Years Of Leadership Failure Responsible For Insecurity – Obi

Vice presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, Peter Obi, has lamented the current nationwide insecurity, warning that unless drastic action is taken to contain it, the situation would degenerate into anarchy.

The former Anambra State governor blamed what he described as cumulative years of leadership failure for the security situation in the country.

Obi, in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday in Awka, identified the total absence of merit as the major problem affecting Nigeria |||READ MORE

Boko Haram Two Hours Drive From Abuja, Hoists Flag In Niger

NIGER State governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, confirmed on Monday that Boko Haram insurgents have hoisted their flag in Kaure village, in Erena township axis of Shiroro Local Government Area of the state, two hours drive from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

The governor also said that the Boko Haram fighters forcefully snatched wives of some of the villagers and married them. There had been attacks on Niger communities of recent, which were attributed to bandits.

Governor Sani Bello made the revelation in Minna, when he paid an on-thespot assessment visit to the internally displaced persons (IDP) camp at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) Primary School, near the palace of the Emir of Minna, Alhaji Umar Bahago, in Chanchaga Local Government Area of the state |||READ MORE

Don’t trust UK’s asylum offer, Don cautions IPOB, Biafra agitators

Professor of Political Science, Abia State University, Professor Hatz Ofoeze, has cautioned members of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, and other Biafra agitators not to be carried away by the promise by the United Kingdom to grant asylum to ‘persecuted’ members of the movement.

Ofoeze in an interview with our Correspondent said ” Britain can never be trusted”, hence, he holds the promise with a pinch of salt.

He said that Britain was the cause of Nigeria’s woes, and doubted the sincerity of the promise |||READ MORE

Ndume: It Started Like A Joke… Nigeria On The Brink Of Collapse

Senator Ali Ndume (APC-Borno South) has expressed worry over the increase in criminal activities, adding that security and welfare are threatened in Nigeria.

Speaking at a press briefing on Saturday, Ndume said Nigerians and government are still not taking the security situation seriously.

He called on citizens and government to match faith with action on ensuring an urgent improvement in the security situation |||READ MORE

FG Not Ready To Protect Nigerians- Gani Adams

 

Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams has said the federal government and security agents are not ready to protect Nigerians.

Speaking in an interview with The Sun, he also accused the Muhammadu Buhari administration of playing the ethnic card on issues of security.

While describing the current state of security in the country as unfortunate, Adams said the poor handling of criminal activities may lead to war READ MORE

Kaduna Abduction: Shehu Sani, Aisha Yesufu React To Bandits Flogging Of Students

Human rights activist, Aisha Yesufu, and the former lawmaker representing Kaduna Central senatorial district, Shehu Sani, have reacted to the video released by bandits showing them flogging the missing 39 students abducted from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Afaka, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The bandits on Saturday released a video requesting for the sum of N500m as ransom to release the students.

Parents of the students have also confirmed that the abductors have reached out and are demanding the sum of N500 million |||READ MORE

Benue Will Not Negotiate, Grant Amnesty To Criminals Again – Ortom Vows At Suswam’s Funeral

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has promised that his administration will no longer negotiate or grant amnesty to criminals again.

Naija News recall that Terkura, the elder brother to Gabriel Suswam, former Benue governor, was killed alongside his aide on March 2.

They were both attacked at Terkura’s hometown in Anyiin LGA of the state.

Speaking at his funeral on Saturday, Ortom said the state will no longer offer amnesty to criminals, except they repent and beg for forgiveness |||READ MORE

Pope Francis urges Iraq’s Muslims, Christians to unite for peace

  

Pope Francis has urged Iraq’s Muslim and Christian religious leaders to put aside animosities and work together for peace and unity during an interfaith meeting in the traditional birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, father of their faiths.

“This is true religiosity: to worship God and to love our neighbour,” the pontiff told the gathering on Saturday.

Francis travelled to the ruins of Ur in southern Iraq to reinforce his message of inter-religious tolerance and fraternity during the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, a country riven by religious and ethnic divisions |||READ MORE

 

Insecurity: I Will Not Negotiate With Criminals – Governor Bello

 

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello has said his administration will not negotiate with criminals.

He stated this on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

“Anybody that is carrying rifles or arms against the state, they are criminals. I will not subscribe to negotiating with criminals,” he said.

“The issue of kinetic or non-kinetic, when criminals hold guns against the state, let us get them out. When people are ready, we should be able to provide succour for lawful Nigerians to have lawful employment |||READ MORE

You have few weeks to perform, Buhari tells new service chiefs

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Friday, told the nation’s new service chiefs that they only a few weeks to secure the country.

Buhari said he expected that before the rainy season, they would have secured the country to the level that farmers who had fled their farms in different parts of Nigeria would have developed enough confidence to return to their farms.

He gave the charge shortly after decorating the new service chiefs with their new ranks at the Presidential Villa, Abuja |||READ MORE

 

President Buhari says Donald Trump accused him of killing Christians

United States President Donald Trump once asked President Muhammadu Buhari why he was killing Christians, the Nigerian leader said in an off-the-cuff remark during a ministerial retreat at the State House, Abuja on September 8, 2020.

Buhari recalls being taken aback by the question, Punch reports.

Buhari said Trump posed the question in the heat of the farmers-herders clashes in the country’s north central region and the reprisal attacks involving Muslim and Christian communities in the north |||READ MORE

Police shoot 13-year-old boy with autism several times after mother calls for help

A 13-year-old boy with autism was shot several times by police officers who responded to his home in Salt Lake City after his mother called for help.

Linden Cameron was recovering in a Utah hospital, his mother said, after suffering injuries to his shoulder, both ankles, his intestines and his bladder.

Golda Barton told KUTV she called 911 to request a crisis intervention team because her son, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was having an episode caused by “bad separation anxiety” as his mother went to work for the first time in more than a year |||READ MORE

 

You could end up in jail, US warns its citizens in China

The US has warned its citizens in China to “exercise increased caution” because of a heightened risk of arbitrary detention and exit bans that prevent foreign citizens leaving the country.

Citizens could face prolonged spells in jail, without US consular support, or access to details of any alleged crime, the state department said. The warning, sent in an email to US citizens in China, comes after Beijing passed a national security law for Hong Kong, with the legislation drafted to cover people “from outside [Hong Kong]”, including non-residents.

Lawyers and activists have warned China could use this assertion of extra-territorial jurisdiction – the legislation could theoretically be used to bring charges against any person from any country – to mute critics around the world. The state department did not specify what prompted the alert, but it did warn that criticism of the Chinese government, even in private communications, could be used against foreign citizens |||READ MORE

Trump pushed Abe to mediate in Iran, knowing it would fail, Bolton claims in memoir

US President Donald Trump last year urged Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to act as a mediator between the United States and Iran amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran, even though he did not expect the Japanese leader to succeed in the mission, former US national security adviser John Bolton said in his memoir published on Tuesday.

It later emerged, Bolton said, that Trump was using his relationship with Abe to press for a boost in farm exports to Japan.

In the hope of brokering dialogue between the two foes, Abe made the trip to Iran in June 2019, becoming the first sitting Japanese prime minister to do so since 1978. But the mission ended in failure and he was embarrassed after two tankers, one operated by a Japanese company, were attacked near the Strait of Hormuz during his stay |||READ MORE

392 killed as Military launches operation against fleeing bandits

No fewer than 392 bandits have been killed as the Nigerian Military launches ‘Operation Accord’ against bandits fleeing the North West and North Central parts of the country.

Coordinator Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, told journalists in Abuja, that Operation Accord “was preemptively planned by the High Command of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to handle this situation”.

According to him, “following closely, in the North West and North Central parts of the Country, the gallant troops through land and air offensives successfully neutralized 392 bandits since the commencement of Operation KATSINA, which seriously degraded the bandits and other criminal elements in the two zones. Consequently, those bandits that escaped resorted to reprisal attacks on civilian targets |||READ MORE

Tension builds up over influx of northern youths into S-East

ENUGU- THE sudden influx of able bodied youths from different state in the Northern of the country to the states in the South East and South South is raising concern among the people of the zones.

Their movements became more worrisome as they are invading the states at a time the Federal and the various state governments have restricted movement and curfew even imposed. It is very curious why this sudden influx. Initially, it was being reported that Almajiris displaced from the Northern states were making their way to the South East. But a closer look at these people showed that that they were no almajiris but youths ranging from 15 to 30 years and above which belied the earlier speculation.

Incidentally, these youth are secretly entering the states as they hide under tucks conveying cattle and food stuff and some of them usually entered in the dead of the night. The question remains what their mission is, more so in a period interstate movements are banned and all the states in the country have closed their interstate boundaries because of the fight to flatten the curve of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic |||READ MORE

 

Sweep bandits, kidnappers away from Katsina now – Buhari orders soldiers

Following the killings of innocent Nigerians in Katsina, President Muhammadu Buhari, Sunday ordered total crackdown on bandits and kidnappers perpetuating the heinous crimes in the state.

Buhari who in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, asked security operatives to sweep away kidnappers and bandits in Katsina.

The statement reads: “A major proactive operation by Special Forces, which details are being kept secret, is now in progress to replace the reactive strikes against insurgent camps |||READ MORE

 

Time to end SARS’ menace

Sir: There has been a nationwide campaign especially on social media for the proscription of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) because of their excesses as a result of which many innocent Nigerians have been killed.

Their most recent victim is the late Kazeem Tiamiyu, a footballer with a club in Sagamu known as Remo Stars. According to his friend who was himself nearly murdered – the footballer had parked his car and left him there to get something from across the road when SARS officials accosted him and later bundled his into their waiting van after he was thoroughly searched ostensibly on suspicion of being a cyber-criminal. The friend said the late footballer was pushed out of the van and then got crushed to death by an incoming vehicle. The account given by SARS was that he tried to escape and jumped out of the van and met his death when an incoming car ran over him.

Bill Gates, it was, who was said to have said that Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places to give birth to a child. How true; if diseases don’t kill you, a trigger happy SARS official may most probably finish you before your time |||READ MORE …

South-South Governors To Establish Regional Security Network

Governors of the south-south region have agreed to adopt a security outfit to address the security challenges in the region.

Chairman of the South-South Governors Forum Governor Ifeanyi Okowa disclosed this on Thursday to journalists after a closed-door meeting that lasted nearly three hours.

“We have agreed as a region that there is a need to have a regional security outfit and we have mandated the brace commission to begin to work out the details and brief us at our next meeting which is going to hold in Port Harcourt,” he said.

Highlighting some of the resolutions reached at the meeting, Okowa said on the top of the agenda was the resuscitation of the brace commission which according to him, would help to harmonise policies that would drive the economic cooperation and integration of the region |||READ MORE …

Lagos Assembly passes Amotekun law

 Lagos State House of Assembly at plenary on Tuesday passed the bill to create Amotekun Corps as a special unit of the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Corps.

It passed the bill after taking the third reading of the amendment to the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Corps Agency Law 2019 |||READ MORE …