Headline

Herders Invasion Of Edo Community: Police, Army Deploy Personnel To Troubled Spot

Published

4 years ago

January 4, 2022

The Edo State Police Command and 4 Brigade Nigerian Army yesterday deployed personnel to the troubled 2nd Abumwere Ojigbelu Camp in Ovia Northeast Local Government Area of Edo State.

Recall that the multi-ethnic farming community was invaded by suspected Fulani Herdsman dressed in military uniform on Sunday morning, chasing away villagers and taking over their farms.

The Police, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police, AS Wase in a joint operation with soldiers from the 4 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Benin City, led by Major AJ Isa conducted an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.

Speaking to journalists after the assessment, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, SP Bello Kontongs, said the joint force has gone around the area, to see for themselves, adding that there was no house burnt, nobody was killed nor raped.

He said the suspected herdsmen came to the community and told them to bring their vigilante men and their guns, but the villagers told them that they don’t have any guns, but were shooting fireworks during the Yuletide period.

The herdsmen instructed them not to ring their security bell nor use the fireworks again insisting that it is a disturbance to their cows.

“We want to assure the community and all residents of Edo State that the situation is under control. The State Government, after seeing the report online sent the delegation to assure those from Edo, Delta states, and those from the North that they should go about their normal businesses because the joint team is there to maintain peace and order.”

Speaking, Mr. Pius Osai, 54 years farmer, who hails from Delta State said, they came back this morning from where they ran to and when he got to his farm, he saw a young Fulani Herder, grazing his cows on his cassava farm.

“As I came this morning with my wife, we saw a Fulani boy inside my farm. He asked what I was doing here and I told him this is my farm. He said the cassava belongs to their cow, plantain belongs to them, and the cocoa belongs to us. I told my wife let us go home because our life is important.”

Also speaking, the village head, Solomon Omoragbon said he lives in Benin City, but was told that some herdsmen came on Sunday and ordered them to bring their vigilantes and guns, but they told them they have no guns, they asked about the sounds they hear, but they were told the sounds was from fireworks.

Then they ordered them not to shoot the fireworks again and that they should go and call him (the village head) but the youths told them, that he is not around.

Headline

Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

Published

13 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

AFP

Headline

20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

Published

15 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Headline

South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

Published

15 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP