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Tag: Jalingo

  • Nigerian soldier reportedly kills police officer in Jalingo

    Nigerian soldier reportedly kills police officer in Jalingo

    The Police Command, Taraba State chapter has confirmed the death of a constable, Aaron John, resulting from a stab wound.

    TheNewsGuru.com(TNG) reports that the deceased was said to have been stabbed by a newly recruited soldier, Dauda Dedan, during a heated argument at 9:00 p.m. on Monday in Mayo-Goyi, a suburb of Jalingo town.

    The command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), James Lashen in a statement confirmed the incident saying that residents had alerted the deceased about a misunderstanding between them and Dedan.

    Lashen said Dedan became infuriated while John attempted to resolve the dispute and stabbed him.

    He added that although Dedan is currently at large, the command has notified the army, which has already commenced an investigation.

    “We have reported the matter to the 6 Brigade headquarters of the Nigerian Army, and we have been given full assurances of tracking down the fugitive soldier to face the full wrath of the law.

    “Both the army and the police are working hand in hand. We have gotten to the house of the soldier, we will ensure he is arrested and is brought to book accordingly,” he said.

  • Gov. Ishaku inaugurates commission of inquiry over Kurmi communal clashes

    Gov. Ishaku inaugurates commission of inquiry over Kurmi communal clashes

    Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba on Saturday, in Jalingo, inaugurated a nine-member commission of inquiry into the recent crisis, between two ethnic groups; Ichen and Ndaka people of Bisaula Community, in Kurmi Local Government Area of the state, that has claimed several lives.

    Gov Ishaku warned those he described as champions of unhealthy ethnic sentiments that was causing crisis in the area to desist forthwith or risk going to jail.

    “I will not condone the irresponsibility of negative ethnic champions. behind the crisis that has claimed several lives, and I want to assure Tarabans that government will not fold its arms while people are being gruesomely killed”, he said.

    He said he was greatly pained by the unnecessary crisis and that drastic steps would be taken to safeguard lives and property in the community.

    He urged the commission of enquiry to study the events leading to the crisis and proffer solutions that could permanently settle the issues.

    Speaking after the inauguration, Chairman of the Commission, Mr Shehu Vocks, a retired chief magistrate, assured that the commission would come up with a report that would not only enable government to understand the crisis, but also find a lasting solution to it.

    The Commission, made up of nine members, also include Mr Elijah Nyaro, who is to serve as its secretary, Kefas Ali, representing Ndaka Community, Jonathan Jonah, representing Ichen.

    Others are the Chairman of Kurmi Local Government, John Danladi, Ibrahim Ishaya, Etsu-Affah Tigun, and representatives of the police, DSS, and the Civil Service.

  • Photo: Ex-soldier climbs 24-feet-high tower, screams ‘I want to jump down and die’

    Photo: Ex-soldier climbs 24-feet-high tower, screams ‘I want to jump down and die’

    A serious drama played out in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital on Thursday when a ex-military identified as Ali climbed the Welcome to Taraba Roadblock Tower -over 24fts high and threatened to jump down.

    However, concerned residents who gathered in their numbers begged the man for over an hour to rescind his decision to jump down

    Ali who spoke in Hausa and pidgin was heard saying: “I want to die. Allow me to jump down and die.” But the youth who have gathered there are begging him: “Please do not jump. We don’t want you to die.”

    Ali is seen on the high altitude Tower, attempting severally to jump down, but the people are trying to make sure they save him if he jumps. But they say they prefer he changes his mind and does not jump.

    Witnesses said the soldier’s behaviour attracted their attention when they spotted him on top of the tower pulling and throwing down the items of clothing on him.

    “We noticed someone climbing the place and pulling off his clothes. We got there to discover he is someone we know. He was left with under pant and an inner vest and poised to jump. We went close and began to beg him,” an eyewitness said.

    Meanwhile, a close look reveals the ex-soldier has an injury on his left kneecap was bandaged. Eyewitnesses also said Ali has mental illness and has been relieved of his job, of recent.

    “He is an ex-soldier, fond of riding military motorbikes in town. He was sacked from the army when it was discovered he is mentally ill,” another source said.

  • Why Taraba Governor abandoned office in Jalingo, operates from Abuja since December – Aide

    Taraba’s Governor Darius Ishaku has been staying in Abuja for close to two months now, because he is receiving adequate medical treatment for a domestic accident.

    His spokesman Bala Dan Abu, a senior special assistant, gave this information Thursday night in a reaction to calls for his impeachment for abandoning Jalingo, the capital of the state.

    Abu did not elaborate on the nature of the domestic accident the governor suffered, but said the governor is recuperating.

    Abu, a former magazine editor and veteran journalist, dismissed calls for the impeachment of Ishaku, who has stayed out of the state since December.

    He said Ishaku’s continued stay in Abuja does not in any way constitute an impeachable offence.

    He described those calling for the governor’s impeachment as unpatriotic people, who were only bent on promoting “inanities and outright falsehood.”

    “We urge the good people of Taraba, their friends and admirers in and outside the state to ignore the campaign of falsehood being orchestrated by some people.

    “His Excellency is desirous to return to the state and will do so when he has sufficiently recovered.”

    According to Abu, the governor’s absence had not affected the state in any negative way.

    “No aspect of governmental activities has suffered a setback as a result.

    “All government projects are going on smoothly and government has continued to meet its obligations to contractors while progress are being monitored by appropriate government ministries and officials,” Abu added.

    He further explained that the 2020 budget was being implemented with vigour while salaries of workers, pensions and gratuities are also being paid promptly.

    “It is therefore wrong and misleading to suggest that the Governor’s absence has affected morale of civil servants and governance in the state”.

    According to him, it was wrong to claim that the governor had breached Section 190 of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended) by not transmitting power to his Deputy.

    “The said section of the Constitution 190(2) speaks of transmission of power only when the Governor proceeds on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office.

    “In this case, the Governor is not on vacation and he is not unable to discharge the duties of his office. He has been conducting his official duties diligently.”

    “Government activities are not at a standstill. Governor Ishaku has not breached any part of the Constitution.

    “He remains focused and irrevocably committed to peace and the socio-economic development of Taraba State,” Abu added.

    He advised those claiming that governance was at a standstill in Taraba to visit the state and verify.

  • Kidnappers force their way into Provost’s house, kill one

    Kidnappers force their way into Provost’s house, kill one

    One person has been confirmed dead in an attempt to kidnap Dr. Mike Dio-Jen, the Provost of Taraba College of Education Zing, at his residence in Jalingo.

    The incident occurred in the early hours of Friday, at the Green Beach area of Kona ward, in Jalingo.

    An eye witness who spoke under anonymity said that the kidnappers who came in their numbers, fired several gunshots at the gate of the provost’s house and forced their way in.

    They, however, met stiff resistance by security operatives, guarding the provost’s house and this led to the death of the gateman of the house while the kidnappers fled the area through a nearby river

    The remains of the slain gateman, Shawulu Yeshi, who was a staff of the college, have been deposited at the morgue of Federal Medical Centre, in Jalingo.

    The Police spokesman in Taraba, ASP David Misal, confirmed the incident, saying the police were investigating the case.

    Misal added that the police would do their best to see that crime was nipped in the bud in the state.

    In spite of the enactment of the anti-kidnapping prohibition law signed by Gov. Darius Ishaku, the menace is still prevailing unabated.

  • FG trying Agba Jalingo for treason over Sowore’s RevolutionNow protest- Ayade

    FG trying Agba Jalingo for treason over Sowore’s RevolutionNow protest- Ayade

    Governor of Cross River state, Ayade says he is not behind the trial and detention of Agba Jalingo, publisher of CrossRiverWatch.

    Jalingo is standing trial on charges bordering on conspiracy, terrorism, treasonable felony and attempt to topple the government of Cross River.

    He was first arraigned in August after a story he published on how Ayade allegedly approved and diverted N500 million meant for Cross River State Microfinance Bank.

    Speaking to reporters after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Monday, Ayade said the federal government is behind Jalingo’s trial over his involvement in the #RevolutionNow protest led by Omoyele Sowore.

    “The case is between Agba Jalingo and the federal government of Nigeria. On his Facebook page, he posted an ambitious programme as … Please don’t get it wrong. Agba Jalingo is not just from Cross River state; he’s not just from Obudu where I also come from; he’s my brother,” Ayade said.

    “On his Facebook page, he sent pictures where he was being teargassed at the revolution march in Lagos. His own pictures, posted by himself and when Sowore was being arrested, he went back to his Facebook to post that the revolution has just started, ‘we will continue this battle until revolution works’. He admitted this in court.

