Terrorists
CAN: Nigeria almost becoming a failed nation
File Photo The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has condemned the abduction of 333 students of Government Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State. CAN also said that the worsening security situation across the country shows that Nigeria is “almost becoming a failed nation.” The group’s statement by Adebayo Oladeji, Special Assistant (Media and Communications) to the CAN President, described the incident as another tragic chapter in the history of the country. Newsmen reported how 333 schoolboys of the school were abducted on Friday by the gunmen. A terrorist group, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for the raid. The federal government said security operatives have already located where the abducted students were taken to and they “would soon be rescued”. CAN expressed its sadne...
Families of kidnapped Katsina schoolboys fear time running out
Families of more than 300 kidnapped Nigerian schoolboys worried they may be brainwashed or held for years as security forces combed a vast forest on Wednesday for armed captors possibly from the jihadist Boko Haram movement. According to an unverified audio clip, the Islamist group – whose name means “Western education is forbidden” – was responsible for last week’s raid on an all-boys school in the town of Kankara in northwestern Katsina state. Parents fear time may be running out: Boko Haram has a history of turning captives into jihadist fighters. “They will radicalise our children if the government does not act fast to help us rescue them,” said trader Shuaibu Kankara, crying as he spoke from home. His 13-year-old son Annas was among those abducted from the Government Science school on...
Mozambique jihadists push masses to Pemba
The population has soared in Pemba, a northern Mozambique port known for its wide bay, but rather than tourists coming for a swim, the newcomers have fled Islamic extremists. In the past few months, boatloads of people with little but the clothes they wear have landed under the palm trees after their homes fell prey to Al-Shabaab gunmen swearing allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS). In October, the violent rebellion entered its fourth year and has reportedly killed more than 2,400 people and displaced half a million, according to the government. Their villages were torched, many men killed and many young women kidnapped. After seizing coastal zones that host natural gas installations, Islamist fighters have begun to push to the inland districts of Cabo Delgado province. The last offi...
Zamfara shuts down 10 schools to prevent abduction of students like in Katsina
The Zamfara government has ordered that 10 schools across the state be shut down over fears students could be abducted by bandits. The decision comes on the heels of last week’s attack on Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State that has left at least 333 students unaccounted for and believed to be in custody of the kidnappers. Zamfara’s Commissioner for Education, Ibrahim Abdullahi, announced at a media briefing on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 that the affected schools are those that share borders with Katsina, Kaduna, and Sokoto, all similarly troubled by the activities of bandits. “We will not want what happened in Katsina to happen in Zamfara State,” he said. The affected schools are GSS, Tsafe; GSS, Magaji; GASS, Zurmi; GGSS, Moriki; GDSS, Nasarawa Mailayi; GDSS, Gu...
Senators decry executive’s disregard for resolutions on insecurity
Federal lawmakers, on Tuesday, deplored the federal government’s continued disregard for Senate’s resolutions on the issue of national security. The Senators spoke while contributing to a motion on the recent kidnapping of students at the Government Science School, Kankara, Katsina State. The Red Chamber had twice called for the replacement of the service chiefs. The lawmakers, in their various contributions to the motion, expressed deep frustration over the recurring issues of killings and kidnappings across the country and the inability of the security agencies to address the challenges. They insisted that the service chiefs had overstayed and should allow other officers with fresh ideas to take over. Senator Mohammed Sani Musa (APC, Niger) said, “Every day, people are dying and nothing ...
Senate summons minister, service chiefs over Kankara kidnapping
The Senate, on Tuesday, invited the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd.), service chiefs and heads of other security agencies to brief it on measure being taken to rescue the abducted students of Government Science School, Kankara Katsina State. This followed a motion by Senator Bello Mandiya (APC, Katsina South), who noted that the abduction is coming on the heels of yet to be resolved abduction of 270 girls at Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in 2014, and abduction of about 100 school girls at Government Girls Science and Technical School, Dapchi, Yobe State in 2018. He expressed concern that like the other incidents of school children abduction that took place in Chibok and Dapchi, if no immediate action was taken to rescue Kankara School boys, their fate...
