Frank Mba, police spokesman, disclosed this in a statement, saying the group lost 250 fighters.

He said the operation started in the early hours of the day in an operational camp of the group located in Kuduru forest, Birnin Gwari.

According to Mba, the militants used “sophisticated anti-aircraft rifles and GPMG” during the attack.

“Commendably, the pilot and the co-pilot who demonstrated uncommon courage and expertise, successfully landed the aircraft at the Air Force Base, Kaduna without further incident,” he said.

“Both officers who sustained non-life threatening injuries are currently receiving treatment and are in stable condition.”

He said the operation was carried out by a combined team of operatives of Operation Puff Adder made up of the police mobile force (PMF), counter terrorism unit (CTU), special forces, intelligence response team (IRT), special tactical squad (STS) and special anti-robbery squad (SARS).

“The operation was necessitated by actionable intelligence linking terror and criminal elements in the super camp to series of terror-related violence, kidnappings, gun-running, cattle rustling and other heinous crimes across the country,” Mba added.

“Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police assures citizens of safety and sustained intelligence-led operations against bandits across the length and breadth of the nation. He has equally applauded the unparalleled bravery, commitment and dedication of the Police operatives currently conducting the special mission.”

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The minister stated this on Tuesday at a special Town Hall Meeting on Security (Banditry, Cattle Rustling and Kidnapping) organised by the ministry in Katsina.

The event was attended by the governors of Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara, namely Aminu Masari, Aminu Tambuwal and Bello Matawalle as well as Ministers of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola and Defence, Bashir Magashi.

“Here in the North-west, the security challenges – Banditry, Cattle Rustling and Kidnapping – have been unique and daunting.

“The deadly attacks that claimed lives and destroyed property were daily making headline news all over the country.

“At a stage, the situation became so bad in some of the states in the North-west that many felt they were intractable.

“But thanks to the unrelenting efforts of the Federal government, as well as the determination and innovative efforts of the governments of the affected states.

”There has been a remarkable improvement and peace and security are gradually returning to the worst-hit states.

“Unfortunately, the progress that has been made in combating banditry, cattle rustling and kidnapping, has not made the kind of headlines that the security challenges were making at their peak”, Mohammed observed.

The minister reiterated that the cardinal programmes of the Buhari Administration was to tackle insecurity across the country, and that the government had faced the challenges posed by it with grit and determination.

He said the federal government was unrelenting in tackling the challenges because without peace and security, there could be no development.
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Mohammed said that the town hall meeting was, therefore, imperative for the Federal Government, working with the affected states, to provide a platform for the governors of the front-line states to highlight the successes they had achieved in their various states.

He said the Ministers would also highlight the efforts that had helped to drastically reduce the level of insecurity in the North West.

Mohammed recalled that town hall meeting was launched in Lagos on April 25 2016, to provide a platform for the Federal Government to regularly give account of its stewardship to the people and get a feedback from them.

He said the 16th edition being held in Katsina, was unique, being the first time that they were having Governors from the APC and the PDP as panelists.

The three governors acknowledged that security situation in their respective states had improved owing to the supports from the Federal Government, innovative approaches introduced and cooperation of stakeholders.

The governors recommended more funding for security agencies, more collaborations among states, deployment of modern technology, recruitment of more military personnel and policemen, value reorientation and job opportunities for youths to end the scourge.

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Under the law, anyone convicted of rape is a liable to a mandatory life sentence in addition to a fine and compensation to victim.

Speaking during a brief ceremony where he assented to the law, Masari said the state is currently facing security challenges, hence the need to revisit the penal and procedural laws to deal with those involved in those crimes.

Masari expressed hope that it would stem the tide of violence and insecurity in the state.

“The decision to make these offences serious with the above punishment cannot be over-emphasised,” he said.

“It is hoped and prayed that they will serve as deterrence to those that may be convicted. And those that have the intention of committing them.”

In January, the governor had said the state was under siege by bandits, armed robbers and kidnappers, leaving citizens and visitors in vulnerable.

In May, Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police, had listed Katsina among the states with a high rate of crime.

The post Masari signs death penalty law for kidnappers, cattle rustlers appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

Ortom, who gave the warning at an emergency stakeholders meeting in Makurdi on Monday, urged the people to report any violation to appropriate authority for action.

The governor said anybody that rustle cattle and kill Fulani herdsmen would not be spared by the law, stressing that the Anti-Open Grazing Law protected both herdsmen and farmers.

