A Makurdi Chief Magistrate’s Court on Thursday ordered the remand of 11 cattle rearers at the Correctional Centre, Makurdi, for allegedly terrorising Benue communities.
The accused cattle rearers were identified as Nanzir Ishaya, Suleiman Umaru, Yakubu Mallam, Dauda Abdulkarim, Manu Buhari, Haruna Abdulkarim, Ibrahim Mallam, Yunusa Waziri, Idi Usman, Adamu Manu and Abdullahi Wakili.
The defendants, who live in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area, were charged with offences ranging from criminal conspiracy, illegal possession of firearms, acts of terrorism, open grazing to being in possession of rustled cattle.
But Chief Magistrate Kelvin Mbanongun did not take their pleas for want of jurisdiction.
Mbanongun adjourned the matter until July 7, 2025, for further mention.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp. Godwin Ato told the court that on June 1, a team of policemen attached to Operation Zenda at Katsina-Ala received credible information that a group of bandits who were allies of a dreaded bandit leader, one Amakaa Akwaza, were sighted in their hideout at Nugu village with arms.
The prosecutor said on receiving the information, a combined team of Operation Zenda and Benue State Civil Protection Guards led by Insp. Donald Ahulu were mobilised to the location of the hideout and engaged the hoodlums in a gun battle.
Ato said the security operatives overpowered the suspected bandits in the fierce gun duel, resulting in some of the heavily armed men fleeing, while one AK-47 rifle with breech number 6189 with 16 rounds of live ammunition was recovered from the scene.
The prosecutor added that the security operatives then arrested 10 of the suspected bandits while they were loading cattle suspected to be stolen into a Mercedes Benz truck with registration number TTM 405 XA Taraba, and openly grazing some of the cows on a nearby farm.
He said further investigation led to the arrest of the chief of the Fulani community in Katsina-Ala, Wakili, who he said had been working closely with Akwaza in supplying arms to the herdsmen terrorising Benue and its environs.
The prosecutor said their offences contravened Sections 6(b) and 3(1) of the Robbery and Firearms Act, 2004; 19 of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of Benue, 2017; and 321 of the Penal Code Laws of Benue, 2004.
