By ONYEJE ABUTU-JOEL

A Makurdi Chief Magistrates’ Court, on Thursday, ordered the remand of 11 cattle rearers at the Makurdi Correctional Centre, for allegedly terrorising Benue communities.

The cattle rearers were 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 at various addresses in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State, were charged with criminal conspiracy, illegal possession of firearms, acts of terrorism, open grazing, and being in possession of cattle suspected to be stolen.

However, the Chief Magistrate, Mr. Kelvin Mbanongun, did not take their pleas for want of jurisdiction.

Mbanongun adjourned the matter until July 7, 2025, for further mention.

Earlier, 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 armed bandits who were allies of the dreaded bandit leader, one Amakaa Akwaza, were sighted in their hideout at Nugu village with arms.

The prosecutor said that 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 them in a gun battle.

Ato said the security operatives overpowered the suspected bandits in the fierce gun duel, which resulted in some of the fully armed bandits fleeing, and one AK-47 rifle with breech number 6189 with 16 rounds of live ammunition was recovered from the scene.

He said 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 with some of the cows on a nearby farm.

The prosecutor said further investigation led to the arrest of the chief of the Fulani people in Katsina-Ala, Wakili, who he said has 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. (NAN)