Men
Jihadists kill all male Christians in two Nigerien towns, women flee
Jihadists in Niger Republic have killed all the male Christians in Fantio and Dolbel, two towns in the Tillabéri region in the south west. Survivors of the attack, a group of women, with small children and babies fled to the Dori region of Burkina Faso. AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED (ACN), which reported the attacks, quoted the women as saying the terrorists attacked the towns twice, killing the men. The two towns were abandoned by the rest of the inhabitants. In Fantio, the jihadists took a statue of the Virgin Mary, liturgical books and musical instruments and burned them. They then desecrated the Blessed Sacrament by throwing the sacred hosts on the ground and finally setting the church on fire. This is the third parish in this part of Niger that has been abandoned due to terrorist attacks ...
White House does not rule out Haiti request for U.S. troops
The United States is still reviewing a request for troops made by Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph to help secure key infrastructure after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday. Psaki said Haiti’s political leadership remains unclear and that it was vital for the country’s leaders to come together to chart a united path forward. Moise was shot dead early on Wednesday at his Port-au-Prince home by what Haitian authorities describe as a unit of assassins formed of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans. Haitian police said on Sunday they had arrested another key suspect. The death of the president has plunged the troubled country into deeper turmoil, and U.S. officials traveled there on Sunday to assess the situation and ...
Leaked testimony from Haiti suspects says plan was to arrest, not kill president
A group of Colombians and Haitian Americans suspected of assassinating Haitian President Jovenel Moise told investigators they were there to arrest him, not kill him, the Miami Herald and a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday. Moise was shot dead early on Wednesday at his Port-au-Prince home by what Haitian authorities say was a unit of assassins made up of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, plunging the troubled Caribbean nation into deeper turmoil. The murder and uncertainty about who hatched the plot is the latest in a succession of blows to hit the struggling country, which has appealed for international help. Washington has so far rebuffed Haiti’s request for troops, though a senior U.S. official said on Sunday that Washington was sending a technical team to assess th...
Ekiti governor constitutes white paper committee on college fumigation crisis
Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has set up a White Paper Committee to consider the report of the Investigative Panel set up by the state government to look into the circumstances that led to the hospitalisation of some students of the College of Health Sciences and Technology, Ijero Ekiti, after a controversial fumigation exercise of the institution in May. According to a statement by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Yinka Oyebode, on Friday, titled, ‘Fayemi constitutes White Paper Committee on report of College of Health Sciences Ijero-Ekiti crisis’, the setting up of the White Paper Committee “follows the submission of reports by the Investigation Panel, chaired by the Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Olabanji Filani.” The Committee, which is to be chaired by the ...
Haiti asks US, UN to send troops after president’s assassination
Haiti has asked Washington and the UN for troops to secure its ports, airport and other strategic sites after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise opened a power vacuum in the crisis-hit Caribbean nation, an official said Friday. The United States has already said it will send FBI and other agents to Port-au-Prince, two days after Moise was shot dead in his home. In the wake of the slaying “we thought that mercenaries could destroy some infrastructure to create chaos … During a conversation with the US secretary of state and the UN we made this request,” elections minister Mathias Pierre told AFP. The US State Department and Pentagon both confirmed receiving a request for “security and investigative assistance” and said officials remain in contact with Port-au-Prince, but did not s...
NEMA: Why we held simulated terror attack on Abuja stadium
The National Emergency Management Agency says the simulated terrorists attack on the Moshood Abiola National stadium, Abuja is to prepare relevant agencies for coordinated emergency response. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the exercise held on Wednesday. Mustapha Ahmed, the Director-General of NEMA said this in an interview with newsmen at the event organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) with planning and assistance from the U.S. and UK. NAN reports that the exercise code named “Idahun Kankan’’ Yoruba words meaning (Quick Response) saw a simulated bomb attack and marauding gunfire in the stadium while a match was going on. The simulated attacks left many spectators feigned maimed, wounded and others scampering for safety and escape. Following notification, ...
Ekiti: Gunmen kidnap four farmers, demand N50 million ransom
Some suspected gunmen have kidnapped four farmers in a farm located in Ekiti, demanding N50 million ransom to secure their release. The Police Command in the state on Tuesday confirmed the kidnapping of the four farmers but denied knowledge of the N50 million ransom. The latest incident was coming barely a week after a traditional ruler, Oba Benjamin Osho, the Eleda of Eda Ile, in Ekiti East Local Government Area, was kidnapped, with his captors demanding N20 million ransom. Sources said the latest victims, the farmers, were kidnapped on Monday evening in Ikosu Farm Settlement in Ikosu-Ekiti, Moba Local Government area. Commenting, Mr Olawumi Ayodeji, Manager of the farm, told newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, that the abductors had made calls, demanding N50 million ransom. When contacted, ...
Gunmen kill member of Edo vigilance group in Benin
A young man and member of the Edo State vigilance group simply identified as Endurance, better known as “DMX ” was on Saturday night shot and killed at Ugbowo area by unknown gunmen suspected to be members of a rival cult group in Benin City. Reports have it that the assailants trailed their victim from his house to a Lotto Betting Shop, where he was shot trice at close range, while other stakers at the Lotto Betting Shop scampered for safety. The incident which allegedly occurred at about 6 pm on Saturday on Ologbosere Street, off Benin Technical College road in Ugbowo Quarters, Egor Local Government Area threw residents of the area into panic and apprehension. It was gathered that the Vigilance group in the area, immediately after the incident, stormed the crime scene to rescue their col...
South Africans gather in support of Jacob Zuma — a day before jail deadline
Hundreds of supporters gathered in a show of solidarity for former South African president Jacob Zuma outside his Nkandla homestead Saturday, as the deadline looms for him to hand himself over. In an unprecedented ruling, Zuma was on Tuesday told by the constitutional court to hand himself over by Sunday to start a 15-month jail term for contempt of court. Supporters, mainly members of the African National Congress’s Umkhonto Wesizwe military wing, have for weeks camped outside Zuma’s home in KwaZula-Natal province in solidarity with the former leader. Donning traditional leopard skins and ostrich feathers – wielding spears, shields and clubs known as “knobkerries,” men known as “amaButho,” or Zulu regiments marched in the streets of Nkandla, singing praise songs about Zuma. Bare-breasted ...
Yoruba Nation: Police arrest, teargas protesters in Lagos
The Ojota venue of the Yoruba Nation rally has turned rowdy as police teargassed and also shot in the air to disperse protesters. Police also sprayed water cannon on the protesters to forestall the breakdown of order. Newsmen observed that more security operatives including men of the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and their vans have been deployed to the venue of the protest. The Police also arrested some protesters at the venue of the rally and were kept in the waiting Black Maria. They also cordoned off the strategic points where the protesters had gathered. Motorists and other road users have also been advised to ply alternative routes to their destinations. Earlier, Odumosu while speaking to journalists, stressed that Lagos State ...
South Africa’s Jacob Zuma mounts last-ditch legal fight against jail term
South Africa’s ex-president Jacob Zuma on Friday mounted a last-ditch legal bid to avoid prison after the country’s top court ordered him jailed for failing to appear before graft investigators. In a landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday handed Zuma a 15-month term for contempt after he snubbed a probe into the theft of state assets under his tenure. If the 79-year-old fails to turn himself in by Sunday, police will be given a further three days to arrest him and take him to jail to start the sentence. As the deadline loomed, Zuma pleaded on Friday that the order be “reconsidered and rescinded.” “It will not be futile,” Zuma said in papers filed to the court, “to make one last attempt to invite the Constitutional Court to relook its decision and to merely reassess whether it...
