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Even as the Nigerian Army has sustained its fight against banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism in the Northern part of the country, the country’s police force was targeted as 12 of its senior personnel were on days ago abducted in the region.

The yet-to-be-identified gunmen kidnapped the police officers, all in the ranks of Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs), while on their way to Zamfara from the troubled Borno State.

According to BBC Hausa Service on Tuesday, one of the abductees called his wife and asked her to raise N1 million, noting that there would be trouble if she failed.

“He called me on Wednesday and told me that he was in the hands of the kidnappers.

“I can’t tell you I have any other information. We are in a state of frustration,” she was quoted as saying.

Bandits operating along the dreaded Abuja-Kaduna way in the restive northern part of Nigeria suffered heavy casualty as the country’s troops killed scores of them on Tuesday.

The army revealed this on Wednesday, saying that it’s land and air components of Operation THUNDER STRIKE, on Tuesday, killed scores of the armed bandits in a joint offensive operation along that Kaduna-Abuja expressway.

Major General John Enenche, Coordinator of Defence Media Operations, (CDMO), in an operation update released in Abuja, said the operation was conducted to clear identified bandits’ camp around Kuku area of Kagarko Local Government Area along the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway axis of Kaduna State.
“The operation was executed yesterday, 17 November 2020, on the heels of credible Human Intelligence reports indicating that a cluster of huts and other structures at the location served as a hideout for a notorious bandits’ leader, named “Major”, along with his fighters.

“The first wave of the air component’s airstrikes, which involved six Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircraft undertaking five missions in a total of 13 sorties, commenced at dawn and targeted the cluster of huts housing “Major”. 
“The attack aircraft hit some of the target structures and neutralized some of the bandits”, the update stated.

General Enenche said the second wave of attacks was executed by NAF helicopter gunships which, while continuing to engage the bandits’ location, also provided close air support to the Land Component as they advanced from Kagarko via Kuku into the bandits’ enclave.
“This paved way for the ground troops to overrun and destroy the camp without effective resistance from the bandits. 
“A NAF Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft remained airborne providing situational awareness for the troops throughout the operation”, he said.
The Military High Command commended the land and air components for their professionalism and urged them to remain resolute in the conduct of operations in order to eradicate all armed bandits.

The defense operations spokesman said that the Armed Forces of Nigeria also appreciated the continued support and cooperation of all well-meaning Nigerians, as it keeps up the tempo of operations to defeat all enemies of the nation.

As violence in Ethiopia continues to escalate, gunmen in the western part of the country killed at least 34 people in an attack on a bus on Saturday night, the national human rights body said on Sunday, as fears grow of a security vacuum in the country amid a military campaign in the north.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Reuters noted, said the number of people killed was likely to rise after what it called a “gruesome” attack on the passenger bus in the Benishangul-Gumuz region. It said there were reports of “similar” attacks, and of people fleeing the violence, in other parts of the region.

“The latest attack is a grim addition to the human cost which we bear collectively,” Daniel Bekele, commission head, said in a statement.

He urged regional and federal authorities to work together on a strategy for Benishangul-Gumuz due to the “unrelenting pace” of attacks there. Armed militiamen killed at least 45 people in the same region in September, according to the Ethiopian government.

The violence comes amid a 12-day-old war between the Ethiopian Government and the restive Tigray region in the country’s north. 

Experts say that conflict could encourage other ethnic groups to exploit the chaos to push for more autonomy, while the redeployment of forces to Tigray could leave other regions exposed.

In the ongoing Nigerian nationwide probe on police brutality, particularly the disbanded and Proscribed Police Unit, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a testifier has revealed how the notorious police unit, in a bid to force statements out of his mouth, hit and damaged his scrotum. 
The petitioner, Dr. Justin Ugochukwu  Nwankwo, told the ongoing  Anambra State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality, Extra Judiciary killings, and Other Related Matters sitting in Awka Anambra State capital, how his scrotum was damaged while in detention for 81 in Awkuzu SARS detention.

Nwankwo who was a  manager at Upper-Class Hotel in the state’s commercial town of Onitsha and currently a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State, said he was brutally tortured to near death and his scrotum hit several times at Awkuzu SARS under the supervision of the commander, CSP James Nwafor.
He said he was heavily tortured to force him to implicate the owners of the hotel to the effect that there were kidnapping activities in the hotel.

