Bandits on Sunday night invaded Kofar Kuyambana Low Cost Housing Estate in Zaria and kidnapped two housewives in Kaduna State.
But the police, vigilantes and other security operatives responded swiftly to distress calls, stormed the area, battled the bandits and arrested five of them.
A source told our correspondent on Monday that the incident took place at 9:30pm, noting that some Islamic pupils were hit by bullets and taken to an undisclosed hospital in Zaria for treatment.
The bandits were said to have invaded the estate in large numbers on motorcycles, shooting indiscriminately and targeting the home of a Customs officer.
They succeeded in taking away the Customs officer’s wife, leaving the children who were shouting, behind,” said the source, adding, “the bandits attacked another house where an elderly woman was taken away too.
“The police were able to arrest two of them (bandits) on Sunday while the other three (bandits) were arrested this morning (Monday),” he added.
Although there was no official statement either from the state or the police, the state police public Relations Officer, Mohammed Jalige confirmed the incident.
Kidnappers of students of the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi have started reaching out to their families with a ransom demand of N20M (Twenty Million Naira) per student.
A top official of the university,who spoke on condition of anonymity told Newsfocusng four students were abducted by the gunmen.
“Actually, one of the parents of the kidnapped students has informed the school that the kidnappers have contacted him and that they are demanding N20m as ransom,” the official said.
The official further disclosed that four students, all males, were abducted on Saturday night.
Not less than 33 soldiers including an officer were killed on Sunday by Boko Haram fighters and an air force fighter jet in Mainok, Borno State.
Our correspondent learnt from credible sources hinted that a fighter jet of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) mistakenly targeted ground forces heading to Mainok town, 55 kilometres to Maiduguri to repel invading terrorists loyal to the Islamic State of West Africa Providence (ISWAP).
Sources said while many Boko Haram fighters who disguised as friendly Nigerian soldiers penetrated the military Super Camp in Mainok and inflicted serious damage on troops and equipment, the fighter jet bombed a gun truck conveying some soldiers on a rescue mission. A video of the incident is already trending online.
The attack on Mainok has been described as “the most devastating” in recent weeks considering the damage inflicted.
Meanwhile , the air force said on Monday that it was investigating the story alleging its men killed 20 Nigerian Army personnel by accident in an airstrike at Mainok.
In a statement made available to newsmen by the Director, Army Public Relations, Mohammed Yerima, said an officer and six soldiers lost their lives while many Boko Haram fighters were killed during the raid by the militants.
‘The terrorists were held by the gallant troops of 156 Task Force Battalion until the arrival of reinforcement teams from 7 Division, Special Army Super Camp Ngamdu and Army Super Camp 4, Benesheik.
“During the firefight which lasted several hours, the gallant troops tactically lured a number of the terrorists into a killing zone within their camp where the Air Task Force of Operation Lafiya Dole scrambled Alpha jets and helicopter gunboats which took turns in decimating the already trapped terrorists.
“In the aftermath of the encounter, scores of Boko Haram terrorists were neutralised with their body parts littering the area and a number of their gun trucks destroyed.
“Regrettably, one gallant officer and six soldiers paid the supreme sacrifice while 5 other soldiers sustained various degrees of injuries,” he said.
Speaking on how the carnage was carried out, a credible sources said the Boko Haram fighters invaded Mainok in a convoy of four Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAPs), a scorpion Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and several gun trucks. They reportedly disguised as friendly forces before dislodging troops of 156 Battalion and setting the camp ablaze.
They also moved into the community still dressed in Nigerian military desert camouflage and looted foodstuff and other logistics from shops.
One of our sources said: “The ISWAP fighters divided themselves into three groups. The well-armed fighters attacked the base. They raided and overrun the military base and killed no fewer than 30 soldiers including the Commanding Officer (CO).
“Another group was set for an ambush in case of reinforcement of troops from Damaturu road. This group successfully ambushed some soldiers and killed 3 of them while nine others were injured.
“The last group was stationed along Jakana – Mainok road that leads to Maiduguri. They, too, ambushed some soldiers and seized one MRAP vehicle and killed 3 soldiers.
Another source said the terrorists that stormed the super camp took all the soldiers in the restricted area by surprise because they were well-kitted in military paraphernalia.
“The uniforms the terrorists wore, the vehicles they drove and everything are just the same with those being used by our troops. You will not be wrong if you say they stole them from our troops elsewhere and I think this is why they entered the super camp with ease.
“Once at the premises, they opened fire from all directions and therefore subdued our troops. They stole military hardware and set others on fire.
“The fighter jet came after the boys have left and it only succeeded in dropping it (bomb) on some soldiers. The terrorists left a flyer behind saying Benishek is their next target,” the source said. He added that the Boko Haram fighters also seized some of the military fighting logistics being conveyed to Maiduguri from Lagos. This claim could not be independently verified by our reporters.
A security expert who does not want his name mentioned asked some rhetorical questions: “What happened to the hundreds of troops on the highways from Jimtilo, Auno, Jakana and Mainok up till Benishek? How can they allow a super camp to be sacked? What is the cock fly distance between the air force base in Maiduguri and Mainok? It was not dark; the attack was launched in daylight. How come we still have friendly causality from the air force? If a super camp could be overrun so easily, then what is the need for it?
Responding, a Public Affairs Analyst, Abubakar Mohammed Kareto, lamented that the attack on Geidam in Yobe State and Mainok in Borno typified the level of setbacks suffered by the military and civilian population in recent times.
“It is a deadly battle of supremacy with the nation’s military the impact of which will remain huge and unbearable to the people.
“Mainok is a town along Maiduguri-Damaturu Road, the road linking Maiduguri to Kano. Anytime there is an attack on the road, hopes for peace in Maiduguri further dampens.
“The fear is that once the Maiduguri road falls into the hands of the terrorists, the insurgents would have effectively won the war because the Borno State capital would have been practically cut off from all access by land. There is need more action from all and sundry to ensure that insurgents are denied of freedom movements,” Kareto said.
Security sources told one of our correspondents that the Boko Haram terrorists had also attacked Gwoza and Gamboru Ngala all in Borno State on Monday night.
“They attacked Gwoza at about the time the people were about breaking their fast but Nigerian troops repelled them. The terrorists also suffered casualty at a village near Gamboru because three of them were killed and three gun trucks recovered,” the source said.
Chieftain of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) ,Prince Kassim Afegbua has dragged before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) the Uche Secondus-led National Working Committee (NWC).
Afegbua, who stormed the EFCC and ICPC offices on Monday at about 10.30 am handed over his petition and asking the EFCC to look into the financial transactions of the National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, in the spirit of transparency, accountability and book-keeping in line with the exisiting anti-corruption laws.
He hinted that much of the financial transactions of the PDP under Prince Uche Secondus has been shrouded in mystery, accusing the leadership of deliberate attempt to shortchange the party in the build up to the 2023 general elections.
In the petition, Afegbua is asking the anti-graft agencies to look into and scrutinise close to N10 billion that allegedly accrued to the party’s purse from 2017 till date especially those that were as a result of sales of nomination forms for Presidential, Gubernatorial, House of Assembly and Senatorial elections, saying as an opposition party, the leadership should lead by example by ensuring that there is transparency and accountability.
He specifically accused the National Chairman, Uche Secondus of not living up to the expectations of strengthening the party to play its formidable role as a virile opposition party, adding that, avoiding the use of the party’s bank accounts and resorting to the use of one MORUFU NIGERIA LIMITED allegedly as a conduit pipe for financial mismanagement in the sales of forms in 2019 was an abberation.
He, therefore, called on the EFCC and ICPC Chairmen to urgently ensure that due diligence is carried out to safeguard Nigeria democracy and guarantee the interest of the party’s overwhelming members.
He added that in the event the anti-graft agency delays in carrying out its investigation, he would have no option but to seek a legal redress in the law court.
Some students of the Federal University of Agriculture in Makurdi (FUAM) in Benue State have been abducted by unknown gunmen.
