Jos Massacre Update Governor Mutfwang Reveals NDLEA Impersonation

Published: 04 April, 2026

Caleb Mutfwang stood in front of the cameras in Jos on April 2, 2026, and told a story that makes you pause your tea halfway to your lips. The governor of Plateau State said the men who came to those villages in Mangu Local Government Area were wearing a particular kind of uniform. It was the uniform of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, the NDLEA, which is not something you see every day in those parts. They came dressed as the people who are supposed to stop the bad things, you see, and that is how they got close enough to do the worst things imaginable.

The Uniform Trick

It is an old trick, pretending to be authority, but it works because you want to believe the person in the uniform is there to help. Governor Mutfwang described a pattern where the attackers gained access by posing as security personnel, and the impersonation created a crucial window of confusion that delayed any real response from the communities. The initial suspicion was disarmed by a familiar sight, which is a deeply unsettling thought when you sit with it for a moment.

“The attackers came dressed in uniforms that looked exactly like those of NDLEA officials. This deception allowed them to move without immediate suspicion in the early stages of the assault.”
– Caleb Mutfwang, Governor of Plateau State, April 2, 2026.

The state government got this from preliminary reports and eyewitness accounts collected by the military and the police, and now they are calling for a full audit of security protocols. It is the kind of administrative response you expect, a call for an audit, while the real question hangs in the air: where does a person even get a batch of fake NDLEA uniforms?

Official Reactions

The Nigeria Police Force and Operation Safe Haven confirmed they are investigating this angle, with the police spokesperson in Plateau, Alabo Alfred, urging the public to stay vigilant. The military task force commander, Major General AE Abubakar, reported deploying more troops and setting up checkpoints, which is the standard playbook when things go wrong in a place that has seen too much of it. Over in the offices of the actual NDLEA, the spokesperson Femi Babafemi was not amused at all.

“This is a despicable act by criminals seeking to undermine state authority. The NDLEA uniform symbolizes the fight against drug trafficking and abuse. We are working with the police and military to apprehend those responsible for this impersonation.”
– Femi Babafemi, NDLEA Director of Media & Advocacy, April 3, 2026.

The agency condemned the act and said it would review how it controls its uniforms, advising communities to always ask for identification. It is sensible advice, of course, but you try calmly asking for ID from an armed group that has just rolled into your village announcing a raid.

The Human Arithmetic

The attacks happened between March 25 and March 28, and the numbers that follow such events are always provisional at first. Sunday Abdu from the Plateau State Emergency Management Agency later provided a clearer picture: over 15,000 individuals displaced from 12 communities. They are in primary schools and local government buildings now, which is where people go when there is nowhere else, and humanitarian groups are mobilizing with food and supplies. The data from groups like Nextier SPD shows over 200 conflict-related deaths in Plateau in just the first three months of this year, a sharp rise from last year, which security analysts link to political tensions and too many small arms floating around.

A Trust Eroded

This is the real damage, beyond the immediate violence. When you cannot tell the real officer from the fake one, your trust in the institution itself begins to crumble. Communities become hesitant to provide intelligence or welcome patrols, and the attackers gain a terrible advantage by exploiting that very distrust. It creates a cycle of fear and isolation that is much harder to fix than a broken checkpoint. Local farmers have lost their homes and their ready-to-harvest crops, disrupting the planting season and threatening food security for the whole state, while community leaders plead for a permanent solution that seems perpetually out of reach.

The Investigation Continues

As of today, April 4, 2026, no arrests have been publicly announced. A joint group with the police, military intelligence, and the Department of State Services is working on it, focusing on tracing the source of the counterfeit uniforms and any links to local criminal networks. The Federal Government, through the Minister of Defence Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, has promised a top-priority investigation, and President Bola Tinubu has been briefed. Governor Mutfwang talks about a multi-faceted response: reviving peacebuilding platforms, early warning systems, and economic interventions for the youth. He wants to train local vigilante groups in proper identification procedures with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, which is a practical idea if the funding and will are there to sustain it.