He said: “When you hear that my  scrotum was damaged, my hair pulled and was hanged, it was to force me to implicit  the owner of the hotel that the place was for kidnapping den” 
“At the time of torture, my scrotum was damaged and many injuries were inflicted on me. Look at the scars on my forehead, my face, head, all these were incurred while in Awkuza SARS detention.
“If you see my back you could see scars as a result of torture with electric iron by the Awkuzu SARS led by James Nwafor.
“They go for my scrotum to force me to say what did not happen.
“They even write my statment and forces me to thumbprint.

“In between the torture one must intermittently fell unconscious and they will pour buckets of water on you 
“Honestly, I  received the highest torture because they wanted me to be prosecution witness to the owner of the hotel. There was so much torture for  me  to accept that there were kidnapping activities at the hotel which was not true 
“I was tortured, incarcerated, and almost killed by  Awkuzu SARS. To the glory of God, I survived, and even till today police have not brought any formal charges against us. We were arrested detained for 81 days without any charge. 
“This is why  I approached the panel for the world to know that after 81 days in SARS detention and seven years after, we have not gotten any charge, police apology or government as to what happened at upper-class hotel Onitsha in 2013.
“I seek for my name to be cleared because by the time the incident happened we were tagged   Otokoto in Onitsha.
“We are asking the Panel to set us free from the mental torture and for the police and government to pay us compensation for the damages inflicted on us by Awkuzu SARS,” he said.

He revealed that on the day of the incident, somebody lodged in the hotel room with his name with which the manifest was submitted to the police and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). 
According to him, the room 102  where corpses were found somebody paid for it and somebody lodged, saying that to the best of his knowledge nobody in the hotel brought in any corpse.
“By the time the police came around at 8 am, the lodger had left and somebody name Obi had been earlier submitted to them.
“The first injury I got from Awkuzu SARS was my insistence that somebody lodged in room 102 and that the name of the lodger was forwarded to police and CID.

“It was not a  standard practice that hoteliers will search guests in hotel rooms,” he said.
According to him, the majority of people who normally lodge in the hotel were traders because the hotel was located inside the market.
“The worst was that the hotel was demolished the same day they arrested us. 
“So the police started and concluded the investigation of the case in a day and the government ordered for the demolition of the hotel the same day. 

“On the same day, the police investigated the case, took the case to court, and got judgment and order was executed the same day.
“The former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, said there was a security report on the hotel and we have been asking him to make the report public. 
“When you arrested us, you should have left the hotel and do the investigation and allow the court to give the order for demolition,” he said.

Ahead of this weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Nigeria and Sierra Leone in Benin City, the camp of the Super Eagles has continued to dwell.
As of Tuesday afternoon, team captain, Ahmed Musa, Joe Aribo, Alex Iwobi, William Troost Ekong, Tyronne Ebuehi, Leon Balogun, Oghenekaro Etebo, and Jamilu Collins have arrived at the Eterno Hotel nest of the Super Eagles.
The media officer of the team, Babafemi Raji, said more players were still expected.

In their bid to quell escalating conflict in the northern Tigray region of the country, the Ethiopian troops have seized the only airport there.

This, according to Reuters, happened during an offensive against local leaders who have defied Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s authority, state-affiliated TV said on Tuesday.

Hundreds have been killed in an escalating conflict that some fear could slide into civil war given the deep animosity between the Tigrayans and the government of Abiy Ahmed, who comes from the majority Oromo ethnic group.

Various Tigrayan forces surrendered during the seizure of Humera Airport, near the border with Sudan and Eritrea, while the military also captured a road leading from the town to the Sudanese border, the Fana broadcaster reported.

Reuters could not confirm the report, and there was no immediate response from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which governs the state of more than nine million people.

Abiy, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, ordered airstrikes and sent troops into Tigray last week after accusing the TPLF of attacking a military base. Tigrayans say Abiy’s government oppresses and discriminates against them and behaved autocratically in cancelling a national election.

