Metro

Traditional Ruler, Two Others Killed In Bloody Benue Land Dispute

Published

2 years ago

May 14, 2024

A protracted land dispute between the people of Okete in Ohimini Local Government Area, LGA, of Benue state and the neighbouring community of Otukpo-Nobi in Otukpo LGA over the ownership of

Amla-Icho community land has claimed the lives of a traditional ruler and two others in the feuding communities.

It was gathered that the age long dispute was triggered last week when the Chairman of Otukpo LGA, Alfred Omakwu allegedly sent a bulldozer to the disputed land to enable him commence work on the creation of a layout in the area.

The presence of the earth moving equipment angered the people of Okete who moved to stop the destruction of the cultivated land.

In his account on the incident, the Chairman of Otukpo LGA said “the problem is that the Okete people lost it. It is a dispute between Amla in Otukpo and Okete in Ohimini LGA and a total of three people lost their lives in the crisis.

“What happened was that they (the Okete people) used to go and farm in Amla land but sometimes last year when we wanted to develop a layout there, the Okete people went to report to the Och’Idoma that their farm produce were there and the Och’Idoma directed that no layout should be done until they harvest their products.

“February this year, they harvested their produce and the Och’Idoma called them and informed them that by March this year, Otukpo would go ahead with their layout and that they should not farm there again.

“But when the bulldozers returned they said they had farmed there already and reported the matter to their Second Class Chief as well as their LGA Chairman who called me and I told them that the Och’Idoma asked them not to farm there again because of the layouts.

“So when the bulldozer went there on Friday, they came with their lawyer who called me and I told him everything and said if they want to go to court, it was their right.

“They demanded that the bulldozer stopped work but their lawyer advised that they should wait for him to get an injunction from the court but they said they could not wait.

“They then went to the First class chief of Otukpo/Ohimini who called Och’Idoma and the Och’Idoma said they should not stop the people doing the layout because he asked them not to farm their again.

“At that point they went there and opened fire on the people; they killed one and shot two people and burnt all their motorbikes about 10 of them.

“Then Otukpo retaliated the next day; they also burnt some houses and killed one person and killed another person in Amla making two.

“But we have maintained calm. The Police Commissioner summoned all of us for a peace meeting so we are restoring peace now among both parties. We have agreed that all the culprits will be arrested and brought to book.”

Countering his Otukpo counterpart, the Ohimini LG Chairman, Samson Okoh who also acknowledged that the dispute was over land said “there is a place called Amla, it’s close to Okete. The Otukpo Chairman took the bulldozers to the place where the Okete people used to farm for years and according to him he wanted to do a layout. So he went and destroyed their farm crops.

“When the Okete people demanded an explanation, the Amla people said the land does not belong to the Okete people but to the Amla people.

“According to what I was told, when the argument ensued somehow one of them from Otukpo pulled the trigger and shot but the bullet mistakenly hit a fellow Otukpo person.

“Then on Saturday night the Amla people went and reinforced and barricaded the Okete people, burnt houses, beat up ans killed one boy. And on Sunday around 10am when I went to take the boy they killed to the mortuary, the Alma people went to the place again and burnt 17 houses, burnt motorcycles, slaughtered a Clan Head Chief Sunday Okpe, and shot five other persons who we took to the Teaching Hospital in Otukpo for treatment.”

The Chairman who informed that the community had been deserted said the parties had been summoned by the Police Commissioner over the matter and that efforts were on to apprehend the masterminds of the crisis.

On whether the Paramount ruler of Idoma land, Och’Idoma Agaba-Idu John Odogbo asked his people not to farm on the said land again, the Chairman said, “I am not aware of that but the Otukpo Chairman claimed so. I was not told by the Och’Idoma to tell the people not to farm there.

“Moreover, the Och’Idoma cannot tell the people to stop farming where they have been farming for several years without compensation or settlement and you just take the bulldozer to destroy their crops on the hectares of land they eke a living from.”

Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent, SP, Catherine Anene who confirmed the development said the command received the report of one death though she was awaiting full details of the incident.

Metro

Edo: How Pastor Hypnotised My Daughter, Made Her Abandoned NNPCL- Mother

Published

4 hours ago

December 5, 2025

Editor

A 56-year-old woman, Mrs. Florence Igbiti, has appealed to relevant authorities to help free her 27 years old daughter who, according to her, has been hypnotised by a Benin-based Pastor, Craig Omorotiomwan of the Helpline International Ministries.

According to her, her daughter, Miss Treasure Ose Omonlumhen, abandoned her National Youth Service Scheme to go and stay with the Pastor, an act she described as strange and beyond her comprehension.

Mrs. Igbiti, who spoke to journalists at the Press Centre, Benin, amidst tears, said her daughter has since the incident become ‘high headed, stubborn and highly rebellious, pleading to relevant authorities to help free her daughter from the grip of the Pastor.

According to her, her daughter started attending the Helpline International Ministries 10 years ago, and that when she graduated from the University, she refused to go for the compulsory one year youth service but after pressure and persuasion for over 2 years after graduation she reluctantly obliged to go for the youth service.

The mother added that when her daughter went for the youth service, she was posted to Abuja, and that because of environment related course she studied in the university, she was deployed to the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

She lamented that despite deploying her daughter to a juicy organisation like the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the pastor who is the General Overseer called her daughter, spoke with her, and paid her flight ticket back to Benin, which made her daughter to abandon the NNPCL job to come to Benin to stay with the Pastor, crying out that it was not ordinary.

She narrated amidst tears: “The Pastor took her out of youth service and kept her in his house. She started the church 10 years ago. I didn’t notice her character started deteriorating. She used to a very calm, quiet, caring girl. As time goes on, she became high headed, stubborn and highly rebellious.

