CRIME
Working Towards Predetermined Answers on Uromi Violence
By Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf
Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo announced on 10 April that the State and Federal Governments have decided to investigate the killings in Uromi of sixteen “hunters” from Kano State.
Exactly one week before, he had flown to Kano and paid compensation to the families of the sixteen.
This gave the impression that investigations had been conducted and concluded finding the sixteen innocent hunters and not bandits.The Uromi people are not opposed to any transparent investigation of the 27 March violence. They are telling their stories, insisting they must be heard, demanding that crass generalization must be avoided, and asserting that any transparent investigation must equally take into consideration the concrete conditions that led to the violence.
Questions must continuously be asked for they are critical tools in understanding, appreciating, tackling, and resolving problems. Besides, questions help promote critical thinking, gain beneficial knowledge, discover gaps, foster meaningful dialogue, encourage collaboration, build trust, take informed decisions, and implement practical programmes, plans, and projects.
But the concrete conditions which lead to problems, including violent ones, must equally be investigated, as they expose the underlying and immediate causes; the forces and actors involved; and what is to be done to avoid violence.
Without these, the outcome of any investigation will be, what the Hausa people call, dogon turanci – ‘groundless, senseless, meaningless, and useless grammar’. Grammar that mystifies issues, complicates matters, inflames passion, deepens hatred, and further aggravates the crises by compelling people to take their faith into their hands.
The Uromi people insist that the violence which led to the killing of sixteen “travelling hunters” was only an aspect – the climax – of the physical and psychological violence Fulani bandits/terrorists have subjected them to for years. One told ‘Saturday Vanguard’ of 5 April that bandits/terrorists: “kidnap poor men, they kidnap our women, they rape our women, and they insert sticks in their private parts…”
Another said that the bandits/terrorists: “fed a newborn baby to their dogs in the mother’s presence… She (the mother) is still living with the trauma… After this incident, they still asked for ransom before they (mother and father) were released.”
One Esan king, HRH Solomon Itoya Itoya Iluobe, bitterly complained in January, that: “Our women are raped on their farms, and in some cases, they even set them ablaze. I have paid ransom three times to Fulani herders – they kidnapped my elder sister and two others from this community. Even last month, I paid a ransom. We are tired. We can’t sleep peacefully. Travelling on these roads requires security. Whoever supports their stay in our forests must tell them to leave. We need protection before we are all wiped out.”
Where was the Edo State Government (EDSG), the police and other security forces when all these were happening? What did they do? Why did they leave people to their faith?
Uromi indigenes are still insisting that the sixteen people killed were neither “hunters”, nor “travelers”, but bandits/terrorists. They are insisting that huge cash, arms and ammunition were found in the Dangote trailer which carried them. Why were these not displayed for the world to see?
They are still asking why the trailer refused to be checked in Ubiaja by the vigilante squad. Why, even in Uromi, was it a tipper, fully loaded with sand, that was used to stop the trailer?
Some Uromi indigenes kidnapped in the past, who were at the scene of the violence, identified some of the “travelling hunters” as those who kidnapped them. They also asked, if they were hunters, why was any animal not found in the trailer? Another said: “They use the weapons they carry to hunt and kill their fellow human beings, not animals.”
So, where were governments and security agencies in all these crises?
The on-line ‘Daily Excessive’ newspaper quoted the sister of one of the sixteen victims who said: “My brother is not a hunter; he is a terrorist who has been going from village to village, killing people. Before he and his fellow terrorists set out on their last mission… my mother warned him, saying, ‘The South East is not like the North, where people are killed indiscriminately.’ But he refused to listen. Now the truth is out.”
Some have argued that it is not only Fulani that are bandits/terrorists; that other ethnicities participate as informants/collaborators and even kidnappers! Videos to this effect are circulating in social media. Definitely true. But whether in the north, south, east, west or centre of Nigeria, Fulani constitute over 95 per cent of the people terrorizing others.
Fulani bandits/terrorists created the conditions which others are capitalizing to kidnap and terrorise their people. Worst still, while other ethnic groups severely punish, ostracize, expel and even inflict jungle justice on their informants/collaborators and kidnappers, some top Fulani aristocrats, politicians, clerics, and even academics, shamelessly rationalize, justify and defend the bandits/terrorists.
Uromi violence was triggered by EDSG lackadaisical attitude and ineptitude towards security. The insecurity that the vigilantes were trying to tackle was what the government, in the first instance, should have been doing. If the vigilantes did not do it well, then, EDSG must bear a greater responsibility.
