metro
Police arrests Ak-47 brearing pastor, policeman, church’s CSO
The command also confirmed the arrest of the church’s Chief Security Officer and Inspector Musa Audu, for releasing his gun to Aigbe.
The FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, confirmed the development in a statement on Monday.
Adeh said, “The FCT Police Command on the heels of intelligence arrested one pastor, Uche Aigbe, of House on the Rock cathedral, Abuja, and two others.
“The pastor, whose message and demonstrations were tagged inciting by various media and social media users, was arrested in the early hours of Monday, February 13, 2023, alongside the church’s Chief Security Officer and one Inspector Musa Audu, who was on duty on the said day and had unprofessionally released his rifle to the said pastor without permission or recourse to police authority.
“While the discrete investigation has commenced, members of the public are urged to shun actions or utterances that are in breach of extant laws as the law is trite and all violators will be adequately sanctioned.”
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PUNCH Metro gathered that Aigbe caused a stir when he mounted the pulpit with an AK47 rifle and addressed the congregation saying that he was ready for the people looking for his trouble.
“Today, there are some pastors with the gift of divination, who go about ripping people. This is why we should carry our guns and defend ourselves. I will particularly be coming for some of you sleeping in the church,” he said.
Aigbe’s remark made the entire congregation laugh as he urged them to guard their heart against false teachers.
The pastor’s action was captured in a video clip that was released online and it attracted mixed reactions from Nigerians.
However, following a report of the incident by The PUNCH on Sunday, police sources, who spoke to our correspondent on Monday, said policemen swung into action immediately.
One of the sources said, “We got the report around 10.50 pm on Sunday on PUNCH Newspaper’s online publication that Pastor Uche Aigbe of House on the Rock Church mounted the pulpit with an AK47 rifle.
“Our discrete investigation later revealed that a policeman, Inspector Musa Audu, while on church duty on the same day, released his rifle to the pastor without permission.”
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Another police source said, “Audu has now been detained alongside the pastor. But the FCT CP has submitted a recommendation to the IG for Audu’s dismissal, and he will be facing an orderly room trial soon.”
Meanwhile, the church, in a statement made available to The PUNCH on Monday evening, said Aigbe had always shown exemplary leadership since he became the pastor of the church in 1999.
Explaining that the pastor was trying to illustrate the message through his action, the church, however, said the gun was not loaded, adding that it did not support any form of violence.
The church noted that it would cooperate with the authorities throughout the investigation into the matter.
The statement read in part, “Without hesitation, pastor Uche has acknowledged the gravity of his actions and apologised unreservedly for them.
“As a church, House on the Rock rejects all forms of violence and we stand in the good news gospel of Jesus Christ which embraces peace and goodwill for all mankind.
“We are cooperating fully with the authorities as they carry out their investigations into the incident, and we will continue to engage internally to ensure this break in protocol does not happen again.”
metro
200,000 repentant terrorists surrender, drop arms in North East – CDS
200,000 repentant terrorists surrender, drop arms in North East – CDS
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, has disclosed that about 200,000 repentant terrorists have so far dropped their arms and surrendered to troops in the North East, noting that the twin strategy of kinetic and non-kinetic operations was responsible for this achievement.
The CDS made this known at the Security and Justice Symposium organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in collaboration with the British High Commission, which began at the National Counterterrorism Centre in Abuja on Tuesday.
He disclosed that the theme of the symposium, ”Securing Peace, Ensuring Justice, Protection, Conduct, and Accountability,” speaks volumes about the deluge of security challenges the armed forces and security agencies are facing.
His words, “All the challenges we are facing today have to do with fairness, equity, justice, and accountability.
“There will not be peace without justice, equity, fairness, and accountability. In our operations, we are conducting both kinetic and non-kinetic strategies, which have to a large extent yielded significant successes, and we want to particularly thank the National Security Adviser for his great support in this regard.
“Nigeria is going through so many challenges, and we feel we’re able to address this, and everybody has a sense of belonging. A lot of the security challenges we are having, we are sure, will go down. I want to thank the National Security Advisor for all the support he’s given us, both the kinetic and the non-kinetic.
“We have said it; the kinetic aspect is just less than 30%. The non-kinetic has a lot to play. The non-kinetic, because when you have democracy, people must have the evidence of democracy. As long as it tells people to sleep well and be peaceful, and they are hungry, their children cannot eat, and all this creates more problems.
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“The issue of informants. We have to look at how we tackle this issue of informants. Because these are the people who have created the issue.
200,000 repentant terrorists surrender, drop arms in North East – CDS
metro
Robbers kill two members in shoot-out with Delta police
Robbers kill two members in shoot-out with Delta police
The spokesperson for the police in Delta State, SP Bright Edafe, has confirmed the death of two robbery suspects in the state.
Mr Edafe, who disclosed this to journalists on Tuesday in Warri, said that the deceased were killed from the bullets shot by their gang members.
According to him, the incident occurred on Wednesday at Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area of the state.
Mr Edafe explained that the deceased were leading the police surveillance team attached to the Ekpan Division to their hideout when they were caught during a shoot-out.
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“The suspects were arrested at Effurun roundabout with a bag containing 57 live cartridges and other items. They were leading the surveillance team to their hideout at Warri/Sapele road when their gang members, on sighting the vehicle of the police team, engaged them in a shootout.During the gun duel, the arrested suspects that were leading the police team were fatally wounded by the gun shot of their colleagues. The two injured suspects were taken to the hospital and later died while receiving treatment,” he said.
Mr Edafe said that items recovered from the hoodlums hideout included: one English pump action gun, one locally made cut-to-size gun and eight live cartridges.
Others were: six iPhones, Smart phones and a Rolex wrist watch.
He said that the command had intensified manhunt on the fleeing members of the gang.
Robbers kill two members in shoot-out with Delta police
(NAN)
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