Tension in Edo as suspected Fulani herdsmen take over community

There is tension in Edo state as scores of persons with some of them dressed in military uniform and suspected to be Fulani herdsman have reportedly invaded a farming community known as 2nd Abumere Ojigbelu Camp in Ovia Northeast  Local Government  Area of Edo State and chased the villagers away.

They are also alleged to have taken over their farms, homes and properties.

Some of the villagers who have run away for their lives and now taking refuge in other communities around Okada narrate their ordeal.

The armed men were said to have been chased away from the Okada area from where they ran to near Benin City.

One of the displaced farmers who incidentally is from Taraba State, Mr Mattu Alli, said:  I am short of words to explain what I witnessed, yesterday (2^nd) in our community.

“I have been here for the past 20 years with my family farming. I was in my compound with my family when we started to hear the sound of guns and people running to different directions,  I saw one Benin man running towards my compound.

“I asked him where are you running to and he said herdsmen have taken over the village chasing people away from their houses.

“So I called my wife and we had to run for our lives. I did not see my children. Every one of us ran in different directions. As I speak to you now, I don’t know the whereabouts of my wife and children.

“Another thing that put fears into our minds is that one of the Fulani herdsmen pointed a gun at me and said look man we are for peace, we would only kill you, people, if you refuse to allow our cows to feed on your crops.

“The yams you people have are for our cows, the cassava and all that you have are for our cows. If you people touch our cows we will  kill everybody in this village.

“For us to be safe we ran to the next community.” 

Another victim, Mr Sunday Chimen, said: “Suddenly we heard gunshots and people running, we later discovered that Fulani herdsmen with AK-47 have taken over our community and were threatening to kill us if we didn’t cooperate with them. We decided to run for our dear lives leaving our properties with our children running to an unknown place. 

“We are calling on the security agencies to come to our aid as our community is under siege.” 

When contacted, Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, SP kotongs Bello, said he has not been briefed on the development and promised to get back as soon as he finished speaking with the Division Police Officer in charge of the area, but was yet to do so as at press time. 

Vanguard

Secret Memo: National Intelligence Agency Directors Ask Buhari To Stop Signing Documents He Doesn’t Understand —Report

Directors in the Nigerian Intelligence Agency (NIA) have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to desist from appending his seal on decisions he does not understand.

The directors in a secret memo unanimously noted with dismay several decisions Buhari has made after being “deliberately” misguided by his aides and advisers as a result of “selfishness”.

All these they attributed to the president’s inability to pay rapt attention to matters, Peoples Gazette reports. 

“As the head of this massive entity call Nigeria, sometimes your aides, advisers and handlers, may, out of selfishness and vested personal interest, deliberately mislead you, to unwittingly do some things against your known principles, unfortunately, because, they know that sometimes, due to some urgent numerous state matters that need your urgent attention you may not necessarily be too meticulous about everything,” the directors said in the letter.

The letter was written to Buhari amid claims that the President is considering tenure extension for the current NIA director-general, Ahmed Abubakar. 

Appointed on January 10, 2018, Abubakar’s tenure is expected to expire in January 2022.

The directors described Buhari’s decision on the tenure elongation as a “wrong one based on a wrong advice”. Nonetheless, they admitted that some of the president’s decisions are borne out of inadequate facts of situations.

“We learnt that the tenure of the current DG, which comes to an end in January 2022, is being considered (for extension) or has been secretly renewed,” the spy chiefs noted.

They alleged the repeated and “intense lobby” for tenure elongation for the heads of the security agencies.

“We have known all along that there has been clandestine and sometimes open intense lobby to mislead you to take the wrong decision, as was done in the last appointment,” they said.

“Please excuse our use of this language to describe your last decision on this matter as a wrong one based on very wrong advice. With all sense of humility and modesty.”

The NIA directors believed the president could not have approved the appointment of Abubakar in 2018 if he had been duly informed about circumstances against his appointment. 

“There is no way you will knowingly approve any illegality and/or anything done without due process as the last appointment of the current DG,” stressed the spy chiefs.

They pointed out that Buhari flouted the National Security Agencies Act, which specified that the NIA DG should be appointed on the advice of the national security adviser.

The spy chiefs said Babagana Monguno, the current NSA, had told the National Assembly that he was unaware of Abubakar’s appointment when the president authorised it in 2018.

Controversies had trailed the appointment of the current director-general, as critics, including a Bauchi senator, Isa Misau, argued that Mr Abubakar was unqualified for the position. 

Many have described the President’s decision as a “breach of national security.”

Saharareporters

FDA approves first injectable treatment to prevent HIV infection

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an injectable form of GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) cabotegravir drug that is given every two months to prevent an HIV infection.

The injection — Apretude — to prevent the virus that causes Aids is aimed as an alternative to daily pills and has been approved for use in at-risk adults and adolescents.

Its first two doses are administered one month apart and then the injection is given every two months thereafter.

