News Highlights for November

Nigerian Federal Government Has Identified Financiers of Boko Haram
By Aina Ojonugwa
The Federal Government has identified 100 high-risk financiers of the Boko Haram terrorist group. Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, who made this known, said the financiers have links to at least 10 countries. Aregbesola spoke at the weekend in India, during the 3rd Ministerial Conference on Counter-Terrorism Financing, with the theme, “No Money for Terror.” The Minister, in a statement issued by his Aide, Abdulmalik Suleiman, said: “The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, has played a significant role in supporting all our intelligence, security, and military services. ”The unique ability of the NFIU to work with counterparts in the region and across the world, particularly through the framework of the Egmont Group of FIUs, is a key asset for our country. ”In particular, I would like to take a few minutes to discuss some recent results achieved with the support of our partners. In 2019, the NFIU commenced an in-depth analysis of the financing of the Boko Haram group. ”This analysis, which took almost 18 months to complete, resulted in the identification of almost 100 high-risk financiers and identified links to 10 different countries. “The NFIU was able to build a thorough picture of the transnational sources of the group’s finance, using intelligence from several countries, including our immediate neighbors, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Togo………… READ MORE


Sultan asks Miyetti Allah to Help Fed Govt Tackle Insecurity
By The Nation
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, III has urged the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) to help the Federal Government tackle insecurity in the country. Speaking during the inauguration of the new MACBAN leadership in Abuja, Abubakar, who is also the President General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), noted that some of the Fulani cattle breeders are peaceful people. He wondered why some of their children suddenly embraced banditry and kidnapping, a situation he urged the new MACBAN executives to address urgently. While stating that the threat to divide the country is because of certain things Nigerians are not doing right, the NSCIA boss advised the association to look critically into the matter. “If we had known the history of the Fulani movement in various parts of the world, definitely, we would not have gotten to the situation we are in now. “Everybody knows that Fulani moves from point A to B. They move everywhere and they inter-marry. And we are peace-loving. “But how did we come to the situation we are in now? We find our children, who are Fulani, but not all of the Fulani have been involved in banditry and kidnapping………. READ MORE 


INEC Office Set Ablaze, PVCs, Ballot Boxes Destroyed in Ebonyi
By NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA
“Sadly, this is the third attack on our LGA office in less than three weeks following similar attacks on our offices in Ogun and Osun on November 10,” Mr Okoye said. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says ballot boxes, voting cubicles, and generators, were destroyed after an attack on its Izzi local government area office in Ebonyi.Festus Okoye, INEC’s national commissioner and chairman of the information and voter education committee, disclosed this in a statement. Mr. Okoye said the resident electoral commissioner in Ebonyi, Onyeka Pauline Ugochi, reported that the office was set ablaze on Sunday morning by unidentified persons. The INEC official added that the incident occurred around 10:00 a.m. “Although no casualties resulted from the attack, the main building and all the movable and immovable items inside it were destroyed. These include 340 ballot boxes, 130 voting cubicles, 14 electric power generators, large water storage tanks, assorted office furniture and fixtures, and yet-to-be-determined quantities of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs),” stated Mr. Okoye. The INEC national commissioner further mentioned that the attack had been reported to the police and other security agencies………….READ MORE

Secret Police, DSS Arrests Nigerian Student For Tweeting That Aisha Buhari Doubled In Size After ‘Eating’ Nigeria’s Money
By SaharaReporters
The student, Aminu Adamu Muhammed, had in June 2022 posted on Twitter that Mrs Buhari had suddenly added massive weight after taking part in plundering the nation’s meager resources as the masses endured hardship under her husband’s brutal regime. The Department of State Services (DSS), otherwise called the State Security Services, has locked up a student of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State, over a social media post deemed defamatory against Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari. According to Peoples Gazette, the student, Aminu Adamu Muhammed, had in June 2022 posted on Twitter that Mrs. Buhari had suddenly added massive weight after taking part in plundering the nation’s meager resources as the masses endured hardship under her husband’s brutal regime. In the June 8, 2022, tweet, Muhammed chastised the First Lady in Hausa: “Su mama anchi kudin talkawa ankoshi”, which could be translated as “the mother has got fatter by eating masses’ money.” Muhammed’s friends said he made the post because he was frustrated about the prolonged strike by universities across the country. The strike, which started in February 2022, ended in October after eight months of idleness. A family source said Muhammed, 23, was picked up by officers on November 8 on the campus ground of Federal University Dutse, Jigawa. The student was reportedly subjected to severe beating by the officers following his arrest at about 12:00 noon…………….READ MORE

