The Police in Benue State has confirmed that on Sunday, 14 bandits who attacked a police cell in the Kastina-Ala Local Government Area of the State with the intention of freeing detainees were killed during a gun duel. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the State command, DSP Catherine Anene said this in a statement. According to Anene, gunmen numbering “about 50” launched an attack on the station in the early hours of Sunday. The suspects had been arrested by police on Saturday and detained, she said.

Suspected bandits in their numbers struck in Birnin Yauri under the Yauri Local Government Area of kebbi state and abducted many students of Federal Government College, Birnin-Yauri. It was gathered that some mobile police officers on ground engaged the assailants in a gun duel but unfortunately, they were overpowered. The bandits then forced themselves into the school premises and grabbed some of the girls and made away with them to an undisclosed location. A source said the bandits who came on motorcycles and shot sporadically into the air, while they attacked also wounded some of the students. They also took five teachers with them. Adeleke Adeyinka-Bode, the state commissioner of police, told NAN that the number of students kidnapped is not yet known.

Unknown Gunmen suspected to be Bandits have on Sunday attacked Salihu Tanko Islamic School in Tegina, Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, abducting over 150 school children. The Niger State Police spokesperson confirmed the attack, saying the gunmen came on motorcycles about 2 pm “shooting indiscriminately and abducted a yet to be ascertained number of children at Salihu Tanko Islamic school”.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Catherine Anene, has confirmed yet another attack by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen on Friday morning, attacked separate attacks in two local councils of Benue State in the past two days. Gwer West and Katsina-Ala Local Government Areas of Benue State, murdering about 36 people and abducting many others. According to some residents in the communities where the attacks took place including Shikaan, Mbagena, and Kpav, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the attackers suspected to be Fulani herdsmen invaded their communities in the early hours of Thursday and killed people randomly. The chairman of Gwer West LGA, Mrs. Grace Igbabon, who also confirmed the attack and killings, said some suspected Fulani herdsmen attacked a community close to Makurdi and killed five people while many others were abducted.

Following allegations by the United States Department of Justice that the surety provided by Mr. Abidemi Rufai is a suspected fraudster, the court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma, on Wednesday, gave an order that Mr. Rufai should remain in detention. In the order, granted by U.S. District Judge, Benjamin Settle on Tuesday, titled “Nigerian national indicted for conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for fraud on Employment Security benefits,” the acting U. S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman, announced that Abidemi Rufai aka Sandy Tang, 42, of Lekki, Nigeria remains detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. This is because Mr. Rufai a top aide of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State now face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, nine counts of wire fraud, and five counts of aggravated identity theft.

Head of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), retired Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa has warned that legalizing cannabis in Nigeria will add to the current security challenges the country is currently battling and may further worsen the situation. Buba Marwa who made this statement at a national security summit organized by the House of Representatives added that over 10million Nigerians are abusing cannabis and that there is a strong nexus between drug abuse and insecurity.