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How Gunmen Disguised as NDLEA Operatives Killed Jos Chief at Pepper Soup Joint

Published

2 months ago

May 21, 2026

Late Yusuf Sarki

How Gunmen Disguised as NDLEA Operatives Killed Jos Chief at Pepper Soup Joint

JOS — Yusuf Sarki had only stepped out for pepper soup. The elderly chief of his community in Angwan Rukuba, Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State, had gone out on Palm Sunday evening to a local bar called Stomdass along the main road to relax. He never came back.

Sarki, according to residents, was peaceful, genuinely loved his people and consistently made efforts to hold the community together. He was the man residents went to when something needed to be resolved or when neighbours were quarrelling. His death, those close to him say, left a hole in Angwan Rukuba that no appointment or replacement can fill.

At about 7:30 p.m. on March 29, 2026, gunmen stormed Angwan Rukuba, firing indiscriminately into the community. Witnesses said the attackers arrived during a power outage, some dressed in military uniforms. In a revelation that shocked many, Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang later disclosed that the attackers disguised themselves as operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to gain access to the community before opening fire.

Emmanuel Daniel, Sarki’s nephew and a youth leader in the community, told THE WHISTLER that he had returned from a church conference that same evening. “When I came back from a conference we had from Friday to Sunday, I was tired. So, on getting home, I changed and went into my bathroom to take a bath, and I realised I was not having soup. I went out to get soup, just then, I heard some gunshots,” he told THE WHISTLER. “On my way to get the soup, I saw people running from the main road to the street,” he said.

He and a group of youths scampered to safety as the gunmen advanced. What unsettled Emmanuel most, he said, was not the shooting itself. It was the manner it was done. “They were walking so comfortably, and they were shooting anyhow. If you are blocking them or they meet you on the way, they will just shoot you,” he said.

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The community’s only nearby security post, the Angwa Nkuba Police Outpost, was deserted. When Emmanuel and the other youths rushed there, they found it abandoned. “We didn’t even see any of them inside the station. I believe they had run for their lives too,” he said. Troops of Sector 1, Operation Enduring Peace, were eventually mobilised following a distress call. Security personnel, including the Nigerian Army, arrived at around 8:45 p.m. to restore order and secure the affected community.

Yusuf Sarki and dozens others had been killed or injured before their arrival. “Some of them (residents) were dead. Some of them were injured. Those who were injured, we tried to rush them to the hospital,” Daniel said. It was then he realised his uncle was among those killed. “We recorded 33 deaths as a result of the attack,” Daniel said. “This was only on Palm Sunday.”

Governor Caleb Mutfwang, in a statewide broadcast on Tuesday, confirmed that 28 persons were killed in the attack. He described the incident as a “senseless attack” on law-abiding citizens. “Twenty-eight innocent lives were lost,” the governor said, adding that several others sustained injuries. The governor also revealed that a heavily pregnant woman was among those killed, describing the scale of brutality as deeply disturbing. “When I saw the corpses, I could barely hold myself,” the governor stated.

The loss, Daniel said, is immeasurable not just to Sarki’s family, his two wives and seven children, but to the entire community that relied on him.

In the weeks preceding the attack, threats had circulated on social media following an incident in the neighbouring Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, where three men from the north were killed under unclear circumstances while travelling to a village market. “The guys that were killed were indigenes of Jos north. They were on their way to a village market when they were attacked,” Daniel further explained. He believes the attack on his community was a retaliation for the killing of the three men in Jos North.

“I don’t see where someone will offend you and then you go and retaliate on another person. Instead of going to where you were offended, you come back to our home,” he lamented. “We have been living in peace. Any time they come to our area, they do their market, they sell, and they even sell water for people. Things have been going so smoothly and so nicely.”

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The attackers exploited a familiar security pattern to deceive residents, Governor Mutfwang explained in a subsequent interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today. “Obviously, the attackers have studied the psychology of the people who are used to seeing operatives of the NDLEA who come to raid neighbouring communities in search of drug addicts and what have you,” Mutfwang said. “So, they came in that manner, hooded, and were shooting in the manner NDLEA officers used to shoot. So people took it for granted that it was an NDLEA incursion… and they didn’t resist it initially. But when they realised it, a lot of damage had been done. And before they could wake up to begin to pursue these attackers, they had made an escape. It’s quite unfortunate,” he said.

