14092022

2—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022
Gas explosion
injures 5,
damages 17
shops, 5
houses in
Jigawa
DUTSE— THE Nigeria Security
and Civil Defence Corps
(NSCDC) in Jigawa said, yesterday that
five people were injured from a
suspected smuggled gas that exploded
in Babura Local Government Area of
the state.
Spokesman of the NSCDC, Adamu
Shehu, who confirmed the incident to
the News Agency of Nigeria in Dutse
added that the explosion also damaged
shops and houses.
Also, the Police Public Relations
Officer in the state, DSP Lawan
Shiisu, confirmed the incident.
He said 17 shops and five houses were
damaged by the inferno caused by the
explosion.
NSCDC spokesman Shehu in his
account said the incident occurred on
Monday at about 9.00 p.m., after
security operatives on stop-and search
in the area flagged down a truck
conveying 25 gas cylinders.
He alleged that the driver of the truck
refused to stop while being pursued by
the operatives, resulting in one of the
cylinders falling off the truck and
catching fire immediately.
The spokesman added that the
vehicle was from Tinkim town in
Magarya LGA of Niger Republic
heading toward Hadejia LGA of
Jigawa.
He said the victims are currently
receiving treatment at the Babura
General Hospital.
Similarly, the Police Public Relations
Officer in the state, DSP Lawan Shiisu,
also confirmed the incident.
Police foil
robbery
operation in
Delta, recover
AK-47 rifle
By Festus Ahon
A
SABA—DELTA State Police
Command, yesterday, said its
operatives foiled robbery attempt at
Hausa Market, Asaba, the state capital
and recovered a fabricated AK-47 rifle
with 12 rounds of ammunition and 23
live cartridges.
The command in a statement by its
Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe,
said: “On the 11/09/2022 about 0430hrs,
the command in a swift response to a
distress call from Hausa Market in
Asaba, about some suspicious looking
persons using a tricycle in the area,
operatives of the command’s CP-Decoy
Squad were detailed to the area, where
the hoodlums on sighting the Police
abandoned a de-faced tricycle and took
to their heels.
“Upon a thorough search of the
tricycle, a fabricated AK-47 rifle, 12
rounds of 9mm live ammunition and
23 live cartridges all concealed in black
polythene bag and hidden beneath the
rear passenger’s seat were recovered.
Effort is being intensified in
collaboration with local vigilantes to
arrest the fleeing suspects.
“The Commissioner of Police CP, Ari
Muhammed Ali, appreciates the efforts
of the residents in the state, who always
avail the command with useful
information that aids in crime fighting
and urges them to continue to
collaborate with the command, noting
that crime has no jurisdiction, as
criminals does not have human
sympathy and as such should not be
allowed to go about their mischievous
deeds unhindered.
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N4.9bn Agbowo complex project:
Our children are hungry, out of schools,
suppliers, shop owners cry out
By Ademola Adegbite
IBADAN —SOME major suppliers
of materials and shop owners at the
on-going reconstruction of N4.9 billion
popular Agbowo shopping complex,
Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday, cried out
to Governor Seyi Makinde to save them
from untimely death, noting: “Our
children are hungry and have been sent
out of schools.”
They demanded immediate refund of
their over N250 million.
It would be recalled that Governor
Makinde had since September 23, 2020,
leased the shopping complex to
Whitestone Global Limited for 50 years,
with a promise to complete the renovation
before May 2023.
Recall also that the governor said the
remodeling of the structure, which many
administrations had tried unsuccessfully
to renovate, would see the investor
injecting N4.9 billion to convert the
moribund structure into premium
commercial real estate and a four-star
hotel.
The suppliers and shop owners,
however, stormed the moribound
complex in protest, yesterday, with
placards with inscriptions such as:
“Developer is a scammer”,“Our children
are hungry”, “We have sold our cars to
pay some bank loans”, “Banks have
The protesters, yesterday.
taken over our property”, “Our children
are out of schools, come to our rescue,”
among others.
Speaking through their
representatives, Femi Adigun, Bola
Shokunbi and Olawale Tunde, the
protesters lamented non payment of the
money.
According to Adigun, “We have
supplied so many things in the past 18
months, there are some of us that are
contractors, some are electrical
contractors, some are civil contractors.