Gunmen Abduct More than 100 in Nigeria’s Zamfara State
By Reuters and CNN
More than 100 people, including women and children, were abducted when gunmen raided four villages in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara state on Sunday, the information commissioner and residents said on Monday. Kidnapping has become endemic in northwest Nigeria as roving gangs of armed men abduct people from villages, highways, and farms, and demand ransom money from their relatives. More than 40 people were abducted from Kanwa village in Zurmi local government area of Zamfara, Zamfara information commissioner Ibrahim Dosara and one local resident said. Another 37, mostly women and children were taken in the Kwabre community in the same local government area, the resident added, declining to be named for security reasons. US orders families of embassy employees to depart Nigeria due to heightened risk of terrorism. “Right now Kanwa village is deserted, the bandits divided themselves into two groups and attacked the community. They kidnapped children aged between 14 to 16 years and women,” the Kanwa village resident said………. READ MORE 

Suspected Jihadists Kill 9 Soldiers, 2 Policemen, and Civilians in Nigeria Army Base Attack
By AFP News
Jihadists have attacked an army base and a town in northeast Nigeria killing nine soldiers, two policemen and civilians, security sources and residents said Sunday in the latest violence in the region. Fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) riding trucks fitted with machineguns stormed the town of Malam Fatori, in Abadam district, late Friday and early Saturday, they said. “ISWAP terrorists attacked Malam Fatori and caused huge destruction which we are working to quantify,” a military officer told AFP.  In a predawn attack on the base and the town on Saturday, the jihadists hurled explosives and killed residents, while others drowned in a river trying to flee. Two security sources said on Sunday nine soldiers and two policemen were killed in the base attack. “The number of casualties sustained in the base is 11, including nine soldiers and two mobile policemen working alongside troops,” a military officer said………… READ MORE 


TikTokers Caned and Ordered to @ash Toilets as Court Rules they Defamed Nigerian Governor
By Nimi Princewill
Two TikTok comedians have been publicly whipped in Nigeria for making a video that a court in the northern Kano State ruled had defamed the state Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, according to a judicial spokesperson. Mubarak Isah Muhammad, 26, and Nazifi Muhammad Bala, 23, each received 20 lashes for making defamatory statements about the governor, a spokesperson for Kano State Judiciary, Baba Jibo Ibrahim, told CNN on Wednesday. The two friends, according to Ibrahim, were sentenced on Monday after being brought before a magistrate’s court on Friday. They were remanded in custody over the weekend, the judiciary spokesman said. “They admitted the charges. They didn’t even ask or beg for a lawyer to stand for them,” Ibrahim told CNN. “They were arraigned before the Kano State Magistrate Court for defaming the character of Governor Umar Ganduje on their TikTok social media account. When the charges were read to them, they pleaded guilty to the two counts of … defamation of character and inciting public disturbance,” Ibrahim said.“It is also doubtful whether they were given a fair trial. I believe that the two men should take steps to challenge the decision at the higher court.”  Effiong added that it was the right of citizens to criticize their leaders. “Citizens have the right under the constitution to freedom of expression, and that right should be respected, particularly as it relates to public office holders. The rights of citizens to criticize them is preserved under the constitution,” he said………..READ MORE

133 Million Nigerians Are Multidimensionally Poor
By Kehinde Ogunyale
The National Bureau of Statistics has revealed that 63 percent of persons living in Nigeria are multidimensionally poor. This is about 133 people of the over 200 million people living in the country. NBS highlighted this in its 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Survey. According to the report, over half of the population of Nigeria is multi-dimensionally poor, with multidimensional poverty higher in rural areas, where 72% of people are poor, compared to 42% of people in urban areas.  According to the report, Two-thirds (67.5%) of children (0–17) are multidimensionally poor, based on the national MPI, and a little over half (51%) of all poor people are children. A highlight of the report: The report also revealed that the national MPI is 0.257, which means poor people in Nigeria experience just over one-quarter of all possible deprivations…………..READ MORE