But where was the Federal Government of Nigeria when sophisticated weapons flooded Nigeria? What did state governments do when these bandits/terrorists took over their forests? What did governments do when rag-tag, gun-carrying, blood-thirsty, human-hunting, and blood-shedding bandits/terrorists were recklessly terrorizing people throughout the federation?
Where was the FGN when bandits/terrorists were destroying farms; burning food granaries; imposing fines and taxes on villages; raping women, children and even men; feeding infants to their dogs; sacking villages; desecrating places of worship; and indiscriminately shooting, injuring, maiming, and massacring people, especially in the rural areas?
Where was the Federal Government when Muslim faithful, observing Friday afternoon congregational prayers, were killed and beheaded? When churches were invaded and worshippers mercilessly massacred during Sunday Services? When clerics were abducted, killed and corpses thrown into bushes? When traditional rulers were killed in Kachia and Gobir?
What did the Federal Government do when primary, secondary, and Islamic school children were abducted in their hundreds? When students of tertiary institutions were kidnapped and wasted?
Why is it that whenever victims of banditry/terrorism are defending themselves, they are disarmed, but the marauding bandits/terrorists are left with their sophisticated weapons?
Have they seriously taken time to investigate why victims of terrorism are now and then bombed from the air?
What did the Federal Government do, when bandits/terrorists caught in the act and, taken to police stations or courts, are released? The bandits/terrorists even boast that they will be released when caught!
Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal, confirmed this, when he said, that: “We arrested the bandits, and they confessed to killing people and possessing weapons. They had contacts in Abuja who assured them that they would be released even before being taken to court. However, we received news yesterday that they were granted bail.”
The Edo State Government and Federal Government should take the main blame for the escalating violence in the country. They failed to tackle the psychological and physical violence inflicted on Nigerians and non-Nigerians by the bandits/terrorists.
There would have been no resistance to the various forms of terrorism, if there had not been terrorism in the first place. Whenever and wherever injustice becomes the norm and the law, resistance naturally becomes an obligatory duty.
From Dan Amasingha, Minna
The disappearance of 11-year-old Christabel Albert after she left home for a birthday celebration has ended in tragedy, with the Niger State Police Command confirming her death and the arrest of a 26 year-old church security guard in connection with the incident.
Christabel reportedly left her home in Suleja on September 19 to attend a relative’s birthday celebration within the area but did not return.
The following day, the alarm was raised over her disappearance.
According to the Niger State Police Command, a report was lodged at the ‘A’ Division, Suleja, at about 12:30pm on September 20.
Later that evening, a pastor of the Apostolic Church in Suleja reported the discovery of a body inside a well located within the church premises.
Police operatives, assisted by officials of the local government welfare department, recovered the body and took it to the General Hospital, Suleja, for examination.
The body was subsequently identified as that of the missing child.
As investigators began piecing together the circumstances surrounding Christabel’s death, suspicion fell on Godwin Dauda, a 26-year-old security guard attached to the church.
The police said Dauda became a person of interest after information emerged suggesting his possible connection with the incident and his disappearance from the church premises shortly afterwards.
He was eventually arrested on September 23 at about 8pm in the Kuje area of the Federal Capital Territory, where he had reportedly fled to.
The police said the suspect, during interrogation, confessed to luring Christabel into his security room on September 19, where he sexually assaulted her and suffocated her by blocking her mouth and nose.
He reportedly told investigators that the child died in the process, after which he disposed off her body in the well in an attempt to conceal the incident before fleeing the area.
The Command, however, stressed that the investigation was still ongoing and that the full circumstances surrounding the child’s death were yet to be established.
Dauda has since been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Minna, for further interrogation and prosecution.
In a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, urged members of the public to disregard unverified accounts circulating on social media concerning the incident.
He said the Command remained committed to transparency, accountability, protection of vulnerable persons and ensuring that justice was served.
For Christabel’s family, however, the investigation comes after the devastating loss of a child whose ordinary outing for a family celebration ended in tragedy.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has detained a newlywed businessman at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu, for attempting to traffic 72 wraps of ingested cocaine.
The suspect (name withheld) is travelling to Portugal, where he resides.
This is contained in a statement by Femi Babafemi, Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, on Sunday in Abuja.
He said that the 25-year-old groom was intercepted by the NDLEA operatives at the departure hall of the Enugu airport on Sept. 25, with cocaine in his gut and wedding ring on his finger.
Babafemi said that the suspect attempted to board an Ethiopian Airline flight to Portugal via Addis Ababa.
He said that the suspect was placed under excretion observation, and egested 72 wraps of cocaine.
The spokesman said that preliminary investigation showed that the suspect was into car decoration business in the Ojo area of Lagos before relocating to Portugal in May 2023.
