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Ijaw Apex Body Knocks Wike, Demands Rivers Lawmaker’s Release

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The Ijaw National Congress (INC) has condemned the arrest and arraignment of the lawmaker representing Degeme/Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Farah Dagogo, on the orders of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.

The apex Ijaw socio-cultural organisation said Wike’s action amounted to political persecution of an Ijaw son, who is a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, adding that the continued detention of Dagogo was a violation of his fundamental human rights.

The President of INC, Prof Benjamin Okaba, stated this in a statement titled, ‘Arrest of Hon. Farah Dagogo: Political persecution of an Ijaw son’, which he issued in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on Saturday.

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Okaba berated Wike for Dagogo’s ordeal and described the governor’s allegations that the federal lawmaker hired cultists to disrupt the PDP screening exercise at the party’s zonal secretariat in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, as phantom and flimsy.

He said, “The illegal arrest and detention of Hon. Farah Dagogo, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, is an orchestrated design by Governor Wike’s administration to persecute the Ijaws who are resolved to come together to contest the governorship of Rivers State.

“May we ask: when did the constitutionally guaranteed right to contest an election become a crime? As a former Minister of State in the President Goodluck Jonathan-led federal administration, did the then Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, who had become an All Progressives Congress chieftain, threaten or ever arrested and illegally detained Wike even though they were at loggerheads? When did Rivers State become the private empire of Governor Wike that indigenes need permission from him to decide their individual political future?

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READ ALSO: ijawDelta 2023: No Going Back On Ijaw Governorship Agenda, INC Insists

“The INC is particularly miffed at the trumped-up charges against Hon. Farah Dagogo that he hired cultists to disrupt the PDP screening exercise, which was presided over by his governor-colleague, Senator Douye Diri of Bayelsa State. Did Governor Diri ever call him (Wike) that their lives were under threat on account of the invading cultists? Did the well-fortified security apparatus of Governor Diri call for security reinforcement because of Governor Wike’s imaginary marauding cultists?

“What on earth justifies this premeditated political onslaught against Hon. Farah Dagogo and the Rivers Ijaws? Was the mission essentially to deny him screening so that he would not have a chance to contest the governorship election against other opponents?”

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The Ijaw nation leader, therefore, demanded the unconditional release of Dagogo within 48 hours, stressing that the governor’s politics of succession should be all-inclusive and not exclude the Ijaws’ interest in Rivers State in the 2023 elections.

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NDLEA Arrests Two Drug Kingpins, Seizes Cocaine, Heroin, Meth In Lagos

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Operatives of a Special Operations Unit (SOU) of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested two drug kingpins, Victor Nwosa and Felix Chika Obiegbu, after consignments of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine being prepared for export to Europe and beyond were recovered from their Lagos homes following weeks of intelligence and surveillance on their criminal networks.

While 64-year-old Nwosa paraded himself as a successful textile merchant, 49-year-old Obiegbu was known to many as a businessman in wine distribution, but beneath their outward appearance lay their hidden illicit drug business, unearthed by NDLEA operatives after months of intelligence gathering on the syndicates led by them.

According to a statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, on Sunday, at the time they were preparing their consignments for export, NDLEA-SOU operatives, who had kept them under surveillance for months, swooped on them in different parts of Lagos.

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Nwosa was arrested on 17 September 2025 at his home at 16, Femi Kila Street, Okota, where 4.33 kilogrammes of heroin and 448 grammes of cocaine were recovered during a search of the house.

In Obiegbu’s case, he was arrested on 11 September at his home at 5 Shada Shonefun Street, Aguda, Surulere, where, in the course of a search, 2.902 kilogrammes of methamphetamine were uncovered and seized.

READ ALSO:NDLEA Arrests Widow Using Fake Pregnancy To Traffic Cocaine

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Attempts by suspected suppliers of illicit drugs to terrorists and bandits in Borno and Yobe to move narcotics concealed in the engine compartment of a Mercedes-Benz jeep and in a woman’s travelling bag were also thwarted by NDLEA operatives during stop-and-search operations in the two states.

