News & Announcements

An unconfirmed number of policemen have been feared killed in a lone accident in Akure, Ondo State.

According to information by an online medium, SaharaReporters, the accident occurred at about 11:00 am on Tuesday around Airport Road, Oba-Ile area of the Ondo State capital.

The casualty figure was still sketchy as of the time of this report.

State police spokesperson, Tee-Leo Ikoro, confirmed the incident.

“Yes, there was an accident but I don’t have many details now. 

“We just sent people to the scene,” he revealed.

Gunmen on Saturday kidnapped not less than 15 residents in the Kuje Area Council of Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory while coming from the Kabi Mangoro community in the area council.
According to SaharaReporters, the incident happened at 6:00 pm on Saturday while people were returning home after going to congratulate the new Education Secretary of the council, Mr. Yunusa Zakari.

Among the victims are former Vice Chairman of the council, Mohammed Baba, Transport Officer, SA Media, HOD Food Services, and some council legislative members.

The kidnappers were said to have hijacked their bus and seized all occupants at gunpoint.

A source, who spoke with SaharaReporters, said, “The staff went to congratulate the new Executive Secretary and on their way back the kidnappers hijacked the bus and took all of them into the bush.”

The spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, Maltida Mari, confirmed the incident, adding that they were making efforts to rescue the victims.

Recall that 12 persons were on September 10, 2020, abducted at Tungan Maje, a community on the outskirts of the nation’s capital, after gunmen invaded the place.

A family of seen has reportedly been wiped out through suspected food poisoning in Benin City, the Edo State capital in South-South Nigeria.

The development has thrown the people within and outside Benin City into a panic. 
The incident occurred at No 40, Otete Street, off Textile Mill Road, Ogida quarters, in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State and reportedly happened after the seven victims allegedly eat a meal on Thursday night in Benin city.

A visit to the victim’s house at No 40, Otete Street, off Textile Mill Road, Ogida Quarters, by journalists met the place deserted as the victims were said to have been evacuated to the Benin Central Hospital while a few sympathizers were seen outside the compound.
It was also gathered that the head of the family said to be an evangelist does not live in that compound.

Speaking on the incident, one of the residents of the area who lives opposite the deceased house, Mrs. Christy Igbinadolor, said the mother of four of the victims who live in the compound died last Sunday while the other three, a woman and her two children came to mourn with the children of the deceased.
She said she was in her house on Friday morning when a man came to ask her about the whereabouts of her neighbours during which she advised him to go to the house and knock at their door and if there was no response, he should go to the police station and report.

According to her, “This morning, when I woke up, I sat outside and I saw one man who came to ask me where are these people (the victims), and I replied to him that I am just waking up from sleep.
“I told him that I just sat down here reading my bible. I said I have not seen them this morning but the only thing I see is that, when I woke up last night, there was light in their house but when I woke up this morning, there was no light again.

“So, from there, the man went to the compound and knocked at their door. And I asked what happened, he said it was their senior brother in Port Harcourt who called him this morning to go and find out the situation in that compound having put a call to them several times without response.
“I told him that when there is no response, the only thing he should do is to go to the police station and report.

“So, the man went to the police station and when he came back, he came with some policemen and some members of the man’s church.
“So they broke the door and found out that the seven of them were on the ground and lifeless.
“So, I asked them to call their father who was yet to be aware of the incident. So they called their father and when he came, he went inside the house and found out that his children were lying on the floor.
“They dragged about five of them out. Some of them have babies because one of the man’s daughters came with her children.
“So, the police quickly carried them in their van and took them to the hospital
“The man’s children were grown up and they were the ones staying in the house while two of the man’s children were staying with the man’s late wife but they decided to come and mourn their mother here in Benin when this incident happened”, she said.
Another sympathizer, Mrs. Rachel Anyanwu, said the man who lost his children to food poisoning, lost his wife five days ago and that those who have been rushed to the hospital were his children and his relatives who came to sympathize with him over the death of his wife.
Anyanwu said they tried so hard to revive one of the children but all was to no avail before they were rushed to the hospital.
“The man lost his wife last week Sunday and today making it five days now. Those who were rushed to the hospital this morning were his children and other relatives who came to sympathize with the man over the death of his wife.
“I know the man as an evangelist while his late wife was also a pastor”, she said.
Another sympathizer, Mr. Felix Ejofor, who joined the police to rush the victims to the Central Hospital Benin, said he heard people crying at the compound which drew his attention and when he got there, he saw policemen already at the scene adding that when he looked closely, two of the children were already in their school uniforms while a pot of food was also closed by.
“So, he decided to help them by rushing them to the hospital for quick medical attention.”
The Police Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwanbuzor, when contacted, initially said he has not been briefed yet and that when he finds out, he would get back.

Protests have been held in several cities across Algeria to demand action to stop violence against women following the rape and murder of a teenager.

According to a recent BBC report, the charred body of Chaïma, 19, was found in a deserted petrol station in Thenia, 80km east of the capital Algiers, this month.

Local media reported that Chaima was kidnapped days before her body was found.

According to not-for-profit media outlet Middle East Monitor, her suspected attacker was known to authorities as her family had submitted a police report about him, her mother said in a video posted online.