He disclosed that the law was against cattle rustling and it also forbids cattle from grazing openly, especially on farms, stressing that there were stiff penalties attached to the offences.

He said that 80,000 people had been registered as internally Displaced Persons at the five camps opened by the state government as a result of the Fulani herdsmen killings.

He further sued for unity and peace among his subjects irrespective of their political and religious affiliations to enable them tackle the security challenges that had bedeviled the state.

Amb. Iyorwuese Hagher, a former Nigerian Envoy to Canada, advocated for State Police, stating that state police would assist in curbing the security challenges that engulfed the states.

Sen. Fred Orti corroborated Ortom by calling on the people to bury their differences, be they political or religious, so as to address the insecurity in the state head on.

Prof. Jerry Agada said that Benue people fought for the survival of Nigeria to keep it one and indivisible entity and they ought to do same by tackling the Fulani herdsmen attack head on.

Former Minister of Power and Stee Paul Unongo commended Benue people for uniting in order to tackle the incessant attack on them by herdsmen.

Unongo stressed that the unity should be forever and not just temporary because the more united they were the more stronger and viable they would be.

The Tor Tiv, Prof. James Ayatse, said that the Anti-Open Grazing Law did not breach any section of the constitution, and wondered why the herdsmen were resisting it.

The Och’ Idoma, Elias Obekpa, called for constant patrol of River Benue by the Marine Police, stressing that most times the attackers come through the river to launch attack.

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The governor, who dissociated himself from the suggestion for ‘cattle colonies’ proposed by the central government, said: “I am waiting to be briefed ‎about what colonies mean. I don’t understand and know what the whole thing means.”
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He, however, backed the setting up of a military base to checkmate the activities of marauding herders in the state.

“Anything ‎that can stop the killing of my people I will go for it. Any policy or directive that will help stop the killing of these innocent will be supported.

“We know that the lingering crisis would create more challenges. I don’t want it to continue. We are struggling with economic, political, security as well as other issues in this country. Benue State should not be part of this.”

The governor made his position known while speaking to State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He also dismissed the claim by the chairman of the state chapter of Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Garos Gololo that the killings were in retaliation to the alleged rustling of 1,000 cows by some people in the state.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Monday, disclosed that everything had been put in place by the Federal Government to establish cattle colonies as parts of efforts to address crisis.

The post Ortom rejects FG’s proposal, says ranching remains enduring solution appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The duo got the sentence after Justice Josiah Majebi found them guilty of cattle rustling and culpable homicide.

The accused were arraigned on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and culpable homicide, contrary to various sections of the Penal Code.

The prosecution had told the court that sometimes in January 2016, one Dauda Abdullahi made a report of a gruesome murder and theft of cows, belonging to one Haruna, in one of the farm centres in Okene.

He said that upon investigation, the accused persons were arrested at Ajase-Ipo in Kwara State, while their leader, Awaijo Wetti, escaped and was still at large.

The prosecution further submitted that the suspects, who had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges, later pleaded guilty.

The prosecution quoted Jauro as saying in his statement that in December, 2015, one of his friends, Yusuf, a resident of Kabba junction, Zariagi, called him on phone and informed him that there were cows belonging to one Haruna, at a bush in Okene.

“He further suggested that we should go and steal the cows. After that, our leader, by name Agwaijo Wetti, a resident of Tyre village along Okene-Auchi road, asked us to meet at the bush of Okene, which we did.

“Myself, Yusuf, Ado and our leader, Agwaijo Wetti, gathered and, with our cutlasses, went to meet the owner of the cows and all of us machete him with cutlasses until he died.

“Three of us then took control of the cows and took them to Ajase-Ipo in Kwara state,” Jauro was further quoted as saying.

In his judgment, Justice Majebi declared that the confessions of the accused persons were weighty and admissible in determining the case against them.

“The confessions of the respective accused persons are graphic, direct and the accused persons stated that after killing the deceased Haruna, they went with his cows to Ajase-Ipo where they were arrested and the cows were recovered in the bush where they kept them.”

Majebi said that the not guilty plea by the accused during the trial could not be substantiated because the admission of the commission of the said offence by the accused persons in their respective statements was clear, specific and unambiguous.

To believe their plea of not guilty, the jurist said “is to believe the holiness of a Bishop hanging a talisman on his neck.’’

He held that the prosecution had satisfactorily established that the death of the deceased was caused by the convicts as there was “a nexus between the acts of the accused persons and the death of the deceased.”

The judge sentenced them to 28 years each, on the first three count charges, and death by hanging on the fourth charge of culpable homicide.

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