In Borno State, following weeks of intelligence, NDLEA officers on Saturday arrested Baba Kaka Ibrahim at Njimtilo village while driving a Mercedes-Benz GLK marked JRE 987 AE along Damaturu Road. A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of 39,380 pills of tramadol 225mg and Exol-5 stuffed in the engine compartment of the jeep.

That same day in Yobe State, NDLEA operatives intercepted a woman, Halima Adamu, along the Damaturu-Maiduguri Road, where 39 parcels of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 1.4 kilogrammes, were found concealed inside the casing of her travelling bag. A swift follow-up operation led to the arrest of another woman linked to the consignment, Habiba Muhammad, at her Baga Road, Maiduguri home.

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Two suspects, Aliyu Sani and Yahaya Tata, were arrested on Saturday by NDLEA operatives along the Zaria-Kano Road, Gadar Tamburawa, Kano State, with 30,030 pills of tramadol seized from them, while three suspects – Friday Elebechi, Tobin Godgift and Aya Clement – were arrested by NDLEA operatives at Swali Jetty, Yenagoa, Bayelsa, on 22 September after 12 kilogrammes of skunk, a strain of cannabis, and 50 Diana AAA cartridges were recovered from them.

A 45-year-old ex-convict, Femi Owoeye (aka Do Good), was arrested on 25 September by NDLEA officers at his home at 24 Oke-Igele Street, Ikere Ekiti. He was found in possession of 32 kilogrammes of skunk and 10.5 grammes of tramadol. He had previously been convicted and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for a similar drug trafficking offence in 2016.

READ ALSO:NDLEA Arrests 65 Suspects In Abia, 7 Prosecuted, Convicted

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In Kaduna, a suspect, Adedamola Olayeni, was arrested on 22 September with 404 blocks of skunk weighing 262.6 kilogrammes at the Abuja-Kaduna tollgate. The consignment was found in his Honda Pilot jeep marked MKA 499 TT, coming from Osogbo, Osun State, and heading to Katsina State.

Another suspect, Zubairu Haruna, was found on 24 September with 506 grammes of methamphetamine at the Gwantu-Fadan Karshi checkpoint, Kaduna, while a follow-up operation in Gombe State led to the arrest of the intended receiver of the consignment, Babangida Mohammed.

No fewer than 85,100 pills of tramadol and other opioids were seized from the trio of Dauda Abubakar, Abdullahi Umar and Ismaila Muhammed in the Apapa area of Lagos on 22 September, while NDLEA operatives in Abuja, the following day, 23 September, arrested Opeyemi Ogundipe with 2.1 kilogrammes of Colorado along the Abaji-Gwagwalada Expressway.

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In Edo State, NDLEA officers on 23 September destroyed a total of 12,115.6 kilogrammes of skunk on 4.846244 hectares of cannabis plantation at Uromi Forest in Esan West LGA, where two suspects, Ernest Uche and Felix Mugorga, were arrested and 345.5 kilogrammes of processed substance evacuated.

READ ALSO:NDLEA Detains Couple, 2 Daughters For Alleged Drug Running

At Ogu Forest, Igueben LGA, no less than 12,031.245 kilogrammes of the same psychoactive substance were destroyed on 4.438442 hectares of cannabis farm on 24 September, with 106.1 kilogrammes of processed consignment evacuated. A truck conveying 82 bags of skunk concealed in bags of charcoal, with a total weight of 1,025 kilogrammes, was intercepted by NDLEA operatives along Wareke-Auchi Road, Etsako West LGA, on Friday, while two suspects, Kabiru Abdulahi and Anas Safiyanu, were apprehended in connection with the seizure.

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While commending the officers and men of the SOU, as well as those of the Borno, Yobe, Edo, Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, FCT, Ekiti and Bayelsa Commands for the arrests, seizures and their dexterity, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (Rtd), urged them and their colleagues nationwide to continue with the ongoing balanced approach to the Agency’s drug control efforts.

