News
BREAKING: Okpebholo rushes to Ekpoma, as youths attack cattle market
Monday Okpebholo, Governor of Edo State, is currently in Ekpoma, the university town in the state, which has become restive since Saturday after a soldier shot and killed a young man protesting the incessant kidnapping of people in the town by alleged Fulani herdsmen.
The PUNCH, quoting Kassim Afegbua, spokesman of the government, reports that the governor’s move came after angry youths chased away Hausa traders at the livestock market in university town in Edo Central and slaughtered goats belonging to the traders.
The shooting incident, came when some youths had embarked on protests to call attention to the activities of the herdsmen, who had allegedly continued to carry out relentless kidnappings with security operatives appearing to have no solution.
The reports, quoted Afegbua, Commissioner for Information and Strategy as saying: “This is very untoward. Incidentally, some of our people are the owners of these cows. We can only appeal for calm, to avoid reprisal attacks elsewhere. This is a mob action, often spontaneous and senseless
“The Governor has gone to the area to appeal for calm. An eye for an eye is not the best approach.”
It came on the heels of multiple videos circulating on the social media on Sunday morning, showing some youths descending on said animals after the traders were seen fleeing the scene abandoning even their cows, which were seen straying on major roads amid heavy assault by the irate youths.
The resident noted that kidnapping has become a big problem in the area, with farmers not being able to go to their farms, while residents live in fear.
Amid the protest, which also grounded commercial activities as residents also attacked some government paraphernalia, including Okpholo’s campaign billboards for the 2027 general elections Austin Eigbiremolen, Principal Security Officer to the Governor, was quoted as assuring of adequate security.
“I can assure that adequate security will be provided in Ekpoma and kidnappers will be chased away,” he was quoted as saying, while Eno Ikoedem, spokesman of the Edo State Police Command, was also saying that the authorities were not indifferent to the security challenges in town as alleged.
Stressing that Monday Agbonika, the Commissioner was already in the community to take charge of the situation, she reportedly added that nine persons were rescued unhurt after the Eagle Combat Drone Unit was deployed to the forest alongside local hunters.
Hear the police: “In the heat of the rescue operation, the kidnappers’ camp was located through real-time aerial intelligence. The ground troops stormed the camp, forcing the kidnappers to flee and abandon two locally fabricated AK-49 rifles. The victims, including five children, were rescued unhurt.
“This landmark deployment underscores the transformative role of technology in modern policing and sets a new benchmark for operational enhancement in Edo State.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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