In the tense climate after such attacks, misinformation spreads quickly, so official channels are asking people to verify before sharing. And for the residents in these areas, the advice is straightforward but fraught with risk: ask for identification, contact local outposts to confirm operations, share credible information with your neighbors. It is about building collective awareness in a landscape where the symbols of authority have been weaponized against the very people they are meant to protect. The coming weeks will test whether the promises made in briefing rooms can translate into a tangible sense of safety for those 15,000 displaced souls wondering if they can ever go home.

Nasarawa Communal Attack Leaves Eleven Dead in Udege

Published: 04 April, 2026

You know how it is with 4:00 a.m. in a place like Udege Mbeki. The world is supposed to be quiet then, just the sound of your own breathing and maybe a distant rooster getting ready to crow. That Tuesday morning, the sound was different. It was the crack of gunshots, which is a noise that has a way of changing everything in an instant. People woke up not to the dawn but to fire and panic, and when the sun finally did rise, it showed you eleven people gone and a line of homes turned to blackened timber.

The Anonymous Voice

Nobody wants their name in the paper after something like this. It is not safe. So you get a voice from the community, a leader who will only speak if you promise not to say who they are. Their description is simple and terrible, which is how these things often are. They came with guns and petrol, they shot people and set houses on fire, and we lost everything. That is the whole story in three lines, and then you have to sit with it for a minute.

“They came with guns and petrol. They shot people and set houses on fire. We lost everything.”
– Anonymous community leader in Udege Mbeki, speaking to Premium Times on April 2, 2026.

The police confirmed it, of course. DSP Ramhan Nansel said officers went in and found those eleven bodies among the burnt-out houses and food barns. It is the official stamp on a tragedy, a way of saying yes, this really happened, and here is the number. The number never feels like enough, though, does it.

Old Ground, New Blood

If you ask what started it, they will tell you it is about land. It is almost always about land in these parts. Udege Mbeki sits where the Bassa and Egbira people meet, and the question of who owns which patch of earth has been simmering for years. Farmers need it to grow crops, herders need it for grazing, and everyone is having more children while the good land seems to be getting smaller. The state government has tried peace talks before, which is a good thing to do, but you cannot talk the rain into falling or make the soil more fertile with a handshake. A report last year said land competition is the main thing driving violence here, and you look at the ashes in Udege and think, well, there it is.

A Grim Tally

This is not the first time. It will not be the last. Some people keep count, and their numbers show Nasarawa State had over 80 incidents of political violence in 2024. Many were clashes just like this one. The emergency management people are always busy here, listing Nasarawa among the states with the most displaced persons because farmers and herders cannot find a way to share the space. They send security forces, but the land is vast and rural, and a police truck cannot be everywhere at once. So communities feel alone, and they wonder when the next group will come in the night.

What The Fire Leaves Behind

The dead are one thing. The living are another. Hundreds of people in Udege now have no home, no food from their barns, and no belongings except the clothes they ran in. The children will carry the memory of that night for a long time, maybe forever. When you are displaced like that, you end up in a camp or crowding into a relative’s house in town, which strains everything and solves nothing. The immediate need is for shelter and a meal, but the longer need is for a reason to believe it will not happen again next season.

The Governor’s Words

Governor Abdullahi Sule said the right things, as governors do. He condemned the attack and called it barbarism. He promised the full weight of the law would come down on the perpetrators and that security agencies would find them. He appealed for calm, which is the most important plea of all when the air smells of smoke and revenge.

“This act of barbarism will receive the full weight of the law. We are committed to finding the people behind this and ensuring they face justice.”
– Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, official statement, April 2, 2026.

People listen to those words with a mix of hope and a deep tiredness. There have been arrests before, but you do not hear much about what happens after that. Do they go to court? Are they convicted? The cycle of impunity makes it seem like violence is a cost of doing business, and that is a dangerous lesson for anyone to learn.