Reuters reporters on Monday travelling in Tigray and the neighbouring Amhara region saw trucks packed with militia fighters and pickups with mounted machine-guns rushing to the frontline in support of the federal government push.

Warplanes have bombed arms depots and other targets, both sides say, while aid workers and security sources have reported heavy fighting on the ground.

Military and security sources in Amhara, on the side of the federal troops, have spoken of 500 deaths on the Tigrayan side and hundreds also from the national military.

Amid calls from the United Nations and others for talks, Abiy’s spokeswoman denied suggestions from some diplomats that he was ignoring mediation efforts and endangering stability in the poor and turbulent Horn of Africa region.

“There is no rebuffing of anyone by the prime minister. He had acknowledged and given gratitude for the concerns shown,” the spokeswoman, Billene Seyoum, told Reuters.

“Nevertheless, Ethiopia is a sovereign nation and its government will ultimately make decisions in the long-term interest of the country and its people.”

The 44-year-old prime minister is Africa’s youngest leader and won his Nobel prize for democratic reforms and for making peace with Eritrea. But his militancy against Tigray has alarmed diplomats in Africa and a full-scale war could further damage an economy already reeling from the coronavirus crisis.

Abiy, a former soldier who once fought alongside Tigrayans against Eritrea, took over in 2018 after a Tigrayan-led government had dominated politics since rebels from their region toppled Marxist military rule in 1991.

But his attempts to open up a repressive political climate also led to an explosion of ethnic problems, with hundreds killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes in clashes over the last two years.

Abiy believes he can quell the Tigrayan leadership militarily, diplomats told Reuters, though they are a battle-hardened group from a 1998-2000 war with Eritrea and the defeat of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.

TPLF forces and militia allies number up to 250 000 men and possess significant hardware, experts say.

“Our law enforcement operations in Tigray are proceeding as planned: operations will cease as soon as the criminal junta is disarmed, legitimate administration in the region restored, and fugitives apprehended & brought to justice — all of them rapidly coming within reach,” Abiy tweeted on Tuesday.

Hundreds of villagers have deserted a village in Cameroon’s English-speaking Southwest region after rebels attacked and killed their chief and torched his palace Friday evening. 

The fleeing civilians, according to VOA news, are asking for help in neighboring towns. The incident took place a day after another English-speaking chief was abducted. His whereabouts are still unknown.

Palm oil merchant, Isaac Njoh, 52, says he fled from Liwu La-Malale in Cameroon’s English-speaking Southwest region after heavily armed rebels attacked the village and set the chief’s residence on fire. 

He says villagers were attending a meeting with their traditional ruler when heavily armed men attacked and started shooting in the air. He says the armed men set the palace buildings on fire, but the villagers were able to escape safely. Does he say many villagers who escaped to the neighboring town of Buea have nowhere to stay? 

Malomba Esembe, who represents the area in Cameroon’s National Assembly, says the rebels butchered Molinga Francis Nangoh, village chief of Liwu La-Malale.  

“This is another affront to the sacredness of human life, to the solemnity of traditional institutions and to the sorrow of a people who are still mourning their children who were wickedly slain in Kumba on October 24. 

“I am disturbed by this news and hereby convey my deepest sympathy to the people of Liwu La-Malale. I condemn in the strongest terms this act of wickedness for one other life lost is one too many,” he said. 

Cameroon’s government has confirmed the killing and blamed separatist fighters. No one has claimed responsibility. 

Bernard Okalia Bilai, governor of the English-speaking southwest region speaks to reporters in Buea, Dec. 25, 2019.

Bilai called for calm and said the military had been deployed to secure the area and find the killers. He asked the fleeing civilians to return. 

In September, Cameroon territorial administration minister Paul Atanga Nji held a series of meetings and asked chiefs who fled separatist conflicts to return to their palaces. 

Atem Ebako, chief of the English-speaking southwestern village of Talangaye says the attack on a chief and the burning of his palace will scare traditional rulers from returning to their villages to participate in the December 6 regional election as requested by the government. 

“The minister made it abundantly clear to us that it would not be properly seen that the regional council elections that are coming for which the real actors are chiefs; that such an event is taking place and the chiefs are outside. That the government is going to put up a package to accompany the chiefs back to their palaces and we are still expecting that to happen,” he said.