The school authorities confirmed the incident, saying an unspecified number of students were taken away at gunpoint on Sunday night.
The Director of Information, Protocol and Public Relations Unit (IPPR), Mrs Rosemary Waku, made this known on Monday.
According to her; “Gunmen have abducted some students of Federal University of Agriculture in Makurdi (FUAM) in Benue State.
The school authority on Monday confirmed that unspecified number of students of the institution were on Sunday taken away at gun point” Director of Information, Protocol and Public Relations Unit (IPPR), Mrs Rosemary Waku, made the disclosure in a statement made available to our correspondent in Makurdi.
“An unconfirmed number of students of FUAM were abducted at gunpoint by unknown persons from the Campus on Sunday 25th April, 2021.
“The University has reported the incident to the police and all relevant security agencies. The University has not heard anything from the students or their captors since the unfortunate incidence took place.”
The development comes less than a week after students of Greenfield University, Kaduna, were also abducted on campus. Less than 72 hours after when three of the students were found dead.
Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMIA) Command have arrested and paraded numerous suspects for drug trafficking at the airport.
Some of the suspects were arrested during the inward and outward screening of passengers by the agency with banned substances like cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and Khat leaves.
However, three of the suspects; Chukwudi Destiny, Okonkwo Chimezie Henry and Ezekiel Chibuzor were arrested for drug injection, while others used several ingenious ways to peddle the illicit drugs, but were caught in the act by the officials of the anti-narcotics agency.
Briefing newsmen on some of the arrests, Mr. Ahmadu Garba, Commander, NDLEA, MMIA, stated that Destiny was arrested on April 10, 2021 during the outward screening of passengers on Ethiopian Airline to Italy.
According to him, the suspect was referred for scanning, which result was positive was subsequently put under observation.
He stated that the suspect excreted 92 pellets of heroin weighing 1.300kg.
He explained that two weeks earlier, Henry excreted 113 wraps of Cocaine, which weighed 1.750 kilograms bound for Spain.
Chibuzor on the other hand was arrested on April 16, 2021 on arrival from Brazil aboard Qatar Airways, stressing that after close observation, the suspect excreted 100 wraps of cocaine weighing 2.05kg.
Our correspondent gathered from the peddlers in an interviews with them, they said that economic hardship in Europe where they lived and at home pushed them into the crime, lamenting that the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded their economic woes, as they all lost their means of livelihoods.
Destiny confessed to the crime, claimed that his sponsors promised him 1,000 euros to ingest the drugs, but could not give the identity of the sponsors, while Henry also regretted his involvement in the illicit act.
“I was looking for a way out of my situation and I found myself in this mess,” Destiny said.
On his part, Chibuzor said he was also deceived into injecting the drugs, adding that he thought the items were pharmaceutical products, which would not harm him.
Like Destiny, he confessed that he was promised the sum of 3,000 euros by his sponsors.
In the same vein, NDLEA operatives on April 12 during the inbound examination of consignments on Ethiopian Airline cargo flight from South Africa made a seizure of 11.550kg of heroin cleverly packed and hidden in core flakes cartons.
Garba said four clearing agents connected to the cargo were debriefed after which a sting operation was executed that led to the arrest of two people.
A Congolese by name Kayembe Kamba Mazepy was arrested and one Ekebuilo Samson Chukwunonso who was to receive the parcel from the Congolese was arrested.
Besides, on Friday, April 15, 2021, NDLEA operatives at SAHCO shed intercepted a cargo from South Africa via Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airline, which contained heroin and methamphetamine.
A total of 24.05 kg of heroin and 1.25kg of methamphetamine was recovered, bringing the gross weight of the illicit substance to 25.3kg.
The commander said the heroin seizure was the highest to be intercepted in one shipment in the past 15 years, adding that four people have been arrested in connection with it.
In an effort to restore peaceful coexistence in his state , the Yobe state Governor and Chairman APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, met with the Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Leo Irabo to discussed the Boko Haram attack on Geidam.
Buni had since Friday been liaising with the security authorities to find a lasting solution to the incessant attacks on Geidam and the border communities.
