Category Nigeria News

The police in Zamfara State have arrested Nasuru Dawan Jiya, for allegedly supplying arms to bandits.

Yazid Abubakar, the Police Public Relations Officer for the Zamfara State Police Command, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.

He said the suspect was nabbed on September 15 by operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit.

According to him, the police operatives were on routine patrol along Gummi–Sokoto Road when they intercepted a Toyota Corolla vehicle conveying passengers from Sokoto to Gummi.

READ ALSO: Nigeria’s Inflation Will Drop To Single Digit, Presidency Assures Nigerians

“Upon conducting a thorough search of the vehicle at Gambanda Godabe village in Gummi LGA, the team recovered the following items, concealed inside a bag of oranges belonging to one Nasuru Dawan Jiya:

“Four AK-47 rifles, two hundred (200) rounds of live PKT ammunition, twenty-eight (28) rounds of live AK-47 ammunition, four (4) empty AK-47 magazines.

“During preliminary investigation, the suspect, Nasuru Dawan Jiya, confessed to transporting the arms and ammunition to bandits operating in Gurusu village,” the statement read.

The Command’s spokesman said the case is being investigated, assuring that efforts are ongoing to arrest other accomplices and dismantle the criminal network.

The Kano/Jigawa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has paraded four suspects in connection with the vandalization and illegal transportation of electric aluminum conductors valued at over ₦5.3 million.

Speaking at a press briefing on Monday at the Kano Customs House, the Customs Area Comptroller, Dalhatu Abubakar, disclosed that the suspects were intercepted by officers of the command’s patrol team along the Hadejia–Ringim Road.

Abubakar said the seized items included 13 bundles of vandalized 155mm electric aluminum conductors, measuring a total of 1,071 metres, concealed with 73 bundles of firewood.

READ ALSO: Gunmen Kill Customs Officer In Kebbi

The operatives also impounded a Volkswagen vehicle labelled as a school bus, allegedly used for conveying the items, as well as a cutter pliers suspected to have been used in the vandalism.

He lamented that such acts of criminality have far-reaching effects on communities.

“This singular act has denied the affected community access to water supply and electricity in their homes and hospitals, potentially leading to health complications, serious injuries, and even death,” he said.

Abubakar appealed to the public to provide timely and useful information to security agencies, thereby strengthening vigilance against economic sabotage.

Meanwhile, gunmen have killed an unidentified Customs officer attached to the Fingila checkpoint in the Dandi Local Government Area of Kebbi State.

A local, Malam Abdulrasheed, said the assailants entered the nearby farms where they harassed farmers, seized food items, and forced them to eat portions of their own meals before confiscating the rest.

“They entered the farms and asked the farmers to taste the food they brought from home. After forcing them to take a bite, the gunmen ate the remaining food and told the farmers to leave, saying there would be no farming today,” Abdulrasheed told Channels Television.

A middle-aged trader in Akure, Ondo State capital, Bosede Iluyemi, has allegedly killed her elder sister named Omowumi Tewogboye, over an 800 Naira debt.

Bosede was said to have demanded the payment for the tomatoes and pepper Omowumi purchased on credit from her.

The situation escalated into violence when Bosede allegedly held onto Omowumi’s clothes, causing her to fall and sustain fatal injuries.

Omowumi was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, but unfortunately, she was pronounced dead on arrival.

The Ondo State Police Command swiftly responded to the incident, arresting Bosede and taking her into custody.

The President of Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Aliko Dangote, says the company’s newly-launched Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered trucks will create jobs instead of taking them away. 

Dangote spoke on Monday while briefing the press at the refinery in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos State

He said the move will give people jobs, because the trucks will be driven by people and not robots.

“These trucks will launch. We didn’t stop anybody from his work. You are saying that there will be a loss of jobs. Are our own tankers going to be driven by robots?

“There are no robotic trucks now. They are trucks, and yes, by the time you take a workshop, manager, mechanical, electrical, people who look after tires, people who look at logistics, movement of the trucks, dispatch, back office – every truck is about six people. So, these 4,000 trucks they are fighting over will create 24,000 jobs,” he said.

READ ALSO: Dangote Rolls Out 1,000 CNG Trucks, Dismisses Monopoly Claims

The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) had raised concerns over the launch of the trucks, alleging that it would lead to a loss of jobs.

However, Dangote has allayed the fears, saying the trucks will instead lead to the creation of thousands of jobs.

Watch Dangote speak at the event below:

An unidentified Customs officer attached to the Fingila checkpoint in the Dandi Local Government Area of Kebbi State was allegedly shot dead by suspected gunmen on Monday.

According to a local resident of Fingila village, identified simply as Malam Abdulrasheed, the gunmen had earlier stormed nearby farms where they reportedly harassed farmers, seized food items, and forced them to eat portions of their own meals before confiscating the rest.

“They entered the farms and asked the farmers to taste the food they brought from home. After forcing them to take a bite, the gunmen ate the remaining food and told the farmers to leave, saying there would be no farming today,” Abdulrasheed recounted.

READ ALSO: Judge Refers Nnamdi Kanu’s Medical Transfer Motion To CJ For Reassignment

He further explained that the attackers, about seven in number and riding motorcycles while carrying heavy weapons, later moved toward the main road. There, they encountered the Customs officer sitting near a mosque and opened fire on him.

Although the first shot missed, the second hit him as he attempted to flee into a nearby maize field. A third shot fatally struck him inside the field.

Two other officers, who were not in the open during the attack, managed to escape by crawling through the maize field, though they reportedly sustained minor injuries in the process.

The deceased officer, according to locals, was believed to be from Maiduguri in Borno State and was known to regularly sit near the mosque.

Dangote Refinery’s newly acquired Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trucks have begun loading petroleum products at the facility for direct supply to filling stations nationwide.

Channels Television reports that the trucks have begun taking turns at the gantry to load products despite mounting criticism from industry unions and marketers.

Lat week, the refinery revealed it would begin the direct supply of free petrol across the country on September 15. It described the gesture as part of its commitment to easing the burden on Nigerians. The announcement, however, was met with swift opposition.

Though the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) dismissed the initiative as a “Greek gift,” the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) argued that the claim of “free delivery” was misleading, insisting that marketers were required to lift at least 25 percent of their allocations directly from the refinery gantry.

But the refinery accused some actors of waging an orchestrated campaign of sabotage against its operations.

“From the outset, it has been evident that certain actors are intent on undermining the operations of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, particularly the planned deployment of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered trucks for the distribution of fuel,” the company said in an advertorial published on Sunday.

It described the CNG-powered trucks as a “transformative step towards Nigeria’s long-sought goal of energy self-sufficiency,” adding that the resistance to the project was being fuelled by vested interests threatened by progress.

The refinery also countered DAPPMAN’s claims on product quality, recalling a 2022 incident in which the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) confirmed that one of DAPPMAN’s members had supplied petrol containing over 15 percent methanol, a practice the refinery called “unsafe and questionable.”

“The result was widespread engine damage for thousands of end users. Yet, no transparent government inquiry or independent investigation was ever conducted to determine the source, intent, or full impact of the adulterated fuel,” the refinery stated.

See photos from the refinery below: