North-West
MASSOB urge police to release arrested members
FIle Photo The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra has called on the police to release its members arrested on Friday in Imo State. MASSOB’s National Director of Information, Sunday Okereafor, who condemned the mass arrest of the movement’s members, said they did no wrong and did not deserve to be apprehended by the police. Four persons had been shot when the police operatives clashed with MASSOB members at Orji axis of Owerri, the Imo State capital, while those injured were rushed to the hospital. The State Police Public Relations Officer, Orlando Ikokwu, who confirmed the clash, alleged that MASSOB members attempted to snatch firearms from policemen. Ikokwu said the MASSOB members also inflicted machete cut injuries on two policemen in the New Owerri area of t...
Aviation, education ministries, others make presentations at FEC meeting
President Muhammadu Buhari is currently presiding over the seventh virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Newsmen report that the Federal Ministries of Aviation; Niger Delta; Education as well as Works and Housing are expected to make presentations at the meeting. Those at the meeting include Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari and the National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno. Newsmen observed that 11 cabinet ministers joined the president at the Council Chamber for the virtual meeting while other ministers are participating directly from their respective off...
President Buhari begs Nigerians to be patient with government on insecurity
President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Nigerians to be patient with his government as everything is being put in place to tackle headlong the insecurity in the polity. The President has also approved joint military, police operations to tackle insecurity in North West. President Buhari also called for calm in his home state of Katsina, assuring that security agencies were working to bring the current wave of banditry and killing to a halt. The President in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu in Abuja, Tuesday, observed that violent reactions to the security by citizens could distract the plans already laid out by security agencies, assuring that security forces were capable of stemming both terrorism and banditry. The President ...
President Buhari commiserates with victims of Sokoto attack, orders fierce military operation
President Muhammadu Buhari has condoled with families who lost loved ones in an attack by bandits in Sabon Birni Local Government, Sokoto State, praying for the quick recovery of those that sustained injuries. “As the world and Nigeria battle Coronavirus pandemic, it is tragic and unfortunate that bandits have remained active in parts of the country, killing innocent people and throwing families into despair. “We will not abandon you to your fate because we are determined to bring these mass murderers to their knees and crush them totally,” he said in a statement. The President noted that a major military operation code named “Operation Accord” has been launched by the military, targeting the bandits that have been tormenting North-West and North Central states. “This operation will be a f...
Ebonyi assemblyman’s brother found dead in car boot
The younger brother of an Ebonyi House of Assembly member has been found dead in his car boot along the Abakaliki/Afikpo expressway. The deceased, Samuel Aleke, reportedly left his house Saturday evening May 23 and was not seen until the next day when his corpse was discovered inside the boot of his car. He was the younger brother of the member representing Ebonyi North-west in the state house of assembly, Victor Aleke. A source who requested non-attribution said that the deceased had informed the wife that he was going to collect an earpiece from a friend. The source noted that would be the last time his three children kids and pregnant wife would see him alive. The source stated that after several hours of waiting for his return to no avail, the wife raised alarm and the search for him c...
CAS: ‘Operation Harbin Daji’ will flush out bandits in Katsina
Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has assured Katsina State residents that the Nigeria Air force ‘Operation Harbin Daji’ against bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and armed robbers would be different. Abubakar stated this on Saturday when the Nigerian Air Force Plane Boeing NAF 917 brought 60 airmen and officers to partake in the “Operation Harbin Daji” to wipe out bandits in the state. Represented by the Air Officer Commanding Special Operations, Bauchi Command, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Charles Ohwo, the airforce boss said that it was no longer news about the incessant killing of innocent people in Batsari and Jibiya Local Government Areas of the state. According to him, their mission is to save the people of the area through the operation, code-named “Operations Ha...
NAF deploys special forces, additional platforms to boost ongoing operations in Katsina
Authorities of the Nigerian Airforce on Friday said that following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive on the launch of a major crackdown against bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements in Katsina and other States in the North West of the Country, the NAF on 22 May 2020, injected Special Forces (SF) operatives and deployed additional platforms to Kastina State. NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, said, “The arrangement is to consolidate on the already existing security architecture in the State to ensure the success of the ongoing renewed offensive against the armed bandits under the auspices of the Defence Headquarters (DHQ)-led Operation Hadarin Daji. Speaking during the deployment, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sa...
Presidency: No discrimination against any state
File Photo The Presidency says no state will suffer any such discrimination in dealing with security and all other matters on account of their political differences with the government at the centre. Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said this in a statement issued to announce a massive plan by the Ministry of Defence to launch “Operation Accord” in the North West and North Central States. Shehu said the plan, whose arrangements had been concluded, was a major military exercise aimed at flushing out insurgents from the contiguous states of Kaduna, Niger, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and parts of Kebbi State. He said while Tuesday’s Senate resolution was “perfectly in order”, it was important to state that, in his duty as Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari had already approved th...
Kwara blames rise in coronavirus cases on influx of travellers from Lagos, North West
Kwara state government has attributed the increase in COVID-19 cases in the state to the influx of people from Lagos and North Western states to Ilorin, the state capital despite the ban on inter- state travels. The state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said this while speaking with newsmen during an inspection visit to the Sobi Specialist Hospital’s Isolation Centre in Ilorin. The governor was at the centre to monitor health personnel’s compliance with safety protocols. He disclosed that 11 of the index cases at the isolation centre are travellers from Lagos and north- west states who were intercepted by security operatives deployed to enforce the ban on inter – state travels. “Its disturbing that our new index cases were imported, they were people from Lagos and north western states who...
Troops kill 17 bandits in Kaduna
No fewer than 17 armed bandits were last Thursday, in Kaduna state, neutralized by troops of the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN). An operation update released on Monday, by the military High Command, through Major General John Enenche, Coordinator of the Defence Media Operations, (CDMO), disclosed that some of the armed bandits also escaped with diverse degrees of gunshot wounds. General Enenche also disclosed that during the course of the operation, a church building and some houses of civilians, were damaged. However, he said that there were arrangements ongoing by the military High Command to have owners of the identified property fully compensated. The CDMO, in the update, said that, “The Armed Forces of Nigeria, on 7 May 2020, conducted a joint clearance operation, involving troops of O...
