Nigeria Police Force

By Muhammad Sabiu

By Muhammad Sabiu

Following the ban placed on telecommunication services and other commercial activities in Zamfara State due to incessant killings and kidnappings, the government on Thursday says about 2000 suspected informers assisting bandits have been apprehended.

Ibrahim Dodara, Zamfara State Commissioner for Information, disclosed this during a press conference in Kaduna.

Mr Dosara was quoted as saying, “The government has set up a situation room where complaints are being received to ensure prompt action.

He added that the terrorists are being eliminated by troops and have been hit by acute hunger due to the ban placed on commercial activities in the state.

“Many bandits have been neutralised by the army. Most of them are forced to eat raw food like millet because they have been cut off from their collaborators in town,” he said.

Based on the reports coming from the state in recent weeks, there has been tremendous success in the area of the fight against the terrorists in north-western Nigeria.

By Hussaina Sufyan Ahmad

The Nigerian Police Force has reportedly arrested dozens of Shia Muslims followers at a religious procession of Arbaeen in Abuja on September 28, 2021.

The spokesperson of the group claimed that eight members were shot dead during the gathering.

However, Abuja police denied the claim of any casualty.

The police official said they intervened to stop members of the banned Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) from causing hardship to motorists along the Abuja-Kubwa expressway. He added that “57 people were arrested after IMN members attacked the police with petrol bombs and stones.”

“They were promptly intercepted by the security operatives and dispersed to prevent further disruption of public order,” the police statement said.

IMN spokesman, Ibrahim Musa, said security forces shot and wounded protesters.

“We were almost rounding up the procession when the police and army came and started shooting,” he said.

The IMN, a pro-Iranian group, had a profession in 2019 that saw their leader Ibrahim El-Zakzaky’s arrest when it clashed with Nigerian security forces.

The army killed 350 IMN Shia Muslims during a religious procession in northern Nigeria in December 2015. According to rights groups, many were gunned down and burned alive.

IMN leader el-Zakzaky and his wife, who has been in custody since 2015, were freed last month after a court acquitted them of murder charges involving the death of a soldier.

But the religious leader still faces terrorism and treasonable offences charges, according to prosecutors.

Muslims make up about half of Nigeria’s population of 200 million. However, the Shia Muslim minority have long complained of discrimination and repression.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Men of the Nigeria Police Force have successfully apprehended a health worker who was alleged to have been providing medical assistance to bandits in the Danmusa Local Area of Katsina State.

The 34-year-old health worker, identified as Murtala Umar, owns a patent medicine shop in the LGA.

A report by the Daily Post newspaper has indicated that Murtala had been working for the bandits operating in that area, and they always came to him whenever they needed any medical attention.

SP Isah Gambo, the Katsina State Police Command spokesman, who paraded Murtala at their headquarters on Monday, said the suspect had confessed to offering assistance to bandits. 

Confessing the allegations made against him, Murtala was quoted as saying, “I studied at the College of Health and Technology in Kankia, and I manage a chemist at Tashar Yar Alewa. The bandits, from time to time, come to my shop carrying guns to seek my help concerning the health of their members, and they pay me in return.

“I used to oblige them for fear of being attacked, but I am regretting my actions now.”

By Muhammad Sabiu

Police in Kaduna State have apprehended three suspects who were alleged to have abducted 136 of Bethel Baptist School, Kaduna.

The suspects were identified as Adamu Bello, Isiaku Lawal and Muazu Abubakar.

The trio told journalists in Abuja on Thursday, that 25 of them perpetrated the kidnap, and that their desperate need for money made them carry out the act.

“Twenty-five of us carried out the operation. We kidnapped 136 students and I got N100,000 share from the money (ransom),” one of the suspects was quoted as saying.

However, there is still no detailed information on how they carried out the kidnap and how they were eventually arrested.

The police paraded them in Abuja at the headquarters of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

By Muhammad Sabiu

An angry mob have set ablaze the residence of Sokoto State Commissioner for Careers and Security Matters, Garba Moyi, in Isa Local Government Area.

According to reports, the incident, which occurred Monday evening, led to the vandalisation of vehicles of a traditional ruler who was also accused of abandoning his people.

