Gunmen kill 15 in fresh attack on Riyom community in Plateau

By: Zagazola Makama

At least 15 persons killed and four others injured in a deadly attack by suspected armed Fulani militias on Jebbu village in Riyom Local Government Area.

Zagazola Makama gathered from security sources that the attack occurred on July 15 at about 6:45 a.m. when the assailants stormed the community and opened fire on residents.

Joint troops of Operation Safe Heaven promptly responded to the attack in collaboration with other security agencies.

“On arrival, 15 lifeless bodies were recovered, while four other victims with varying degrees of gunshot wounds were evacuated to the General Hospital in Riyom for treatment.

The corpses of the deceased have also been deposited at the same hospital’s mortuary.

Additional troops have been deployed to the area to forestall further attacks and to conduct extensive bush combing operations aimed at tracking and arresting the perpetrators.

Jebbu village had not come under attack or recorded any threat since the beginning of the farmers-herders conflict in Plateau State, making this incident unprecedented.

Gunmen kill 15 in fresh attack on Riyom community in Plateau

NDLEA Recovers Cocaine, Loud from Microwaves, Lipsticks at Lagos Airport, Nabs Wanted Drug Kingpin

By: Michael Mike

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted parcels of Loud, a strong strain of cannabis concealed in microwaves imported from Thailand and wraps of cocaine built into ladies’ lipsticks going to Guinea at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The spokesman of the anti-narcotics agency, Femi Babafemi in a statement on Sunday, said the Loud consignment was part of a consolidated cargo that came in two tranches on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Bangkok, Thailand through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

He said based on credible intelligence, the cargo was subjected to thorough search during which 23 parcels of loud weighing 11.3 kilogrammes concealed in new microwaves were recovered last Monday, disclosing that a suspect Ezenwegbu Chike has been arrested in connection with the seizure.

He noted that barely a week after a total of 420 grammes of cocaine factory fitted in 84 pieces of female lipsticks heading to the UK were seized at a courier company in Lagos, NDLEA operatives at the export shed of the Lagos airport have intercepted another consignment of cocaine built into ladies’ lipsticks as part of a cargo containing hair attachments, face powder, and other items heading to Malabo, Guinea.

Babafemi said no less than 400 grammes of cocaine and phenacetine, a cutting agent, were recovered from the lipsticks when dismantled while a businessman at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo area of Lagos, Ezeikwelume Afam was arrested last Friday in connection with the seizure.

The spokesman said a notorious drug kingpin Okechukwu Izugha (a.k.a Okey Omeogo) has been arrested in Lagos by operatives of a Special Operations Unit of NDLEA after 12 months of going into hiding. He was nabbed last Wednesday at his wife’s shop in Ijesha market.

He said Izugha came under NDLEA radar on 7th August 2024 after a 9 kilogrammes cocaine was recovered from a suspect Obiora Agudosi at a motor park in Orile, Lagos while going to deliver the consignment in the southeast. Izugha was identified as the owner of the seized drug.

Babafemi said in the course of investigating the kingpin and his network, his wife Maureen Izugha was arrested with 500 grammes of cocaine at her beverages store in Ijesha market on 21st January 2025. She was thereafter arraigned in court, convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment.

Unknown Izugha that NDLEA was still on his trail, he came out of his hiding and was promptly arrested last Wednesday.

Babafemi said in Edo state, no fewer than 28,054.053 kilogrammes of skunk, a local strain of cannabis, were destroyed on three farms measuring over 11 hectares at Ewere Uzebba forest in Owan West local government area last Tuesday, while 82 kilogrammes of already processed cannabis was recovered from the location.

He disclosed that the NDLEA operatives who went for the operation however came under gun attack from armed members of the cartel on their way out of the forest. They were able to repel the attack and came out unhurt while one of their operational vehicles was riddled with bullets.

In Lagos, 1,400 compressed blocks of Ghana Loud, a strain of cannabis, weighing 700 kilogrammes and a Ford delivery truck marked JJJ 698 YJ were recovered at Okun -Ajah Beach, while two suspects: Innocent Ejidiobo and Friday Paul were nabbed along Ajah -Epe expressway by NDLEA operatives last Friday.

