Ada admitted that 23 policemen and men of the SSS were killed.
    He said  eight patrol vehicles were also burnt.
    Ada said:”The casualty we confirmed is 23. They killed and burned 23 policemen and SSS. They also burnt eight patrol vehicles. But our rescue team is still in the bush, and has not return to give update.”
    On his part, Governor Almakura  confirmed that over 20 policemen and security operatives were killed.