A Makurdi chief magistrate court presided by Justice Isaac Ajim yesterday remanded a Fulani herdsman for open grazing, criminal conspiracy, causing grievous hurt, culpable homicide and illegal possession of firearms.
When the case was mentioned, the Prosecutor Asp Imo Edward told the court that on November 2, 2017 at about 7 pm, the DPO Logo Division received a distress call from the unit commander Police mobile force 13 squadron on special duty at Ayilamo that some Fulani herdsmen stormed Azege village shot and killed one Ortse Kwaghdoo aged 40 and also shot one Mr. Akaa Hingir in the chest and he sustained serious injury.
He said during Police investigation, one Mallam. Gambo Ibrahim Mohammad was arrested and a locally made pistol was recovered from him.
The prosecutor informed the court that Mallam Gambo committed an offence under section 97,248,222 of the penal code Law of Benue State and section 19(7) of the Anti Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment law of Benue State 2017 punishable under section 3(1) of the robbery and firearms act.
No plea was taken on want of jurisdiction. The accused was remanded at the Federal Prison and the case adjourned to February 9th, 2018 for further mentioning.
It would be recalled that the Anti Open Grazing prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law was signed by Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on the May 22nd, 2017 but went into effect on November 1st, 2017.
Mallam Gambo who committed the offence on the November 2nd, 2017 is the first offender since the law came into effect.
When contacted, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Barr Micheal GUSA said the law is made to protect both herdsmen and farmers and it would not spell anyone who breaks it.
He urged the public to report trespasses to security agencies and the Livestock Guards and warns against people taking laws into their hands.
Gusa commends security forces for a job well done.
The post Benue remands first Fulani herdsman for illegal possession of firearms, violation of Anti Open Grazing Prohibition Law appeared first on Within Nigeria.
Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Lagos State Command, have apprehended a professed pastor, Abraham Roland, for allegedly running a human trafficking camp in the Mowe area of Ogun State.
The NSCDC said the pastor allegedly hypnotised his victims, who were mostly admission seekers and students at higher institutions in Lagos, and took them to the camp.
He was also alleged to have sexually harassed some females among them.
It was learnt that many of the victims had spent between three and five years at the camp which Roland also used as a church and residence.
He reportedly struck relationships with the victims through a tutorial centre he ran at Kosofe, Lagos, where they respectively enrolled to prepare for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
Our correspondent learnt that in the course of the tutorial, Roland introduced the victims to a fellowship, which he later moved to his Mowe residence.
After some of the students gained admission, he was said to have lured them into the residence and brainwashed them into believing that their success was attainable through prayers rather than education.
He reportedly influenced two of the victims, who were students at the University of Lagos, Busayo Grilo and Tolu Daniel, to quit their studies at the institution.
Busayo’s elder brother, Goriola Grilo, told newsmen that it took a long time before the family discovered that she was being held at the camp.
READ: He can abandon his business to watch match — Wife of Arsenal Fan who slumped, died in viewing centreHe said the family suspected that Busayo had been hypnotised when she told them that she needed “clearance from the leader” each time she was asked to come home.
He said, “She went to a tutorial centre for students preparing to sit for UTME. That was sometime in 2013. All of a sudden, she told us that the coaching centre wanted to form a Christian fellowship. Giving the fact that we are Christians, the family allowed her. We felt it was better for her to combine academics with prayers.
“All of a sudden, she started talking about success camping, but our mother questioned the camping and warned her against it. After she got admission into UNILAG to study Guidance and Counselling, she started telling us about the success camp again.
“We did not know she had been brainwashed by the pastor. He carefully selected some intelligent members of the tutorial centre and turned them against their families and friends. It became very worrisome when my sister came home last year and said she had been rusticated from the school because she did not pass some courses. I was surprised because she is brilliant.
“She did not tell us that the pastor at the camp was also the tutor until a guy who recently escaped from the camp told to us that she was living in the camp. We thought she was in school; the guy said he had spent nine years in the camp doing nothing with his life before he realised that he was hypnotised.
“He said the only time anybody left the camp was when they needed to get food from their families. That was when I realised why my sister rarely came home even when the school was on vacation.”
He said he subsequently wrote a petition to the NSCDC, Lagos State Command, which bust the camp last Wednesday and rescued 10 victims – seven females and three males.
“One of victims, Tolu Daniel, was studying Psychology at the University of Lagos, but he was forced to drop out at 200-level.
“Parents of the victims were at the NSCDC office in Ikeja last Wednesday. There is a guy, whose parents had paid about N1m tuition fee after he gained admission into a university in Edo State. He has become a mental case at the camp,” he added.
A parent, Roseline Johnson, said her daughter, Olabisi, was lured into the camp sometime last year, after she enrolled in the tutorial centre.
She said her daughter always told her that she was going to the Redemption Camp on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, adding that it was when the pastor was arrested that she knew she was lying.
“She had a National Diploma certificate at UNILAG. She went for the tutorial because she wanted to further her education. The man collected their certificates and told them there was nothing like school,” she added.
An official of the corps told newsmen that the suspect located the camp near a bush on the outskirts of Mowe so that people would not get wind of his illegal activities.
He said, “We got a complaint that the pastor was into abduction and was sexually harassing his female victims. He had brainwashed about five of them to drop out of school. Some of them had been living with him for four years, while others had spent over five years. He added Abraham to their names.”
The Lagos State Commandant of the NSCDC, Tajudeen Balogun, said the suspect and the victims had been handed over to the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other related offences, adding that the victims would be rehabilitated by the agency.
