THE Governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, has suspended his Special Adviser on Documentation, Research, and Planning, Mkor Aondona, who was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged sextortion, cyberbullying, and blackmail. In a statement on Sunday by his spokesperson Tersoo Kula, the governor said the suspension was indefinite. The governor said his decision was to uphold integrity, discipline, and accountability in public service. He said any official of his administration found wanting in matters of criminality or ethical misconduct would face the full weight of the law. “While assuring the public that the law will…
Author: Gloria Lamar Johnson
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GUNMEN have killed the former Peoples Democratic Party chairman of Tarka Local Government Area of Benue State, Aondoakaa Yaiyol. Yaiyol before he was killed Friday night was the Commander of the Nigeria Hunters and Forest Security Services in the local government. It was gathered that the deceased lost his wife last year in the same circumstance and his house burnt. The PDP state publicity secretary, Tim Nyior confirmed the assassination of Yaiyol in a telephone call on Saturday. Nyior said, “It’s true that the man was once PDP chairman in Tarka LGA before his current position as commander of the…
THIRTEEN persons, mostly children and the elderly, were killed and houses burnt in Juwan and Manja communities in Bokkos and Mangu Local Government Areas of Plateau State by suspected herdsmen. The deadly attack on Juwan in the Tangur District of Bokkos Local Government Area occurred on Thursday night, with ten persons killed and some others sustaining serious injuries. In Manja, Chafem Chiefdom of Mangu Local Government Area, three persons were killed on Thursday evening. They were on the farm tilling the grounds and tending their farmland when the attackers caught them unaware and killed them. Others escaped with injuries after…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has mandated the country’s service chiefs and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to go after those behind the dastardly killings in Benue State, which have left scores of people dead and many others severely injured. Tinubu issued the order on Wednesday during his visit to Benue State following the renewed attacks in the North-Central State. “Police, I hope your men are on alert to listen to information. How come no arrest has been made? I expect there should be an arrest of those criminals,” Tinubu said at the Benue Government House in Makurdi, the capital,…
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has arrived in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, ahead of his visit to the Yelwata community, in the Guma Local Government Area of the state. Tinubu arrived at the Tactical Air Command, Nigerian Air Force Base, Makurdi, at about 12:58 pm. The state government declared a public holiday for the visit. The President is expected to meet with major stakeholders in the state in view of the violent attacks that have led to the loss of lives. Tinubu is expected to meet with families of victims, displaced and injured persons, and community leaders directly impacted by the…
THE National Emergency Management(NEMA) has deployed essential relief materials to provide immediate succour to those displaced and affected by the incident. The deployment, according to the agency, followed a rapid needs assessment jointly conducted by officials of NEMA, the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), the Nigerian Red Cross Society and relevant security agencies. The Director General of NEMA, Mrs. Zubaida Umar, has also activated the Agency’s North Central Zonal Office, under the leadership of the Zonal Director Mr Aliyu Waziri, to oversee the distribution of the relief items in coordination with Benue SEMA. The DG, in a statement on…
THE Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, on Monday, arrived Benue State in North Central Nigeria where ferocious marauders wreaked havoc last Friday, killed scores and displaced hundreds of people. Egbetokun arrived the state in company of other senior management team and ordered for the immediate deployment of additional tactical teams. The police chief would meet with Governor Hyacinth Alia and other state actors before departing for Abuja. Benue State has been under heavy attacks by suspected herdsmen for some time. The killings have lingered for years, with some linking it to inter-communal conflicts as well as the quest…
GOVERNOR Hyacinth Alia on Monday opened up on a truce-seeking meeting he held with President Bola Tinubu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume. The governor, who was a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme monitored by News Point Nigeria, said the President convened the meeting as part of a political solution to end the gruesome killings in the state. Benue, a food-producing state in Nigeria’s North-Central zone, has been under heavy attacks by gunmen for some time. The killings have lingered for years, with some linking it to inter-communal conflicts as well…
A CHURCH building has collapsed in Taraba State, injuring many worshippers. The church, UMCN church, is located behind Police Divisional office, in Mutum-Biyu town, the headquarters of Gassol Local Government Area of the State. Sources told this newspaper that worshipers were said to be in the church on Sunday before the building caved in due to a heavy rainfall accompanied by strong windstorm. However, no death was recorded in the incident. Those who sustained injuries were taken to Mutumbiyu Refferal Hospital for treatment, while those with fractures were rushed to a local bone setter in the town. The bone setter,…
ANGRY youths on Sunday stormed the Wurukum food basket roundabout to protest the alleged killing of scores of residents by gunmen in Yelwata, in Benue State. The protesters converged on the Wurukum food basket roundabout Makurdi as early as 8am to demand action over the alleged killing oon Saturday in Yelwata. Speaking to journalists, one of the protesters, Solomon Amande, said Benue youths were angry at the deafening silence of President Bola Tinubu, and the governor of Benue State despite the killing of children, women, and the elderly. An attempt by the Deputy Governor of Benue State, Sam Ode, to…
