The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Suspected thugs

  • Suspected thugs beat, strip councillor naked in Delta

    There was pandemonium yesterday at Ndokwa East Council of Delta State after suspected thugs allegedly attacked the leader of the legislative arm, Justice Uwa and another councillor.

    The Nation gathered that the face-off was triggered by request by the councillors to the council chairman Juan Governor to furnish them with the income and expenditure profile of the council.

    It was learnt that the request pitched the councillors loyal to the chairman against those sponsoring the bill.

    There were two versions to yesterday’s violence with one version suggesting that the climax to the lingering crisis was the attack by suspected thugs, while another version claimed that an attempt to forcibly suspend their colleagues resulted in the violence that occurred.

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    Uwa said he was in the chairman’s office to deliver an invitation for his grandmother’s burial, alleging that the chairman rejected the invitation card and drinks and ordered that he and majority leader the beaten up. He alleged he was stripped naked with N50,000 stolen by his assailants.

    His words, “I went to the office of the chairman with my majority leader and another councillor to invite him (Juan Governor) to my grandmother’s burial with a bottle of whiskey.

  • Suspected thugs attack Atiku’s supporter

    A former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Freedom Adowei, was on Wednesday attacked by suspected thugs.

    His vehicle was reportedly shot several times.

    Adowei, the leader of the Egbesu Generals (EG), a group of former militant leaders in the Niger Delta, was said to be returning from a house-to-house campaign for the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in Akure, the Ondo state capital, when he was attacked.

    A statement yesterday by the spokesman for the Egbesu Generals, Mr. Frank Ekpemupolo, in Warri, Delta State, said Adowei was attacked about 3pm in Akure on Wednesday, adding that his assailants were suspected to be political thugs.

    Adowei and his group, the Egbesu Generals, recently offered to mobilise Niger Delta region, especially the Ijaw, to support Atiku and his running mate, Mr. Peter Obi.

    The statement alleged that Adowei narrowly escaped death, as his attackers rained more than 250 bullets on him and his convoy, leaving one of his followers injured.

     

  • Suspected thugs attack Ogun deputy speaker’s office

    Armed men suspected to be political thugs yesterday attacked the campaign office of Ogun State House of Assembly Deputy Speaker Kunle Oluomo at Ifo.

    Also, suspected thugs defaced the walls of the perimeter fence of the Ibara home of former Governor Segun Osoba was defaced with insulting graffiti.

    It was the second time such graffiti was written on the home of the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in the last four years.

    In a statement, Oluomo said: “Over 100 hoodlums stormed my constituency office this afternoon (yesterday), wounded party members who were with me and destroyed my office and my free school buses.

    “They are still milling around my office and the town as I speak, saying ‘let Oluomo come out now and we will teach him a lesson about how not to disobey Oga on consensus’.”

    The lawmaker representing Ifo Constituency I added that he was rescued by armed policemen from Sango-Ota Area Command and taken to their station for protection.

    The attack came barely eight hours after sporadic gunshots rang out repeatedly in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, venue of a meeting between Muhammad Indabawa-led Electoral Committee and the governorship aspirants of the APC in the state.

    The incident forced many, including reporters, to scamper for safety.

    The gunshots, which began late Monday night, spilled into the early hours of yesterday when armed thugs suspected to be supporters of two major contenders to the APC governorship ticket battled each other.

    The eight-man Electoral Committee hurriedly called off the meeting with the aspirants and other stakeholders.

    The governorship primary of the APC earlier scheduled to hold in the 236 wards across the state have been severally postponements due to logistics reasons.

    But the committee members, who arrived the state at 7:45 p.m on Monday for a meeting with the aspirants, could not start it until about 10.30 p.m.

    The meeting ended abruptly barely 85 minutes later, following security breaches at the venue.

    Six persons – Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade (Ogun West), Senator Gbenga Kaka (Ogun East), Otunba Bimbo Ashiru (Ogun East), Prince Dapo Abiodun (Ogun East), Jimi Lawal (Ogun East) and Abayomi Hunye (Ogun West) – are battling for the APC governorship ticket. And they reportedly attended the meeting.