The governor described the attack as premeditated and professionally executed, noting that the assailants displayed advanced weapon-handling skills. “The initial assessment by the professional indicates that the attackers knew their onions in terms of marksmanship. The shots were not ordinary shots. They were well-trained shots,” he said. Mutfwang noted that both residents and security operatives were “blindsided” due to the relative peace the state had enjoyed over the past 10 months.

Meanwhile, the Angwan Rukuba horrors did not end on Palm Sunday. In response to the attack, the Plateau State Government imposed a 48-hour curfew on Jos North Local Government Area, effective from midnight on Sunday, March 29, to April 1, 2026. Daniel, however, said that lifting the curfew barely two days after exposed neighbouring communities to further attacks. Unknown gunmen, suspected to be bandits, attacked the Gari Ya Waye area of Angwan Rukuba on the same Palm Sunday night and killed scores of people.

“Our people were so naive on this. Immediately they lifted the curfew, and some of them came out to go on with their normal activities because they didn’t see it as a crisis,” he said. He said the attackers had positioned themselves along routes that residents in the mostly Christian-dominated area ply to the market or their workplaces. “They blocked a road and stopped a car at Bauti Junction and asked, ‘Is there any Christian in the car?’ And one man was the only Christian in the car. That was how they brought this man out. They butchered him,” Daniel said. The victim, who was travelling from Kogi to the state, survived the attack.

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Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang, during a condolence visit to Angwan Rukuba, pledged justice for the victims. He announced that the state government would bear the full cost of medical treatment for the injured and provide necessary support, including dignified burials, for the families of the deceased. The governor also ruled out any mass burial for the victims.

On efforts to apprehend the perpetrators, Mutfwang disclosed that no arrests have been made in connection with the attack. However, he assured that security agencies were working with credible intelligence. “At the moment, no arrests have been made in regard to this particular attack. But I’d like to assure Plateau people and Nigerians that we have some actionable intelligence that the security agencies are following up,” he stated. He declined to provide further details, citing ongoing investigations. “We have some very useful leads that we hope will be able to lead us to who these attackers are. I don’t want to make a premature statement as to their identities,” he added.

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday paid a condolence visit to Plateau State, where he met bereaved families, traditional rulers, and government officials, and directed security agencies to arrest those responsible. The visit drew some criticism over logistical arrangements, with the Presidency explaining that flight restrictions and a bilateral security meeting with the President of Chad had prevented Tinubu from driving into Jos township. Instead, victims and community representatives were transported to a hall near the Yakubu Gowon Airport to meet the President.

At the meeting, Tinubu addressed a grieving mother, Mrs Rhoda, whose video clutching the bloodied corpse of her son had gone viral and become the defining image of the attack. “I know the pain. I see in the video how you buried your loved ones and the pain and agony in your heart. But it’s only God who can give you joy and hope. No amount of money can pay all of you back,” he said. The President announced the deployment of 5,000 AI-enabled cameras across Plateau State to strengthen surveillance, aid intelligence gathering, and support the identification and arrest of perpetrators.

The Federal Government, through the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, assured Nigerians that the attack does not represent a breakdown of national security but rather a criminal act being decisively addressed by authorities. “There will be no safe haven for criminal elements anywhere in Nigeria,” Idris said. He also confirmed that Nigeria’s security collaboration with the United States was ongoing, noting that American security personnel were working closely with Nigerian intelligence agencies to strengthen efforts at tracking criminal elements.

The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) has attributed these attacks to criminality, weak governance, and long-standing communal tensions. ACLED’s Africa Senior Analyst Dr Ladd Serwat noted that violence in Plateau State surged by 71 per cent in 2025 compared to the previous year, driven by increasing violence involving bandit groups and armed Fulani pastoralists. “Civilians in Plateau state face increasing violence,” Serwat said.

The attack sparked outrage across the country, with many Nigerians calling for urgent action to address the growing security challenges in the state. For the family of Chief Yusuf Sarki and the residents of Angwan Rukuba, the wait for justice continues as security agencies work to track down those responsible for the Palm Sunday massacre.

How Gunmen Disguised as NDLEA Operatives Killed Jos Chief at Pepper Soup Joint

Related Topics:Gunmen Jos Chief NDLEA Soup Joint

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Army-UNIOSUN Clash: University Faults Military’s Position on Alleged Hostel Assault

Published

20 hours ago

July 4, 2026

Trends Admin

Army-UNIOSUN Clash: University Faults Military’s Position on Alleged Hostel Assault

OSOGBO – The management of Osun State University (UNIOSUN) has publicly rejected the position of the Depot Nigerian Army, Osogbo, regarding allegations of sexual assault involving military personnel and students, insisting that survivors of sexual violence should never be compelled to report directly to institutions linked to alleged perpetrators .

The disagreement stems from allegations that military recruits from the Nigerian Army Depot in Osogbo invaded private student hostels on June 29, assaulting students, sexually harassing female students, and carting away mobile phones and other valuables . The Vice Chancellor, Professor Odunayo Clement Adebooye, described the incident as one of the “darkest moments” in the institution’s recent history and referred to the perpetrators as “misfits” unfit to serve in the Nigerian Army . The university’s response follows an earlier statement by the Depot Nigerian Army, which said it had not received any formal complaint or credible evidence to substantiate rape allegations linked to recently passed-out personnel, even as it reaffirmed that an ongoing investigation would be thorough and transparent .

In a statement issued on Friday by the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Depot Nigerian Army Osogbo, Major Ibrahim Yahaya, the Army stated that the allegations had been attributed to the Vice Chancellor and amplified on social media platforms . The Army appealed to victims and witnesses of the alleged assault at the UNIOSUN hostels to provide evidence to assist its ongoing investigation into allegations of misconduct involving some recently passed-out military personnel . The Army stated that the Board of Inquiry, which was formed earlier to probe charges against its personnel, is still in operation and would “leave no stone unturned” . It assured that any personnel found culpable would be dealt with in accordance with the Armed Forces Act and other extant laws . The military also disclosed that some personnel involved have been apprehended and are undergoing disciplinary procedures .

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In a statement issued on Friday by the university’s Public Relations Officer, Ademola Adesoji, the institution welcomed the Army’s decision to establish a Board of Inquiry but expressed concerns about the expectation that alleged victims should report directly to the same institution whose personnel are under investigation . According to the university, such an approach ignores the trauma, fear, intimidation, and psychological barriers that frequently prevent survivors of sexual violence from reporting directly to organisations affiliated with the alleged offenders . The institution also rejected any suggestion that it should reveal the identities of affected students or compel them to appear before military authorities . “Osun State University owes every student a duty of care, confidentiality and protection. The University will not compromise the privacy, dignity or safety of any student by disclosing identities without their informed consent or in contravention of applicable laws,” the statement said .

UNIOSUN stressed that the welfare and safety of its students remain its top priority, adding that the Vice-Chancellor would continue to support students who report harassment, assault, or abuse . According to the statement, “The Vice-Chancellor’s earlier comments were not intended to prejudge the outcome of any investigation or sensationalise the matter but were made in fulfilment of the University’s responsibility to address concerns affecting the safety and well-being of its students” . The university maintained that investigations into sexual assault charges should be victim-centred, independent, transparent, and capable of inspiring public trust . “The University believes that survivors of sexual violence should never be placed in circumstances where they may reasonably fear intimidation or victimisation by being required to report directly to those connected with the subject of an investigation,” the statement added .

UNIOSUN also disagreed with the Depot Nigerian Army’s characterisation of the Vice-Chancellor’s comments as unconfirmed or potentially misleading, insisting that the remarks were made responsibly, in good faith, and in accordance with the institution’s statutory and moral obligation to protect its students . The university further announced that it had instructed its legal advisers to commence appropriate legal proceedings to safeguard the integrity of the institution, the reputation of the Vice-Chancellor and the interests of its students . “The appropriate judicial process provides the proper forum for resolving the issues arising from this unfortunate development,” the statement said .

Army-UNIOSUN Clash: University Faults Military’s Position on Alleged Hostel Assault

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Gunmen Kill Retired Army Officer, Abduct Woman in Nasarawa Community

Published

21 hours ago

July 4, 2026

Trends Admin

Gunmen Kill Retired Army Officer, Abduct Woman in Nasarawa Community

NASARAWA – Suspected gunmen have killed a retired Nigerian Army officer and abducted a woman during a midnight attack on a residential community in Nasarawa State bordering the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) , heightening security concerns along the Abuja outskirts .