Patients can start their treatment with Apretude or take oral cabotegravir for four weeks to assess how well they tolerate the drug.

Apretude comes with a boxed warning to not use the drug unless a negative HIV test is confirmed. A boxed warning on the label is FDA’s strictest warning and calls attention to serious or life-threatening risks of a drug.

Apretude’s approval was based on a final study showing it was found to be 66% more effective in preventing HIV infections than Gilead’s Truvada daily oral pills.

Cabotegravir and the daily oral pill were both well tolerated in the study, which was conducted on men who engage in sexual activity with other men and transgender women who have sex with men, putting them at risk of contracting HIV.

(Reuters)

Nigerian Army Chief Laments That Some ‘Repentant’ Terrorists Have Ulterior Motives

The Nigerian Army has said though thousands of terrorists and their families have laid down arms in the North-East, some of them have ulterior motives. 

The Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, Maj.-Gen. Christopher Musa, disclosed that 20,000 insurgents and their families had laid down their weapons but some of the ‘repentant’ terrorists are not sincere. 

The commander, who spoke on the sidelines of the Chief of Army Staff Conference in Abuja, added that another challenge the military has is that the insurgents use civilians as cover, making it more difficult for soldiers to kill them, the Nation reports. 

He said: “We have over 20,000 combatants and their families surrendered. This tells you there is something we are doing right. What we do with them after surrendering is our next focus. The expectation is that after all have surrendered, then, everything will fizzle out. But, that is not the case.

“Frankly speaking, for us, this is a good development. A lot of people have been thinking and also expressing mixed feelings if at all the news is true. Of course, there are some insurgents who truly wish to surrender, but we cannot jettison the fact that some of them do have ulterior motives.

“Like I said, to us, this is good and if we follow it through in the right way, then, we may begin to see the end of this insurgency sooner than we actually think.”

According to Maj-Gen. Musa, the terror group has remained dangerous despite the death of its leader, Abubakar Shekau.

He said: “Before Shekau died, they (Boko Haram fighters) pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in the West African Province ISWAP and ISWAP gets its funding from foreign donors. It is the lust for these monies that have further emboldened them. This is why they overran Shekau. These people who are enemies of the nation, who do not want peace in Nigeria are the same people pushing ISWAP too. It has nothing to do with religion or any form of ideology, but is purely driven by the quest for money.

Dismissing public concerns that the Nigerian military has been outstretched by the security challenges in the country, he said, “No group can outstretch the Armed Forces of Nigeria. What people need to understand is, we in the military can easily be identified because we put on uniforms. These guys go on mufti and we cannot just go into a community and start killing everybody. If we have to do this, then, this fight would have ended since.

“But, what about the collateral damage on the part of innocent civilians? If we have to shoot, then, we must target the real trouble makers and not just anyone. This is the problem. They mingle among civilians. This is why it has become so dificult. If it is conventional warfare, we would have finished them a long time ago.”

[Saharareporters]

Again, Terrorists Attack Kaduna, Community, Kidnap 36

Terrorists have again invaded Jangali Bagoma in Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna State and kidnapped 36 persons. The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday and yesterday.

Malam Abubakar Mohammed, who is a resident of Birnin Gwari disclosed this to journalists in Kaduna.

He said, “The bandits attacked the community yesterday and this morning (Monday) and kidnapped the villagers, including women and children.

“They didn’t kill anybody during the attacks. We are still gathering the figures of the people they kidnapped today (Monday)”.

He lamented that the bandits attacked the community twice within 24 hours, a situation he described as heartbreaking.

It would be recalled that bandits kidnapped over 50 residents of Ungwa Gimbiya in Chikun local government area in the early hours of Friday, 3rd December, 2021.

Mohammed said “Nigerians are no longer safe in their homes, these people are kidnapping our people anyhow, anytime.

“Our government should do something and end this kidnapping, we cannot continue like this,” he said.

He also called on the security agencies to put in more efforts in order to ensure the safety of Nigerians, he added.

When the police public relations officer, Mohammed Jalige, was contacted, he promised to confirm the incident and get back but did not do so as of the time of filing this report yesterday.

Credit: Leadership

Boko Haram behind Abuja-Kaduna highway attacks — Intelligence source

The recent wave of attacks on travellers along the beleaguered Abuja-Kaduna highway were carried out by Boko Haram terrorists. This is according to a report by Daily Nigerian Newspaper.

Recall that on Sunday, the terrorists abducted an unspecified number of passengers and killed a prominent Zamfara politician, Alhaji Sagir Hamidu, at a point called Kurmin Kare along the highway.

The terrorists returned on Monday at Gidan Bussa and almost the same time to abduct dozens more.

A top intelligence source in Abuja told DAILY NIGERIAN on the condition of anonymity that the recent attacks were carried out by Boko Haram terrorists, who are now setting up camps in Kaduna and Niger forests.

“Based on an intercepted intel, the Boko Haram terrorists are behind these recent attacks at Kurmin Kare area along Abuja-Kaduna highway.

