Missing Vanguard reporter found dead – Newstrends
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Missing Vanguard reporter found dead

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Vanguard missing reporter, Tordue Henry Salem, has been found dead in Abuja.

Details of the circumstances surrounding the recovery of his remains were still sketchy as at 9.30 pm, Thursday.

Salem, who was covering the House of Representatives, was last seen on October 13, 2021. After the close of work that day, he was said to have alighted from a cab at Total filling station, close to the Force headquarters, and headed for B.J’s garden, in the company with a female relative.

Thereafter, he reportedly flagged down a cab for the lady who left before him, informing her that he was going to Area 8, Garki. But he was never seen until his remains were recovered on Thursday.

An alarm on his mysterious disappearance was raised the next day, from where the matter was directed to the Intelligence Response Team , IRT on October 16, 2021.

Some arrests were reportedly made. Among them was that of a man who was picked for attempting to extort Salem’s family.

The suspect identified as Prince Enyenihi, 25, contacted Mrs Salem on October 26, 2021, via a text message with a concealed number, requesting for N100 million ransom, to be paid as ransom for her husband’s release. Part of the text message read: “If you don’t pay, Tordue will be killed in seven days. For more information, call this number ….  The text message also contained an account number the money should be paid into.

This was followed by a call with a concealed number to Salem’s wife the next day. Mrs Salem requested to speak with her husband, to ascertain he was alive before negotiation could begin. But the caller gave the phone to someone who tried to play along.

When she noticed that the voice did not sound like her husband’s, she asked the stranger to mention the name of their daughter and her birth date, a question that met dead silence at the other end.

Same evening, another call with a concealed number was received by Mrs Salem, requesting to know if her husband had been released. The confused woman was said to have requested why the caller had his number concealed.

On October 27, another text me came on a bulk text message platform, ordering the family to pay the N100 million ransom before the next day, failure of which they would kill Salem.

The police swung into action first, by de-encrypting the number that called and traced its owner to a lady in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

However, during interrogation, the lady who owns Joy Skin Care denied culpability, stating rather that a particular number had been calling her line since October 26, 2021.

Security operatives discovered that the number was the same with that used to contact Mrs Salem, consequent upon which 25-year-old Enyenihi was arrested on November 5, 2021.

During preliminary investigation, it was discovered that he was next door neighbour to the beautician. During interrogation, he disclosed that he got the information of the Vanguard reporter’s disappearance on a flyer that went viral on the social media, which had the number of Mrs Salem as the contact person to report to if found.

 

The suspect further stated that he sent the text messages without the knowledge of his female neighbour, adding that he got his neighbour’s telephone number and account details from her Facebook page .

He said, “I knew the family wouldn’t pay the money. I used the owner of Joy beauty skin care’s account details in order to punish her for always talking to me anyhow.”

The police said the arrest was a distraction from what they were looking for.

Efforts to reach the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, were futile.

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200,000 repentant terrorists surrender, drop arms in North East – CDS

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Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa

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

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Robbers kill two members in shoot-out with Delta police

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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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Akwa Ibom businessman abducted, driver killed, police orderly injured

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Dr. Samuel Ekerenam
Akwa Ibom businessman abducted, driver killed, police orderly injured
Gunmen kidnapped a prominent businessman, Dr. Samuel Ekerenam and k!lled his driver in Eket town, the headquarter of Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
Ekerena, the owner of Hephzibah Mall, was abducted about 10:00pm on Saturday, 23 November, 2024.
It was gathered that the gunmen trailed the victim to the shopping complex, shooting sporadically to scare the passers-by away before whisking him away to an unknown destination.
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The body of Ekerenam’s driver was discovered in the pool of his blood, while his police orderly was severely wounded in the gun attack.
The spokesperson of the State Police Command, ASP Timfon John, who confirmed the incident on Monday, November 25, said the Commissioner of Police, CP Joseph Eribo has deployed tactical operatives to comb for the abducted businessman.
The PPRO added that the police were on top of the game and very soon the kidnap victim would be rescued and the perpetrators made to face the full weight of the law.

Akwa Ibom businessman abducted, driver killed, police orderly injured

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