ALERTS DATE
The following section illustrates the date alerts were reported on Thursday, 26th January, 2023.
BANDITRY
- Police in Zamfara State, Northwest Nigeria, have arrested eight people on suspicion of banditry, criminal conspiracy, robbery, and fraud. The police said they found 15 locally made guns, 146 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, a Honda car, N100 million, and dried marijuana leaves. Before their arrest, the suspects were members of a criminal syndicate that provided information to bandits and dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp and other dangerous drugs.
- The Katsina State Police Command apprehended a 21-year-old man who was planning to join a terrorist gang and submit the names of targets he intended to kidnap. Police apprehended the suspect after receiving a tip and working with vigilantes from Unguwar Nakaba village in Katsina State’s Sabuwa Local Council. According to a State Police spokesperson, the suspect was on his way to the forest where he planned to meet with the gang and become a member.
- Bandits fired a volley of rocket-propelled grenades at Birnin Magaji town, the headquarters of Zamfara state’s Birnin Magaji local government area, according to reports. Birnin Magaji local government shares a boundary with Katsina state’s troubled Batsari local government. The local government has been a hotspot for bandit activity, which has primarily been carried out by the boys of Dankarami and one Ardo Nashawari. According to a vigilante leader, the armed criminals had previously attacked some farmers tending to their lands just a kilometer east of town. It was reported that the farmers escaped unharmed, and that a well-known vigilante group mobilized and pursued the bandits. It was reported that the armed criminals were reinforced by firing grenades. The grenades fired missed the target. One of them blew up, leaving a large crater near a stream.
KIDNAPPING
- Residents of the Ikem-Isioroto community in Enugu State’s Isi-Uzo local government area have abandoned their families and town after gunmen suspected of being kidnappers attacked the community and abducted a resident on Tuesday. According to reports, the Tuesday attack brought the total number of abductions in the community to seven in the last week. It had been reported that gunmen suspected of kidnapping had been laying siege in Ikem-Isioroto along the Obollo Afor-Ikem-Nkalagu federal highway and had recently kidnapped no fewer than six people.
- The District Head of Chawai in Kauru Local Government, Kaduna State, has been kidnapped by gunmen. The President of the Chawai Development Association confirmed the kidnapping of the District Head on Wednesday (CDA). According to the CDA’s Public Relations Officer, the traditional ruler was kidnapped Tuesday night by unknown gunmen who invaded his house in Zambina. It was reported that around 9:30 p.m., the kidnappers stormed the traditional ruler’s house and abducted him.
- A woman and her daughter, members of the Baptist Church in Osogbo, Osun State’s capital, have reportedly been kidnapped. Five members of the church were reportedly kidnapped last week in Iwo, also in Osun State. The most recent victims were kidnapped on Tuesday around 6 p.m. on Otaefun/Kobongboe road after leaving their shop to go home. The kidnappers contacted the victims’ families and demanded N5 million in exchange for their release, according to the church’s spokesperson who confirmed the incident. He claimed that the kidnappers also demanded that the ransom be put into the victim’s bank account.
SHOOTING (GUNMEN)
- Gunmen assassinated the All Progressives Congress ward chairman in Umuchoke ward in Okwe, Onuimo Local Government, Imo State, on Tuesday night. After killing him, the assailants abducted five other leaders of the community’s ruling party. On Wednesday, local sources claimed that the attackers shot continuously throughout the night to force the villagers to flee. According to reports, the gunmen also invaded a nearby community called Okwelle and kidnapped a female member of the APC in addition to killing and abducting the APC chieftains.
ATTACK
- A bomb went off on Tuesday night at the border between Nasarawa and Benue states in the Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa state, killing no less than 27 Fulani pastoralists. On Wednesday, the state’s police public relations officer disclosed the incident in Lafia. He stated that the tragic incident occurred on Tuesday in the Rukubi community of Doma LGA. He did, however, say that the state police command was working with sister security agencies and the state government to figure out what led to the bombing and apprehend those responsible.
CULTISM
- The Delta Police Command has arrested a suspected financier of a cult group in Sapele Town. Its spokesman in Warri said on Wednesday that the suspect was apprehended by a joint team of the Police, the Department of State Service (DSS), and Operation Delta Hawk. According to him, the suspect was apprehended by the team on Monday in an undisclosed hotel after the team received an intelligence report.
LASSA FEVER
- The Anambra State Government has confirmed one death and fifteen suspected cases of Lassa fever in the state. The state’s emergency response team was already responding to the recorded cases, according to the Commissioner of Health, who revealed this on Thursday, while relevant surveillance measures were in place to curtail disease spread. He also stated that the government had formed contact tracing teams to follow up on the cases.
- On Wednesday, the Edo State Commissioner for Health stated that Etsako West, Esan West, and Esan North East were the most affected local government areas in the state by Lassa fever. The state government also urged residents to work together to contain the pandemic in all communities across the state. The Commissioner stated that the government has continued to increase surveillance and response activities in order to stop the spread of the disease and ensure the health and well-being of the state’s residents.
FUEL SCARCITY
- The House of Representatives has asked the appropriate security agencies to identify the oil marketers behind the recent nationwide fuel shortage. The lower chamber also directed that relevant House committees investigate the scarcity, and that downstream regulators appear before the House leadership on Thursday. The resolutions came after the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by a house member during plenary on Wednesday.
