MARCH 29th
Alaafin Laments Release of Arrested Fulani Kidnappers by Police
The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, has lamented the way the police treat some cases involving some suspected criminals who are Fulani. The monarch said some Fulani persons who were arrested for kidnapping and handed over to the police were released in controversial circumstances. Alaafin said this in Oyo on Monday when the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abduraheed Akanbi, visited him in his palace. Oba Adeyemi said, “Nigeria is under a weak system. The system is no more working. Nigeria’s system of government is failing most especially on security. Security should not be under an exclusive legislative list. “I’ve attended several fora where security issues were discussed and (where I) challenged our state governors. Security-wise, they are toothless. If the Inspector-General of Police orders for the release of a suspect, no state governor can reverse such order….READ MORE
Eleven People Rescued from Boko Haram Captivity
The Nigerian Tribune reported that the Nigerian army killed at least 48 Boko Haram Terrorists and saved eleven of their captives during a military operation in Borno State, Northeastern Nigeria. The Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General Mohammed Yerima, issued a statement on Saturday detailing the events: “The gallant troops laid an ambush, engaged and overwhelmed the criminals with aggressive firepower, neutralizing 9 terrorists in the process while several others escaped with fatal gunshot wounds. The troops also recovered 7 AK 47 Rifles and freed 3 kidnapped victims,” he said, “Similarly, in another encounter, troops of 28 Task Force Brigade located in Askira equally laid a successful ambush along Askira – Chibok Main Supply Route (MSR) and neutralized 39 terrorists.” An additional eight kidnap victims were said to be rescued in this encounter.…READ MORE
Boko Haram Militants Attack Village In Cameroon, 4 Killed Reported
Local security sources said on Sunday that three civilians and one soldier were confirmed killed after terror group targeted their village in Cameron’s Far North region with an assault over Saturday night. Various sources revealed that the heavily fortified insurgents came aboard many vehicles and motorcycles and set blaze to shops, hangars, and started firing extensively during the attack in Dabanga village of the region. Local officers stated that more than three civilians and one soldier were killed during the attack. Three Boko Haram insurgents were also killed in the army’s response.…READ MORE
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MARCH 22nd
Breaking: Three suspected Fulani herders attack Sunday Igboho mother’s residence
Three Fulani herders have allegedly attacked the residence of the mother of Chief Sunday Adeyemo aka Igboho this evening. Two of the alleged intruders escaped while one was arrested and he is being interrogated by the police. According to the spokesperson for Sunday Igboho, Mr Olayomi Koiki, one of the herders’ said they got information that Sunday Igboho would be visiting his mother at Igboho, that’s why they came. Koiki further stated in a viral video that the alleged attacker has been taken to Igboho Police Station for further interrogation. He said, “This evening around 7:54 pm, three Fulani men attacked the house of our mother, that is the mother of Chief Sunday Adeyemo aka Igboho. Two of the attackers were able to escape but we were able to pick one of them”….READ MORE
We’ll Kill Ortom, Opponents Of Nomadic Cattle Grazing In Nigeria: Fulani Nationality Movement
The Fulani Nationality Movement (FUNAM) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom. A statement titled, ‘Why we attacked Ortom,’ issued by Umar Amir Shehu, published by Ripples, confirmed that FUNAM attacked the governor on behalf of millions of Fulanis. It is not clear whether the ‘special detectives’ deployed in Benue by Abuja are investigating the group, or the State Security Service has FUNAM on its watchlist. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has accused Mr Buhari of failing to rein in killer herdsmen on the rampage across the country. ”….READ MORE
ON RELIGION: Cries For Help Continue From Christians In Nigeria
Another day, with yet another funeral. Catholics in Nigeria have buried many priests and believers killed in their country’s brutal wars over land, cattle, honor and religion. But this was the first time Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese had preached at the funeral of a seminarian. A suspect in the crime said 18-year-old Michael Nnadi died urging his attackers to repent and forsake their evil ways. “We are being told that this situation has nothing to do with religion,” said Kukah, in remarks distributed across Nigeria in 2020. “Really? … Are we to believe that simply because Boko Haram kills Muslims, too, they wear no religious garb? Are we to deny the evidence before us, of kidnappers separating Muslims from infidels or compelling Christians to convert or die?” The bishop was referring to fierce debates — in Nigeria and worldwide — about attacks by Muslim Fulani herders on Christian and Muslim farmers in northern and central Nigeria. The question is whether these gangs have been cooperating with Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.…READ MORE
Boko Haram Kills Nigerian Soldier Abducted During Raid Of Military Base In Borno
Militants from the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have reportedly killed a Nigerian soldier captured during Tuesday’s raid on a military base in Damasak town, Mobbar Local Government Area of Borno State. A military source confirmed this to SaharaReporters on Saturday. The soldier, whose name is yet-to-be-revealed, has now joined the list of countless men of the Nigerian Army who had lost their lives due to insurgency in the North-East region. In a video shared online by Amaq News Agency, a news outlet linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the insurgents killed many other soldiers in the attack. They were seen shooting sporadically in all directions.…READ MORE
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MARCH 15th
Gunmen kidnap primary school pupils in Nigeria’s Kaduna state
Gunmen kidnapped primary school pupils and teachers in the northwestern Nigerian state of Kaduna, a state official said on Monday, in the fifth school abduction since December in a country where violence is on the rise. Kaduna state’s security commissioner, Samuel Aruwan, said on Monday, that the state government has received reports of kidnapping of pupils and teachers in Birnin Gwari local government area. “The Kaduna State Government is currently obtaining details on the actual number of pupils and teachers reported to have been kidnapped and will issue a comprehensive statement as soon as possible,” Aruwan said in a statement. The trend of abduction from boarding schools was started by the jihadist group Boko Haram, which seized 270 girls from a school in Chibok in the northeast of the country in 2014. Around 100 of them have never been found. Armed criminal gangs seeking ransoms have since carried out copycat attacks. The city is the capital of Kaduna state, part of a region where banditry has festered for years. Nigeria’s federal government has said it would “take out” abductors after criticising local deals to free victims….READ MORE