Is INEC Investigating Tinubu Over US Court Document on Drug Trafficking Allegations? 
By PRNigeria 
A press release purportedly issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is widely circulated on Social Media, especially on WhatsApp and Facebook claiming that the Electoral body will investigate court documents which allegedly indicted the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu over drug dealings in the United State (US), to establish if the offence contradicts the INEC electoral act 2022.  Following a recent controversy over a 53-page certified document released by a US court which indicated that presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu entered a plea bargain in which he voluntarily agreed to forfeit his assets to American authorities in 1993 instead of going to trial, a press release allegedly issued by INEC vowed to investigate the facts of the matter. In the release titled, “Certified True Copy of Order of Criminal Forfeiture Against APC Presidential Candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the United State,” which was purportedly signed by INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye Esq.,  said INEC’s attention had been drawn to news making the rounds on the matter.  While stating that it is currently liaising with the United States District Court of the Northern District of Illinois to establish the facts about the case before taking a decision, the purported statement from the INEC further stated that: “we are also studying the judgment to determine whether offences which contradict the INEC guidelines and Electoral Act 2022 has been committed.”  ………. READ MORE 


Political Violence in Nigeria Destroys Biometric Voter IDs; Government Rushing Replacements
By Jim Nash
Almost 70,000 permanent voter ID cards were destroyed this week when a government office in Nigeria was set ablaze. In what almost certainly was an act of political violence intended to suppress turnout in the upcoming national elections, a small Ogun state government office holding a number of balloting-related supplies was largely demolished in the fire, according to the Nigerian Tribune. There are reports of a similar attack in an Osun state government office. It is not immediately known if the Osun building also held voter ID cards or other biometric voting supplies. In Ogun, 65,699 voter IDs were burned, reportedly when multiple suspects threw gasoline-soaked loaves of bread onto the building’s roof. The government has said the cards, which are picked up by would-be voters before they cast their vote, will be replaced in time for the general election early next year. Nigeria’s Permanent Voters Card (PVC) stores biometric data on a chip for voter verification. The Independent National Electoral Commission is being taken to court to allow biometric voter verification at the polls for those who have registered but not yet received their cards. The question takes on new import with the latest developments ………. READ MORE 


NAF Aerial Patrol Neutralizes Many Bandits, Some Hostages Escape in Kaduna
By Mohammed Tijjani
The Kaduna State Government said on Monday that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aerial patrols have targetted bandits’ locations and several bandits were neutralized, camps were destroyed and some of their hostages escaped. The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the development in a statement issued in Kaduna. Aruwan said personnel of the Nigerian Air Force has conducted aerial patrols over identified bandit enclaves across flash points in the state. According to him, details of these missions were made known via operational feedback to the Kaduna State Government. He disclosed that in Kawara area of Igabi Local Government Area (LGA), a strike was carried out on an identified bandit location. “Three bandits were confirmed neutralized by the strike, and some kidnapped victims were thus able to escape from the general area, as was later confirmed by credible human intelligence sources on the ground………. READ MORE 

Police Arrest 3 for Alleged Kidnapping, Possession of Firearms in Niger
By Aminu Garko
The police command in Niger says it has arrested three suspects for allegedly kidnapping, possession of a firearm, and false impersonation in a different part of the state. Wasiu Abiodun, the spokesman of the command, said this in a statement in Minna on Mondday. Abiodun said that on Nov. 1, based on a tip-off, police operatives attached to Bangi Division raided a shop of one Chinedu Makata of Enugu State who resides in Bangi, Mariga Local Government Area of Niger. During the raid, 47 wraps of suspected cannabis sativa and some other suspected hard drugs were recovered from the shop. In the process of effecting the arrest of the said shop owner, he pulled out a locally made gun and threatened to shoot the police operatives. However, he was later disarmed and arrested by the police team. He said that the suspect had been arraigned in court for prosecution…………..READ MORE