The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Police

  • Police foil attack on Kaduna APC secretariat 

    •Party ratifies Sani’s suspension

    The police yesterday prevented thugs from attacking the secretariat of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State.

    The attack was allegedly sponsored by supporters of the embattled Senator Shehu Sani.

    According to Acting State Secretary, Yahaya Pate, the hoodlums arrived at the secretariat about 11am just as officials were meeting to ratify Sani’s suspension as announced last Thursday.

    Sani, who represents Kaduna Central, had been engaged in a running battle with the party’s leadership in the state.

    A detachment of armed police were said to have dispersed the mob.

    Pate said: “About 11am, some hired thugs wearing t-shirts and fez caps with Senator Sani’s portrait and carrying sticks came to attack people at the secretariat.

    “We had to alert the police who came and dispersed them and security was beefed up”.

    Meanwhile, the state executives have affirmed the indefinite suspension of Senator Sani.

    Publicity Secretary Salisu Wusono said the decision taken by Sani’s ward was in order.

    “We, as APC state executives, today confirm the resolution taken by his Ward 6 for his indefinite suspension. We are telling the public and the world that we have confirmed the indefinite suspension of Comrade Shehu Sani by the APC Ward 6, Kaduna South,” he said.

    According to him, Sani was suspended for alleged “betrayal of the party” as well as “attempts at causing divisions within the party in the state by sponsoring frivolous petitions and trouble making”.

  • Indonesian police plane with 15 on board goes missing- police

    A twin-engine Indonesian police plane on Saturday went missing with 15 people on board en route to the island of Batam, south of Singapore, police said.

    “The plane is thought to have crashed between the islands of Mensanak and Sebangka or Gentar.

    “A search team recovered items apparently identified as being from the missing aircraft,’’ the police report said.

    However, no other details were immediately available. (Reuters/NAN)

  • Delta: Policemen teargas nine-month-old baby, two children

    Delta: Policemen teargas nine-month-old baby, two children

    There was anger in Effurun, Uvwie loca government area of Delta State after mobile policemen attached to a politician tear-gassed a nine-month-old baby and two other children.

    The children were bombarded along with their father and mother following a disagreement with between the father and the politician, identified as Chief Michael Johnny.

    The policemen went berserk, attacking Johnbull Cleopas, a former council lawmaker in Bayelsa, beating him and releasing tear gas on him and his entire family inside his car.

    Narrating his ordeal to The Nation in Warri Friday, Cleopas said he was returning home with his family at about 4pm on Monday and decided to stop by at the New Layout Junction market to pick a few things for household use, adding that he was entering his car when one of the mobile policemen, who were clearing the road for the personality they were escorting hit his car, destroying one of the trafficator.

    ”I was asking ‘officer why now’ and before I knew it, because one of my legs was already inside the car, trying to enter the car, the guy had come round to the driver’s side and started punching me; my mouth and all over and injured me.

    ”Thereafter, they began to use their teargas to spray me. I fell inside the car, holding my face and I started shouting ‘my children are inside the car o’, but he continued spraying into the car. It took the intervention of the market women to come and rush my children out of the car and used kerosene and handkerchief to wipe their faces. The small one, who is 9 months, was already foaming from his mouth and nose”, he narrated.

    He said he went on to the Ekpan General Hospital to seek medical attention for his family and and himself and later went to the Warri area command of the state police command to report his experience. He said he could not make the report as many Ijaw people had started calling him, adding that the owner of the convoy, Johnny, had already asked people to prevail on him to drop the idea of making it a police case.

    He, however, said he suffered a worse experience later same Monday evening when he was further pressured by the people sent by Johnny to plead with him to drop the matter to follow them to Johnny’s house, as he (Johnny) desired to see him.

    The story, he said, changed when he go to the APC chieftain’s house and he started shouting at him forever attempting to drag him into a police matter. He said Johnny eventually asked some of the policemen who had brutalised him and his family earlier in the day to drag him out of his compound.

    ”As I said I wanted to go, Michael Johnny said I had insulted him that I was not going to leave he compound. The next thing was he just told the Mopol and they started bundling me, dragged me on the floor to a Hilux parked outside. 8 of them pushed and dragged me into the Hilux and took me to Ekpan Police Station and detained me till yesterday morning. They didn’t tell me my offense”, he explained.