New video emerges of abducted college students in Nigeria
Disturbing video clips show students kidnapped from a college in Nigeria’s northwest Kaduna state being held at gunpoint and beaten with a whip by their abductors emerged on Saturday. In the footage, which has been widely shared on Facebook, some of the students appeared visibly distressed. In one video, an abducted student calls on the government to cooperate with their captors, while a figure in the background points a gun at his head and back. The students were among 39 abducted on Thursday night after gunmen attacked the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in Mando, Kaduna, according to Kaduna police. It is the third mass kidnapping from an academic institution in northern Nigeria this year. The students, who were forcefully taken away from their hostels — some of them in their nightclothes — could be seen in the video asking the government to be diplomatic in its engagement with the gunmen.…READ MORE
Nigeria: 19 killed in Boko Haram terror attack
Nineteen people were killed in the attack by the Boko Haram terror organization in the northeastern state of Borno in Nigeria, according to media reports on Saturday. Terrorists attacked a military convoy in Gudumbali in the Lake Chad region, killing 15 soldiers and four Joint Task Force members. Army spokesman Mohammed Yerima said in a statement that several soldiers were also injured in the attack. On Thursday, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno announced that his country would not negotiate with the terror group and the government does not see negotiations as a means to deal with the worsening security conditions in the country. Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread its atrocities to neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response.…READ MORE
BREAKING NEWS: Kaduna Pupils Escape From Captivity
Three primary school pupils abducted at UBE Primary School at Rama village in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State have escaped. One of the teachers of the school told Daily Trust that the pupils escaped when the bandits attempted to rustle some cows and motorcycles at a nearby community. Naomi Francis, a teacher in the school, who escaped abduction, confirmed to Daily Trust that the three pupils have regained freedom but said they had been beaten by the bandits before luck came their way. However, nothing is known of the three teachers earlier abducted. Narrating how the bandits broke into the school, she said: “They came in after the morning assembly. We had all gone into the classrooms when six of the bandits came on motorcycles while others surrounded the school….READ MORE
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MARCH 2nd
KILLING FIELDS: 1,525 Nigerians Killed In Six Weeks Of 2021
AS flames of violence and other forms of lives guzzling insecurity flicker in many parts of the country, Nigeria has literally become a killing field. In the first six weeks of 2021, lives of no fewer than 1, 525 persons have been wasted across the country Vanguard’s investigation, and data obtained from the Nigeria Security Tracker, NST, a project of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Africa programme, have shown. The Nigeria Security Tracker tracks violence that is both causal and symptomatic of Nigeria’s political instability and citizen alienation. The data are based on weekly surveys of Nigerian and international media. The 1,525-death figure, which is conservative, covers only reported cases arising from the Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, herdsmen crisis, kidnapping, communal and cult clashes, armed robbery, and brutality of security agents among others.…READ MORE
Nigeria School Abduction: Hundreds Of Girls Released By Gunmen
A group of nearly 300 girls who were kidnapped from a school in north-western Nigeria last week have been released, a local official says. The girls were abducted by unidentified gunmen from their boarding school in Jangebe, Zamfara state, on Friday and taken to a forest, police said. The state’s governor said on Tuesday that the group had been freed and the girls were now safe. Such kidnappings are carried out for ransom and are common in the north. Dozens of the girls were seen gathered at a government building in Zamfara after they were taken there in a fleet of mini-buses. “It gladdens my heart to announce the release of the abducted students… from captivity,” Governor Bello Matawalle wrote on Twitter. “This follows the scaling of several hurdles laid against our efforts,” he added. “I enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to rejoice with us as our daughters are now safe.” The authorities said 279 girls had been freed, adding that a figure given last week by police that 317 had been kidnapped was no longer accurate. One official told Reuters news agency that the discrepancy was because of the fact that some girls had fled shortly after being abducted. “Most of us got injured… and we could not carry on walking,” one of the girls told the BBC. “They said they [would] shoot anybody who did not continue to walk,” she added. “We walked across a river and they hid us and let us sleep under shrubs in a forest.”.…READ MORE
New Pictures Show Boko Haram Recruiting, Training Kids
The dreaded Boko Haram terrorist group has released some photographs showing children undergoing religious and combat training in a camp. According to reports, the images show relatively young children dressed in combat-style clothing and balaclava participating in martial arts training, weapon handling training, and religious education class. At least two instructors and one child had what appeared to be the Zastava M21, likely captured from Cameroonian security forces, HumAngle reported. The Zastava M21, built based on the Kalashnikov design, has appeared in previous pictures shared by Boko Haram factions or reported to have been recovered by security forces. Some children were also shown holding different Kalashnikov pattern assault rifles with under folding, side-folding, and fixed wooden stocks. Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State had in September 2020 warned that Boko Haram was recruiting children, saying the problem of insurgency could escalate. He had said, “The only solution we have now is to ensure the safe return of our people to their homes in a dignified manner. If nothing is done believe me sincerely we shall face a very serious challenge even more than what we are facing now.”….READ MORE