Why Peace Talks Fade

They have peace committees here. They bring together the traditional rulers and the elders and the youth leaders, and they sit and talk. It works for a little while. Then the dry season comes, or someone’s cow eats someone else’s crops, and all the old grievances about who owns what land come boiling back up. The young men, who have no jobs and few prospects, find it easy to pick up a weapon if a militia group promises them protection or a way to hit back. It undermines the elders who signed the accord, and the whole fragile peace unravels until the next meeting. It is a dance that never seems to end.

The Ripple Effect

What happens in Udege does not stay in Udege. It pulls soldiers and police away from other duties, stretching the security forces thin. It makes farmers too scared to plant, which means less food in the markets of Lagos and Abuja later on. It creates a whole population of displaced, angry people, and you know how that can be used when election time comes around. Someone will find a way to frame it as an ethnic problem or a religious one, turning pain into a political tool. The local fight becomes a national headache, and nobody wins.

A Small Thing You Can Do

It feels big and hopeless, but there is one small pressure point. You can ask about the court case. When the police say they will arrest people, you can write to your state assembly member or the Ministry of Justice and ask for a public update. What happened to the suspects? Are they being prosecuted? Sustained public interest is the only thing that moves a story from the front page to the court docket. It is a way of saying that eleven lives are worth more than a headline and a promise. It reminds everyone that justice is not a speech, it is a process.

After The Headlines

The ashes will cool. The funerals will happen. The news will find another story. And the people of Udege Mbeki, and a hundred places like it, will be left with the old problems of land and law and a future that feels uncertain. Fixing it would take something brave, like a proper survey to document who owns what and a special court to settle the historical disputes. It would cost a lot of money. But you look at the cost of the burning and the dying and the fleeing, and you have to wonder which bill is actually higher. Until that calculation changes, people will keep going to bed in Nasarawa listening for a sound that should not come at 4:00 a.m.

How to Block a Stolen Phone in Nigeria Using the IMEI Number

Published: 31 March, 2026

First, Protect Your Money

Panic is natural but action is better, and the very first action has nothing to do with the phone itself. You need to protect your bank accounts before the thief even has time to think. Use another device to log into your mobile banking app immediately and disable any card linked to payment services on the stolen phone. Financial fraud often follows physical theft at a frightening speed, with criminals attempting to drain accounts or make purchases before you realize what is happening. Change the passwords for your primary email and social media accounts next, which prevents them from resetting passwords for other services you use. These two steps create a crucial barrier and should take less than 10 minutes, forming your first and most important line of defense.

Your Phone’s Digital Fingerprint

Every mobile phone has a different identifier called the International Mobile Equipment Identity number, a digital fingerprint that no other device shares. You can find this 15-digit code by dialing *#06# on the keypad, and it will appear right there on the screen. The smart thing, of course, is to have written it down yesterday and kept it somewhere safe away from the phone itself. If you have lost that chance, check the original box the phone came in or look in the settings menu under “About Phone.” The Nigeria Communications Commission maintains that this number is the primary key for tracking and blocking devices across all networks, which makes it the most important piece of information you can own about your device.

The Official Path to a Block

The core of the process runs through the Nigeria Communications Commission, the regulator that operates a system called the Central Equipment Identity Register. This is a national database of IMEI numbers, and when you report a stolen phone, that unique code is added to a blacklist shared with every mobile network operator in the country. Once blacklisted, the phone cannot connect to any cellular network for calls or data, effectively turning it into a brick for communication. To start this process, you need to visit the nearest police station and obtain an official extract, a police report that serves as your legal proof of the theft. You then submit this report along with proof of ownership and your IMEI number to the NCC, following the process outlined on their official digital platform.