    When reached for his response to the development, Chief Johnny said it was a matter between Cleopas and policemen, which had nothing to do with him, adding that he did not see the victim when he came to his house.

    ”I did not know what happened between Johnbull and the police,  I’m not a policeman and I don’t know what happened between him and them. My own is part is I don’t want any misunderstanding between people and that was why I intervened before, but when I saw that it was purely a police matter, I am a civilian and I cannot into it.

    On the allegation of the second assault on Johnbull in his house, Johnny said ”it’s true, I don’t even know what transpired between him and my police. When he came I didn’t even see him. It’s like the police had already gone to do their own report before so they were already looking for him. I didn’t even see him, it’s just a fabricated story that Johnbull is bringing out”.

    When reached for comment on the detention of Johnbull in his station, the Divisional Police Officer of the Ekpan Police Station, CSP Chris Sogbara, said he was not aware of the matter, promising to get across to his station, as he was not around, and get back with details later. He was yet to respond by the time of filing this report.

  • 5,000 security personnel for Lagos bye-election

    5,000 security personnel for Lagos bye-election

    No fewer than 5,000 security agents have been deployed by the police ahead of Saturday’s bye-election for Ifako-Ijaiye Federal Constituency in Lagos state.

    Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni made this disclosure during a stakeholders meeting held at the command headquarters in Ikeja.

    Owoseni disclosed that there would be restriction of movement in the election area from 12am, warning trouble makers to stay away.

    According to him, the 5000 security personnel were drawn from the police, military, Department of State Services (DSS) and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps  (NSCDC).

    The bye-election was sequel to the death of the former representative, Adewale Elijah in August.
    He said: ”This meeting is an opportunity for candidates to sign an undertaking for a peaceful exercise. As candidates and leaders to be, you must be able to control your supporters and agents.

    ”The Police, Military, NSCDC and DSS are collaborating to secure the election. We are going to use 5,000 officers and men.

    ”Political office holders are warned from moving freely with their security aids during the election. No vehicle is parmitted to go close to any polling boots.

    ”The accreditation and voting commence same time. Anyone with observation should reach the officials and not take laws into their hands.”

    In his remark, zonal supervising officer, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chief Shoyebi Adedeji said all sensitive materials have been distributed to the wards.

  • Radio journalist kidnapped in Benue

    The Benue Police Command said a Radio Journalist, Mrs Iyuadoo Tor-Agbidye, had been kidnapped on Friday in her house in Makurdi.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the kidnapped journalist is married to Mr Achim Tor-Agbidye, a Zonal Manager with First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Makurdi.

    The Commissioner of Police, Mr Bashir Makama, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Makurdi.

    Makama said the police had already swung into action by setting up a network for the arrest of the suspects and appealed to the public to volunteer information that would lead to their arrests.

    “We have already visited the site; we are constructing our narrative with the purpose of narrowing down possible suspects before effecting arrests.

    “The police cannot provide security for each person so, what we do is to improve the general security of the people by taking proactive steps to curb crime in the state,” he said.(NAN)

  • Police stops lynching of Bank MD by customers

    The timely intervention of the police in Enugu prevented the lynching of Mr Kingsley Ubenyi, the Managing Director of Kesley Mega Micro-Finance Bank, by the bank’s aggrieved customers on Friday.

    The spokesman of the Police Command in Enugu, Mr Ebere Amaraizu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the rescue of the bank boss came as a result of prompt intervention of a police patrol team after a security tip-off by some members of the public.

    Amaraizu said the incident happened at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday at the De-Dome Event Centre in New Haven, Enugu.

    He said reports reaching the police indicated that hundreds of aggrieved customers of the bank were seen striking the managing director, who was forced to sit in his vehicle, which was later damaged by the irate crowd.

    “The aggrieved customers maintained that they are customers of the micro-finance bank and that despite repeated efforts to withdraw their money in their savings accounts with the bank, no light was seen at the end of the tunnel.

    “Not long after, a meeting between the customers and the managing director was convened at De Dome event centre, New Haven, Enugu, where the bank boss tried to explain the difficulties faced by his bank over the payment of customers’ money.

    “This (the explanation) did not go down well with the aggrieved customers, who got violent and descended heavily on him before the intervention of the police operatives,’’ he said.

    Amaraizu, however, said the aggrieved customers were advised to be law-abiding and to seek redress by taking the lawful step to access their monies.