He said there is the urgent need to find a permanent solution to the intrusion of the insurgents into the state.
According to him; “The problem we have is the movement of the insurgents from the fringes of Lake Chad into the state.
” We need to check this holistically to profer permanent solution to the menace” he said.
He , however, lamented that the people of Geidam had been subjected to several attacks and untold hardships that must be checked.
“As a leader, l have to explore all avenues including meeting the Chief of Defence Staff and the service chiefs to ensure the safety and security of the people of Geidam and the state at large” Governor Buni said.
The governor of Kano state , Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje on Sunday set alight 402 tonnes of illicit item confiscated by Kano Consumers Protection Council.
The items destroyed are substandard, fake, adulterated, expired, and unwholesome products that include drugs , food, cosmetics cigarettes animal feeds and grains .
Presenting the multi billion naira illicit products to the governor, Bappa Baba Dan’Agundi, Acting Managing Director (MD) Kano state Consumer Protection Council, explained that the symbolic occasion was a three months of dedication to duty.
Dan’Agundi stated that 1/3 of the total products that were marked for destruction on Sunday were still fallow at the warehouse due to restrictions of space at NDLEA arena .
He said the Council was well equipped by the state government to do carried out its statutory mandate, adding that the Council therefore had no excuse to fail.
The Acting MD said the job of the Council was further made easier by the synergies that existed between sister security agencies, adding that their support over the last three months had been a quick fix.
Bappaa disclosed that in line with the partnership that exist between the Council and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), a senior staff was recently transferred to the council to work closely with it.
The Joint Admissions and Matricualtions Board (UTME) has announced the rescheduling of its 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) mock examination earlier scheduled for Saturday, 30th April 2021 to Thursday, 20th May 2021.
The Head, Public Affairs and Protocol, Fabian Benjamin, in a statement on Sunday explained that the change was due to an ongoing fine-tuning in the Board’s operational processes.
The statement read in bits: “The 2021 Mock Examination earlier scheduled to hold on Saturday, 30th April, 2021, has now been rescheduled to hold on Thursday, 20th May 2021.
“This change of date is owing to some ongoing adjustments in the Board’s operational processes. The change, however, would not affect other schedules including the date for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination fixed for 5th to 19th June 2021.
Candidates who have registered and have chosen to sit the Mock and other critical stakeholders are to note this change of date. The notice added: “Similarly, it is necessary to inform all stakeholders that the 2021 UTME/DE Registration exercise is ongoing and it is to end on 15th May 2021.
The Board has, however, noted with concern that some candidates, in trying to generate their profiles, are sending their details wrongly to 55019.
“The right process is to send the word “NIN” allow one space in between, then insert the eleven digits NIN number to 55019 e.g. ‘NIN 00000000000’.
It added: “Any other process is wrong and would not generate the profile code for the candidate. It is also necessary for the candidate to know that only the SIM that is linked to his/her NIN can be used to send the NIN to 55019.”
No fewer than 20 women were on adopted by bandits at Gidan Bido village of Dandume local government area of Katsina State during a naming ceremony over the weekend.
In the same vein, bandits had stormed Unguwar Bawa village in the same Dandume local government area and kidnapped 5 men in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Newsfocusng gathered that the bandits stormed the venue of the naming ceremony around 1 pm and kidnapped the 20 women.
Narrating the incident , a source remarked that the bandits came to the venue holding sophisticated weapons and asked the women to queue up and whisked them on motorcycles.
Similarly, a resident of Unguwar Bawa, Rabiu Bawa remarked that bandits have in the wee hours of Saturday morning stormed Unguwar Bawa the home town of Haruna Goma, representing Dandume constituency in the state House of Assembly, and kidnapped 5 men.
He said the people of Dandume are living in fear as a result of incessant attacks by the bandits.
“Almost all the surrounding communities have one story to tell about the activities of these hoodlums,” he disclosed.
He said, the villages are surrounded by thick forests and some of these villages shared a border with Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State.
As at the time of filing the report, the Police image-maker, Isa Gambo could not confirm the incident.
