14112022

6 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2022
7-yr-old pupil
injured as
explosion rocks
Yobe
A
suspected explosive device
detonated at Nayinawa forest
area of Damaturu, the Yobe State capital,
yesterday, reportedly injured a sevenyear-old
Almajiri pupil.
It was gathered that the incident, which
occurred around 9am, was
accompanied by a heavy sound that
made residents scamper for safety.
However, there was no reported loss of
life.
Although the cause of the incident was
unknown, the Yobe State Police Public
Relations Officer, Dungus Abdulkarim,
disclosed that the Anti-Bomb Squad was
dispatched to the scene of the incident.
“Yes, we are aware of the incident, but
the information is still sketchy. We have
dispatched our Anti-Bomb Squad to the
scene, and we will inform you of the
outcome,” the police spokesman said.
“The victim has been taken to hospital
for medication because he was the only
person injured.”
Some eyewitnesses further claimed a
chisel and knife were found on a mat
where the incident happened.
“It’s been a long time since we heard
of such a panicking sound. I was going
to the market when the incident
happened and on reaching the scene, I
saw a chisel and knife among other
tools,” a resident, identified as Adamu
Hassan said.
Meanwhile, the victim has since been
rushed to a specialist hospital in
Damaturu for medication.
Yobe is one of the states in the Northeast
affected by the over a decade-long Boko
Haram insurgency. Other states are
neighbouring Borno and Adamawa.
It has yet to be ascertained if Sunday’s
explosion is linked to the
insurgents.“The incident came about
seven months after a similar explosion
occurred at a relaxation centre in the
Abasha Ward, Gashua Local
Government Area of Yobe State.
During the April 24 attack, one person
was confirmed dead with seven others
injured in a pub some residents were
drinking.“
Police rescue
kidnapped
28-year-old taxi
driver
By Ike Uchechukwu
CALABAR—THE Cross River
State Police Command has
rescued a 28-year-old taxi driver, Mr.
Joseph David, who was kidnapped
along Esuk Mba road in the Akpabuyo
Local Government Area of the state.
Vanguard gathered that the victim
was rescued in the forest of Esuk Mba
by the Anti-Cultism and Kidnapping
Squad, a tactical unit of the command,
in collaboration with Operation
Akpakwu (Army detachment) following
a distress call.
The kidnappers were said to have
abandoned their victim when they
discovered that a search and rescue team
were closing in on them.
It also was gathered that the victim's
vehicle was also recovered.
Speaking with Vanguard, the rescued
driver said he was hired to take a
passenger to Esuk Mba to carry Palm
oil at a mill, without knowing that it
was a setup.
"On our way to carry the oil, he asked
me to stop, I inquired about the palm
oil we came to carry and, all of a sudden,
two young men came out from a nearby
bush with long guns and marched me
into a speed boat and took me into the
creeks.
"They left the person who hired me
from Nelson Mandela street in Calabar
with my vehicle. Fortunately, my car
didn't start and, in the process, some
youths from the area suspected
something was wrong. When he was
accosted, he took off, that was when a
call was placed to the tactical unit of
Anti Kidnapping Squad."
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Kaduna bandits demand N10m to
release victim's corpse
By Ibrahim Hassan-Wuyo
A
N10 million ransom is being
demanded for the release of the
remains of one Obadiah Ibrahim, who
was kidnapped in early October in
Sabon Gaya, on his way back from
Abuja to Kaduna.
A family member of the victim, Kefas
Obadiah, said the bandits had earlier
collected N3 million as ransom.
He said his brother died on Monday,
but it was on Thursday that his death
was announced to the family.
"The bandits refused to release my
brother while he was kidnapped, even
after they collected N3 million as
ransom. My brother’s name is Obadiah
Ibrahim. He was kidnapped in early
October in Sabon Gaya, on his way back
from Abuja to Kaduna."
