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Yelwata attack carried out by Fulani youths from Nasarawa, Kwara, Taraba, others – FG
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, ordered the remand of nine suspected terrorists, who allegedly attacked Yelwata Community in Benue on June 13, 2025, where about 150 persons were killed, in Kuje Correctional Centre.
This was after the suspects, Ardo Lawal Mohammed Dono, Ardo Muhammadu Saidu, Alhaji Haruna Abdullahi, Yakubu Adamu, Alhaji Musa Mohammed, Abubakar Adamu, Shaibu Ibrahim, Sale Mohammed and Bako Jibrin, were arraigned on 57-count amended charge bordering on alleged terrorism offences.
It was a day the court was told on how the attack was carried out by Fulani youths in Nasarawa State, Kwara State, Taraba State, Giza on the orders of one Ardo Lawal Mohammed Dono after a meeting in Nasarawa State, in May and June, last year.
The suspects, arrested through what authorities called a coordinated effort of the security agencies, including the Department of State Services (DSS), had earlier pleaded not guilty at the charge leading to the order for their remand pending the hearing of their bail applications, adjourned the matter until February 26 and 27 for trial.
Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, who led the team of lawyers in the case, sought a trial date to enable them present their evidence against the defendants.
“I want to say in line with Section 273 of ACJA (Administration of Criminal Justice Act), 2015, following the plea of the defendants that they are not guilty, it means they have invoked the jurisdiction of your lordship for trial.
Fagbemi told the court: “Based on the nature of the trial, I will be asking my lord for accelerated hearing, and the defendants be ordered to be taken to correctional facility pending trial. For now, we have about eight witnesses.”
Ibrahim Angulu, SAN, who appeared for first, eight and ninth defendants, told the court that though they had already filed an application for bail before the amended charge was served on them earlier in the morning, the lawyer sought an indulgence of the court to move an oral bail application.
Citing a previous case to back his submission but Justice Abdulmalik turned down Angulu’s request, ordering him to file a formal application, he said: “The practice of this court is that you file a formal bail application.”
Fagbemi, who had earlier informed the court that an amended charge had been filed against the defendants, told the judge that though 10 defendants were earlier listed in the amended charge, he sought the order of court striking out the name of the sixth defendant, Yakubu Mamah, a proposal the defence lawyers, including Angulu, A. I. Kaura and Adamu Abdullahi, did not oppose.
Again, the defence did not raise objection to a further application by the AGF that the initial charge, where eight defendants were listed be substituted for the amended charge, leading to the judge striking it out.
In count one of the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/471/2025, the defendants and others still at large were alleged to have, sometime between May and June 2025 in Nasarawa State, knowingly and directly participated in meetings in connection with the commission of an act of terrorism.
They were said to have planned the attack on Yelwata Community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue, and subsequently carried it out June 13, 2025, resulting in the burning of houses, grievous bodily harm, and the death of approximately 150 persons.
The offence is said to be contrary to Section 12(a) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under the same section.
In count 25, Ardo Lawal Mohammed Dono (1st defendant) was alleged to have, between May and June 2025 in Nasarawa State, “instigated and instructed other ARDOs and all Fulani youths in Nasarawa State, Kwara State, Taraba State, Giza, and other surrounding villages to carry out attack on Yelwata Community” on June 13, 2025, where at least 150 persons died.
The offence is contrary to Section 26(2)(b) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under the same Act, among other counts.
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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