TheNewsGuru

Tag: Killing

  • Alleged Ussa LGA killings: Council Boss resigns over Gov Ishaku’s complicity

    Alleged Ussa LGA killings: Council Boss resigns over Gov Ishaku’s complicity

    Due to the unabated killing of the people of Ussa Local government area of Taraba state by gunmen, the Caretaker Chairman of the local government Hon Abershi Musa on Wednesday resigned his appointment, citing governor Darius Ishaku’s indifference to the killings as the reason for his resignation.

    The council boss tendered his resignation letter to the governor on Wednesday evening after serving in the capacity for six months.

    Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Musa explained that the inhuman attitude and the inaction of the governor over the continued killings by suspected herdsmen in Ussa local government was the reason behind his decision to quit the government.

    According to him, it amounts to betrayal if he continues to be part of the government that has shown obvious indifference that borders on complicity in the killings of his people just because he wants to remain in power and enjoy the benefits that come with the position.

    “The inhuman attitude of governor Darius Ishaku over the killings of my people in Ussa local government by herdsmen is the reason why I have tendered my resignation letter as a caretaker chairman of the local government. I am not hungry so, i can’t be chairman while my people are being killed and nothing is done about.

    “I don’t want to be seen as a compromise in the situation. I want my integrity maintained because my people already know who I am. When the situation started months ago, I quickly informed the governor through phone conversation but no action was taken toward ending the killings. At a joint security meeting again, I drew the attention of the governor but he has refused to respond or take action to end the killings even as we speak.

    “My people are being killed on a daily basis for reason best known to the killers and their sponsors and governor Ishaku has refused persistently to comment.

    “Just this week, 15 people were attacked and killed, the Palace of (Kwe Ando Madugu), the 3rd class Chief of Lisan Chiefdom was also attacked and destroyed by angry youth who believed that I and the chief have the capacity to stop the Fulani attack in the area but are not doing so.

    “It is not all about me being chairman. It’s all about the people, the poor masses of the local government. How can I be chairman and watch helplessly when my people are being killed?

    “I didn’t beg for the appointment, the governor called me and I gave him condition that the appointment must be the type that I will touch the lives of my Usa people. Even at the joint security meeting, I told the governor that we can not condole any killing in Usa because, our people must farm this year. Farming is the only source of my people’s earning, they didn’t farm last year due to headsmen attacks and they must farm this year to live. It doesn’t matter whether I am chairman or not, all I want is to stop the killings and let my people farm and live a normal life.

    “Several questions are being asked on why governor Ishaku has refused to take any action on the continued killings in Ussa. The citizens are saying may be is because Ussa local government did not vote for the governor in the last senatorial election but I think as a politician, you don’t expect certain percentage of votes from people and if the game turn to the opposite then the people automatically become your enemies.

    “But if that is the case, has the governor forgotten so soon that the same people gave him massive votes in 2015 and 2019? I think if that is the governor’s reason then, he is not a politician and is purely inhuman of him.

    “I am already discussing with stakeholders on how to stop the situation so, I wish to appeal to people of the local government to remain calm and distance from any action that would spark more trouble in the area” he explained.

    Recall that a prominent member of the Ishaku’s cabinet resigned from the government not long ago for reasons most people believe are not unconnected to the killings.

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  • Just In: Unidentified gunmen kill judge while presiding in Imo

    Just In: Unidentified gunmen kill judge while presiding in Imo

    Unidentified gunmen on Thursday, allegedly murdered one Nnaemeka Ugboma, the chairman of Ejemekwuru Customary Court in the Oguta Local Government Area (LGA) of Imo State.

    According to monitored report , Ugboma was killed by gunmen who operated in motorcycles while presiding over a court session.

    The incident brought the court sitting to an abrupt end as lawyers, court staff and litigants fled.

    The slain jurist hailed from Nnebukwu community in Oguta LGA.

    “He was killed in his court while sitting. His killers came with motorcycles. They came into the court, dragged him out and shot him dead and drove off.

    “His corpse was there as people in court fled. The whole thing is confusing because nobody knew any reason why they killed him. He was from Nnebukwu community in Oguta LGA here,” a source said.

    When contacted, the Chairman of the Owerri branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ugochukwu Allinor, who confirmed the killing said that the branch would communicate to the public soon.

    The spokesperson for the police in the state, Henry Okoye, did not take his calls when contacted and he had yet to respond to a text message sent to his mobile number as of the time of filing this report.

    The slain judge is the Elder brother to Ms Chioma Ugboma of News Agency Of Nigeria

  • Nasarawa: Police confirm alleged killing of 27 pastoralists in airstrike

    Nasarawa: Police confirm alleged killing of 27 pastoralists in airstrike

    The Police Command in Nasarawa State has confirmed the alleged killing of 27 pastoralists in an ‘airstrike’ in Doma Local Government Area of the State.

    DSP Ramhan Nansel,  the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), confirmed the development and casualty figures to NAN on Thursday in Lafia.

    Nansel said that preliminary investigation revealed that the pastoralists had on Tuesday, gone to Benue to pay fines for the release of cattle impounded by the Benue Livestock Guards implementing the State’s Anti-Open Grazing and Ranching  Law.

    He said: “While they were loading some of the cows into vehicles on Tuesday night in Kwatiri village, a border community between Benue and Nasarawa, something like a drone or an aircraft hovered in the air and shelled them.”

    Nansel said the Commissioner of Police, Maiyaki Mohammed-Baba, had visited the scene of the incident and also attended the burial of the deceased alongside the State Deputy Governor, Dr Emmanuel Akabe and some traditional rulers.

    He said investigation was ongoing to unravel those behind the act, adding that the command had deployed policemen to the area to prevent the breakdown of law and order.

    Gov. Abdullahi Sule had since condemned the dastardly act,  saying that he was in touch with his Benue counterpart over the matter as security agencies continued their investigations.

    He called on the people to remain calm and not take laws into their own hands.

    The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) had also condemned the alleged killing and called for full investigation to unravel those behind the attack.

    MACBAN, in a statement made available to NAN by its National Public Relations Officer, Muhammad Nura, said “this is the third time we are experiencing such happenings.”

    He said that apart from the victims, livestock were also killed in the attack.

    “MACBAN describes the action as not only condemnable but a war crime under the Geneva Convention that prohibits the wanton killing of livestock.

    “We call on the authorities to investigate this terror, punish the culprits and to be sure that incidents like this will not happen again,” the Nura said.

  • SAD! Benue boils again as alleged herdsmen wipe out family of six, others

    SAD! Benue boils again as alleged herdsmen wipe out family of six, others

    Again, suspected fulani bandits attacked Abagana community opposite the IDP camp in Makurdi, the Benue State capital wiping out an entire family of six and several indigenes.

    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports this was contained in a statement issued and signed by Nathaniel Ikyur
    Chief Press Secretary to Governor Samuel Ortom on Friday.

    Abagana is a sprawling community in Makurdi, the State capital of Benue State along Makurdi-Abuja road housing thousands of people displaced from their ancestral lands and are living in the IDP camp set up by the State Government.

    The bandits who did not even come with herds of cattle were armed to the teeth killed several other persons in sight leaving trails of blood.

    So far, eight corpses including women and children have been recovered while several others seriously injured were evacuated to hospital for treatment.

    Some of the bodies were beheaded and their heads taken away by the bandits.

    Special Adviser on Security Mattters to the Benue State Governor, Lt. Col Paul Hemba, rtd who confirmed this said security personnel and other villagers have been combing the bushes for more victims who were said to have been shot by the invaders.

    He said the attack was unprovoked as the villagers were already set to go to bed when they met their untimely deaths in the hands of the Fulani bandits.

    According to the Security Adviser, the casualty figure may likely rise as some other persons who were fatally shot and wounded may not survive the injuries in their chest.

    The Security Adviser gave the names of those killed as Gbashaor Acho, Gbashaor Joseph, Anshe Dekera, Ancho Kpor, Eunice Gbashaor, Sewuese Gbashaor, Terlumun Ajoh, Emberga Gbashaor and Donald Gbashaor.