  • `Suspected thugs invade Kogi assembly

    `Suspected thugs invade Kogi assembly

    •Faleke condemns attack on Kogi lawmaker 

    Suspected thugs yesterday invaded the Kogi State House of Assembly, while security men watched helplessly as lawmakers were molested.

    No sooner had the house converged for plenary that thugs, about 100, arrived in three Hilux vans, rushed into the chamber and manhandled everyone in sight.

    Elder Friday Sani Makama (Igalamala/Odolu), billed to formally resume after his six-month suspension, was stripped naked. The thugs recorded the commotion as security personnel watched helplessly.

    The Speaker, Imam Umar, and his security aides ran helter-skelter to find a way out while reporters watching proceedings from the gallery scampered to safety. Some scaled the assembly’s fence.

    Governor Yahaya Bello has condemned the invasion, saying his administration will not condone any act of thuggery.

    He added that anyone caught would face law.

    Bello, who spoke through his media aide Kingsley Fanwo, ordered his security adviser, Commander Jerry Omodara (rtd) to liaise with security operatives to ensure that perpetrators were brought to book.

    A member of the House of Representatives, James Faleke, has described the attack as bestial and barbaric. According to him, the attack, by hoodlums suspected to be loyal to the powers that be, is another low in the rapidly degenerating security of the state.

    Faleke said: “Who will save our state from being in the news for the wrong reasons every day? What happened yesterday was a show of shame and mad desperation. This is a big threat to democracy; it further drives in the fact that indeed, nobody is safe in Kogi any longer as the government of the day seems to be giving tacit support to thuggery and lawlessness.”

    The lawmaker called on the Inspector General of Police to investigate the “barbaric act” and arrest culprits.

  • Suspected thugs attack filling stations in Ado-Ekiti

    Suspected thugs attack filling stations in Ado-Ekiti

    •Property worth millions of naira destroyed

    Youths suspected to be political thugs on Monday attacked filling stations owned by marketers in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital.

    The marketers reportedly shut their outlets in deference to a directive by the leadership of unions in the oil sector.

    Property worth millions of naira were destroyed in the attack, which began about 7am.

    The hoodlums were armed with axes, cutlasses, bottles and other weapons.

    Governor Ayo Fayose, featuring in his monthly media chat, “Meet Your Governor”, on Monday night, said he had tried his best to restrain youths who came to the Government House, declaring their readiness to attack filling stations that refused to sell petrol to the public.

    He mentioned Sulaiman Akinbami, whom he accused of “coming from Osun State to cause problem in Ekiti State.”

    The governor accused petrol dealers of attempting to disrupt the funeral of ex-Military Governor of the defunct Western State  Maj.-Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo last weekend.

    The attack started at NIPCO Filling Station owned by the state Secretary of the Petrol Dealers Association of Nigeria (PEDAN), Alhaji Akinbami, whom the thugs accused of collecting N50 million from a political party. They alleged that he was the mastermind of the strike.

    The hoodlums destroyed refrigerators, smashed soft drinks and poured engine oil on the floor. They chased away attendants and caused panic.

    Two filling stations operated by Tetra Abby Company on Adebayo Road and Dallimore Street were vandalised by the thugs. They are owned by a marketer, Ade Bank.

    A worker at NIPCO Filling Station said: “The thugs came in three vehicles, one Hilux van with government’s number plate and two mini buses, popularly called Akoto. They chanted war songs, chased everybody away and disrupted traffic.

    “The hoodlums were armed with weapons. We escaped through the back fence because they were determined to kill.

    “The six dispensing machines were vandalised. Lubricants and other items were damaged.”

    Contacted on the phone, Akinbami alleged that his life was in danger.

    He denied collecting N50million from a party.

    Akinbami said: “The Ekiti State government has declared war against me and my family. My life is in danger. I’m hiding some where. I cannot say when I will come to Ekiti State. I’m from Osun State.

    Governor Fayose, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, called for restraint over attacks on petrol stations.

    He said: “Nobody should take the law into his hands.”