Up till date, we have not collected our
money. We have taken so many steps,
maybe probably because we are
educated and we took them in civilised
ways. That is why the state government
has taken us for granted.
Naval rating dies in boat mishap, corpse
recovered in Bayelsa
By Emem Idio
YENAGOA—A boat mishap
involving a barge belonging to a
ship repair and building company,
Southern Engineering Co. Ltd (SECO)
and an unidentified speed boat along
the River Onitsha channel of Anambra
State has claimed the life of a naval
rating.
It was learned that five days after the
tragic incident, the corpse of the
deceased naval rating was recovered by
the operatives of NNS Soroh along
Olugbobiri Creek in Southern-Ijaw
Local Government Area of Bayelsa
State.
The deceased naval rating, it was
learned, fell into the water while on
escort duty onboard SECO barge,
which was involved in a head-on
collision with a speed boat.
Efforts by the combined rescue team
of Navy and fishermen proved abortive
until September 8, 2022, when his
corpse was recovered in Bayelsa.
According to the source, the incident
occurred on September 3, 2022, at 8p.m.
and the recovered corpse had been
deposited at the Nigerian Navy Referral
Hospital in Warri, Delta State.
A Naval source, who pleaded
anonymity, said the incident was
attributed to non-use of life jacket and
helmet by the deceased Naval rating
while poor visibility on the waters made
the rescue operation difficult and could
have been easily spotted with reflective
colour of the life jacket it was worn.
Contacted, spokesman of NNS
Soroh, Lt. Commander, Ola
Babatunde, confirmed the recovery of
the corpse of the Naval rating but
declined to make further comment.
Suspected herders kill 3 in Nasarawa
By David Odama
LAFIA—NO fewer than three
persons have been reportedly killed
during an attack on Antsa village,
Kwarra district, Keana Local
Government Area of Nasarawa State
by suspected herdsmen.
It was gathered that the attack
followed an alleged killing of a Fulani
man, who was attacked by suspected
armed robbers near a Tiv settlement on
his way from Kadarko to Kwara village.
A resident who spoke on the incident,
John Atume, claimed that the incident
occurred when the deceased, a Fulani
man was travelling with a Tiv man on a
motorcycle on the Kadarko-Kwarra but
they ran into gunmen, who killed the
Fulani man.
According to Atume, “The Fulani man
was shot dead by the armed robbers,
who attacked the two of them on their
way to Kwarra but the Tiv man escaped
with bullet wounds and ran into the bush.
The next day, some Fulani herdsmen
carrying AK-47 invaded Antsa and other
villages and started shooting at the
villagers.
“So far, three persons have been killed
while others are receiving treatment at
various hospitals and those of us who
survived the attack left our homes.”
Reacting to the incident, President, Tiv
Development Association, TIDA, Peter
Ahemba, who confirmed the incident,
yesterday, described the attack on his
kinsmen as unfortunate, calling on the
state government to look into the issue.
He said: “Based on the unprovoked
attack on my kinsmen, I have reported
the matter to Governor Abdullahi Sule
and he has promised to contact the
Commissioner of Police in the state to
deploy police personnel to the affected
communities to restore peace.
“I am, therefore, calling on the Tiv
people, especially the youths to remain
calm and not to take law into their hands
despite the unprovoked attack on them
as the state government is working
assiduously to restore peace in the
area.”
Contacted, the Police Public Relations
Officer, Ramhan Nansel said he was
not aware of any attack as being
claimed.
Armed robbers invade Anglican
Church, cart away items in Ilorin
By Demola Akinyemi
ILORIN —Suspected armed robbers,
Monday night, invaded priest house
of Saint Barnabas Cathedral, Anglican
Communion at Sabo Oke in Ilorin,
Kwara State and carted away items
worth millions of naira.
Vanguard gathered that the robbery
incident, which occurred about 2:30
a.m., was carried out by a two-man gang
on motorcycle, who were said to have
pulled the main gate of the two-storey
house down, moved up and forcefully
broke the two doors.
The victim of the attack, Reverend
Isaiah Afolayan, who spoke with
journalists said the hoodlums, armed
with sharp objects, broke into his
apartment, located on the top floor of
the two-storey building, threatening to
kill his family members if they refused
to cooperate with them.