He said, “It is a case of suspected human trafficking. The command acted on a petition from one of the relatives of the victims. We tracked down the pastor at a camp in Mowe. He was not ordained as a pastor. He lured the victims from a tutorial centre in Kosofe and hypnotised them.
“We urge parents to be vigilant about how their children move around. Some parents of the victims cried, saying their children had changed.”
READ: Cameroonian man dies mysteriously after sleeping with his Nigerian lover in BayelsaThe post ‘Pastor’ hypnotises admission seekers, detains victimized students for years in Ogun appeared first on Within Nigeria.
Goodluck Jonathan, therefore, said his priority now “is how to ensure that the Peoples Democratic Party regains the Presidency in 2019.”
Jonathan said this when Chief Olabode George and his campaign team paid him a courtesy visit in his country home in Otuoke, Bayelsa State on Tuesday.
A statement by Bode George Media Office after the meeting quoted the ex-President as saying it was his responsibility to ensure that the PDP rose again as a strong political platform to win the next elections.
Jonathan said, “Whether I like it or not, I must take responsibility for the defeat because I led the party to the election. The only thing that will make me sleep well is to ensure that the PDP comes back to power.”
The former President said he was working with other stakeholders to ensure that the party was well organised to achieve this purpose though he preferred to work from the back seat.
He said the party must begin to take the right steps in the right direction to regain the confidence of the electorate, adding that the mistakes of the past would not be repeated.
Speaking earlier, George, a former deputy national chairman of PDP who is currently on a nationwide campaign for the chairmanship election in December 9, had congratulated the former President on his 60th birthday.
George urged the ex-President, as the leader of the party, to ensure that the PDP emerge stronger from the forthcoming national convention.
George, however, told the former President that the failure to apply the micro-zoning principle to the PDP chairmanship position had caused ripples capable of dividing the party.
READ: 2019 Presidency: No automatic ticket for Buhari — TinubuHe lamented that the party appeared to be drifting as there was no reasonable justification offered by the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee for jettisoning the principle, which was applied to all previous elections to the position.
George also paid a courtesy call on Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State at the governor’s office.
He commended the governor for sustaining the confidence, goodwill and support of the people in his administration and the party.
The governor described the December 9 national convention as a window of opportunity to put the PDP’s house in order, urging all aspirants to elective positions as well as the leaders of the party to show tolerance and patriotism and work together to make the party proud.
He said it was important to ensure a free, fair, credible and acceptable election.
George was given a rousing reception at the state party secretariat in Yenagoa where he met with party stakeholders and delegates to the convention led by the State Chairman, Chief Cleopas Moses.
Others at the meeting included members of the state House of Assembly led by the Speaker, Friday Benson and local government chairmen.
READ: Buhari’s administration good at lies, says Jonathan
The post I’m working for PDP to regain presidency, I take responsibility for 2015 defeat — Jonathan appeared first on Within Nigeria.
The ever cheerful burn survivor, Obanye Francess Chizoba has begun her mandatory one year National Youth Service program.
The photo lover, posted pictures of herself at Delta State NYSC camp and wrote:
“Let me crush on myself today
My WCW
Chizzy francess
Freshest otondu
Delta copper
Is not an easy smtin”
Few months ago, the Anambra state University graduate revealed how her uncle’s wife poured acid on her when she was only nine.
More photos of Francess below…
The post Acid dint stop her, burn survivor begins her national youth service program appeared first on Within Nigeria.
The victims of the Badoo cult, identified as Iyabo (mother), David, 4; and eight-year-old Rachael, were reportedly killed around 2am on Tuesday at a Celestial Church of Christ parish in the neighbourhood while they were asleep.
It was learnt that the assailants had scaled the fence to gain entry into the church and thereafter used a stone to pound their targets to death.
It was gathered that the church also served as the residence of the family.
Our correspondent was told that the victims had on Monday returned from a two-week trip.
The woman’s husband was reportedly not around when the gang struck.
A resident of the area, Adeshina Idowu, said the family moved to the area six months ago, noting that the community was stunned by the attack.
He said, “The family moved into the community six months ago. Somebody rushed into my house this morning (Tuesday) and said that Mama David was dead.
It was when I got to the scene that I saw the woman’s two kids were also killed. The scene of the attack indicated that Badoo was at work because there was a stone at the scene.
“I don’t know how the assailants got into the community because we have security guards patrolling everywhere. How they entered into the victims’ compound is a mystery to us.”
Another resident, who identified himself only as Tajudeen, said the incident was reported to the police at the Agbowa Police Division, adding that policemen from the division took the corpses away.
READ: Man caught fleeing with 5 children kidnapped from a Church CrusadeHe said residents had taken the incident for a robbery, until they got to the scene.
He said, “The family just returned to the village on Monday. Initially, we thought it was a robbery. But when we entered into their apartment, we saw a stone used by the assailants and there was no sign that any property of the family was stolen. That was when it occurred to us that the assailants were members of Badoo.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, Olarinde Famous-Cole, said a landlady and a commercial motorcycle rider had been arrested for the killings.
He said, “A case of murder was repoted at the Agbowa Police Station. The landlady and an okada rider (motorcyclist) who reside in the compound have been arrested and transferred to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba.
“The incident has no connection with ritual killings as insinuated.
“The era of ritual killings is gone in the state. Investigation is ongoing.”
READ: Robbers attack Skye Bank in Ondo, killed two policemen, carted away moneyThe post Badoo resume attack in Lagos, pound mother, children to death in church appeared first on Within Nigeria.