“The Pastor’s words are very smooth. He has very sweet words. He preaches very exciting messages.

“I think that what he preaches in the pulpit is different from what he preaches to his sect like my daughter. And to my uttermost surprise, my daughter is not the only victim. Many girls are with him in his house, some are even pregnant. Meanwhile, his wife is abroad.

“What he preaches publicly is different from what he preaches to these sects. They are youths that have natural love for the things of God and those that are actually hungry for the things of God.

“I pleaded with him to encourage her to go back to complete her Youth service but he refused. Instead, he now systematically cut me off from the church and refused picking my calls. Then he just cut me off.

“Even when I lost my father, my daughter and himself did not even come. My daughter has been staying with him for about a year, six months now. She didn’t even tell me she was going to stay with the pastor.

“The first year she stayed back because the pastor did not release her. She missed that year.

“I persisted and she enrolled again for the NYSC. She was deployed to Benue State from the where she was redeployed to Abuja where she was posted to NNPCL. But the pastor bought a ticket for her to come back. He just withdrew her like that. Since then, I have pleading with the pastor to let her go back and complete her
youth service, knowing the importance of it to her CV.

“The pastor now refused and systematically cut us off. I want to get my daughter back. But another thing I noticed is that my daughter is now acting very unusual. I’m suspecting he did something to her that I cannot understand.

“Her behavior is clearly different from the person she used to be. I’m sad about that. He has wasted the child several years.”

But the daughter who spoke on the phone said she was not hypnotized.

She claimed she completed her NYSC Scheme but was silent on concerns of her mother.

Pastor Omorotiomwan did not pick calls to his phone but checks showed he has sued Mrs. Igbiti and the police for N50m as damages for unlawful violation and threatened violation of his rights.

He is asking the court for injunction to restrain Mrs. Igbiti and the police from raiding his residence.

Pastor Omorotiomwan is also asking fot a declaration that continued threats of his arrest was unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void.

Metro

Gunmen Kill Three In Zamfara Community Over N3,500 Yoghurt

Published

1 day ago

December 4, 2025

Editor

At least three people were killed on Wednesday in Danjibga village, Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, after armed bandits attacked the community.

The incident was reported on Thursday, December 4, 2025, by security analyst Bakatsine on X.

Bakatsine explained that the attack began when a group of gunmen entered a local shop and attempted to take Rufaida yoghurt worth ₦3,500 without payment. The shop owner insisted on payment, prompting the men to become angry, drop the goods, and leave.

According to Bakatsine, the gunmen returned less than an hour later, heavily armed, and opened fire, killing three people. The attack also forced residents to flee and resulted in the looting of the shop.

He said, “Yesterday evening in the Danjibga community of Tsafe LGA, Zamfara State, a group of bandits entered a local shop and attempted to take Rufaida yoghurt worth ₦3,500 without payment.

“When the shop owner insisted on payment, the gunmen became angry, abandoned the yoghurt, and left. They returned less than an hour later and started shooting sporadically, which killed three people, forced residents to flee, and looted the shop.”

As of the time of filing this report, authorities have not issued an official statement regarding the incident.

Metro

Patient Accuses Ekiti Teaching Hospital Of Organ Harvesting

Published

1 day ago

December 4, 2025

Editor

Management of the Ekiti State Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH) has commenced an investigation into an alleged organ harvesting levelled against it by a patient, Mr Joshua Afolayan, who had surgery recently in the facility.

Joshua had accused the Teaching Hospital of an alleged harvest of his kidney by medical doctors in the hospital.

Addressing a press conference in Ado Ekiti, Afolayan explained that he had an accident in August 2025, and after visiting the hospital, he was told that one of his kidneys was affected.

According to him, the results of multiple scans carried out, including at UCH, Ibadan, Oyo State, confirmed that the right kidney had been damaged but the left kidney was very fine.

However, during surgery to remove the faulty kidney so as to protect other organs, Afolayan confirmed that he still urinated five minutes before the surgery, but since the procedure in October, he has not been able to pass urine.
He noted that all efforts to get explanations from the hospital proved abortive, as they continued to play him around.

Afolayan added that on second thought, he decided to visit another facility for scanning, only to discover that he had been living without a kidney since the operation.

He called on the government to carry out a thorough investigation and save his life, as he has continued to live in pain.

However, disturbed by the development, the Chairman, Board of Management of the Teaching Hospital, Dr Adedamola Dada, constituted a seven-man panel of enquiry to look into the alleged case of kidney removal in the hospital.
A statement by Rolake Adewumi, Head, Corporate Affairs, EKSUTH, disclosed that the members of the panel included Prof. Francis Faduyile, an Anatomic Pathologist from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, who will serve as the Chairman of the panel.

Other members included Prof. Patrick Temi Adegun of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti; Dr Henry Abiyere from Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido–Ekiti; Dr Adebola Adeniyi–Agbaje, General Manager, Progress F.M, Ado-Ekiti.
Others are Reverend Emmanuel Aribasoye, Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, Ekiti State branch; High Chief (Prof) Babatunde Akindele, the Elemo of Ado–Ekiti, a community leader; and Barr. Adebayo Titilayo, the Legal Adviser to Ekiti State Ministry of Health, who will serve as Secretary to the panel.

She said that the panel has ten days to submit its report, adding that the hospital management reassured the public that no stone would be left unturned to determine the issues involved in the matter.

“The Management noted that members of the panel are independent and responsible members of the community who would exhibit fairness and justice.

“All the affected parties and the general public were urged to cooperate with the panel as the findings are being awaited.”