CRIME
Ondo Attack: Nigeria Fast Becoming Failed State – ECWA President.
From Jude Dangwam, Jos
The President Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) and the head of TEKAN-ECWA Bloc of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Rev. Dr. Stephen Baba Panya has cautioned that Nigeria must not tow the path of Somalia.
He said the many killings, banditry, kidnappings, and criminalities across the country were clear pointers to the existential fact that Nigeria was fast becoming a failed state and heading towards anarchy and disintegration.
Panya stated this Monday in a press statement signed and made available to Newsmen in Jos the Plateau State capital.
According to him, “What is really keeping Nigeria today is nothing but the grace and mercies of God, and we must not take this for granted as a nation.
As a multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation, every effort must be made not to destabilize our nation’s critical fault lines.“Nigeria should learn from the bitter experience of countries such as Somalia, which is known as the most homogenous nation in terms of religion, ethnicity, language and culture. However, due to the clannish war, it has not known peace since 1991.”
The ECWA President said the attack was a well calculated assault on the peace-loving people of the Owo Kingdom and the entire Christendom in Nigeria; describing it as “barbaric, vile, wicked, Satanic, and a deliberate action to wipe out Christianity in the country.”
“That the attack was carried out on Pentecost Sunday, the generally acknowledged ‘birthday’ of the Church, clearly shows it is a continuation of the relentless but futile effort of the devil and his agents to exterminate the Church in Nigeria,” Panya stated.
The President while condoling with the families of the victims, the Catholic Church and the Christendom in Nigeria, expressed worries thus, “ECWA is worried at the increasing spate of hostility against the Church in Nigeria without the government taking drastic and adequate measures to forestall such acts.
“We also need to draw attention to another unfortunate trend that is gradually emerging and rapidly taking root as the new normal in our nation. This is the killing of people on alleged blasphemy being promoted and perpetrated by Islamic extremists.
“We recall the gruesome murder of Deborah Samuel Yakubu, a young Christian girl in Sokoto, and more recently, in Abuja, the murder of Odaru, a young Muslim vigilante from Nasarawa state for alleged blasphemy. We also recall the recent killing of Harira Jibril and her four children in Anambra state for reasons that are not yet very clear.”
Panya cautioned that people who perpetrate such evil will continue to be emboldened to do more havoc when there are no visible and deterrent repercussions for their actions.
“The greatest honor that can be done to the victims of this attack is to get to the root of the matter and bring the perpetrators to justice no matter who they are and where they come from,” he stated.
CRIME
Enugu Police Bust Armed Robbery Operation, Arrest Suspect, Recover Arms
From Sylvia Udegbunam, Enugu
The Enugu State Police Command has sustained its onslaught against criminal activities during the Yuletide season with the arrest of a male armed robbery suspect and the recovery of an imitation firearm and ammunition.
The suspect, one Oshim Lambert Chimuanya (male, aged 28), was arrested on 13th December 2025 at about 11:30 p.
m. while attempting to rob members of the public around Agric Bank Bus Stop, Independence Layout, Enugu, following a prompt response to a distress call by operatives of the Command attached to the Independence Layout Police Division.In a statement sent by the Police public relations officer Enugu State command Daniel Ndukwe stated that Upon arrival at the scene, the operatives apprehended the suspect in the act of robbing an unsuspecting young man and recovered from him one revolver imitation (toy) pistol loaded with eight toy bullets.
The suspect is currently in custody and will be arraigned in court upon the conclusion of investigations.The Commissioner of Police, Mamman Bitrus Giwa, has charged operatives of the Command to sustain the momentum and continue to make Enugu State uninhabitable for unrepentant criminals during the festive season and beyond. He further enjoins citizens to continue to cooperate with the Police by providing timely and credible information that will aid crime prevention and detection.
CRIME
NDLEA Arrests Fleeing Bandits’ Drug Supplier in Niger
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a notorious supplier of illicit drugs to bandits operating in the area of Kuta, Shiroro Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger state.
This is contained in a statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi on Sunday in Abuja.
Babafemi said that the suspect was nabbed three weeks after escaping arrest at his home.
He said that NDLEA operatives had on Nov.
20 raided his house at Anguwan Makera, Kuta, where they recovered 471.8 kilograms of skunk, a strain of cannabis.“Though he escaped arrest during the raid and has since been in hiding, the manhunt for him eventually paid off on Thursday, Dec.
11.“This was when NDLEA officers acting on processed intelligence traced and arrested him at one of his drug joints in Anguwan Fadama, Kuta.
“Intelligence reports had indicated that the suspect is a major supplier of illicit drugs to bandits operating in Shiroro local government area,” he said.
Meanwhile, NDLEA officers in Abia on Thursday, Dec. 11 raided a clandestine codeine syrup-manufacturing factory at Amapu Igbengwo village, Umuakpara, in Osisioma LGA of the state.
