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Traditional Ruler, Two Others Killed In Bloody Benue Land Dispute

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A protracted land dispute between the people of Okete in Ohimini Local Government Area, LGA, of Benue state and the neighbouring community of Otukpo-Nobi in Otukpo LGA over the ownership of

Amla-Icho community land has claimed the lives of a traditional ruler and two others in the feuding communities.

It was gathered that the age long dispute was triggered last week when the Chairman of Otukpo LGA, Alfred Omakwu allegedly sent a bulldozer to the disputed land to enable him commence work on the creation of a layout in the area.

The presence of the earth moving equipment angered the people of Okete who moved to stop the destruction of the cultivated land.

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In his account on the incident, the Chairman of Otukpo LGA said “the problem is that the Okete people lost it. It is a dispute between Amla in Otukpo and Okete in Ohimini LGA and a total of three people lost their lives in the crisis.

“What happened was that they (the Okete people) used to go and farm in Amla land but sometimes last year when we wanted to develop a layout there, the Okete people went to report to the Och’Idoma that their farm produce were there and the Och’Idoma directed that no layout should be done until they harvest their products.

“February this year, they harvested their produce and the Och’Idoma called them and informed them that by March this year, Otukpo would go ahead with their layout and that they should not farm there again.

“But when the bulldozers returned they said they had farmed there already and reported the matter to their Second Class Chief as well as their LGA Chairman who called me and I told them that the Och’Idoma asked them not to farm there again because of the layouts.

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“So when the bulldozer went there on Friday, they came with their lawyer who called me and I told him everything and said if they want to go to court, it was their right.

“They demanded that the bulldozer stopped work but their lawyer advised that they should wait for him to get an injunction from the court but they said they could not wait.

“They then went to the First class chief of Otukpo/Ohimini who called Och’Idoma and the Och’Idoma said they should not stop the people doing the layout because he asked them not to farm their again.

“At that point they went there and opened fire on the people; they killed one and shot two people and burnt all their motorbikes about 10 of them.

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“Then Otukpo retaliated the next day; they also burnt some houses and killed one person and killed another person in Amla making two.

“But we have maintained calm. The Police Commissioner summoned all of us for a peace meeting so we are restoring peace now among both parties. We have agreed that all the culprits will be arrested and brought to book.”

Countering his Otukpo counterpart, the Ohimini LG Chairman, Samson Okoh who also acknowledged that the dispute was over land said “there is a place called Amla, it’s close to Okete. The Otukpo Chairman took the bulldozers to the place where the Okete people used to farm for years and according to him he wanted to do a layout. So he went and destroyed their farm crops.

“When the Okete people demanded an explanation, the Amla people said the land does not belong to the Okete people but to the Amla people.

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“According to what I was told, when the argument ensued somehow one of them from Otukpo pulled the trigger and shot but the bullet mistakenly hit a fellow Otukpo person.

“Then on Saturday night the Amla people went and reinforced and barricaded the Okete people, burnt houses, beat up ans killed one boy. And on Sunday around 10am when I went to take the boy they killed to the mortuary, the Alma people went to the place again and burnt 17 houses, burnt motorcycles, slaughtered a Clan Head Chief Sunday Okpe, and shot five other persons who we took to the Teaching Hospital in Otukpo for treatment.”

The Chairman who informed that the community had been deserted said the parties had been summoned by the Police Commissioner over the matter and that efforts were on to apprehend the masterminds of the crisis.

On whether the Paramount ruler of Idoma land, Och’Idoma Agaba-Idu John Odogbo asked his people not to farm on the said land again, the Chairman said, “I am not aware of that but the Otukpo Chairman claimed so. I was not told by the Och’Idoma to tell the people not to farm there.

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“Moreover, the Och’Idoma cannot tell the people to stop farming where they have been farming for several years without compensation or settlement and you just take the bulldozer to destroy their crops on the hectares of land they eke a living from.”

Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent, SP, Catherine Anene who confirmed the development said the command received the report of one death though she was awaiting full details of the incident.

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Police uncover ‘yahoo’ training school in Lagos, arrest suspects

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The Lagos State Police Command has uncovered a building in the Iju area of Lagos State, used for internet fraud training.

Popularly called “Yahoo School’, the command said four Yahoo experts who had been running the school were arrested alongside six trainees who were undergoing training in cybercrime and fraud during the operation.