Recovered from them include: 26 kilogrammes Ghana Loud, 123 grammes of methamphetamine and 45 grammes of Molly as well as their delivery van with registration number AJK 191 LG.

NDLEA operatives in Borno state on Saturday arrested Godwin Nwaobi, 42, with 18,759 ampoules of pentazocine, pills of tramadol and rohypnol at Njimtilo, Maiduguri, coming on the heels of the seizure of 10,000 pills of tramadol from another suspect Abdulrahman Ahmadu, 34, last Wednesday, their counterparts in Gombe state recovered a total of 116,226 pills of tramadol and D-5 from five suspects: Hafiz Bello, 22; Isah Suleman, 48; Kabiru Muhammed, 30; Abdullahi Adamu, 30; and Abel Murna, 25, at Gombe main market and along Gombe-Kano road last Tuesday and last Saturday.

A suspect, Sabiu Bala was last Thursday arrested along Okene-Lokoja expressway in Kogi state while conveying 316.6 kilogrammes skunk, while another suspect Haladu Suleiman, 38, was nabbed by NDLEA operatives with 58.805 kilogrammes of same substance in Gubuchi area of Ikara local government area, Kaduna state.

In Taraba state, three suspects: Auwal Ibrahim, 30; Lukman Ibrahim, 18; and Hamza Adamu, 25, were on Saturday arrested by NDLEA officers at Lanka Viri checkpoint while conveying 577,890 pills of opioids and 1.16 kilogrammes skunk concealed in tyre compartment of a petrol tanker marked MUB 334 YH. The arrest of the trio last Tuesday, according to Babafemi, followed credible intelligence.

He said three other suspects: Shamsudini Abdullahi, 35; Adamu Abdullahi,21; and Magaji Rabo, 26, were nabbed with 48.1 kilogrammes skunk at Janguza barracks area of Kano state by NDLEA operatives last Wednesday.

He noted that the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities by NDLEA commands equally continued across the country in the past week.

Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), while commending the officers and men of MMIA, SOU, Edo, Lagos, Taraba, Kano, Kogi, Gombe, Borno and kaduna commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.

NDLEA Recovers Cocaine, Loud from Microwaves, Lipsticks at Lagos Airport, Nabs Wanted Drug Kingpin

Massacre in Karta: Suspected EIGS militants kill 11 civilians shortly after military withdrawal in Niger Republic

By: Zagazola Makama

At least 11 civilians were brutally killed in Karta village, Téra Department of Tillabéri Region, Niger Republic, in a fresh attack allegedly carried out by suspected Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (EIGS) militants, shortly after the withdrawal of a military detachment from the area.

Zagazola gathered that the attack occurred on Thursday, July 11, at about 6:00 p.m., barely 15 minutes after Nigerien troops vacated the area.

Sources said the assailants arrived on the same road used by the military convoy during their departure, suggesting a possible overlap or close proximity.

“They arrived just after the soldiers had left. On the same road. They weren’t stopped. They opened fire. They killed. And no one came back,” a local resident said.

No exchange of gunfire reportedly occurred between the soldiers and the attackers. Residents allege that the terrorists passed unhindered, and no security response followed the gunshots that echoed through the village during the massacre.

The victims have been identified as: Seydou Kango, Ali Alhadey, Fataou Oudou, Yacouba Karidjo, Abass Hamadou, Soumana Hamadou Sabbou, Ginda Tondi, Souleymane Yéyio, Mohamed Seydou Abdul and two others of Tara Bango Banda origin, yet to be formally identified.

Tillabéri region has in recent months become a hotspot for jihadist violence, with EIGS fighters regularly launching deadly raids on villages such as Mehana, Fanbita, Kokorou, and Satchirbangou.

The continuous attacks have fueled a deepening distrust among citizens, many of whom now accuse the military-led junta of abandoning them to terrorists.

Despite repeated assurances of improved security by Niger’s ruling military authorities, civilians across the region say they feel unprotected and betrayed.

Tillabéri region sits at the tri-border area of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, where jihadist insurgencies linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda have continued to destabilize communities and challenge state authority.

Massacre in Karta: Suspected EIGS militants kill 11 civilians shortly after military withdrawal in Niger Republic