Tell Your Network Provider

While the NCC handles the national blacklist, you should also walk into your specific mobile network provider’s office or contact their customer service. Companies like MTN, Airtel, Glo, and 9mobile can immediately block the SIM card that was in the stolen phone, which stops the thief from using your phone number. They will deactivate that SIM and issue you a replacement with the same number, protecting your contacts from harassment and preventing the misuse of your line for receiving two-factor authentication codes. Network providers have their own fraud monitoring systems, and reporting the theft helps them flag any suspicious activity on your account quickly.

What a Block Actually Does

People often hope that blocking a phone renders it completely useless, but the reality has more interesting layers. When the NCC blacklists an IMEI, the primary effect is network exclusion—the phone loses its ability to make calls, send SMS, or use mobile internet on any Nigerian network. It can, however, still connect to Wi-Fi, so a thief could use it on a home or public network to access any apps or data already on the device if you did not have a screen lock. This is precisely why those initial steps of securing your accounts are so critically important. A blocked phone also loses most of its resale value within the local market, as vendors and informal repair shops sometimes check IMEI numbers and a phone that cannot make calls is worth only a fraction of its price for spare parts.

The System’s Limits

No system is perfect, and the one for blocking phones faces its own set of Nigerian realities. One significant challenge is cross-border movement, where a phone blocked in Nigeria may still work perfectly in a neighboring country that does not share blacklist data. Thieves sometimes traffic stolen devices across borders for this reason. Another reality is IMEI cloning, a sophisticated process where criminals alter the unique number of a stolen phone to give it a new identity not on the blacklist, though this requires technical skill and is less common for random street theft. Enforcement is another layer, as the NCC must ensure all network operators consistently apply the block across their entire infrastructure, which requires continuous technical coordination to be fully effective.

Guard Your IMEI Now

The very best time to record your IMEI is yesterday, before anything happens. Write it down on a piece of paper and keep it in your wallet, or save it in a secure note on a cloud service you can access from another device. Enable strong security on the phone itself with a 6-digit PIN or a complex pattern, adding biometric locks like a fingerprint or face recognition for another layer. Set the phone to auto-lock after 30 seconds of inactivity, because these measures slow down a thief who gains physical access. Be aware of your surroundings in crowded areas like markets and bus stops, since phone snatching is often a crime of opportunity, and using an expensive device conspicuously in vulnerable situations simply increases the risk.

Before Buying Used

*#06# on the device to get it, then use the NCC’s verification service or a third-party digital platform to check against global blacklists. A clean check does not guarantee the phone is not stolen, but a blacklisted IMEI is a definite red flag that means you will never be able to use the device on Nigerian networks. Ask the seller for proof of purchase like a receipt or the original box, which adds a layer of legitimacy even in the informal market. This straightforward check saves you from future headaches and stops you from accidentally supporting the market for stolen goods.

Getting the Police Report

That police report is the official gateway to the blocking process, and cooperation between the police and the NCC is vital for it to work. When you report the theft, provide the IMEI number to the officer, and be persistent in getting the official extract filed even if some officers may downplay the loss of a phone. The Nigeria Police Force National Cyber Crime Centre can, in some cases, track a phone if it connects to the internet, though this requires coordination and is more likely in cases involving organized theft rings. The report itself is also a statistical tool that helps law enforcement identify crime hotspots and patterns, so insist on filing it because it is your right and your primary document for the next steps.

The Quiet Power of a Number

Here is a small, doable action you can take today that costs nothing but a minute of your time. Pick up your phone and dial *#06#, then write the 15-digit number that appears on a piece of paper and put it in a drawer at home. Do it for every phone in your household. This simple act places a powerful tool directly in your hands, so if the worst happens, you are prepared and can bypass the frantic search for the box you threw away last year. Phone theft in Nigeria is a common crime, but the response does not have to be helplessness because you have a process, an identifier, and a path to reclaim control.

“The IMEI number is the most important piece of information for recovering or blocking a stolen mobile device. Consumers must treat it with the same importance as a bank account number.”
– Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission, October 2025.

🔍 How To Track A Lost or Stolen Phone Using IMEI (Best IMEI Tracking Procedure)