• Gov imposes curfew as protesters raze aide’s home
• Kaduna lawyers rue abduction of judge, children
Protest, yesterday, rocked Zaki Biam town in Ukum Local Council of Benue State, over the insecurity in the area. A resident, Timothy Namga, told The Guardian that the protest was as a result of three persons, who were killed at Ayati settlement, a few kilometres from Zaki Biam, on Tuesday, by unknown gunmen.
The council area has for long been a hotbed of attacks. The council falls in the Sankera geo-political area, the most volatile axis in the North-central state.
The Guardian learnt that the protesters razed the country home of Chief of Staff to the Government House, Paul Biam. Namga said though the protest was against insecurity, the protesters targeted the government to get the attention they need.
In a swift reaction, the state government imposed a curfew on the entire council area. A statement yesterday in Makurdi by Technical Adviser to the Benue state Governor on Media, Publicity and Strategic Communication, Solomon Iorpev, said Governor Hycinth Alia had declared a “twenty-four hour curfew on Ukum Local Government Area of Benue state with effect from 3.00 p.m. today, Wednesday, July 3, 2024.
“This follows the grave security situation in the region that has led to the wanton destruction of property, leading to instability of the area.”
Sources within the state government, however, read a political under tone to the crisis. A source, who pleaded anonymity, said “targeting the private properties of the governor’s Chief of Staff was a premeditated act of vendetta by detractors.”
MEANWHILE, lawyers, under the umbrella of House of Justice (HoJ), have condemned the abduction of a Customary Court judge, four children and killing of a 14-year-old son by terrorists at Mahuta community within the metropolis by bandits.
The state police command is yet to officially respond to the development. In a statement yesterday by Chief Executive Officer of HoJ, Gloria Mabeiam Ballason, sasid the lawyers condemned “the abduction of a Customary Court judge, who is a house wife (Janet Galadima), and her four children, as well as the grisly murder of her 14-year-old son by the terrorists.”
According to Ballason, “Galadima was on the night of Sunday, June23, 2024, abducted along with her four sons at their residence in Mahuta, Kaduna State, North-West Nigeria, while her medical doctor husband was away on duty.”
She continued: “The abductors, reported to have been about 15, took their captives hostage and demanded a huge sum as ransom. On Tuesday, July 2, 2024, the terrorists shot dead the 14-year first son of the judge when the ransom demanded could not be obtained.”
Ballason, who is also a human rights activist, “condemned the abduction and murder in the strongest possible terms,” stating that “judicial officers, under Article 7 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary, deserve protection and adequate security to enable them carry out their judicial functions, and that the Nigerian State has a constitutional mandate under Section 33 and 14 (2)b of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to guarantee and ensure the safety of the judge, her family and all citizens.”
She described “the murder of Victor, the 14-year old son of the judge, as ‘grisly and blood curdling,” pointing out that “no parent deserves the horror of watching their child being killed in such cold, callous manner.”
The activist called on “the Nigerian security agencies, Governor of Kaduna State, Nigerian Bar Association and the judiciary to rise to the urgency of the moment for the protection of lives of her worship, Janet Galadima, and her children, and ensure justice is served.”
Meanwhile, the police spokesman in the state, ASP Mansir Hassan, did not respond to calls and text messages put across to him for comments on the incident.