“They are also the ones who are abducting people around Mashegu and Shiroro in Niger State. They are trying to establish themselves around the area, so they embark on abductions to raise money for logistics.

“You know they under heavy bombardment in their enclaves in Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Chikun, Igabi and other places. So after fleeing from these locations, they now camped at some points not more than 50 to 60 kilometers away from Abuja-Kaduna highway.

“From these points, they use motorcycles to travel. There is a stream along the road where they keep the motorcycles and travel on foot through a thick forest to perpetrate the attacks,” said the source.

According to him, security agencies as well as Niger and Kaduna State Governments have been alerted of the development and efforts to decimate them.

He also said that the Boko Haram terrorists are now working in concert with bandits to abduct and attack people.

Spokesman for the Kaduna State Police Command, Mohammed Jalige, could not be reached for comment at the time of filing this report.

Credit: Daily Nigerian

Terrorists Kill village head, eight others in Zamfara

Bandits have slaughtered the village head and killed eight others in Tungar Ruwa in Anka local government area of Zamfara State.

The incident occurred at midnight on Wednesday. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the attack lasted for several hours.

The police spokesperson in the state, Mohammed Shehu, confirmed the attack but he did not give details.

Anka is one of the local government areas in Zamfara under incessant attacks by bandits. Rural people displaced by the attacks have flooded the headquarters of the local government area and Maru as well as Talata Mafara local government areas.

A source, Anas Mustapha, told this newspaper that the bandits invaded the village on motorbikes and started shooting into the air as they rode towards the village head’s residence.

They then took him out and slaughtered him in the presence of some of his people that were also gathered by the bandits.

“Eight other people were confirmed dead when the bandits left after the attack. But our understanding is that they (bandits) came for the village head. You know when they feel a particular leader in a community is giving them troubles, they do kill him instantly,” Mr Mustapha said.

He said the bandits also stole foodstuff and domestic animals in the village but did not kidnap anyone

This is coming a few days after bandits laid ambush on a road and killed seven mobile police officers on patrol duty in the state.

Credit: Premium Times

Four village heads dethroned by Emir for aiding banditry in Bauchi

Alhaji Rilwanu Sulaimanu Adamu, the Emir of Bauchi has ordered the immediate dethronement of four village heads in Toro Local Government Area of the state.

A statement signed by the Secretary to the Bauchi Emirate Council, Malam Shehu Muhammad, and made available to journalists informed that the dethroned village heads were those of Buruku; Turkunyan Biru; Gamawa and Zomo villages.

It said that the affected village heads were found complicit in abetting criminal elements in their respective domains, leading to restlessness in the area.

According to the statement, the decision on their dethronement was taken by the emirate council after they were found guilty of hosting unknown strangers suspected to be criminals in their domains without notifying their superior officers or security agents.

It added that the affected village heads were also found culpable of destroying forest resources at the Lame/Burra Game Reserve, which the statement noted posed a threat to the security of the area.

(Barristerng)

Bandits’ informants have exposed some politicians – Matawalle

Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State has said some persons working with bandits have confessed that they are being sponsored by politicians.

The governor, who said this in an interview with Lagos-based RadioNow, did not disclose identities of the politicians exposed by the bandits.

He also spoke on how some key political figures worked against the amnesty programme of his administration.

“After we initiated the dialogue, you know it was supposed to be a collective effort — between the government, the people of the state and other political gladiators. Unfortunately, when the government is trying to make sure we have peace, some political elites are thinking they don’t want us to succeed.”

“So they’ve been making so many unprecedented comments about the dialogue issues and the reconciliation. And some of them that have connections with the criminals have been telling them all sorts of things so that they shouldn’t believe the government’s amnesty and reconciliation.

“We have some records. Some of the informants that were arrested, we have over 2000 informants under the custody of security agencies, and some of them have opened up and indicted so many people. They said some of the politicians are the ones funding them, telling them the state and federal government are not serious on what we promise to them.”

(Daily Trust)

Gunmen kidnap 4 women in Suleja

The Police Command in Niger on Thursday confirmed the abduction of four women  by gunmen at Haske Dabara community, Agwan Gwari Kwamba  of Suleja Local Government Area of the state.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Monday Kuryas, confirmed the incident in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna.

“Yes it has happened at about 1 a.m. last night and already anti-kidnapping team, the army and vigilante had been deployed to rescue the victims.

“We will do everything humanly possible to apprehend all those miscreants undermining the peaceful coexistence among residents.

“I am appealing to residents, especially rural dwellers, to come forward with credible information on movement of strange faces among them to the nearest security personnel for necessary security action”, he said.

The commissioner solicited more working support by coming forward with intelligence information that could aid the security personnel deployed across the state in the ongoing fight against kidnapping, banditry and other criminal elements in the state.

An eyewitness said the gunmen entered the community at about 12.46 a.m. with gunshots that scared the residents.

(NAN