Nigeria Police Deny Reported Chasing Out Of Herdsmen In Enugu

The Police in Enugu State have described the reported chasing away of some herdsmen from Enugu community as the handiwork of mischief makers, vowing to bring such persons to book.

DAILY POST reports that this was contained in a statement issued Saturday by the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, in the State, SP Ebere Amaraizu.

A video had surfaced online, with a claim that herders were chased away from Nenwe in Nkanu, Enugu State.

But Amaraizu, in the statement, declared that no such incident happened in the State.

The statement read: “The Enugu State command of the Nigeria police force wishes to inform members of the public that its attention has been drawn to information in existence that large herd of cows and some herders were escorted peacefully out of nenwe, Aninri community of Enugu state on 29/6/19 by youths believed to be from Agbada Nenwe.

“The Police wish to update members of the public who may have been misinformed with the state of things.

“On receipt of this information, the state commissioner of police directed for an investigation into the alleged development and following preliminary enquiry conducted, it was revealed that such situation never existed and that it was only the movement of cattle and herders from Cross River State, through Uburu in Ohaozara Local Government area of Ebonyi State and a neighboring town for grazing.

“The said piece of information in circulation is viewed to be the handiwork of mischief makers who want to brew rancour, cause panic and fear and also sow seed of acrimony as well as instigating violence.

“The command has already commenced action with a view to identifying and fishing out those in the habit of mischievous information so that they can be brought to book. The commissioner of police enjoins all to be law abiding and go about their normal lawful businesses,” he further stated.

See What Will Be Done To You If You Buy Stolen Phone, Police Reveal

The Lagos State Police Command’s spokesperson, DSP Bala Elkana, has revealed the punishment that will be meted to whoever buys a stolen phone in Lagos.

While enlighten Nigerians on the consequences of buying a stolen phone, Bala said the minimum sentencing for offenders is 7 years and the buyer will get more jail years than the thief.

According to him:-

“Under our laws, it is quite a serious offence for one to buy stolen phones. The law even regards the buyer to be more culpable than even the thief. The punishment is more for the buyer than the thief.

The wisdom behind that is to discourage people from stealing because if there is no market where they would sell those stolen things, they would not steal them but because they have a ready market, they easily steal.

“This is why the law makes the punishment stiffer for the buyer. The person who steals may get three years punishment, while the buyer could get seven years imprisonment and at the end, he will lose the property once we trace it to him.

For a person to avoid buying stolen property, it is advisable that he buys things in the open market and not on the street or people who are just passing and not dealing in such wares.”

Explaining how a case of purchasing stolen phones can be checked, Elkana said:-

“The most important thing when we charge a buyer to court is to look at whether he has knowledge that that thing he bought was a stolen property.

How do we test the knowledge? What is the market value and how much did he buy it? If the market value is N100 and you buy it N10, automatically, you will know that you are buying a stolen property.

Secondly, we would check where he bought it. Was it in a regular market where such items are sold or he just bought it on the road from somebody?

“That is enough for him to know that he is not buying something that is genuine.

Thirdly, we would check the time of the day that he bought the phone. These are important things we look at when we are investigating to check whether the person has knowledge that the phone was stolen or not.”

News: Nigeria Police Arrest 24 Suspected Kidnappers In Kogi

Kogi Police command, on Thursday arrested 24 persons suspected to be kidnappers, armed robbers and bandits.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Hakeem Busari, stated this on Thursday in Lokoja, while briefing newsmen.

He said that four persons – Adamu Hassan, Umar Salihu, Ibrahim Musa, Usman Abubakar and Muhammed Bello – suspected to be herdsmen were arrested on a tip-off by operatives of “Operation Puff Adder”.

Busari said that the police had received distress calls and other information that the suspects were behind series of kidnapping on Obajana-Kabba road, NAN reports.

He said that 10 suspects were arrested in connection with robbery incidents in Lokoja, Ogugu, Olamaboro, Ayangba and Dekina Local Government Areas.

He said that two pistols and one locally-made single-barrel gun were recovered from three of the suspects, whose name he gave as Aliyu Sule, Danjuma Isah and Musa Seidu.

According to the commissioner, four rifles, comprising one AK47, two pump-action and one single barrel gun and 30 rounds of live ammunitions and 12 cartridges were recovered from them.

He said that two other suspects, Friday Abah and Ogbaje Chukwuma, were held for robbing Mr Ojochenemi Baba and a filling station manager of their cars, cash and other valuables on March 11 at Olamaboro.

Busari said that a Toyota Camry with registration number Lagos EKY 473 DZ, one Sharon car, three handsets, a TV decoder, one flat screen television, one single-barrel gun and six live cartridges were found in their possession.

Also arrested for alleged armed robbery, he said, were Abdulkarim Sunday and Benjamin Stephen, who were caught at Ayangba on May 5, adding that one locally-made gun and a telephone were recovered from them.

He disclosed that two suspects, Danlami Mohammed and Abdulkadiri Ismail, were apprehended for motorcycle snatching, and Martin Igwe and Emeka Okeke for being in possession stolen vehicle parts.

Busari also stated that four other suspects – Alhaji Usman, Usman Arome, Ogwu Shaibu and Yakubu Stanlus – were arrested for attacking herdsmen passing through Ulara village in Dekina Local Government Area on March 18.

According to him, the fulani herdsmen stopped over in the village to break their fast when they were attacked by the armed youths.

He said that three herdsmen and 846 cows were still missing, adding that many of the cows were believed to have been killed by the villagers.

The police boss said that a team of operatives of SARS Unit of the command that went to the village to assess the situation were engaged in a gun duel by armed youths.

“In the process, the four suspects were arrested and one unknown corpse recovered, with a gun,” he said.

He promised to get to the root of the attack on the herdsmen and bring the culprits to book, adding that all the suspects would be charged to court.