    He further disclosed that two of those killed were IDPs while the bandits stole two motorcycles belonging to the villagers.

  • Just In: Plane crashes, kills 40 passengers, injures many

    Just In: Plane crashes, kills 40 passengers, injures many

    No fewer than 40 people were killed when an aircraft crashed in Nepal on Sunday, a Nepal army spokesperson said, as hundreds of rescue workers scoured the hillside crash site.

    “We expect to recover more bodies,” the spokesperson, Krishna Bhandari, said. “The plane has broken into pieces.”

    A Yeti Airlines spokesperson, Sudarshan Bartaula, said there were 72 people onboard – 68 passengers and four crew.

    According to an airport official, foreign nationals from Australia, France, Argentina, India, Russia, Ireland, China and South Korea were among the passengers.

    “Rescue is under way, we don’t know right now if there are survivor,” Bartaula said.

    The plane crashed between the old and new Pokhara airports in central Nepal.

    The wreckage was on fire and rescue workers were trying to put out the blaze, local official Gurudutta Dhakal said.

    “Responders have already reached there and trying to douse the fire,” Dhakal said. “All agencies are now focused on first dousing the fire and rescuing the passengers.”

    The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft was operated by Yeti Airlines and flying from Kathmandu, the Himalayan country’s capital, an airport official said. After news of the crash broke the country’s prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, called an emergency cabinet meeting.

    Nepal’s air industry has boomed in recent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas as well as foreign trekkers and climbers.

    But it has been plagued by poor safety due to insufficient training and maintenance. The European Union has banned all Nepali carriers from its airspace over safety concerns.

    The Himalayan country also has some of the world’s most remote and tricky runways, flanked by snow-capped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge even for accomplished pilots.

    Aircraft operators say Nepal lacks infrastructure for accurate weather forecasts, especially in remote areas with challenging mountainous terrain where deadly crashes have taken place in the past.

    The weather can also change quickly in the mountains, creating treacherous flying conditions.

  • Soludo condemns killing of Obosi PG, 4 others, promises to apprehend culprits

    Soludo condemns killing of Obosi PG, 4 others, promises to apprehend culprits

    Gov. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra on Tuesday condemned recent killings in parts of the state.

    Soludo was reacting to killings in Okpuno in Awka South Local Government Area and Obosi in Idemili North Local Government Area.

    Four youths identified as Onyiebo Okoye, Kenechukwu Okeke, Jude Ebenezar, and Obinna Maduka were killed in Okpuno community on Jan.1.

    The President General of Obosi town, Chief Ike Okolo, was shot dead at a petrol station on Jan. 2.

    Soludo, who described the killings as cult-related, assured that the culprits would be apprehended and made to face the law.

    Mr. Christian Aburime, Press Secretary to the Governor, reported him as saying that the perpetrators would be apprehended and decisively dealt with, even if they ran out of town.

    He said Anambra had enjoyed the best Christmas ever in decades with a new system of traffic control put in place by the government, Anambra Youth Volunteers, and the Anambra State Traffic Management Agency.

    “The governor has condemned the cult-related war among rival groups and subsequent killings in Obosi and Okpuno in Idemili North and Awka South Council Areas.

    “He assures that the perpetrators will be apprehended and decisively dealt with, even if they have run out of town. He stressed that they will be hunted down to face the full wrath of the law.

    “The governor further reassured that the cult gangs will surely be tracked down and dealt with decisively in accordance with the law,” he said.

    Soludo called on the state residents to go about their normal duties and enjoy the season as the challenges were isolated cases which would be nipped in the bud soon.

  • Under your watch Kaduna has become a killing field for marauders – HURIWA blasts El-Rufai

    Under your watch Kaduna has become a killing field for marauders – HURIWA blasts El-Rufai

     

    Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, on Sunday, slammed Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State over the killing of residents by Fulani bandits and terrorists.

    HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, lamented that Kaduna has become a killing field for marauders under El-Rufai’s watch while the governor has failed woefully as the chief security officer of the state with the cardinal responsibility to protect lives and property.

    The group also expressed stark dissatisfaction that despite the unprecedented and callous murder of residents of the state by vicious, AK-47-wielding non-state actors, especially in Southern Kaduna, the El-Rufai government and security agencies have failed to arrest or prosecute any suspect to logical conclusion.

    HURIWA described as shocking, the data released by the state government on Friday that 446 people were killed by bandits and terrorists from April to September 2022 while 985 persons were kidnapped during the period under review across the state.

    Commenting, HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “The massacre that has been going on in Kaduna under Governor Nasir El-Rufai is condemnable and shows crass failure of the governor who is supposed to be the chief security officer of the state charged with the duty to protect lives and property.

    “However, the body language of the governor continues to enable the guillotine of residents of the state, particularly in Southern Kaduna which has been the most hit victim of terrorism and banditry since El-Rufai became governor.

    “For instance, in 2021, the state government said a total number of 1,192 people were killed by bandits and 3,348 abducted across Kaduna. In 2020, at least 937 people were killed by bandits and terrorists, the state government reported.

    “Aside that these figures must have been doctored and reduced, yet the stark reality in Kaduna confronts any sane person. One thing is, however, certain: Kaduna is a place of sorrow, tears and blood as marauders with religious and genocidal agenda continue to hide under communal clashes to maul innocent Christians in Southern Kaduna.

    “The mass graves dug under El-Rufai alone will send anyone into pains and anguish. How terrorists can have a field’s day in the state despite the heavy military presence is still unfathomable. For starters, Kaduna has no fewer than six military formations including Jaji Military Cantonment; 1 Mech.

    “Division Headquarters, Nigerian Army, Kaduna; New Barracks, otherwise known as ‘Kotoko’ Barracks; Old Site of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna; Kalanpazi Barracks (Artillery Regiment). But the military have allegedly turned blind eyes to the despicable atrocities of terrorists due to alleged tribal sentiments. Infact recently, Gov. Elruffai had boasted of controlling the police, the Army and the DSS and that he can order for the arrest of whomsoever he wishes in Kaduna State.

    “So how come that terrorists are having field days in his State and yet this ‘bigman’ who commands the ‘armed forces’ located in his State has allowed these mass killings to thrive?

    “El-Rufai is a big accidental administration in Kaduna and the people are worst off for bringing in the most allegedly divisive bigot as governor. Under him, non-state actors who are mostly of same ethno-religious affiliations with the governor feel emboldened to kill Southern Kaduna Christians at will and occupy their lands and the government is doing nothing to bring these killers to justice or take justice to them.

    “History will never be kind to oppressors because for whatever has a beginning under the Sun must cime to an end certainly and everyone will get the full dish of what he has prepared for others !”

  • Man accused of killing 22 older women goes on trial again

    Man accused of killing 22 older women goes on trial again

     

    After Mary Brooks was found dead on the floor of her Dallas-area condo, grocery bags from a shopping trip still on her countertop, authorities decided the 87-year-old had died of natural causes.

    Even after her family discovered jewellery was missing — including a coral necklace she loved and diamond rings — it took an attack on another woman weeks later for police to reconsider.

    The next capital murder trial for Billy Chemirmir, 49, begins Monday in Dallas in the death of Brooks, one of 22 older women he is charged with killing. The charges against Chemirmir grew in the years following his 2018 arrest, as police across the Dallas area reexamined the deaths of older people that had been considered natural, even though families raised alarm bells about missing jewellery. Four indictments were added this summer.

    Chemirmir, who maintains his innocence, was convicted in April of capital murder in the smothering death of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris and sentenced to life in prison without parole. He will receive the same punishment if convicted in Brooks’ death. His first trial in Harris’ death ended in a mistrial last November when the jury deadlocked.

    Loren Adair Smith, whose 91-year-old mother is among those Chemirmir is charged with killing, will be among the many relatives of victims attending the trial, which, she said, brings a “huge bag of mixed feelings.”