President Buhari condemns bandits’ attack on Katsina school, orders reinforcement of security
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the attack carried out by bandits’ at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, charging the security agencies to go after the attackers to ensure that no student gets missing or harmed. The president made the remarks in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Saturday. He urged the school authorities to carry out an audit of the population of the students following shootings in and around the school that sent hundreds of them fleeing and scrambling over perimeter walls. He also advised parents who rushed to evacuate their children and wards from the school to notify the school and police authorities in order to have a full account of the school population. “I strongly...
Security expert calls for 10,000 vigilantes to provide protection for Borno communities
Security expert, Dr Ona Ekhomu, has advised the Borno State government to immediately hire 10,000 Borno Youths into a robust vigilance force to defend the state alongside the military, the police, the paramilitary and the Civilian JTF. The absence of a capable guardian is what facilitated the Borno massacre that occurred last Saturday, he added. Dr. Ekhomu, who is President of the Association Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, said hiring the 10,000-man youth vigilance force will provide protection of the rural populations against incessant terror attacks. He said: “The vigilance initiative will also help Governor Zulum to fulfil his campaign promise to hire Borno youths to secure the State. “The Borno Vigilance Force which should employ able-bodied youths who must receiv...
Nigerian governors to meet with President Buhari to address security challenges
Governors of the thirty six states under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF have resolved to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to address the security challenges with continued cases of armed banditry, terrorism and kidnapping across the country. The governors are meeting with President Buhari especially to discuss last week’s gruesome beheading of about 43 Farmers in Zarbamari near Maiduguri, Borno State by Boko Haram Insurgents while they were working in their farmland without any form of resistance. The decision was part of the resolutions reached at the end of the 22nd NGF teleconference meeting. In a Communique signed by the NGF Chairman and Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, said, ” Members of the forum resolved to meet with Mr. President as soon as possible to ad...
Borno killings: Senator Lawan leads federal government delegation on condolence visit
The federal government has sent a delegation led by the President, of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, to Maiduguri, Borno state on a condolence visit over the killing of farmers at the weekend by terrorists. A release issued on Monday by Lawan’s media aide, Ola Awoniyi, stated that the delegation which had since arrived Borno state was received on arrival at the Maiduguri airport by Borno State Deputy Governor, Usman Umar Gadafu. The delegation is in Borno, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government, to commiserate and identify with the family of the victims, the Government and the people of Borno State over the incident. Members of the delegation include the Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Ministers of Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bel...
President Buhari condemns ‘insane’ killing of farmers by Boko Haram in Borno
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed grief over the killing of farmers on rice fields at Zabarmari in Jere Local Government of Borno, describing the terrorist killings as insane. The president made the condemnation in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Sunday. Buhari said the government had given all the needed support to the armed forces “to take all necessary steps to protect the country’s population and its territory.” Buhari said: “I condemn the killing of our hardworking farmers by terrorists in Borno State. ”The entire country is hurt by these senseless killings. My thoughts are with their families in this time of grief. ”May their souls Rest In Peace.” Newsmen report that about 43 farmers were murdered while unspeci...
Troops raid terrorists’ hideouts, eliminate five in Borno
Troops of Operation Fire Ball have eliminated five Boko Haram (BHT)/ISWAP terrorists and recovered a cache of arms and ammunition as well as bags of assorted grains in recent attacks on their hideouts in Borno. The Acting Director, Defence Media Operations, Brig.-Gen. Benard Onyeuko, disclosed this in statement on Sunday. Onyeuko said that Operation Fire Ball, a subsidiary of Operation Lafiya Dole, had continued to clear terrorists from their identified enclaves in the North East. He said the troops of Army Super Camp 11 Gamboru-Ngala, on Nov. 27, overran the terrorists’ hideout at Garal and Bulankesa Villages. He said that the troops eliminated two terrorists in the encounter while others fled in disarray with fatal injuries. Onyeuko said that troops deployed in Pulka also raided a terror...
