Crime
Ogoni youths flee over armed gangs invasion of community
Youths of Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State have fled their community due to invasion of armed gangs.
The hoodlums were said to have stormed the community with dangerous weapons and chased many of the youths out of the community after they took a stand against gang violence and reportedly signed an agreement under the supervision of the Local Government authority in August last year.
Spokesperson for the fleeing Bodo youths, Joseph Dinebari, disclosed this to newsmen in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
Dinebari said the dozens of gunmen were freely brandishing sophisticated weapons in the community and threatening mayhem, saying they were the same people who invaded the area in August last year and killed some indigenes.
He said many of the youths were currently seeking refuge in Port Harcourt, the state capital, neighbouring Eleme and Bonny in Rivers as well as in Bayelsa State for fear of being killed.
Dinebari alleged that the assailants were the same group of people who killed the former Divisional Police Officer of Ahoada, SP Bako Angbashim, in September last year.
According to him, “There are over 100 people from the Bodo community roaming the streets of Port Harcourt, Eleme, Bonny, Bayelsa and Cameroon.
“They have been chased away since the first, second and third week of August 2023 by gunmen who invaded the community with AK-47 rifles.
“The same set that was behind the killing of the late Bako Angbanshin in Ahoada. They came to Bodo and began door-to-door search with the intent of killing us.
“They succeeded in killing four people from August 24 to September 4, 2023. Those shot dead have not been buried till date.”
He called on the Rivers State Governor, Simi Fubara, to save the community from the killer gangs and urged him to set up a special panel inquiry to investigate the circumstances surrounding the killing of three fishermen in August.
“We therefore call on the Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, to set up a panel of inquiry composed of people who are neutral with high level integrity and who have the interest of the people at heart.
“That of truth, justice and fairness, not a compromised group of people. We want to talk with our father, the governor, as the chief security officer of the state.
“We believe he has brought a new spirit and style of governance to the state. Please, over 100 of us want to seek an audience with you or delegate people to speak with us,” Dinebari added.
When contacted, spokesperson for the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, said the Divisional Police Officer of the area said calm had returned.
She stated, “I can’t say if they have foes in the area but from what I was told, people are going about their normal activities now. There is calm.”
Groups operating under the aegis of the Human Rights, Liberty Access and Peace Defenders’ Foundation (HURIDE) and Campaign for Democracy (CD) South East Zone have called on Governor Chukwuma Soludo to release ritualists and native doctors in detention.
The groups said, the Qnambra Governor should use the three years anniversary of his office to release the ritualists who have been in detention in the government house.
The appeal was contained in a joint statement by the Executive Director of the Human Rights body, CD South East Zonal Chairman Dede Uzor A.Uzor, the groups said he should use their release as a gift to their families in this season and occasion of three years in office.
The group named the native doctors as: Akwa Okuko tiwara Aku in Oba, Eke Hit from Okija and Onyeze Jesus from Nkpor.
The trio were arrested in connection with “spurious and obnoxious social media instigation on our youths” which painted a very bad image for the society.
The group lamented that the native doctors encouraged ostentatious lifestyle and crime, making our youths to believe that hard work doesn’t pay unless you engaged in unwholesome criminal activities like ‘okeite’ or ‘Awale, yahoo plus’ among other false lifestyles.
It also said “their activities promoted serious insecurity and tension in the state with teeming young people turning to such criminal and outlandish lifestyles.
“But since their arrest, we believe they have learnt a big lesson”.
The group advised that Soludo should make them sign undertaking with the hope of discontinuing such crude, unethical and diabolical activities in line with the extant laws of the State,” they appealed to the Governor.
HURIDE said Governor Soludo should grant amnesty to them in the spirit of this successful celebration of three years in office, saying that he has done so much to improve the lives of citizens of the State.
CAPITAL POST recalled that the Soludo administration has been clamping on criminal elements amid high number of missing persons believed to be orchestrated by ritualists in the State.
Crime
Ghana’s anti-drug agency nabs Nigerian drug kingpin, Uchechukwu Chima, seizes $2.1m worth of cocaine, heroin
Ghana’s Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) has arrested a drug kingpin of Nigerian origin from the South East , Uchechukwu Chima.
The commission operatives raided his hideout in Accra.
Chima, who is 56 years was arrested on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, following the discovery of 192kg of cocaine and 0.42kg of heroin, valued at $2.1 million on the streets.
The acting Director of of Public Affairs and International Relations at NACOC, Francis Amoah speaking on the matter in Accra, confirmed that the substances seized were indeed cocaine and heroin.
Authorities believe Chima has played a significant role in previous drug-related operations in the country.
He said the operation marks a critical success in the ongoing fight against drug trafficking in Ghana.
“NACOC remains committed to making the country a hostile environment for drug trade and ensuring the safety of both Ghanaians and the international community.”
The Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, attached to Police Mobile Force, 70 Squadron, Kabba today Friday 14th March, 2025 foiled abduction of passengers along Ayere road. This is consequent upon a distress that some armed hoodlums blocked the road in an attempt to abduct some passengers in a Vehicle.
On receipt of the distress call, reinforcement teams from Sharper Corner pindown were promptly mobilized and sent to the scene which equally engaged the hoodlums, and owing to the superior fire power of the Police, the hoodlums fled into the bush and abandoned their victims who were rescued by the Police.
The Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Command, CP Miller G. Dantawaye, has ordered the deployment of additional operational and tactical assets of the Command to embark on thorough combing of the surrounding bushes with a view to apprehending the hoodlums and bringing them to deserved justice.
The CP while commending the unwavering dedication by the men of 70 PMF, Kabba, assured the public that the Police will not rest on its oars in the fight against criminality in the State.
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