He noted that “the success of the various operations across the country underscores our commitment to safeguarding Nigeria from illicit substances that threaten public health and national security. Every gramme of these dangerous drugs we seize and remove from our streets and communities reinforces our determination to protect our youths, disrupt criminal networks, and strengthen national security.”

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Insecurity: Army HQ Directs GOC Ibadan To Relocate To Kwara

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The Army Headquarters has directed the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 2 Division of the Nigerian Army in Ibadan, to immediately relocate to Kwara State to further coordinate and boost military response to the insecurity in parts of the state.

This was contained in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Kwara State Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, on Sunday.

It was gathered that the directive of the Army Headquarters followed the killing of no fewer than five forest guards and local hunters by suspected bandits early Sunday morning in Oke, Ifelodun Local Government Area.

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It was also learnt that members of the local vigilance team neutralised an unspecified number of the bandits in the early morning attack.

READ ALSO:JUST IN: Bandits Abduct Kwara APC Chairman’s Wife, Daughter

Meanwhile, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State, who mourned the deaths of the hunters, “urged our brave residents to remain calm and avoid the temptation to turn on ourselves,” saying, “We will forever be grateful to all of them as our heroes.”

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The Governor also called for increased security deployments to the state to rout the criminals involved in attacks in parts of the state.

In a statement following the attack on the positions of the forest guards and the surrounding areas of Oke Ode, the Governor said the state requires more military deployments to roll back the activities of criminals in parts of the Kwara South and Kwara North senatorial districts.

He regretted the loss of innocent civilians and the forest guards who, he said, mounted a spirited resistance to the assailants in the early morning incident out of patriotism and love for their communities.

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READ ALSO:Three Killed As Suspected Bandits Ambush Motorists In Kwara

My heartfelt condolences go to the families. No word can adequately capture the depth of my sadness and nothing can compensate the bereaved families for these incidents, in spite of our efforts and the investments in enlisting and training the forest guards to bolster the conventional forces.

“Our people are understandably concerned about the situation, and I wholeheartedly share in this grief,” the Governor said in the statement on Sunday.

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“While we appreciate the efforts and unquantifiable sacrifices of the security forces as well as the successes so far, we definitely need to do a lot more until we are completely out of the woods.”

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Retired DIG Parry Osayande is dead

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Retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Parry Osayande is dead!

Osayende died on Sunday in Benin City, a day to his 89th birth anniversary.

His death was confirmed in a condolence statement released by the president of the Immaculate Conception College Old Boys’ Association (ICCOBA), Engr. Ighodalo Edetanlen.

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The announcement, made on behalf of the association’s National Executive Committee, described Osayande as an “exemplary old boy” of the college, located in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

READ ALSO:Soldier Sentenced To Death For Murder, Armed Robbery In Akwa Ibom

The statement, titled ‘CONDOLENCE: DIG. PARRY OSAYANDE (Rtd),’ reads: “The President, ICCOBA Worldwide, Engr. Ighodalo Edetanlen, on behalf of the National Executive Committee and the entire Old Boys of Immaculate Conception College, Benin City announce, with total submission to the will of God, the peaceful repose of an exemplary old boy, DIG Parry Benjamin Osemwegie Osayande (Rtd) earlier today at the age of 88 years.”

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Born on September 29, 1936, Osayande would have turned 89 on Monday.

His decades-long service to the Nigeria Police Force included high-level postings as Commissioner of Police in Benue and Cross River States. He also served as Chairman of the Police Service Commission, playing a vital role in the country’s law enforcement and administrative reform.

READ ALSO:Four Miners Feared Dead, Others Trapped As Illegal Mining Site Collapses In Plateau

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The association expressed deep sorrow over his passing and called for prayers for the bereaved family.

“While we mourn, let us also uphold the family he left behind in prayers in this moment of grief,” the statement added.

“Details regarding funeral arrangements are expected to be announced in due course.

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“May God grant him and all the faithful departed eternal rest in Jesus Name, Amen,” the statement concluded,

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