    “At the same time of having that dread feeling, we are really glad to go back and bring this chapter to a close,” Smith said.

    It was Mary Annis Bartel’s survival of a March 2018 attack that set Chemirmir’s arrest in motion. Bartel, 91 at the time, told police that a man had forced his way into her apartment at an independent living community for seniors, tried to smother her with a pillow and took her jewellery.

    Before Bartel died in 2020, she described the attack in a taped interview that was played at Chemirmir’s previous trials. She said the minute she opened her door and saw a man wearing green rubber gloves, she knew she was in “grave danger.”

    Police said they found Chemirmir the next day in the parking lot of his apartment complex. He was holding jewellery and cash, and had just thrown away a large red jewellery box. Documents in the box led them to the home of Harris, who was found dead in her bedroom, lipstick smeared on her pillow.

    At trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Harris and Chemirmir were checking out at the same time at a Walmart just hours before she was found dead.

    In a video interview with police, Chemirmir told a detective that he made money by buying and selling jewellery, and that he had also worked as a caregiver and a security guard.

    Most of Chemirmir’s alleged victims lived in apartments at independent living communities for older people. The women he’s accused of killing in private homes include the widow of a man he had cared for while working as an at-home caregiver.

    Brooks’ grandson, David Cuddihee, testified that he found her body on Jan. 31, 2018. He said she had sometimes used a cane but was still healthy and active.

    “She would walk to church, she would walk to the dentist down the street,” Cuddihee said.

    Police testified that grocery receipts showed Brooks was at Walmart the day before her body was found. Surveillance video from the store showed a vehicle matching the description of Chemirmir’s leaving just after Brooks, going in the same direction.

    Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, a Democrat, decided to seek life sentences rather than the death penalty when he tried Chemirmir on two of his 13 capital murder cases in the county. His Republican opponent has criticized that decision as he seeks reelection in the nation’s busiest death penalty state.

    In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Creuzot said he’s not against the death penalty, but among things he considers when deciding whether to pursue it are the time it takes before someone is executed, the costs of appeals and whether the person would still be a danger to society behind bars. Chemirmir, he added, is “going to die in the penitentiary.”

    Prosecutors in neighboring Collin County haven’t said if they will try any of their nine capital murder cases against Chemirmir.

  • Kaduna Govt confirms killings in 6 villages of Giwa LGA

    Kaduna Govt confirms killings in 6 villages of Giwa LGA

    The Kaduna State Government has confirmed the killing of some citizens in six villages of Giwa Local Government Area of the state.

    The state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan, however said in a statement on Friday in Kaduna that detailed security report was still being awaited.

    “Some citizens have been killed by bandits in six villages of Giwa LGA,” he said.

    According to Aruwan, the attacks occurred between Thursday and the early hours of Friday.

    “The affected villages are Dillalai, Barebari, Dokan Alhaji Ya’u, Durumi, Kaya and Fatika.

    “An unspecified number of locals were also kidnapped,” he said.

    The commissioner assured that the state government would keep the general abreast of developments.

  • Man to die by hanging for raping, killing landlady

    Man to die by hanging for raping, killing landlady

    An Ado-Ekiti High Court, on Wednesday, sentenced one Tunmise Abraham to death by hanging for raping and killing his landlady, Bukola Olanrewaju.

    Abraham was found guilty of raping and killing his landlady at Olorunda Zone 7, Adebayo area of Ado-Ekiti sometime in 2019.

    According to the witness account read by Justice Monisola Abodunde, Olanrewaju, a mother of three, was alone at home after her husband had gone to work and her for holiday coaching when the incident happened.

    The convict was alleged to have broken into the woman’s room, threatened her with a cutlass and tied her up before carrying out the dastardly act.

    “After the act, the tenant fled the house, but some of his belongings were found in the room, which suggested that he was responsible for the act.

    The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mr Julius Ajibare, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the state government, called four witnesses to prove his case.

    The judge found Abraham guilty of the offences and consequently sentenced him to death by hanging.