Gunmen kill ex-Benue Polytechnic
deputy rector, LG information officer
By Peter Duru
A
former Deputy Rector of the Benue
State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, and
lecturer in the Department of Electrical
and Electronics, Oche Enenche, was,
weekend, shot dead by the criminal gangs
tormenting motorists and commuters
on the busy Otukpo-Eke-Ugbokolo-
Otukpa highway.
His murder came as the Information
Officer of Ukum Local Government
Area, LGA, of Benue State, Mr. Orbunde
Ephraim, was, Saturday, also shot dead
by unknown gunmen in Zaki Biam, the
Local Government headquarters.
The immediate past chairman of
Ukum LGA, Steve Ayua, who appointed
Ephraim as the council's Information
Officer, said the killers tailed the victim
to his house and shot him in the stomach.
Ayua said: "I appointed him (Ephraim)
Missing man
found dead,
body parts
missing
By Marie-Therese
Nanlong, Samuel
Oyadongha & Emem
Idio
JOS—THE remains of a young
man, who went missing for about
four days in the Babale area of Jos
North Local Government Area of
Plateau State, has been found, with
some of his body parts missing.
It was gathered that the corpse was
recovered on Friday and buried on
Saturday.
A resident of the area said: "The
incident happened at Kururuwan ka
Banza, a thick forest between Zakaliyo
and Babale. The boy is between the
age of 19 and 21 years, and he went
missing for four days."
On the seventh day of searching, his
corpse was found in one of the dark
areas of Kururuwan ka Banza with his
two eyes and penis removed. The
remains of the deceased were buried at
the place where his corpse was found
because the body had completely
decomposed.
The State Police Public Relations
Officer, DSP Alfred Alabo, confirmed
the incident saying, "The Command is
aware of the incident at Babale, the
DPO of that area and his team are
working on it to unravel those behind
the dastardly act. The Commissioner
of Police frowns at incidents like this
and no stone would be left unturned in
bringing the perpetrator(s) to book."
Meanwhile, the sudden
disappearance of the Deputy
Commandant of the Nigeria Security
and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC,
Bayelsa State Command, Mr
Raymond Terwase Gaadi, has thrown
the command into confusion.
Gaadi, who was posted from Enugu
State Command of the corps to the
Bayelsa State Command to take over
as the second in command in April,
was reported missing after he was given
a pass to travel to Enugu State in
October.
It cannot be confirmed if the NSCDC
officer was kidnapped, involved in an
auto crash, or fell victim to the
rampaging flood that was at its peak
during the time of his disappearance.
The fear within the command and
the family is whether the senior officer
is still alive as his phone numbers were
said to be switched off after he got
missing.
The elder brother, Mr Terkura
Gaadi, said he missed his brother's calls
on October 22nd, and since then he
could not reach him as his phones were
ringing without picking up until
October 30th when all the lines were
switched off.
He said: “He was transferred from
Enugu and he resumed work in
Bayelsa in April, he was in the state
until he got missing in October.
NDLEA nabs wanted drug baron/Lagos hotelier, Ademola Kazeem
By Kingsley Omonobi
LAGOS—TEN days after he was
declared wanted, operatives of the
National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency, NDLEA, have arrested the fleeing
Lagos socialite and owner of Adekaz
Hotels, Ademola Kazeem (a.k.a Alhaji
Abdallah Kazeem Muhammed) over
offences bordering on exportation and
trafficking of illicit drugs, as well as
money laundering.
The agency had, on Tuesday,
November 1, declared the suspect
wanted, following his failure to honour
NDLEA invitations and an order granted
by a Federal High Court in Lagos.
The wanted drug kingpin was
•Kill victim after collecting N3m
“Although I wasn’t the one
communicating with the bandits. There
was a negotiator. Earlier the bandits
demanded N200 million and later
settled for N3 million plus. They said we
should bring the money. After giving
them the ransom they told us the money
was for their foodstuffs which had
finished, and that we should bring N15
million.
“They later came down to N5 million
and 3 motorbikes and later collected
one bike. After collecting a bike we didn’t
hear from them again. We tried to
communicate with them but
unfortunately, we were unable.
