News

‘Enemies of Progress’ Bombed Nwodo’s House, Say Police As PDP, Ekweremdu React

Published

8 years ago

April 30, 2018

Eric

The Nigeria Police Force, Enugu State Command, has described those that bombed the country home of the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, on Sunday as enemies of progress.

The home of the chieftain was rocked by an explosion which is believed to have been caused by an improvised explosive device thrown by a yet-to-be-identified person into the compound of the building at Ukehe, in the Igboetiti Local Government Area of Enugu State, around 5.30am.

Windows of a building located close to the gate of the compound was shattered by the explosion.

The ceilings as well as the air conditioning units in the building were equally damaged.

It was gathered that Nwodo was not in the house when the incident occurred, as he spent the night at his residence in Enugu metropolis.

The Commissioner of Police, Enugu State, Danmallam Mohammed, who led a team of the police Explosive Ordnance Department to inspect the site of the explosion, vowed that the perpetrators of the incident would be apprehended.

A statement by Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, said Mohammed described those behind the explosion as ‘enemies of progress.’

“Those behind this are enemies of progress and we have to fish them out. We thank God that there is no loss of life or major destruction, we have to be more vigilant and security conscious and be able to partner security agencies to ensure that there is no repeat of such an incident,” the police commissioner said.

Amaraizu, who described the incident as a ‘minor explosion,’ disclosed that preliminary investigations revealed that the perpetrators threw the explosive device into the compound through the fence.

“The Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Danmallam Mohammed, has vowed to unmask those behind the dastardly incident of minor explosion at the Ukehe residence of Chief Nnia Nwodo, the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

“Background checks revealed that the perpetrator, who did not have access through the entrance gate, might have thrown the object through the fence and it landed on the ground near the windows and exploded and gave some impacts,” Amaraizu said. He added that the operatives of the Explosive Ordinance Department collected some of the samples from the debris of the explosion for proper analysis and classification.

The police spokesman added that “the area was rendered safe by the EOD operatives,” even as the state commissioner of police had directed the Area Commander to beef up security and surveillance within the axis.

Mohammed wondered why anybody would be after Nwodo’s life, who, he said, was only serving his people.

He however urged residents of the area to be more vigilant, and report strange faces to the police and other security agencies.

Meanwhile, the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, has condemned “in strong terms” the bombing of the country home of Nwodo.

Ekweremadu reacted to the attack in a statement issued on Sunday by his Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu.

He said, “This is a dastardly act. It is certainly ugly, evil and outrageous. I roundly condemn it. This is quite an unusual development in the South-East and we will not accept it.

“I call on the security agencies to get to the root of this devilish act and ensure that the culprits and masterminds are brought to book immediately.”

Nwodo, who was at the residence during the police commissioner’s visit, commended the police for their prompt arrival on the scene.

A statement by the Special Adviser on Media to the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emeka Atama, said Nwodo was surprised that some unknown people were after his life.

The statement added that Nwodo vowed that the attack would not deter him from continuing to lead Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

The traditional ruler of Umudele community, in Ukehe, Igwe Lawrence Aroh, thanked God for saving Nwodo’s life.

Aroh assured the police commissioner that the people of the community would be extra-vigilant in order to prevent future attacks.

The Director of the Department for State Services in Enugu State, Mrs. E. A. Likiyon, also visited the scene of the incident on Sunday.

The Sunday explosion came on the heels of media attacks launched against Nwodo by a faction of the Ohanaeze Youth Wing, the youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and the Indigenous People of Biafra.

The Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro-led OYC recently announced the ‘suspension’ of Nwodo, after passing a vote of no confidence in him.

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus, and the party have condemned the bombing of Nwodo’s house.

Secondus told one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday, that there were indications that President Muhammadu Buhari was already tired of providing security for the citizenry.

He said, “…Maybe the man was targeted because he was among the leaders who met in Abuja last week and criticised the President and the Federal Government for the way they are handling the issue of herdsmen and others in the county.

“Nwodo is a man of peace and cannot even hurt a fly. Why would someone like that be targeted for evil? Nigerians should rise up and condemn the action and also ask the international community to take proper note of happenings in the county.”

Secondus also called on the heads of security agencies in the country to be alive to their constitutional responsibilities.

Also, the PDP has described the action of the arsonists as callous, horrendous and wicked.

The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan in Abuja on Sunday, asked security agencies to unravel the identities of the masked characters behind the dastardly act.

The Punch

News

Gunmen Kill Driver, Abduct Passengers on Benin-Ore Expressway

Published

2 weeks ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have attacked a commercial bus operated by GUO Transport along the Benn-Ore expressway, killing the driver and abducting several passengers in what underscores Nigeria’s deepening insecurity on major highways.

Reports indicate that the assailants ambushed the South East-bound vehicle, opened fire on the driver, who died at the scene, and subsequently whisked away passengers to an unknown destination.

The incident is believed to have occurred along a notorious stretch of the highway linking the South-West to the South-South, long plagued by banditry and abductions.

While official confirmation from security agencies is expected, local sources and a circulating video showed that passengers might have forcefully been taken into nearby forests, a tactic commonly employed by kidnapping syndicates operating along the corridor. Similar attacks in the past have involved mass abductions, with victims later released after ransom payments.