“The suspect returned to Nigeria recently, and married on Sept 13. He resorted to the criminal trade to offset expenses incurred during his wedding,” he said.
Babafemi said that on Sept. 22, the agency uncovered one of the biggest opioid hauls at the import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
He said that the operatives during a joint examination of three monitored consignments seized 2,550,000 pills of Tramaking 225mg, Tramaking 250mg, and Royal Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 1,640.55 kilograms.
The spokesman said that the consignments were imported from India and Bangladesh via Qatar Airways, RwandAir, and Ethiopian Airlines.
In Bauchi, Babafemi said that NDLEA operatives arrested two suspects along the Maiduguri Bypass with 300 compressed blocks of skunk, a strain of cannabis weighing 262.5kg, concealed in the false bottom of a truck marked MUB 757 YH.
He said that on Sept. 23, NDLEA operatives supported by soldiers destroyed two cannabis farms with a combined estimated yield of 1,360.23kg at Eko Camp, Ilushi in Edo.
Babafemi added that the operatives on Sept. 26, detained two female suspects during a raid at Anifowoshe Street in Mushin Lagos, and recovered 3.4kg skunk from them.
Also, Babafemi said that the operatives intercepted a 58-year-old man on Sept. 26, at Ebute-Ero Motor Park in Lagos, with large quantities of illicit consignments.
He said that the seized drugs included 5.920kg skunk; 2,400 ampoules of pentazocine injection; 8,400 tablets of nitrazepam; and 40,000 pills of tramadol.
Similarly, two Togolese were nabbed by the NDLEA officers on Sept. 26, at Iganna – Ilero Road, Iganna, Oyo State, with 305.6kg of skunk.
Babafemi said that the illicit substances were concealed in two pick-up vans used for a cross-border trafficking racket, moving Ghanaian-sourced cannabis into Nigeria through the Oyo axis.
Additionally, at the Seme border in Badagry, Lagos, five suspects were arrested with 420 cartons of nitrous oxide popularly called “laughing gas” weighing 1,688.4kg, along with two vehicles used in conveying the substances from the border into Lagos.
According to Babafemi, NDLEA commands and formation are continuing with the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities to schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities across the country.
Babafemi quoted the NDLEA Chairman, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd) as commending officers and men of MMIA, AIIA, Lagos, Oyo, Edo, Seme, and Bauchi Commands for the successful operations.
Marwa enjoined the officers across the country to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the drug control efforts of the agency. (NAN)
Operatives of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command have arrested approximately 300 persons, following a raid on identified crime flashpoints, shanties and incomplete buildings across the FCT.
According to the command, the raid was part of ongoing efforts to prevent crime, disrupt criminal activities, and enhance the safety and security of residents.
The operation took place on Saturday, September 19, 2026.
This was revealed in a statement issued at the Command’s headquarters in Abuja by the Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, and tweeted via the command’s X handle on Sunday.
Adeh noted that the suspects are currently undergoing “thorough screening and profiling,” adding that offenders will be charged to court, while those with no case to answer will be released.
“The operation, carried out across various locations, led to the raid of several identified criminal hideouts, with approximately 300 persons taken into custody for screening. Items recovered during the operation include knives, a toy gun, cannabis and other illicit drugs.
“The suspects are currently undergoing thorough screening and profiling. Those found to have committed offences will be appropriately charged to court in accordance with the law, while persons found to have no case to answer will be released after due screening,” the statement partly read.
The command’s Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Sanusi, stressed the command’s commitment to sustain “intelligence-led raids and proactive policing operations across the Territory, particularly at locations identified as potential hideouts for criminals.”
He advised the youths and residents within the FCT to desist from drug abuse and urged those already suffering from it to seek appropriate counselling and rehabilitation support.
Sanusi said, “The CP further cautions youths and other residents against the use and abuse of illicit drugs, stressing that substance abuse can impair judgment, fuel violent and criminal behaviour, and expose individuals and communities to serious security risks.
“He urges anyone struggling with drug use to seek appropriate counselling and rehabilitation support rather than allowing substance abuse to lead them into criminal activities.”
The police boss further cautioned police officers involved in such operations to maintain professional conduct, adding that they shouldn’t use raids or arrests as an “avenue for extortion, intimidation, harassment or unlawful demands for money, stressing that any officer found engaging in such misconduct will face appropriate disciplinary action.
“The FCT Police Command remains committed to protecting lives and property and calls on residents to continue providing credible and timely information on suspicious activities and criminal hideouts within their communities.
“For emergencies or to provide useful security information, members of the public are encouraged to contact the FCT Police Command through the emergency line 08032003913,” the statement concluded.
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