He also said his laptop, fairly used
MacBook Pro, worth N1.3 million, a
TV set and his phone were stolen.
“We were sleeping when we suddenly
saw him (one of the armed robbers)
standing in our room with a sharp object.
He was threatening to kill us if we made
any noise and asking us to face down. I
refused, asking him: 'Who are you? What
are you doing here?' He then picked up
my system and ran away,” the cleric said.
A disturbed Afolayan, added “With
what we have seen so far, it was not just
one person but only one came in to our
bedroom with a sharp object threatening
to kill us.
“He sighted the MacBook laptop and
was able to grab it and ran out and I
followed but hit me back with the door
gate to escape. As he ran out of the
apartment, he fell along the way. This
morning we are able to get a necklace
where he fell and the case has been
reported to the police officials”.
Also speaking, one of the Sabo Oke
community leaders, Pastor Taiwo
Ajibola, said the robbers, who came on
motorcycle were sighted by local security
men in the community who, he said,
flashed torch light at them.
He said that the robbery case had been
reported at the ‘A’ Division police station,
Ilorin.
“We’ve gone to the ICPC, we’ve gone
to the EFCC, we’ve gone to OYSIPA,
we’ve gone to DSS, we have gone to Oyo
State Government and we have
submitted our letter personally to Oyo
State Government Office, Room 47. Up
till this moment, nothing has been done.
Shokunbi said: “I supplied stone dust
worth N1 million. I supplied 10 trucks
of 30 tonnes sand dust in which I was
told that I would get my money after
four weeks of delivery. Four weeks have
turned to 18 months.
"Now, I have a baby that has multiple
holes in the heart, the surgery has been
done but I need money for her check up
in Ife and University College Hospital,
UCH, Ibadan, because she has some
health issues, which they have to correct
before she grows up."
Also speaking, Olawale, who
represents shop owners said: “We paid
between N1.5 million and N6 million.
The biggest one was the one that paid
for 11 shops. We were promised that in
six months that Agbowo Shopping
complex would be ready.
“So, we bought equipment and
everything is lying waste. This project
was commissioned in 1985. This project
is going to be a rot, we should not allow
it to rot away. Governor Makinde should
prosecute it and finish it because a lot of
us have borrowed money to pay rent. I
personally paid three years rent while
some people paid 10 years. We have
already employed people to work here.”
Troops rescue
10 hostages, kill
bandits in
Kaduna
community
By Ibrahim Hassan-
Wuyo
KADUNA—Troops of Operation
Forest Sanity have killed many
bandits and dislodged camps during
clearance operations conducted across
some hard-to-reach locations spanning
Chikun and Igabi Local Government
Areas in Kaduna State.
Samuel Aruwan, Commissioner
for Internal Security and Home Affairs
in Kaduna State, said 10 hostages were
rescued during the operation.
The commissioner said: “As disclosed
in an operational feedback, the troops
neutralised an unspecified number of
bandits while clearing out insurgent and
bandit camps at Apewohe in Chikun
LGA.
“The operation extended to Dakwala and
Kunai hills in the same LGA, where more
hideouts were cleared, though no contact
was made with bandits.
“Another camp was similarly dislodged at
a location known as ‘Daban Lawal Kwalba’
in Igabi LGA, after the troops overpowered
heavily armed bandits guarding hostages.
“The troops after clearing out the bandits
stormed the hideouts and rescued 10
kidnapped persons who were chained and
bound with ropes. The images attached depict
the dire situation in which the hostages were
found.
“The troops untied the hostages, who were
identified as Surajo Aliyu, Ayuba Yakubu,
Ibrahim Abdulrasheed, Aliyu Mohammed,
Magaji Tasiu, Nasiru Ahmed, Mohammadu
lbrahim, Ayuba Abdulsalam, Kelvin Musa
and Paul Patrick.
“The troops who came under further attack
in the thick forest, successfully evacuated
the hostages to a military facility where they
are receiving medical attention before being
reunited with their families.
“Furthermore, a camp was cleared at Rafin
Gwaska, Igabi LGA, where the following items
were recovered, among other effects: Three
locally made rifles, one AK-47 magazine, one
AK-47 top cover, four Bafoeng radio chargers,
11 mobile phones, three music boxes, two
sets of military uniforms, one frag jacket,
Spanners, knives and chains.