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.

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.

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.

Ologbotsere of Warri Kingdom, Chief Ayiri Emami, was interrogated in respect of the invasion of the Olu Palace in Warri, Delta State by the Zone ‘5’ Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force.

Newsfocusng gathered that Chief Emami took the police by surprise as he stormed the station three days earlier than expected.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Mr Polycarp Dibia, who led the interrogation, told him so,” a source at ZCID that, “The Ologbotsere arrived here on Friday (yesterday) and we were not expecting him.

“He got here (police headquarters) at about 1100hr today (yesterday) and he was with us for about three hours,” the source added.

Chief Emami was summoned to appear for interrogation in a letter marked CR:3000/ZN.5/X/AV/VOL.83/141 and dated 21st April, 2021.

The letter stated that the invitation was over a case of “burglary, stealing and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace”.

It was, however, gathered that Chief Emami’s decision to honour the invitation earlier was to avoid possible embarrassment and detention on Monday, which coincides with his 46th birthday anniversary.

“We know the plan of those behind the petition. It is simply to embarrass the Ologbotsere and drag his name to the mud. It is also not beyond them to try to ensure that he is detained on his birthday because they want to score a cheap point,” an associate told our reporter.

Details of the meeting between the Itsekiri chief and ZCID officials revealed that the Ologbotsere denied involvement in the invasion of the Olu’s palace.

“He said he knows nothing about the invasion and that he was out of the state when the incident occurred.

“He said, ‘I left the palace and everything there intact with the son of the late Olu of Warri, Prince Oyowoli.’”

Our source further revealed that Emami fingered a very high ranking chief in the kingdom, who he said was ambitious and desirous of being made the Ologbotsere, for the invasion.

The Ologbotsere confirmed his visit to the Police Zonal Headquarters in a telephone chat with our reporter yesterday afternoon.

He said: “Like I said before, no Nigerian is above the law, and we show good leadership by honouring police invitation. I have told them what I know and that is that I have nothing to do with the invasion.

“Nevertheless, I appealed to the police to carry out thorough investigations on the matter to unravel those behind it and to ensure that they are also interrogated and made to face the law if found guilty.”

It will be recalled that the invasion of the Olu’s palace in Warri last month coincided with the removal of two very precious pair of crowns from the palace.

“The whereabouts of the priceless crowns remained unknown nearly one month after.

The incident has thrown the kingdom into confusion as the coronation of the Omoba Tsola Emiko as 21st Olu of Warri draws nearer.

No fewer than seventeen people have been killed by suspected herdsmen in separate attacks on Guma local government area of Benue State.

The attack, Newsfocusng gathered started almost a week ago was said to have been severed between Friday and yesterday leading to the death of 17 persons.

Meanwhile, the former Speaker of Benue State Assembly, Hon. Dave Iorhemba disclosed this to newsmen on Saturday.

Ioremba listed some communities that were attacked in Guma council area to include; Ajimaka, Ayeri and Tse-Gboigyo communities, all in Mbaye/Yandev council ward.

The former speaker specifically mentioned a primary school teacher, Hycint Ajum at Isherev in the local government that was butchered last Wednesday.

The former speaker said, “In the last couple of weeks, there has been series of attacks in some particular areas like Tse – Ukor where scores were killed and at Tse – Gborigyo where seven people were killed and several others injured and taken to the hospital for treatment.

According to him, “What is most disturbing was the recent attack that happened at Tse – Uhembe in which a Fulani herdsman butchered a farmer in several places and the said farmer also countered by cutting him and both of them were brought to a military checkpoint.

“Just on Wednesday I was at Tyoha village to see those killed and injured and one of the victims was a teacher at the NKST Primary School Isherev, Mr. Hycinth Ajun who had his throat and back of his neck slit. I wonder what that kind of heinous crime meant

When asked to be specific of number of casualties recorded between Friday and today (Saturday), the former speaker said “Now the number of persons we have counted between yesterday and today is up to 17 and some are badly injured and are receiving treatment in the hospital.

Ioremba who commended troops of OPWS however called on the military authority to ensure the troops are constantly redeployed.

“They (troops) should be moved because when they continue to stay in one place they become conversant and used to the people and they certainly cannot act in the way and manner they should, so I would suggest that the federal government should redeploy them; take them to other points.

He also commended the State Governor, Samuel Ortom who he said had assisted in the payment of the medical bills of those who were injured.

Efforts to get the reaction of the Benue State Police Command were not successful as the spokesperson, DSP, Catherine Anene did not pick her phone when our correspondent put a call to her cellphone.