“Then, on Thursday, when the
negotiator called them, they said our
brother is dead. We thought they were
joking. When we continued, they
threatened to track the caller and come
for him if he did not stop calling their line.
“They said their men were arrested
by police, tied to a tree and killed. So
they vented their anger too on our
brother because of what the police
did to their brother.
"Ibrahim had died on Monday and
they informed us on Thursday. We
asked for his corpse and they said we
should pay them N10m if we want
his corpse they’ll not work for us free
of charge. They swore that if we bring
the money they’ll release the corpse
in three days," he said.
•Weapons recovered from suspected cultists, following arrests by police, after
reported clashes at Swali community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa
State.
the Information Officer of Ukum LGA
but I don't know if the new chairman
retained him or not, but he was shot last
night and was taken to a private hospital,
unfortunately, he didn't get prompt
medical attention and he eventually
passed on."
Meanwhile, the former Deputy Rector
was reportedly killed by gunmen on
Friday evening while on his way back to
Ugbokolo from Otukpo in the company
of his wife.
According to a lecturer in the
institution, who spoke on the condition
of anonymity, the deceased had travelled
in his car to Otukpo town with the wife
for a private engagement, and it was
while on the way back to Ugbokolo on
Friday around 4 pm that they ran into
an ambush by the armed men who have
been attacking motorists on that road
almost regularly.
"From what we gathered, he drove into
the gunmen and they flagged him down.
And they didn't waste a minute, as he was
stopping they shot and killed him.
"They also made attempt to kidnap his
wife but because the security personnel
who were not too far away from the point
of the incident rushed to where the
gunshots came from, the armed men on
sighting the approaching military personnel
fled into the bush abandoning the woman.
"I must tell you that the murder of the
Enenche is one too many on that road. Only
a few months ago we also lost another lecturer
to a similar incident aside from the numerous
travellers that ply that road that has either
been killed, kidnapped or shot at by these
gunmen.
“Contacted, the Police Public Relations
Officer, Superintendent, SP, Catherine Anene,
said she was yet to receive the detail of the
incidents. “
•Arrest woman linked to Pakistani cocaine syndicate
uncovered as the sponsor of some
traffickers arrested by the anti-narcotics
agency in their recent attempt to export
cocaine to Dubai, UAE, and other
destinations outside Nigeria.
A statement by the agency's
spokesman, Femi Babafemi, said, "The
search for him however paid off on
Thursday 10th Nov when he was
successfully taken into custody where he
is currently being interviewed.
"His lid was blown open after the arrest
of one of his mules, Bolujoko Muyiwa
Babalola, a Lagos BRT driver on June
27, at the Murtala Muhammed
International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja,
when he named Ademola Kazeem, alias
Adekaz as the owner of the 900grams of
cocaine he ingested.
"Following Adekaz’s failure to honour
invitations sent to him, the Agency
approached a Federal High Court in
Lagos with three prayers: to attach and
seal his identified properties in choice
areas of Lagos island and Ibadan; declare
him wanted and block his bank account
with a cash balance of N217,000,000, all
of which were granted."
In a related development, NDLEA
operatives also arrested a
businesswoman, Okefun Darlington
Chisom over her links with two Pakistanis:
•Disquiet in Bayelsa
over NSCDC deputy
commandant's
disappearance
Asif Muhammed, 45 and Hussain
Naveed, 57, arrested at the Lagos
airport with 8 kilograms of cocaine
concealed in a sound system while
attempting to board a Qatar Airways
flight to Lahore, Pakistan via Doha on
Saturday November 5.
An automobile parts dealer, Omeje Oliver
(a.k.a David Mark) was arrested on
Monday 31st October in Enugu where he
fled to, after abandoning his business at
Aspanda, Trade Fair Complex Lagos on
16th April in connection with the seizure of
600 grams of heroin concealed inside soles
of lady’s footwears going to Liberia, has
been linked to another drug seizure.