ASP Sanusi Abubakar, the Sokoto Police Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO), who confirmed the incident, stated that“no life was involved, and as soon as the investigation is completed, the details will be made known to the public.”

He added that people of the area should remain calm and advised them to cooperate with security agencies in maintaining peace and order.

Also, a Sokoto resident, identified as Abubakar Isa, also confirmed the incident. He said the mob were angry at the Commissioner due to bandits’ incessant attacks.

He was quoted as saying, “Some of them even believe that the commissioner has abandoned his own people. The attacks are becoming rampant these days, despite the efforts they said they are making to address it. There is no day that a person is not kidnapped or killed in Isa or Sabon Birni.”

By Muhammad Sabiu

Reports coming from northwestern Nigeria have stated that angry people in a Sokoto community, Tangaza, took the bull by the horns, traced suspected bandits in detention and subsequently lynched them.

This is coming barely 12 hours after the bandits launched an attack on the community, which left two persons killed and two others abducted.

Premium Times reports that, first, it was vigilante members armed with locally-made guns and cutlasses in conjunction with the police that went after the bandits, killed two and apprehended about four others.

After their arrest, they were put behind the police net.

The state’s police spokesperson, Sanusi Abubakar, confirmed that in an attack meant to cart away foodstuffs from the community, the bandits launched a raid Friday night.

They were also said to have kidnapped two persons, who were later killed.

Angered by this attack and kidnap, youths in the community planned to join the police in an effort to crush the suspected bandits.

They followed them and successfully killed two and the other four arrested, who were detained in a police station and killed by the angry youths.

The youths insisted that the bandits must be killed, otherwise they would torch the police station.

A resident said, “The youths were angry and despite pleas from the DPO and the local government chairman, they insisted that if the policemen did not kill the bandits in their presence, they would burn down the police station.”

Sokoto State is also one of the northwestern states badly hit by the activities of bandits.

A 25-year-old man, identified as Nasiru Muhammad, was arrested by the police in Jigawa State for allegedly having sex with a goat.

This was confirmed to newsmen in Dutse by the Jigawa State Police Public Relations Officer, Lawan Shi’isu Adam.

Mr Shi’isu was quoted as saying, “On 09/09/2021 at about 0100hrs, Police officers from Gwaram divisional headquarters, while on patrol within Gwaram and its environs, arrested a 25-year-old man, Nasiru Muhammad of Kunnadi quarters while having intercourse with a goat.”

He added that an investigation was ongoing and the suspect would be prosecuted subsequently.

Media reports coming from Niger State in the north-central part of Nigeria have it that about 47 terrorists, also known as bandits, have on Wednesday been eliminated by “local hunters.”

The terrorists are notorious for unleashing terror on the communities in the Shiroro axis in Niger State.

The local hunters were said to have raided the hideous of the bandits in their large number in a riverside community that is located between Shiroro and Rafi Local Governments.

A police officer, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the raid on the terrorists.

He was quoted by PRNigeria as saying, “I can tell you for a fact that the bandits met their waterloo. At least 47 of them were eliminated by the hunters who participated in the operation.”

Niger State suffers incessant attacks by bandits who kill innocent people and kidnap students in large numbers.

A recent incident of abduction in the state was the kidnap of over 80 Islamiyya students in a community called Tegina.

Many of them, however, recently regained freedom after spending many days in captivity.

By Muhammad Sabiu

The Nigeria Police Force, in conjunction with local vigilantes, has on Monday succeeded in killing an infamous bandits’ leader in Niger State.

According to some media reports, the bandits’ leader, identified as Jauro Daji, was killed alongside other members loyal to him in the Kontagora axis of the State.

“It was the combined team of policemen and local vigilantes that killed Jauro Daji and score of his bandits who were on a mission to abduct innocent persons at a village.

“The notorious Jauro Daji who is suspected to be involved in attacks on villages and schools led other armed bandits in large numbers on motorcycles.

“The operation was successfully executed on Monday between Gulbin Boka to Dogon Fadama area under Kontagora Local Government Area. We also recovered ten motorcycles.

“We have recruited the services of local divers to retrieve the weapons some bandits who escaped with their corpses threw into the river,” an intelligence source told PRNigeria.

Niger State has also recently been badly hit by bandits’ incessant attacks, which saw many people killed and students in their hundred kidnapped.