By Francesca Hangeior

The Cross River State Police Command has dismissed an officer, Inspector Effiong Bassey, who killed one person and injured two others in Calabar, the state capital.

The state police spokesman, Irene Ugbo, confirmed the dismissal in a statement on Monday, saying Bassey had been charged to court and remanded at the Afokang Correctional Centre.

She said “The Police Officer has been duly dismissed, charged to court and remanded at Afokang Correctional Centre. We visited the deceased family on the same day and also went to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital to see the injured victims, who underwent a successful surgery.

“As we speak, the victim is recuperating, and we are making efforts to ensure that all affected parties are well taken care of. At no time did we abandon any of the victims, including the family of the deceased.

“As a matter of fact, we gave financial support from day one when the incident happened, and nobody including the deceased family, victims and their families who were not carried along . I can assure that the surgery on the victim who was shot in the neck was successful and he is recovering fast, and we shall give further update on his health.”

She criticised what she described as unverified reports suggesting that the police had neglected the victims, urging journalists to confirm details before publication.

By Francesca Hangeior

A small plane carrying six people has crashed in New York state, authorities said on Sunday, with US media reporting that there were no survivors.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating a “fatal crash” in Copake, eastern New York, official Todd Inman told reporters on Sunday, without specifying the number of deaths.

The Mitsubishi MU2B40 aircraft crashed into a field 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the local Columbia County airport shortly after noon on Saturday, Inman said.

The New York Times reported that all six people on board were dead, citing a family member.

The victims were Michael Groff, the pilot and a neurosurgeon, his surgeon wife Joy Saini, their two children and the children’s partners, the New York Times said.

The group had been traveling to a 25th birthday party and a Passover gathering, it added.

Inman said the aircraft was intact as it came down, before it “compressed, buckled and embedded into the terrain” from the force of the impact.

“During the approach at Columbia County Airport, the pilot reported a missed approach (and) he requested vectors for another approach,” he said.

Visibility was falling before the crash happened, Inman said.

The pilot was experienced and the aircraft’s cockpit was recently updated.

The incident is the latest in a string of aviation disasters in recent days, coming after a helicopter plummeted into the Hudson River last week, killing six people.

In January, 67 people died in a collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet in Washington in January.

A light aircraft also crashed after departing Boca Raton airport in Florida on Friday, with local media reporting three people had been killed after the plane developed a mechanical issue.

By Francesca Hangeior

The traditional rulers in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State have warned against negotiating with herders to cede land within the council.

This resolution was made at the end of an extraordinary expanded sitting of Gwer West LG Traditional Council held on Saturday at the palace of Ter Tyoshin in Naka and presided over by His Royal Highness, Daniel Abomtse, and a copy was made available to journalists on Monday.

According to the communique signed by other traditional rulers and prominent people in the council, they called on youths to mobilise themselves ti exercise in their various communities.

Gwer West Local Government had witnessed a series of violent attacks in recent times, leading to the burning down of the palace, the local government secretariat and other private properties by youths who protested incessant killings and kidnapping in their communities by suspected armed herders.

Rising from the expanded extraordinary sitting, the traditional rulers urged all Tyoshin sons and daughters to show commitment to the programme of insecurity in the land in whatever capacity they will be called upon to serve

The communique read in parts, “The sitting vehemently condemned the unabated activities of marauding herdsmen, who wittingly attack, murder, rape, and maim our people, destroying houses and farms, and laying siege on all communities cutting across fifteen (15) council wards and appealed to Government to continue to support the people to send away the enemy.

“The sitting acknowledged security agents for their efforts in handling the security challenges bedeviling the people of Gwer West and urged them to double their efforts in combating insecurity in the land.

“The sitting urged Traditional rulers to take charge of their communities and exercise traditional authority to ensure the security and safety of their people and not betray the trust reposed in them as custodians of the lands and the areas within their domain.

“Nobody is allowed to negotiate with herders to cede land, co-exist or strike any deal on behalf of the people of Gwer West. Any person found wanting in this regard shall be handed over to law enforcement agents. The sitting urged the youth to mobilise themselves to continue to exercise vigilance in their various communities.”

The traditional rulers also called youths in the council to show remorse and apology over acts of arson, looting, sacking and burning of Ter Tyoshin’s palace, annex and extension buildings, and also properties of other individuals, they also frowned at the activities of cultism in the land and called on the youth to desist from any form of criminality.