  • Three arrested over attack on APC chieftain in Edo

    Three arrested over attack on APC chieftain in Edo

    Three suspected thugs have been arrested over Monday’s attack on a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress and a former governorship aspirant in Edo State, Chief Blessing Agbomhere.

    Agbomhere was beaten and bloodied in the mouth by over 30 thugs at the Benin Airport shortly after he arrived from Abuja.

    Also attacked was a former governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Movement in Bayelsa State, Moses Siasia, who accompanied Agbomhere to Benin City.

    Agbomhere said the thugs kept saying he was disrespecting their boss, a chieftain of the APC.

    He said it was security details attached to the Commissioner of Police in Delta State, Zanna Ibrahim, that rescued him from the thugs.

    The thugs were suspected to be loyalists of Edo State Deputy Governor, Hon Philip Shaibu, who came on the same flight with the duo.

    Speaking to newsmen at the Police Command headquarters in Benin City, Agbomhere alleged that he met the deputy governor at the Abuja Airport but avoided him.

    He said, “I have been known to be courageous and fearless. When we came into Benin, I was immediately attacked by some criminals who were shouting kill him before the police came to rescue us. And they used all sort of weapons on me.

    “I came to Benin because I am on an assignment on the development of the Niger-Delta and I am seeing this. I will not be deterred. I will continue in my effort to promote my state Edo and to ensure that I still hold public officers accountable to be people.

    “If not for the timely intervention of my friend, I don’t know what some of them were planning to do. I came in with my friend who was a governorship candidate in Bayelsa state, we were together and immediately we stepped in we were attacked”.

    Agbomhere further stated that the police have arrested some persons who have confessed that they were sent to assassinate him.

    On his part, Moses Siasia described the attack as unfortunate for democracy and the leadership of Edo state.

    According to him, “I don’t know what political differences he has with Blessing who was former aspirant, look at me from Bayelsa state, beaten this way. These are one of the things that cause tribal clashes.

    “We have made our reports to the police, they have given us medical clearance and we are going to check ourselves. It is unfortunate for democracy and for leadership in Edo state”.

    Edo police spokesman, DSP Moses Nkombe, said the police was still investigating the incident.

    Reacting to the alleged assault, the Chief Press Secretary to the deputy governor, Mr Musa Ebhomiana, described Agbomhere’s claim as cheap blackmail stating that Hon Shaibu will not stoop so low attack a brother and a member of the same party with him who hailed from the same senatorial district.

    He stated that even though the Deputy Governor incidentally boarded the same plane with Agbomhere, it could not have been possible for the two of them to depart the airport at the same time.

    Musa explained that his boss could not have make calls from Abuja or inside the plane to the alleged thugs to attach him.

    “He, (Agbomhere) should look elsewhere for those who attack him at the Benin airport,” he said.

     

  • Suspected thugs demolish Bakassi market in Ladipo

    Suspected thugs demolish Bakassi market in Ladipo

    •Slain trader’s family demands body 

    A section of Ladipo auto parts Market tagged Odo Aladura aka Bakassi market was yesterday demolished by persons suspected to be thugs.

    Goods worth millions of naira were destroyed during the exercise said to have taken place around 3am.

    Traders planning a procession during the wake for Anene Utazi killed during the February fracas at the market were shocked to meet their shops destroyed.

    Addressing reporters before leaving for the state secretariat at Alausa in Ikeja, Bakassi Market chairman Chukwuma Maxwell Uroko said: “The market had been closed for the past 10 days by the Ministry of the Environment, because the land is in contention between the Odo Aladura community and Owoyemi family that is laying claim to the land based on a court judgement”.

    A trader who gave his name as ikechukwu claimed that one connection led the thugs to demolish the market.

    “If it is demolished by government, government would not demolish and run away. It is clear that those who did it were not government people. They used thugs,” he said.

    Ladipo Central Executive Auto Dealers Association (LACEC) Vice President Jude Chikelu Nwankwo said they got the shops from the Odo Aladura community.

    “We came to market to prepare for the wake of the late Utazi but what we saw was the demolition of our market. I have it on information that one of the disputed families came with thugs led by Ijoba and demolished our shops. We were not given any quit notice before Ijoba and the family came with thugs and demolished our shops,” Nwankwo said.