THE Kaduna State Police Command has confirmed it is monitoring a recent media report alleging the involvement of the wife of Senator Sunday Marshall Katung in a money laundering case in the United Kingdom. The report, published by an online news platform on June 10, alleged that Mrs. Abigail Katung, who currently serves as the Lord Mayor of Leeds, was implicated in financial misconduct linked to a known offender in the UK. Responding to the development, the Media Office of Senator Katung issued a statement on Thursday refuting the claims, describing the report as “sensational” and “misleading.” “The attention of…
THE Tiv people in Nasarawa state have sought the intervention of President Bola Tinubu in an alleged case of systemic genocide, land-grabbing and forceful takeover of ancestral land belonging to Tiv natives orchestrated by Nasarawa state government and others. In an S.O.S letter to President Tinubu dated 28 May, 2025 under the aegis of Tiv Development Association (TIDA), Nasarawa State, and signed by Professor Emmanuel Iornumbe Kucha, Acting President of TIDA and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Agriculture (now Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi), the Tiv indigenes in Nasarawa accused the state governor, Abdullahi Sule, and some non-Tiv…
CIVIL servants in Taraba State have declared that the Eid-el-Kabir celebration would be a sorrowful celebration since over 7,000 of them were recently declared as ghost workers and removed from the state’s payroll. A biometrics screening committee set up by the state commissioner for Finance Mrs. Selah Enoch Adi, headed by a permanent secretary under the office of Secretary to Taraba State Government (SGS) Mallam Haruna Abdulkadiri after its assignment declared over 7,000 civil servants in the state as ghost workers. This newspaper investigation gathered that no fewer than 70 workers under the office of the accountant general of the…
THE governor of Benue State, Hyacinth Alia, has declared that the state is under siege from terrorists and bandits, saying that the recent attacks that have claimed several lives is beyond herders-farmers clash. There has been a surge in attacks in the North-Central state in recent weeks, with several local government areas experiencing violent onslaughts that have claimed numerous lives. Governor Alia, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday monitored by News Point Nigeria, said that the attacks are well planned and executed by terrorists. “We are under siege,” Governor Alia exclaimed on the programme when…
THE Nasarawa State Police Command said it has obstructed a major illegal arms trafficking attempt in the state and has arrested two suspects related to the crime. A Wednesday statement by the state’s Commissioner of Police, SP Ramhan Nansel, said the incident, which occurred on June 4, 2025, at about 3:00 AM, the Command intercepted two suspected gunrunners travelling through Lafia in possession of a large cache of high-grade firearms and ammunition en route to Ilorin, Kwara state. Acting on credible intelligence, the Command said it swiftly deployed its Anti-Kidnapping Unit, leading to the arrest of the suspects. The two…
THE Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, has paid a visit to the Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, as part of efforts to address the insecurity in the state. The COAS on arrival in the state, met with the governor privately before leaving. In a post shared on his X account on Tuesday evening, the governor said Oluyede and the top military leadership visited to restore peace following the incessant killings of our people by armed herders, militias, and other violent groups. “The COAS has come not only to assess the situation personally but to take decisive action.…
OVER 60,000 Nigerians living abroad have so far registered on the Diaspora Data Mapping Portal, an initiative of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission. The initiative aimed at gathering detailed demographic and socio-economic data on citizens outside the country. The portal, launched on June 29, 2021, is a central component of NiDCOM’s strategy to engage the diaspora in national planning and development. Diasporas from over 30 countries have so far registered on the portal as of the time of filing this report. According to data compiled from NiDCOM’s Technology, Transfer, Innovation and Investment Department by our correspondent on Monday, a significant…
THIRTY-THREE persons have been feared killed by unknown gunmen in coordinated attacks on Gwer West and Apa Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Benue State, leaving many residents missing as the affected communities begin headcounts on Monday morning. At about 7pm on Sunday, residents of Tse-Antswam in Naka town, the headquarters of Gwer West LGA came under attack by unknown gunmen, leaving 17 people dead, as others fled for their lives. A community leader, Patrick Modoom, confirmed the casualty figures to News Point Nigeria via telephone. “Seventeen corpses have so far been recovered at Tse-Antswam, a community by the LGEA primary…
GUNMEN have abducted nine passengers, including the driver of a Benue State-owned transport company bus, along the Owukpa–Orokam road in Ogbadibo Local Government Area of the state. The incident reportedly occurred around 7pm on Saturday, while the passengers were returning from Orba market in Enugu State to Owukpa. A resident of Owukpa, Grace Ogwuche, who spoke to journalists on Sunday, said the attackers shot the driver and another passenger. She said, “They shot the driver and one other person, causing the vehicle to lose control and veer off the road. The other passengers were later kidnapped. “I want to call…
EMMANUEL Omanji, the traditional ruler of the Dari community in the Kokona Local Government Area of Nasarawa State has been abducted. Omanji was whisked away on Wednesday night at his residence. The gunmen shot sporadically in the community before he was abducted. The Nasarawa State Police Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ramhan Nansel, confirmed the abduction to Channel Television. Nansel noted that the Commissioner of Police in Nasarawa, Shetima Jauro Mohammed, has mobilised the command’s kidnapping unit, the military, and vigilantes to conduct a search and rescue operation aimed at rescuing the victim and arresting the perpetrators. According to him,…