The attack occurred at approximately 12:45 am on Friday at Plot 038, PGC Community, located along the Nasarawa-FCT border near Jikwoyi . Police sources confirmed that the assailants invaded the residence of Silas Orite, 46, and forcibly abducted his wife, Bukola Oluwatoyin Silas, 40, taking her to an unknown destination . During the attack, the Community Chief Security Officer, Master Warrant Officer Reuben Yelwa, 61, a retired Nigerian Army personnel, responded in an attempt to assist the family but was shot dead by the assailants . The retired officer’s intervention came as the attackers were carrying out the raid.

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Police officers visited the scene after the attack, documented evidence, and commenced investigations into the incident . According to security sources, security operatives have intensified efforts to rescue the abducted woman unharmed and track down those responsible for the attack . Area domination operations have been reinforced in and around the community to prevent further criminal activities, while patrols have been stepped up along the FCT-Nasarawa border . Authorities have called on residents to remain vigilant and cooperate with security agencies.

The incident adds to growing concerns over insecurity in communities located along the Nasarawa-FCT border, where residents have repeatedly called for stronger security measures to curb kidnappings and violent crimes . The area has experienced increasing criminal activities, with kidnappers and bandits exploiting the porous boundaries between the FCT and Nasarawa State to evade security forces . This latest attack follows a pattern of violence in border communities, where criminal elements have targeted residents for abduction and robbery . In recent months, police have arrested several armed robbery suspects operating between Jikwoyi and Nasarawa State, highlighting the security challenges facing the region . The police have urged residents to report suspicious persons or activities through the command’s emergency lines as investigations continue.

Gunmen Kill Retired Army Officer, Abduct Woman in Nasarawa Community

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MURIC Appeals ISI Hijab Judgment, Seeks Stay of Execution

Published

22 hours ago

July 4, 2026

Trends Admin

MURIC Oyo State General Secretary, Mallam Ibrahim Agunbiade

MURIC Appeals ISI Hijab Judgment, Seeks Stay of Execution

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Oyo State Chapter, has filed a notice of appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal on the International School, University of Ibadan (ISI) hijab case and urged the school management not to enforce its directive banning the use of hijab pending the determination of its application for a stay of execution.

The organisation disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday by its General Secretary, Mallam Ibrahim Agunbiade, following a notice reportedly issued by the management of ISI directing that, with effect from Monday, July 6, 2026, female students would no longer be permitted to wear the hijab with the school uniform.

According to MURIC, the directive was based on the judgment delivered earlier on Friday by the Court of Appeal, Ibadan, which overturned the May 22, 2024, ruling of the Oyo State High Court that had recognised the right of 11 Muslim female students to wear the hijab as part of their school uniform.

The group, however, said it had immediately commenced the appellate process by filing and serving a Notice of Appeal, alongside a Motion for Stay of Execution/Injunction Pending Appeal before the appropriate court.

MURIC argued that the filing of the appeal means the legal dispute has not been concluded and that the rights of the affected Muslim students remain subject to further judicial determination.

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“The filing and service of these processes signify that the legal contest is far from concluded,” the organisation said.

It maintained that implementing the Court of Appeal judgment before the pending application for a stay of execution is determined would be inappropriate and could prejudice the judicial process.

The group therefore called on the management of the International School, University of Ibadan, to exercise restraint and refrain from enforcing the directive pending the court’s decision on its application.

According to MURIC, taking steps to implement the judgment at this stage could render the pending application ineffective and heighten tensions within the school community.

The organisation reiterated its commitment to resolving the dispute through lawful means, stressing that the protection of fundamental rights and peaceful coexistence can only be guaranteed through respect for due process and judicial proceedings.

MURIC also appealed to Muslim parents, guardians, students and members of the Muslim community to remain calm, peaceful and law-abiding while the legal process continues.

It urged stakeholders to avoid any action capable of disrupting public peace, expressing confidence that the courts would ultimately determine the matter in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The organisation reaffirmed its commitment to pursuing all available legal remedies in defence of what it described as the constitutional rights of Muslim students.

The latest development comes hours after the Court of Appeal, in a split decision, held that ISI is a private school because it does not receive direct government subventions and ruled that the Supreme Court’s earlier judgment recognising the right of Muslim students to wear the hijab applies only to publicly funded schools.

The appellate court also held that the affected students voluntarily accepted the school’s dress code upon admission. However, it upheld the finding that confining the students to the school library over their use of the hijab violated their rights, although it reduced the damages awarded by the High Court.

The case is expected to proceed to the Supreme Court, where the final determination on the dispute over the use of the hijab at ISI will be made.