Babafemi said that during the operation, operatives recovered a total of 9,015 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 1,152.2kg.
Also, in Enugu state, operatives on Thursday, Dec. 11 arrested another suspect along Onitsha – Enugu Ezike road with 7.2kg skunk.
Babafemi said that another suspect was nabbed along Enugu-Ezike -Ette road with 94.6kg of the same psychoactive substance.
“A raid carried out by NDLEA operatives at a notorious drug joint known as “Beere the California” at Ido in Oyo state on Thursday, Dec. 11 led to the seizure of 3.4kg skunk.
“Others are 1.6kg Colorado, a synthetic cannabis and 400grams of methamphetamine. The owner of the drug joint identified currently at large while a suspect was nabbed at the joint.
“Another operation at Idi Oro, Elekuro, Ibadan on Friday, Dec. 12 led to the arrest of Olusanya Abosede, 35, and the seizure of 238.4kg skunk,” he said.
In the same vein, two suspects were arrested on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at Gbaji checkpoint, Seme road Badagry, Lagos with 50,000 pills of tramadol 250mg.
Babafemi said that NDLEA operatives in Ogun state arrested another two suspects with 73kg skunk at Iperu, adding that a suspect was nabbed with 25kg of the same substance at Oke Agbede, Imeko area of the state on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
“In Ondo state, NDLEA officers acting on credible intelligence on Monday, Dec. 8 raided a compound in Ogbese, Akure North local government area, where they arrested a 55-year-old woman and her 29-year-old son.
“The NDLEA operatives also recovered 1,187 kilograms of skunk and its seeds from them,” he said.
Similarly, a suspect was arrested during a raid operation at Uroe community, Owan East LGA of Edo state, where 461kg skunk and its seeds were recovered on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Babafemi said in Gombe state, a suspect was arrested with 40,000 capsules of tramadol at Tunfure area, adding that two other suspects were nabbed at Ashaka Jalingo, with 56kg skunk on Monday, Dec. 8.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 907 pills of tramadol, tapentadol, cocodamol, amitriptyline and bromazepam were intercepted and seized by NDLEA operatives at two major courier companies in Lagos.
Babafemi said that the drugs were concealed in containers of local black soap, and designer wears, in six different consignments going to the US, Canada and Sweden.
He said that the drugs were seized between Tuesday, Dec. 9 and Wed, Dec. 9 respectively.
Also, at the Apapa seaport in Lagos, NDLEA officers on Saturday, Dec. 13 intercepted a consignment of 170,000 bottles of codeine syrup weighing 23,579kg during a joint examination of a container with men of Customs Service and other security agencies.
In like manner, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, work places and communities among others in the past week.
This, he said included WADA enlightenment lecture to students and staff of Community Senior Secondary School, Sheme, Katsina; Government College, Tudun Wada Dankade, Kano; and Methodist High School, Makurdi, Benue.
Babafemi said that the Enugu state command of the Agency paid a WADA advocacy visit to HRM Igwe Ikechukwu Samuel Asadu, Chairman, Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers.
The NDLEA Chairman, retired Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa has commended the officers and men of DOGI, Niger, Abia, Oyo, Enugu, Seme, Ogun, Ondo, Gombe, Apapa and Edo Commands for the arrests, seizures and their dexterity.
Marwa enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the Agency.
CRIME
Mortuary Attendant in Police Net over Alleged Organ Harvesting in Edo
A mortuary attendant in the Upper Sakponba area of Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo has landed in police net after allegations of missing vital organs from a corpse kept at Akugbe Mortuary.
This incident triggered a violent reaction from relatives of the deceased.
The situation reportedly escalated when angry family members and friends accused a mortuary attendant of harvesting organs from the body.
Relatives of the deceased were said to have raised alarm when they arrived at the mortuary on Friday to collect the body for burial and allegedly discovered that some vital organs were missing.
An eyewitness, Osaro Ivie, described the scene as chaotic, saying tempers flared after family members accused the attendant of engaging in ritual practices.
“The relatives claimed that the chest cavity of the deceased had been emptied and stuffed with nylon,” Ivie said.
He said the relatives threatened to lynch the attendant and set the facility ablaze before police operatives intervened to restore calm.
Confirming the incident on Sunday, ASP Eno Ikoedem, Public Relations Officer of the police command in Edo, said the command received a distress call that a mob was on the verge of attacking a suspect at the mortuary.
“The Command received a distress call that someone at Akugbe Mortuary was about to be lynched, and the Divisional Police Officer, Ugbekun Division, was immediately mobilised to rescue a mortuary attendant alleged to have harvested organs of a corpse,” Ikoedem said.
Ikoedem explained that the suspect was rescued from the crowd and subsequently to custody.
She added that he was currently being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), where investigations were ongoing to determine the circumstances surrounding the allegation.
Ikoedem assured the public that a thorough investigation would be conducted, urging residents to remain calm and allow due process to take its course.

