NewStats: 3,265,135 , 8,185,761 topics. Date: Friday, 13 June 2025 at 03:30 PM s3ho

A Makurdi Chief Magistrates’ Court on Thursday ordered that 11 cattle rearers be remanded at the Correctional Centre, Makurdi, for allegedly terrorising Benue communities.

The cattle rearers were identified as Nanzir Ishaya, Suleiman Umaru, Yakubu Mallam, Dauda Abdulkarim, Manu Buhari, Haruna Abdulkarim, Ibrahim Mallam, Yunusa Waziri, Idi Usman, Adamu Manu and Abdullahi Wakili.

The defendants who live at various addresses in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area, were charged with criminal conspiracy, illegal possession of firearms, acts of terrorism, open grazing and being in possession of cattle suspected to be stolen.

The Chief Magistrate, Mr Kelvin Mbanongun, did not take their pleas for want of jurisdiction.
Mbanongun adjourned the matter until July 7, 2025, for further mention.

Earlier, prosecutor Insp. Godwin Ato told the court that on June 1, a team of policemen attached to Operation Zenda at Katsina-Ala received credible information that a group of armed bandits who were allies of a dreaded bandit leader, one Amakaa Akwaza, were sighted in their hideout at Nugu village with arms.

The prosecutor said on receiving the information, a combined team of Operation Zenda and Benue State Civil Protection Guards led by Insp. Donald Ahulu were mobilised to the location of the hideout and engaged the hoodlums in a gun battle.

Ato said the security operatives overpowered the suspected bandits in the fierce gun duel, which resulted in some of the fully armed bandits fleeing, while one AK-47 rifle with breech number 6189 with 16 rounds of live ammunition was recovered from the scene.

He said the security operatives then arrested 10 of the suspected bandits while they were loading cattle suspected to be stolen into a Mercedes Benz truck with registration number TTM 405 XA Taraba, and openly grazing some of the cows on a nearby farm.

The prosecutor said further investigation led to the arrest of the chief of the Fulani community in Katsina-Ala, Wakili, who he said has been working closely with Akwaza in supplying arms to the herdsmen terrorising Benue and its environs.

The prosecutor said their offences contravened sections 6(b) and 3(1) of the Robbery and Firearms Act, 2004; 19 of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of Benue, 2017; and 321 of the Penal Code Laws of Benue, 2004

https://dailypost.ng/2025/06/05/benue-killings-11-herdsmen-arraigned-for-terrorism/

There's a new Sheriff in town.

Islamic bandits and hersdmen are too much in Benue

agulion:
Islamic bandits and hersdmen are too much in Benue

In Nigeria actually.

I hope order from above will not come asking them to be released.

Anything outside death penalty is injustice

You kill Igbos but take Known Terrorists to court and give them license to kill more... It will never be well for anyone or tribe ing suicide against Igbos or other Nigerians

I wonder why people love senseless killings. Justice shall prevail.


-Kiss the truth!

Audio

They should be hanged by their balls if found guilty as charged.

And that will be the end of this case

We thought Ishaya was a Christian name

Call go come from the caliphate

Where are their pictures or mugshots?

What are they waiting for?

Bandits that have killed thousands of your people, you're still being gentle to them

All these NC & Southern leaders are mumu

ObaOfYorubaLand:
You kill Igbos but take Known Terrorists to court and give them license to kill more... It will never be well for anyone or tribe ing suicide against Igbos or other Nigerians

Oga what brought Igbo to this topic now?

Can the chief magistrate deport them to their various countries??
We can’t continue to harbor terrorists

Taking them to court ?? A waste of time!
Charge them for murder to deliver justice

Benue men are the PERFECT DEFINITION OF "COWARDS"

Arraigned?? They will be released privately

Death penalty is the only suitable punishment. Life for a life.

Try them immediately

Giid

Bendeco02:


Oga what brought Igbo to this topic now?

Bro, e tire me too .I just tire for some people life here.

Allowing this practice of rearing & moving cows through bushes & forests from place to place in the name of open grazing is a weak link in maintaining security.
It also fuels conflicts with farmers.

Govt should be bold enough to implement total ban on open grazing.

That magistrate, including the entire police officers directly or remotely involved in this would soon be transferred outta the state.

Even though I live in a place that can never be overrun by Fula marauders in a hundred years, I would consider voting for the druglord if he can show some presidential balls and deal with these ragtag caliphate cowards once for all.

Nigerian journalists are useless. Here's a twist.

Akwaza the bandit leader who these Fulani guys work for is a tiv man. He may possibly be related to Terwase Akwaza(Gana), the militia leader who was offered 900m by Fulani leaders to embark on killing sprees in Benue and Taraba state. Gana rejected the offer and insisted it be 1 billion naira or nothing. The deal collapsed.

Interestingly enough, former governor Ortom managed to convince Gana to come out of hiding to be granted amnesty. Gana was killed by Nigerian army soldiers as he was on his way to Makurdi. He was in a government vehicle. Gana was threatening to expose the names of his sponsors.

Upon hearing of his death, his wives and his men returned back into the bush and swore not to be part of any deal with government with one of the wives herself leading attacks against communities in Benue. I think security forces either arrested or killed her during an engagement.

To have another Akwaza leading bandits in the same Katsina Ala local government is troubling. If he is related to Gana then it gives serious cause for concern. It may be that the offer the Fulani gave his late brother which he rejected, may have been accepted. This could be the reason why a tiv man is providing arms to Fulani for killings in Benue state.