Villages
Colonel Umar: Blame President Buhari for separatist agitations
Former Military Administrator of Kaduna State Colonel Abubakar Umar (rtd) has blamed President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government for separatist agitations threatening national unity. The current administration, he said, has failed to unite the country. Umar also lambasted the government for what he described as undue attention to threats of separatist movements in contrast to the more daunting threats posed by bandits, kidnappers and insurgents in the North West, some parts of North Central and North East. In a statement on Wednesday titled: ‘Nigeria; A Nation Challenged,‘ the former MILAD said the best way to unite a diverse and fragile nation like Nigeria is through justice, fairness and equity. He stated the current administration has so far exhibited poor skills management of...
Settlers in occupied West Bank agree to evacuate illegal outpost
Israeli settlers who constructed an unapproved outpost near Beita in the occupied West Bank said they have agreed to withdraw from the site. Tensions in the occupied West Bank reached new highs in the past months with the Evyatar settlement being one of the focal points of clashes as settlers refused to evacuate the land and Palestinians demonstrated against their presence. Several Palestinians have been killed and dozens wounded by Israeli forces supporting the illegal settlers. According to a statement on Wednesday by the Samaria Regional Council, a settlers’ organisation, the Israelis are due to leave by Friday following a compromise offered to them by the Israeli government. The Samaria Regional Council also reportedly said the settlement’s structures will not be demolished, but rather...
Nigerian government says no immediate plan to ban cylinder imports
The Federal Government says it had no immediate plan to ban the importation of gas cylinders as part of its LPG expansion and implementation plan. Mr Dayo Adesina, Senior Special Assistant on Domestic Gas in the office of the Vice-President, made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen on Sunday in Abuja. He said that the government was working on first building local capacities before contemplating a ban. According to Adesina, who is also the Programme Manager of the National LPG Expansion and Implementation, Nigeria still has a lot of cylinder deficits to fill in meeting the LPG expansion plan. He explained that the plan was to get LPG to the remotest of villages and discourage use of firewood and other fuels that are inimical to the environment. Adesina said that of the nation’s ove...
Amnesty: Nigerian government highly sensitive to criticism
The country director of Amnesty International (AI) Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, says the federal government is “highly sensitive to criticism” and only focuses on appearances. Ojigho stated this on Thursday while addressing the topic “Is Freedom of Speech in Danger in Nigeria?” during a virtual conversation, tagged ‘Thursday Talks’. The virtual conversation, which is a monthly programme focused on engaging thought leaders, was moderated by Adeboye Adegoke, senior programme manager at Paradigm Initiative. The AI country director described the government’s ban on Twitter and its proposed amendment to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) code as attempts to gag criticism. “What we are seeing is a government that is highly sensitive to criticism and, as such, seeks to work more on the public re...
Senator Gyang: Nigerian government hasn’t captured Plateau in housing units resettlement
Deputy Chairman Senate Committee on Defence and Senator representing Plateau North, Istifanus Gyang, said Federal Government is yet to consider Plateau State on the 500 housing units constructing for for destroyed communities in North East due to Insecurity. He appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari in the spirit of fairness and Justice to come to the aid of Plateau communities, particularly destroyed communities in Barkin-Ladi, Riyom, Bassa and other villages in Plateau North. Sen. Gyang disclosed this on Monday during an interaction with Journalists at his constituency office, tagged, “The People’s Parliament” lamented over the the deteriorating security situation in the country. “I have being crying out for Federal Government to include Plateau State in the 500 housing units being build...
Mass grave reopens wounds among indigenous survivors of colonial Canadian school system
The discovery of the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in Canada has reopened wounds for survivors of the system, they said, as the government pledged to spend previously promised money to search for more unmarked graves. The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc indigenous nation in British Columbia announced last week it had found the remains of 215 children, some as young as three, buried at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, once Canada’s largest such school. Between 1831 and 1996, Canada’s residential school system forcibly separated about 150,000 children from their homes and subjected them to abuse, rape and malnutrition at schools across the country in what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 called “cultural genocide”. Run by the government and c...