    “In court, it is federal government versus Agba Jalingo, not Cross River state. The same Agba Jalingo who is in jail, I send him money. I called my chief press secretary and others and said that journalists will not understand that Agba Jalingo is the state chairman of Sowore’s party. From the time he moved into politics, he became a politician.

    “You are seeing him as a journalist, but he is not. He is the chairman of Sowore’s party in Cross River state; so he is a politician. He has a primary calling, which is journalism.

    “Please as Agba Jalingo, that Cross River Watch, the first person to give him money to set up the office was myself. His official vehicle, it was me. I don’t have to list all of these, he knows that I have funded and supported him, but journalism stops where blackmail becomes part of your strategy.”

    Ayade said he is working with Jalingo’s lawyers to secure his release.

    “Today you need something, then Ayade is a good man and you start writing all the good things, but if I take my phone and show you our Whatsapp communication, you will call me a godly man. Today, I need money to set up a computer school. Tomorrow, I need money to feed my birds. The other day, I need to be INNOSON’s sole distributor in Cross River State. I do all that,” he said.

    “But when I don’t get a thing right you go to the social media and write something as careless as Governor Ayade has taken N500 million to Russia. You impugned my father’s name, my character, my family name, for just a personal request that I’ve not met, out of many that I have met. Please for once, put yourselves in my shoes. All I simply did was to stay out of the issue.

    “He’s in court for treason. A state does not have power to try anyone for treason. It’s not me. Agba Jalingo is not a journalist. He is the chairman of a political party and so once he started the campaign to overthrow the government of President Buhari, he ceased to be seen from the point of journalist because he has become the state chairman of a party.

    “I have an intellectual background as a professor. I will stand with journalists at all times and I will never prosecute somebody, but if you ask Agba Jalingo today, I’m the one working with his lawyers for his freedom, I’m the one sustaining him and sending upkeep, the same man who once called me a golden brother, that I’ve stood with him through tough times.

    “When he started publishing damaging articles against the state, I called him as a brother. I said look, the former governor told me that you so much blackmailed him that his wife was detained because she was involved in child trafficking. He had to resort to settling him monthly. When journalism gets to that level, it becomes very dangerous and I don’t want you people to support a course that is not fair.

    “I am of the opinion that Agba should be released because I think he was just youthfully excited, but let him not use the power of the pen, let him not use journalism and hide to blackmail, chastise, lampoon, destroy another person just for personal economic benefit.”

  • Police arraign Sowore’s ally, Jalingo 34 days after arrest

    Police arraign Sowore’s ally, Jalingo 34 days after arrest

    The police on Wednesday arraigned Agba Jalingo at the Federal High Court in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, after keeping him in detention for 34 days.

    Jalingo, an ally of RevolutionNow Convener Omoyele Sowore, is a journalist and publisher of an online news site, CrossRiverWatch.

    The journalist was reportedly picked up at his Lagos home on August 22 by security operatives from Cross River State Police Command and conveyed to Calabar, where he was detained for days without trial.

    The police charged him with alleged terrorism, treasonable felony and attempt to topple the Cross River State government.

    There was widespread condemnation of the charges when they were leaked to the public before the arraignment.

    Jalingo pleaded not guilty to the four charges preferred against him.

    Justice Simon Amobeda, who presided over the court, remanded the accused in prison when the application for his bail could not be considered.

    The judge held that the counter-affidavit the prosecution filed in response to the motion for bail by the defendant’s counsel was added to the file.

    He said there was not time to look at it.

    Justice Amobeda also said he perused the file on Tuesday night and did not see the counter-affidavit.

    The prosecution counsel, Denis Terhemba, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), claimed the counter-affidavit was filed on September 18, but Jalingo’s counsel Attah Ochinke said he was served before the court began sitting.

    But after a brief discussion with the Clerk of the court, who whispered a few words to him, Justice Amobeda ruled that Jalingo be remanded in Afokang Prisons in Calabar.

    He adjourned the matter till today.

    Responding to the ruling, Ochinke said: “We had an application for him to be granted bail, but because of the reaction, the counter-affidavit was only brought to the attention of the court today (yesterday). The court graciously granted us to come back tomorrow (today) for the argument on the application for bail. We hope that by tomorrow, the court will give a considered opinion on it and Agba will be admitted to bail.”

    The lawyer, who described the charges preferred against Jalingo as “sensational”, added: “We have looked at the proof of evidence and we know that they have no basis. We are ready to stand trial.”