Military Task Force Arrests Suspects Threatening to Kill JNI Scribe …Smashes militias terrorizing Riyom

The military Special Task Force (STF) in Plateau State has arrested two suspects that threatened to kill the Secretary General of Jama’tu Nasir Islam (JNI), Dr. Khalid Aliyu.

The Command has also smashed a group of militia behind series of attacks and killings in Riyom Local Government Area of the state.

Parading the suspects before journalists in Jos on Tuesday, Commander of the task force, Major General Augustine Agundu, said the Command received a tasking from the Defence Headquarters that the life of Aliyu was in danger as he was receiving unanimous calls threatening to eliminate him.

He added that the Defence Headquarters supported the operation with technical capability to enable the task force  deploy its wide range of human intelligence capabilities since the threat calls were emanating from Jos.

“Eventually, on April 20, 2019, the combined efforts eventually led to the arrest of one Mr. Aliyu Fadhad Tijani and Haruna Abdullahi at Paar Hotel along Tafawa Balewa Way, Jos. The initial reaction of the suspects was that of denial, but having been confronted with evidences, they confessed to the crime," he said.

Agundu said one of the suspects, Tijani, is a blood relation of the JNI secretary general, which was corroborated by scribe, while Abdullahi has been accomplice for years.

Speaking with journalists, Tijani said he conceived the idea to kidnap his cousin with the intention of raising money to pay his house rent and to settle other domestic issues, adding that the threat was to make him cough out the amount but not to kill him.

The task force also paraded 14 persons believed to be militias terrorising the Riyom LGA of the state from whom assorted dangerous weapons were recovered.

General Agundu said following a tip off of an impending attack by the armed militias along the Kwi-Heipang road, a patrol team was dispatched to the area, and on approaching the location, the militias engaged the troops in heavy gun duel “during which three of them were neutralised while 14 others were arrested.”

The Commander reassured members of the public of the Command’s determination to protect lives and property of all law-abiding citizens, enjoining them to always strive to create an environment of civility that permits good neighbourliness and brotherhood.