    “The managing director is currently receiving treatment at a nearby hospital,’’ he said at the time of writing this report. (NAN)

  • Police battle four-man kidnappers’ gang in Port Harcourt

    Police battle four-man kidnappers’ gang in Port Harcourt

    The police Thursday intercepted a four-man gang of heavily armed suspected kidnappers operating along waterways and hinterland in Rivers and Bayelsa.

    Police spokesman Donald Awunah, stated this in a statement in Abuja.

    Awunah said the suspects were intercepted by the Inspector-General of Police (I-G) Intelligence Response Team (IRT) on Azikiwe Road, Port Harcourt, while on their way for an operation.

    He said that the IRT operatives, who acted on intelligence, were engaged in a gun battle by the “kidnappers’’ during which three of the latter were fatally wounded.

    He said that one James Peter, 30, from Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa was arrested at the scene, while the rest escaped.

    “The arrested member of the gang has been cooperating with the police in their investigation by providing very valuable information on the membership of the gang and their mode of operation.

    “Weapons recovered from the kidnappers include one General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), one AK47 rifle, chains of GPMG ammunition and two fully loaded AK47 magazines.

    “Efforts are in top gear to arrest fleeing members of the gang and recover their cache of arms,’’ the police spokesman said.

    He quoted the I-G, Mr Ibrahim Idris, as reiterating his appeal to Nigerians to keep assisting the police with valuable information on suspected criminals.

    Idris assured the public of renewed commitment on the part of the police in the fight against crime and other anti-social behaviours, Awunah said.

  • Gunmen kill Chinese miner, three others

    Gunmen on Monday ambushed and killed four workers of a mining company, including a Chinese at Alongani village in Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

    Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Kennedy Idirisu, confirmed the killing to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lafia on Tuesday.

    Idirisu said the victims were returning from their mining site in a company truck at about 4p.m. when the assailants shot them from different directions.

    Idirisu said a Chinese, a police escort and two others were killed during the ambush while another Chinese survived with bullet wound and was being treated in a hospital.

    He said the Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Sadiq-Bello had deployed officers to the area to work in collaboration with other security agencies as well as the vigilantes to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime.

    According to Idirisu, the commissioner of police had visited the Chairman of Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area and the mining company.

    The commissioner called on the people of the state to encourage foreigners willing to do business in the state rather than attacking them.

    He reiterated the commitment of the police to safeguard the lives and property of all residents and assured that the command would not relent in its effort to rid the state of crime and criminality. (NAN)

  • Monarch dies in accident

    Igwe Ezeugwu Ugwuoke of Agbamere clan in Eha-Alumona in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, died in auto crash on Tuesday.

    Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), in Enugu State, Mr Ebere Amaraizu, confirmed this in a statement released in Enugu on Tuesday.

    He said the fatal accident happened on Tuesday at about 2.55 p.m., it involved a water tanker with registration number XA 405 ENU and one official traditional rulers’ car which claimed the life of an Enugu monarch.

    “There was a head on collision between his Hyundai Elantral car with registration number HRH 183 ENU and the said water tanker.

    “The royal father was coming from Odenigbo road to Total Round-about in Nsukka where he allegedly veered off his lane and reportedly collided with an on-coming water tanker.

    “He (the royal father) was rushed to Bishop Shanaham Hospital, Nsukka where he was confirmed dead by a doctor on duty’’, Amaraizu said.

    The statement said that the body of the royal father had been deposited in the same hospital’s mortuary.

    “The police have already started investigation into the accident,’’ it said. (NAN)

  • Police confirm death of two in Kogi communal clash

    Police confirm death of two in Kogi communal clash

    Two persons have lost their lives in a communal clash, that took place in Ikende community in Bassa Local Government Council area of Kogi State.

    The state Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), ASP William Aya, told newsmen in Lokoja that the clashes which were between the Ebira and Bassa kwomu speaking people of the community had occurred between Nov. 26 and Nov. 28.

    He stated that corpses of the two victims had being  recovered by policemen deployed to the area, adding that four other persons were seriously wounded in the clashes.

    According to him, 15 houses, five vehicles and 15 motorcycles were burnt by the warring groups.

    Aya said that the situation had been brought under control, saying that no arrest has yet been made.

    The PPRO said that Ikende town had been deserted by residents who are now hiding in the bush.

    He said that anti-riot policemen will remain on the ground until the safety of lives and property can be guaranteed, adding that investigation into the immediate and remote cause of the clashes has commenced.