Nine of the suspects were between ages 20 and 26, while the tenth, a trainee, is 12 years old.
Consequently, the command has directed owner of the facility to turn himself in for investigation.

Preliminary investigations according to the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hudenyin, revealed that the principal suspects of the facility recruited their trainees from Anambra State and engaged them to commit internet fraud and other related crimes.
He said the proceeds from their fraudulent activities were confiscated by the principal suspects.

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Hudenyin said: “All suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID Yaba, for further discreet investigation and prosecution.

“Efforts are ongoing to apprehend the sponsors who financed the trainees’ enrollment in the school as well as the owner of the facility where these criminal and illegal activities took place. The owner of the facility is hereby warned in his own interest to turn himself in immediately, at the SCID Panti from wherever he is hiding.The Lagos State Police Command will ensure that all suspects are charged to court for prosecution upon the conclusion of the investigation into the case”

He noted that ” In line with due process of the law, the underage suspect among them, Minachi Ugochukwu, 12 years old, with healing marks of injuries on his body allegedly inflicted on him by the main principal suspect to compel him into the commission of the criminal acts, is being given medical attention and kept in protective custody till his relatives are identified and reunited with him”

He therefore advised parents and guardians to monitor the activities of their children and wards , with a view to preventing them from being ” exploited, lured, or compelled into criminal activities”.

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Furthermore, Hudenyin called on members of the public who had fallen victim to the fraudulent activities of the syndicate to visit the SCID, Yaba, with their complaints.

“The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Olohundare Jimoh, also commends the police personnel involved in this operation for their dedication and professionalism that resulted in this success.

“CP Jimoh assures all Lagosians that the Command remains resolute and committed to combating all forms of crimes and criminalities, including cybercrime tagged “yahoo”.He urges residents to report every suspicious activity or incident to the Police in their localities for prompt police action.

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Mortuary Attendants Arrested Over Dead Man’s Missing Genitals

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There was pandemonium resulting from a sad discovery by relations of a deceased young man in Abia state, that his testicles were missing in a mortuary his remains were kept.

The situation led to the destruction of the mortuary and near lynching of it’s workers in Umuezibe, Obingwa area, along the Aba/Ikot Ekpene highway, where it is located.

The deceased, whose name was simple given as Chimaobi, in his twenties, was allegedly electrocuted while fiddling with high tension electricity cables in Abayi Okorator, in the same area with his corpse kept in the mortuary, pending burial.

However, things got awry, when youths from his (the deceased) community went to retrieve his corpse only to discover that his genitals were missing from the body they were being shown by the attendants who thereafter, tried to escape but got apprehended.

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The situation got so tensed that relations of dead person’s whose bodies were deposited in the mortuary quickly came to remove them either for immediate burial or to other locations, as the youths insisted on destroying the facility.

Eyewitness account told our correspondent that a quick intervention of the police in Eastern Ngwa, saved the mortuary attendants who were said to have been taken into custody.

A senior police source in the area, said the situation was under control, though he didn’t speak further on the issue.

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School teacher arrested for sexually molesting 7 year-old pupil in Osun

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Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Osun State Command has apprehended a male school teacher, identified as Ahmadan Rufai Akorede, for allegedly molesting a seven-year-old female pupil in Ilesa.

Corps Public Relations Officer, Kehinde Adeleke, in a statement, revealed that the 22-year-old teacher abused the pupil sexually by thrusting his manhood into her mouth many times.

The State Commandant of the Corps, Igbalawole Sotiyo, said a discreet investigation revealed that the school teacher started molesting the girl sometime last year, 2024.

According to his confessional statement, when it was closing time, he asked the victim to close all windows in a classroom and thrust his manhood into her mouth.

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The suspect reportedly confessed further that the second incident happened on March 20, 2025, after school hours. It was only the teacher and the girl that were in the class and he pressed her buttocks.

Meanwhile, Adeleke said the suspect was arraigned by NSCDC on Wednesday 26th March, 2025 before the Magistrate Court in Ilesha where he pleaded not guilty to the one count charge and was subsequently remanded at the correctional service in Ilesa.

The matter was adjourned for trial.

Commandant Sotiyo expressed displeasure that despite the government’s commitment to the severe maximum punishment for those involved in child molestation and rape cases, some individuals would continue to involve in such acts.

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