    The Eze Ndigbo Mushin Peter Umeh, who led a delegation of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Igbo leaders and others to the market, urged the traders to be peaceful.

    The bereaved family represented by the late Utazi’s uncle, Dennis Dike and sister, Mrs Peace Amagbor, appealed to the police to release his remains for burial.

    Dike said the family is worried over the delay in getting Utazi’s body.

    Mrs Amagbor said: “I am annoyed and confused; let police release the remains of my brother. This is what our family wants. Why should our brother’s remains be made to be hanging like that? Release the remains to us for burial.”

  • Suspected thugs ‘stab’ man to death in Kaduna

    A 29-year-old man, Nansoh Emmanuel Wardam, has been allegedly stabbed to death by suspected thugs at the Television village, Kaduna for mistakenly splashing dirty water on them.

    The suspected hoodlums were reportedly smoking Indian hemp and taking hard drugs on the Jaba Road near the village head’s home.

    The suspects also allegedly stabbed the deceased’s friend, Monday, who was hospitalised at the intensive care unit of St. Gerald’s Catholic Hospital, Kakuri, Kaduna.

    Wardam, son of the Chairman of Kaduna State chapter of the Coalition of Closed Unpaid Textiles Workers, Comrade Wordom Simdik, was married and had a child. He was into aluminum roofing.

    Our reporter learnt that Wardam came from Nassarawa to collect money from his friend, when he mistakenly stepped on a plank that fell into a drainage and splashed water on the suspected thugs playing snooker and smoking Indian hemp. An argument ensued and the hoodlums stabbed him and his friend.

    It was gathered that Wardam was taken to COCCIN Hospital at the Television village, to Gwamna Awan Hospital in Nassarawa and to Barau Dikko Hospital before being brought to St. Gerald’s Hospital where he died.

    Four suspects were arrested and taken to the police post at the Television village, but they were later taken to the police station in Sabon-Tasha because youths threatened to invade the police post and mete out ‘jungle justice’ to the suspects.

    A friend to the deceased’s father, Ishar Iorngulun, said Jaba Road was notorious for crimes.

    Police spokesman Zubairu Abubakar confirmed the incident.

    He said four people were arrested, adding that investigation was on.

     

  • Suspected thugs attack widows in Ebonyi

    Over 100 suspected thugs yesterday stormed Onuafor-Ezeukwa in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State and attacked widows at a party organised for them by the Coordinator of Ezeukwa Development Centre, Ogbonnaya Odabe.

    The hoodlums, who were armed with cutlasses, rods, bottles, woods and other weapons, smashed over 1,000 plastic chairs and destroyed five canopies and sound systems meant for the event.

    A source alleged that they were working for a political party and sent by a member of the National Assembly, who hails from the local government.

    A team of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and policemen led by the DPO in Onicha Local Government arrived the scene one hour  later, but could not subdue the hoodlums, who chanted solidarity songs in support of a governorship and House of Representatives candidates from the area.

    The hoodlums reportedly resisted arrest and overpowered the policemen, who left the scene for fear of attack.

    At press time, the thugs, who increased in number, took over strategic locations, while people fled.

    Police spokesman Chris Anyanwu said he was yet to receive official information on the incident.

  • Suspected thugs attack worshippers

    The crisis rocking the Assemblies of God Church took a violent dimension yesterday, as suspected thugs allegedly loyal to a leader of the church, attacked worshippers going for prayers in Enugu.

    The suspected hoodlums set ablaze a Toyota Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) belonging to a cleric, Pastor Elisha Anyanwu,  after beating him up.

    Another pastor, Gideon Adolphus, was also beaten up. He sustained injuries.

    The clergymen lost an iPad, wristwatches, cheque books, N85,000, among others.

    Speaking to our reporter at the church’s Evangel Camp at Okpoto in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Pastor Anyanwu alleged that the suspected thugs planned to kill him, but he escaped by divine intervention.

    The General Superintendent, Rev Chidi Okoroafor, decried the incident, which he said was strange to the church.