Metro
Troops Arrest Suspected Female Kidnapper While Picking Ransom Cash in Taraba
Troops of 93 Battalion under 6 Brigade of the Nigerian Army have arrested a suspected female kidnapper while trying to pick ransom for an abducted victim in Taraba State.
The female suspect – Janet Igohia – was married to a notorious criminal who was a second-in-command to the late Gana Terwase, a one-time ring leader of a militia group in Benue State.
The acting Assistant Director of 6 Brigade, Lieutenant Oni Olubodunde, disclosed this through a statement
The 31-year-old Igohia, Olubodunde said, was nabbed after picking up the sum of N1.5 million, being ransom payment for an abducted victim at the Chanchangi area in Takum Local Government Area.
“Based on this information, troops deployed at Chanchanji laid a siege at the suspected area, and at about 10:00am, Janet Igohia age 31 was arrested after picking up the sum of one million, five hundred thousand naira ransom, being payment for an abducted victim,” the statement read.
“Janet Igohia revealed that she is presently married to Voryor Gata a notorious criminal and former second in command to late Gana Terwase. She is currently married to the leader of a violent extremist group in southern Taraba.
“According to her, she was previously married to high profile criminals such as the late Terkibi Gemaga AKA Mopol a notorious kidnapper who was killed by troops 5 years ago. She revealed that she also got married to the late Gana Terwase another notorious criminal who was killed during Joint Special Force Operation 3 years ago.”
Olubodunde also revealed that the troops deployed in the Mararaba Baissa community of Donga LGA apprehended two other suspected gunrunners who were allegedly involved in extra-judicial killings and cattle rustling with the sum of N600,000.
Also arrested was a notorious gunrunner dealing in arms and ammunition and supplying them to criminals within Taraba State and other parts of the country.
He said the troops working on credible intelligence on the activities of the arms dealer arrested the suspect, Joshua Dutse Idah, in the Ibi Local Government Area of the State.
At his arrest, Joshua was driving to Kaduna State in a blue Volkswagen Sharon vehicle with registration number Rivers SKN-390AA while troops had trailed the suspect.
Olubodunde noted that the suspects and the exhibits recovered will be handed over to appropriate authorities for further investigation and prosecution in line with extant laws guiding their operations.
He also urged residents of Taraba to continue to support the military and other security agencies by giving credible and timely information on suspicious movements or activities of criminals within the State.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 2,102 suspected cases of cholera and 63 deaths in 33 states across the country.
The NCDC Director-General, Dr. Jide Idris, disclosed this at media briefing on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said the cases were recorded in 122 local government areas across the states between January 1 and June 30.
The NCDC boss put the fatality-case ration at 3.0 percent
He added that 10 states – Abia, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Lagos, Kaduna, Rivers and Zamfara accounted for 90 percent of the cases.
Metro
FRSC Engages Traditional Leaders, Others on Sensitisation Against Use of Trailers As Passenger Vehicle
The Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Shehu Mohammed, has solicited the assistance of Traditional, Religious and Youth leaders in the Corps’ ongoing campaign against road accidents, according to a statement e-signed by the Public Education Officer, Corps Commander Olusegun Ogungbemide, and made available to the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP).
Tje Corps Marshal prevailed on the leaders to by caution their subjects on the need to discontinue the use of trailers for their trips. This is following the fatal road crash that occurred on the busy Kano-Zaria Highway involving a trailer with about 90 persons on board.
The crash which occured as a result of speed violation that eventually led to loss of control happened at exactly 0315HRS on Monday 1 July 2024, killing 25 male adults as well as leaving a total of 53 other male adult victims with injuries of different sorts. However, FRSC emergency and rescue team was able to rescue 12 persons without injury from the crash.
The rescued victims have been taken to Murtala Muhammad and Nasarawa Specialist hospital in Kano State for proper medical attention. While the driver of the truck has been arrested and handed over to the Police for further investigation and possible prosecution.
You would recall that in the last couple of months, the Corps rose to the challenge of confronting this bad road use behaviour on all fronts. This gesture led to a high level of partnership between the Federal Road Safety Corps, leadership of the various Transport Unions, Security Agencies, as well as State Traffic Management Agencies.
In furtherance to the aforementioned actions, the Corps went a step further to establish and flag-off an Inter-Agency Joint Task Force so as to give a holistic approach to enforcing compliance against the use of trailers as passenger vehicles; as well as mitigate road traffic crashes, fatalities and injuries emanating from the lawlessness of trailer drivers.
These JTF which took off its operation in Niger, Bauchi, Taraba and Kaduna States and later extended to some notorious corridors of the Southern part of the country, has successfully arrested as at today, a total of 362 trailers loaded with 5169 passengers hanging on top of goods and animals. As part of the operations, the JTF dropped over 3530 passengers who were mandated to take alternative vehicles designed for conveying passengers. This is aside the aggressive sensitisation and advocacy campaigns going on across board.
Irrespective of these efforts, most of these commuters still disregard the sensitisation campaigns and travel to their destinations using these trailers as means if conveyance.
More worrisome is the fact that a whole lot of these trailer drivers travel at night when the operational arm of the Corps does not operate to escape arrest.
It is on the strength of the foregoing that the Corps Marshal calls on these Leaders to compliment FRSC’s efforts towards bringing these deadly road traffic violations to a halt by sensitising their Subjects further.