Chiefs suspected of collaborating with the central government in Yaoundé to fight the rebels have been victims of attacks from suspected rebels since the conflict worsened in 2017. 

At least 11 village chiefs have been killed and 17 abducted and released since then. Hundreds escaped to safer localities and began returning to their palaces in September when the government assured them of their safety. 

Last month, some of the chiefs started creating armed militias for protection against separatists for the first time. 

In what is obviously a suicide intent, a 30-year-old fisherman died on Sunday after jumping into Lake Victoria from a moving water bus. 

Samuel Otieno died near Sienga beach in Mfangano North Location, Mbita Sub-County on Sunday evening while on his way to Mfangano Island.

Witnesses said Otieno was seated in an open part of the waterbus from where he jumped into the water as the vessel was moving.

Mfangano North Location Chief Bernard Oloo who was also a passenger in the vessel said the waterbus reversed to enable other passengers to rescue the fisherman. However, the rescue efforts were futile.

“We could see him floating on water but he sank before the waterbus reached where we had spotted him,” Oloo said, adding that they did not know why he jumped into the water.

“He did not talk to anybody about his intention. We used his mobile phone which he placed near his shoes to trace his origin,” the administrator added.

They found that Otieno hails from Kanyamwa Komungu village in Ndhiwa Sub-County. He had been fishing at Litare Beach on Rusinga Island, Mbita.

Mr Oloo said they had liaised with the local fishermen to help retrieve the body.

Mbita Sub-County Deputy Police Commander James Ademba said his officers were investigating the matter.

“We have heard about the incident but nobody has recorded an official statement about it,” Ademba said.

Tundu Lissu, the opposition leader of the Tanzanian CHADEMA party, on Saturday took refuge at the official residence of the German Ambassador to the country in Dar es Salaam after he receives death threats as a result of the disputed presidential election.

Lissu, who as head of leading opposition party CHADEMA was the main challenger to President John Magufuli in the October 28 election, said immediately after the vote, he started getting death threats.

“I received two unknown calls whose callers told me they will deal with me once and for all,” he told Reuters.

“We are waiting for the embassy to negotiate with the government for us to leave (to go) abroad. I cannot leave in a normal way without security assurance.”

Officials at the embassy were not immediately reachable for comment.

Police said there were no threats against Lissu and were unaware of him seeking refuge, adding that he had been provided with police security in the run-up to the elections.

“He finished the campaign safely and he went to vote safely. He is safe and (from) what we know there is no threat against him. Lissu is just creating things. There are no threats against him,” Dar es Salaam police special zone commander Lazaro Mambosasa told Reuters.

Lissu was shot 16 times and seriously wounded in 2017 in what remains an unsolved case.

He and other opposition leaders including CHADEMA chairman Freeman Mbowe and ACT-Wazalendo party leader Zitto Kabwe were briefly arrested this week after calling for demonstrations to demand a re-run of the election, saying it was riddled with fraud. They also want a new independent electoral commission.

Police said the demonstrations were illegal and were meant to cause violence.

Magufuli, who was sworn in on Thursday for his final five-year term, has promised to work with his rivals.

He is praised by some for pushing through big-impact infrastructure projects and a sweeping anti-corruption campaign.

His critics accuse his government of intolerance and authoritarianism, including a crackdown on critical voices, closure of some media outlets, and preventing opposition rallies.

The government denies that it stifles dissent.

President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone has congratulated Joe Biden on his victory at the United States of the American election.

Biden collected 290 electoral votes to defeat President Donald Trump in a collation of results that lasted a couple of days.

In his congratulatory message through his tweeter handle, President Bio said the victory of Biden was historic in the annals of the United States.

He said the people and Government to of Sierra Leone look forward to a harmonious working relationship with the 46th president of the United States.

President Bio tweeted: “Congratulations to the 46th president-elect of the United States of America @JoeBiden and to @KamalaHarris.

“This winning is historic. Sierra Leone looks forward to a more strengthened relationship,” Bio tweeted.

Meanwhile, vice president-elect, Harris, will be the first woman to so occupy the office, even as Indian-Americans are celebrating her victory as one of their own.