Gunmen attacks: Ebonyi governor threatens to deploy Ebubeagu to Benue
Gov. David Umahi has urged the Benue government to form a replica of the Ebubeagu security outfit to protect a village inhabited mainly by Izzi natives from Ebonyi in the state. Umahi spoke on Wednesday when he visited the village known as Nwori-Ndi Obasi Village in Ado Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue which was attacked by gunmen on 30 May. The attack, which left some persons dead and many wounded, was stopped from spilling over to the neighbouring Okwofuruike and Odoke Villages of Ebonyi LGA by a combined team of security agencies and Ebubeagu security outfit. Speaking during the visit, Umahi said Ebonyi Government may be forced to deploy Ebubeagu to Benue if the state government failed to set up an outfit to protect the people. “These are Ebonyi people paying their taxes in Benue an...
Kebbi boat mishap: 92 dead bodies recovered so far
Eleven additional bodies of the victims of last Wednesday’s boat mishap in Warra town of Ngaski local government area of Kebbi state have been recovered. On Saturday, Governor Atiku Bagudu said a total of 81 dead bodies had been recovered, majority of whom were residents of Warra town. A resident of Warra, Mallam Jabir, said the additional dead bodies were recovered in two neighbouring villages of Warra. According to him, some of the recovered bodies had to be buried in the river because they had decomposed badly. He said the corpses were tied to a rope attached with a heavy stone so that they could be well deposited under the water. According to him, search team is still making progress with the hope that those that couldn’t float over the water would be seen. “Some of the dead bodies rec...
Bodies of coronavirus victims among those dumped in India’s Ganges – document
Bodies of COVID-19 victims have been found dumped in some Indian rivers, a state government said in a letter seen by Reuters, the first official acknowledgement of an alarming practice it said may stem from poverty and fear of the disease in villages. Images of corpses drifting down the Ganges river, which Hindus consider holy, have shocked a nation reeling under the world’s worst surge in infections. Although media have linked the recent increase in the numbers of such bodies to the pandemic, the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to 240 million people, has until now not publicly revealed the cause of the deaths. “The administration has information that bodies of those who have succumbed to COVID-19 or any other disease are being thrown into rivers instead of being disposed of as per p...
Two ‘killed’, one injured as robbers attack bullion van in Ondo
Two persons were feared killed while one was injured as bank robbers attacked a bullion van at Bolorunduro area in Ondo East council area of Ondo state. An unspecified amount of money were reportedly carted away by the robbers numbering over eight. The robbery attack occurred at about 5:30pm. Eyewitness account said that the robbers who came in two vehicles including a Lexus car ambushed the bullion van at Elemoso village along Akure/ Ondo highway. It was gathered that the bullion van left Ondo town and was heading for Akure, the state capital when it was attacked by the robbers. Newsmen learnt that the driver and other police officers escorting the bullion van fled to different directions following the sophisticated weapon displayed by the robbers. The bullion van was reportedly shot seve...
House asks federal government to suspend upcoming census exercise
Following the ravaging insecurity in the country, the House of Representatives yesterday called on the federal government to suspend the upcoming census exercise until security improved. The House also said it will be counter-productive and a waste of scarce financial resources to conduct such exercise amidst the economic recession. The call was made on the heel of a motion under matters of urgent public importance titled “Call on the federal government of Nigeria to Suspend the Proposed 2021 Population and Housing Census to be conducted by the National Population Commission” sponsored by Shelia Barwa Bell. Moving the motion, Bell said that the state of insecurity would not guarantee accuracy if the census was conducted now, arguing that many Nigerians have fled their homes and villages. H...
35 killed in Boko Haram attacks in Borno
Jihadists have killed 35 people, including five troops and 15 militiamen, in two attacks in Nigeria’s troubled northern Borno state, sources told AFP Tuesday. Islamic State-aligned militants have intensified attacks on army camps in recent weeks as part of a decade-long insurgency that has killed 36 000 people and forced more than two million to flee their homes. Fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) came in several trucks fitted with machine guns and stormed Ajiri town late on Monday. They attacked a military base, leading to intense fighting in which five soldiers and 15 anti-jihadist militia were killed, two military sources said. ISWAP had raided the same base on Sunday, killing the base commander along with six civilians and carting away weapons, military sources sa...
