Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have attacked a bus conveying Dangote Cement workers to Okpella Town in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State.

A statement issued by Edo State Police Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwabuzor, on Tuesday said the suspected kidnappers attacked the bus conveying the workers from the factory to Okpella town and in the process took the passengers into the bush.

According to the statement, alerted by the incident, the “Divisional Police Officer mobilized his Operatives, Vigilantes group, and the Hunters into the forest for a vigorous bush combing operations to rescue the victims unhurt and to arrest the kidnappers.”

The statement added that “in the process, one Omoba “M” whose other names are unknown was rescued, and at a look, it was discovered that he was with some bullet injuries on the back, shot by the hoodlums. He was immediately rushed to Halimatu Musa Hospital for medical attention.”

“Meanwhile, one other victim who was earlier shot at the point of the attack and another victim one Victor Okon, were rushed to the same hospital for treatment,” he added in the statement.

Nwabuzor in the statement said the Commissioner of Police, Funsho Adegboye, has therefore given “a marching order to the Divisional Police Officer Okpella Division, the Vigilantes group and the Hunters to intensified the bush combing exercise in ensuring a speedy rescue of the remaining victims and to effect the arrest of the kidnappers.”

He said CP gave the “directive during his visit to Dangote Cement Factory Okpella and the Halimatu Musa Hospital, where he met with the injured victims of the kidnap.”

The men of the Department of State Services have invaded an Ogun State High Court sitting in Ilaro and arrested two defendants despite the judge’s warning.

The court was presided over by Justice AA Shobayo on Tuesday.

The defendants, who were simply identified as Alhaji Isiaka Fatai and Samuel Oyero, were tried in a suit marked HCP/IC/2023 between the State vs Awode Oladosu & 13 others.

The case was reported to be a result of a crisis that recently broke out in the Agosasa community in the Ipokia Local Government Area of the state over an Obaship tussle which led to the destruction of property worth billions of naira and loss of life.

Meanwhile, when the hearing was ongoing, operatives of the DSS stormed the court premises and took away the suspects.

Confirming the incident to Daily Trust, Counsel to Alhaji Isiaka, Kehinde Bamiwola, in a statement, alleged that men of the DSS operatives used weapons on the two, stressing that “Alhaji Isiaka Fatai was beaten, slapped, man-handled, rough-handled and molested.”

Corroborating Bamiwola’s claim, the Principal Registrar of the High Court and Sectional Head of High Court, Ilaro, Omololu Olusanya, confirmed the incident, describing it as shocking and disrespectful to the rule of law.

He stressed that even after the judge had ordered the operatives not to make any arrest within the court premises, they still proceeded to arrest the two persons.

“They still went ahead and did the act to the extent that they assaulted one of our staff members, Mrs Fadina, while doing that act. It’s a very sad issue that caused a lot of noise within the court premises.

“It was from the source that we heard they were DSS agents. If anybody sees them, one would think they were armed robbers.

Olusanya further said that their appearance was far from being identified as DSS agents, adding, “They did not wear anything that identified them as DSS, but they came to my lord this morning and said they had some people to arrest. That was when we knew they were DSS officers.

“They approached the judge before the court session began. The honourable judge advised them that if they wanted to make an arrest, it must not be done within the court premises.

“They could stay outside and do whatever they wanted, but they refused that advice and carried out the arrest within the premises,” he said.

However, when contacted, the spokesman for the DSS, Peter Afunanya, did not answer calls or reply to text messages sent as of the time of filing this report.

A yet-to-be-identified man has been apprehended for possessing a bomb on the premises of a bank in Dadin Kowa town in the Jos South area of Plateau State.

It was gathered that immediately it was discovered that a bomb was in the suspect’s possession, an alarm was raised, and he was quickly pinned down to avert a tragedy.

According to a post by security analyst Zagazola Makama on X on Tuesday, the vigilante security at the bank prevented the attack when they spotted the suspect.

Upset by the development, an angry mob descended on the suspect and reportedly demanded that he should be killed.

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The suspect was later handed over to the police for proper investigation.

A picture attached to Makama’s post showed that the bomb was strapped around the suspect’s belly.

It is, however, unclear if the suspect had been linked to any terrorist organisation in the country.

Details later…