News

Police Retirees Block Aso Rock Gate, Demand Action on Pension Scheme

Published

2 weeks ago

April 20, 2026

Eric

Some retirees of the Nigeria Police Force under the aegis of the Police Retired Officers Forum of Nigeria (PROF) have staged a protest at the Presidential Villa in Abuja demanding President Bola Tinubu sign the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly in December 2025.

The bill seeks to withdraw the Nigeria Police Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

The protesters, under the scorching sun, walked from the Three Arms Zone in Abuja through the street in front of the Police Headquarters.

They carried placards with various inscriptions, in addition to the Nigerian flag and the flag of the Nigeria Police Force.

Led by its National Coordinator, CSP Raphael Irowainu, the protesters described the retention of the NPF in the Contributory Pension Scheme as fraudulent and illegal.

They also said the CPS is inhumane and obnoxious.

According to them, the protest seeks to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give assent to the Police Exit Bill passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to the President on 16th March 2026.

They said that when signed into law, the Act will totally exempt the police from what they called a “slavery and untimely death-inducing pension scheme.”

The protesters, accompanied by some of their spouses and children, also blocked Gate 8 leading into the Presidential Villa, causing obstruction to vehicular movement.

Efforts by Villa security personnel to dissuade them from the protest proved abortive as they insisted on seeing the President.

They laid their mats in front of the gate, singing songs of solidarity, while some of them lay on the floor.

As of the time of filing this report, no one from the Villa had addressed the protesters.

CSP Irowainu said that their main purpose is to prevail on President Tinubu to sign the bill exiting the Nigeria Police Force from the CPS, which he said has been passed and transmitted to him by the National Assembly.

He lamented that while other security agencies in the country such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, SSS and others have all been exited from the scheme, the police remain trapped in it.

“Our major aim here is to prevail on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign our bill—the bill exiting the police from the Contributory Pension Scheme—passed by the National Assembly on 4th December 2025 and transmitted to him on 16th March, 2026, into law, nothing more than that.

“The soldiers have been exited, the SSS has been exited, the Air Force has been exited, the Navy has been exited, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has been exited. The police, who are the father of them all, are trapped in this obnoxious Contributory Pension Scheme,” CSP Irowainu said.

It is not the first time retired officers are staging a protest over the CPS. In July last year, they demonstrated at the National Assembly to demand their removal from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The demonstrators, mostly elderly, stood in the rain holding placards and chanting anti-government songs.

Some of the retired police officers also besieged the Force Headquarters in Abuja to protest against the CPS.

Addressing the protesters at the time, the then Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, said the welfare of retired police officers was being addressed, but that the exit of the Force from the Contributory Pension Scheme was not something that could be implemented immediately.

He, however, advised the leaders of the protest to refrain from spreading misinformation, stressing that the Force could not abandon its own.

News

IGP Disu Orders Ban on Illegal Checkpoints Nationwide

Published

3 weeks ago

April 13, 2026

Eric

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Disu, has issued a sweeping directive to Commissioners of Police nationwide, ordering an immediate end to extortion, illegal checkpoints, harassment of citizens and other misconducts.

He declared that restoring public confidence in the Nigeria Police Force is now a top operational priority.

The order was contained in a signal to members of the police management team including Commissioners of Police (CP) and other operational commanders.

In the marching order, the IGP acknowledged the deep mistrust many Nigerians feel toward officers, describing it as “painful” and unacceptable.

He said citizens now fear encounters with the police as much as they fear criminals, warning that such a reputation cannot continue under his leadership.

According to him, the directive marks the beginning of a determined effort to rebuild discipline within the police and re-establish its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

The order specifically outlawed the routine collection of money from motorists on highways, the operation of unauthorised checkpoints, and the practice of arresting citizens and forcing them to withdraw cash from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) or Point of Sale (PoS) devices.

The IGP also condemned the use of officers for private duties in homes and businesses, describing such deployments as abuse of authority and a violation of existing presidential directives on VIP protection.

Officers were further directed to comply strictly with approved dress codes, remain clean-shaven and adhere to established uniform regulations.

The police boss warned that harassment of citizens in any form would no longer be tolerated, stressing that the Nigerian public is not the enemy of the Force but the reason for its existence. At the same time, he assured officers that the institution would equally defend them against intimidation or disrespect from members of the public, noting that the dignity of the uniform must be protected on both sides.

Holding command leaders directly accountable, the IGP said Commissioners of Police would henceforth be responsible for misconduct within their jurisdictions.

He ordered them to demonstrate measurable improvements in discipline within seven days or face formal queries and possible transfers where lapses persist.

He emphasised that supervisory failure would no longer be ignored at any level of leadership. To ensure compliance, the directive introduced new oversight measures, including independent monitoring of field operations and public reporting channels through which citizens can lodge complaints directly with Force Headquarters.

A Citizens Commendation System will also be established to recognise officers who demonstrate professionalism, with monthly honours to be drawn from public nominations across commands.

Describing the directive as a decisive turning point, the police chief said Nigerians have grown weary of promises and now expect visible change. He ordered all commanders to brief personnel under their authority within 72 hours and confirm compliance in writing, declaring that the process of cleaning up the Force has begun and will be sustained until public trust is restored.