BBC reports that her killer has confessed to the crime and is under arrest.

Furthermore, Chaïma’s mother said the suspect had attempted to rape her daughter in 2016 when she was 15, but the case was dropped.

Meanwhile, women held sit-in protests in Algiers and Oran, chanting Chaïma’s first name and calling for an end to gender-based violence.

According to local media, activists also took to social media with the hashtag #JeSuisChaima which means “I am Chaïma”.

Middle East Monitor reports that Chaima’s mother appealed to Algerian President Abdel-Majid Tebboune to implement the death sentence against the perpetrator, who she said had since been detained and confessed to the crimes.

Meanwhile, moving across to neighboring Tunisia where a 29-year-old woman was brutally murdered in September, has reignited a debate in Tunisia over capital punishment, with the country’s president suggesting an end to a decades-old moratorium on the death penalty, writes the Guardian.

Five persons have lost their lives and three others seriously injured in a fresh Gas explosion that rocked the Lagos Nigeria community.
The incident which occurred in the early hours of Thursday, October 8, 2020, rattled a gas station in Baruwa Community, Alimosho Local Government Area of the state. The injured included two kids.

A preliminary assessment has revealed that 44 buildings are affected, 1 school, 1 event Centre, 89 shops, 1 church, 1 tricycle, gas tankers, 23 electric poles, 2 transformers, and 1 motorcycle were all affected in the incident.
It was further gathered that at about 20 minutes to 6am at Candos Road, Baruwa inside, Lagos, an LPG tanker was in the process of discharging at the Best Roof Plant Station and the station generator was on and from where it was reported that explosion erupted.The explosion threw the discharging tanker across the road.There are casualties and two bodies have been recovered but search and recovery will be carried out after the emergency phase.Many buildings have been destroyed.
The Best Roof Gas Plant Station is located in densely populated community.

A Kenyan court on Wednesday found two men guilty of helping al Qaeda-linked militants launch a 2013 assault on a Westgate (Nairobi) shopping mall in which gunmen killed at least 67 people.

A third man, who also faced charges under the country’s terrorism prevention act, Reuters reported, was acquitted on all charges.

The trial is the only prosecution Kenya has mounted so far over the attack by gunmen from the Somali militant group al-Shabaab on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, at the time seen as a symbol of the East African country’s growing prosperity.

It was the worst attack by Islamist militants in Kenya, apart from the al Qaeda bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

“The prosecution has proved its case against the accused on charges of conspiracy of committing a terrorist act and supporting a terrorist group,” Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi said as he read the verdict. He also found one of the men guilty of possessing material used to aid the attack.

Kenyan advocates have said that the trial provided little comfort for the loved ones of victims because it shed scant light on what happened during the attack itself.

The three men put on trial “are not in any way the masterminds. Not even the attackers. It’s believed that the attackers escaped, and masterminds are still unknown. These three must have been fringe players, if at all,” said Otsieno Namwaya, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Former President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone has been urged to corporate with the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in the ongoing probe of his eleven years reign as the country’s leader. Also in the corruption spotlight are some members of his administration, who are alleged to have corruptly enriched themselves while in power.

This plea was made by the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) on Tuesday. CARL also challenged every Sierra Leonean to support the ongoing fight against corruption, urging them to give their unwavering support to it.

In a statement, the body made available to journalists on Tuesday, CARL said corruption had tended to cripple the country and deny it of developments, dating back to since it gained independence. 

CARL said in the statement: “Corruption has inflicted unquantifiable damage to our country since Independence, and sadly, it is still prevalent and pervasive. There is no doubt, however, that if we work cooperatively, we can minimize the scourge of corruption through various measures of education, prevention, investigation and resolution”, said Ibrahim Tommy, Executive Director of Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law.

“Our attention has also been drawn to the ongoing investigation of former government officials by the Anti-Corruption Commission, including former President Koroma.

“We believe that as a former president of our country he deserves all the respect our laws and customs confer on him.

“Similarly, as a law-abiding citizen, we respectfully urge him to cooperate fully with ongoing investigations into his 11-year stewardship as President of Sierra Leone, including by availing himself at the offices of the Anti-Corruption Commission whenever he is required to do so.

“We remind the leadership and staff of the ACC of the need to treat him fairly and respectfully, having regard to his rights under the constitution. We also urge members of his family and supporters to remain calm and peaceful, as we will continue to monitor the process to ensure that his rights are fully respected,” the statement reads.

Nigeria on Tuesday said it has signed the instruments of ratification of the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA)  with the USA, India, Morocco as well as Rwanda.  
This was disclosed by the country’s Minister of Aviation, Engineer Hadi Sirika, through his Twitter handle.

Sirika tweeted: “I am glad to announce that Mr. President (President Muhammadu Buhari), on behalf of Nigeria, has signed the instruments of ratification of the bilateral air service agreement between Nigeria and the USA, India, Morocco as well as Rwanda.”
Copies of the agreements uploaded by the minister showed that Buhari signed the instruments of ratification on September 30.

It is recalled that the Federal Executive Council had on July 29 ratified the air transport agreement between Nigeria and the United States at its virtual meeting.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, told State House correspondents at the end of the meeting that with the ratification, Nigeria will take advantage of the agreement to strengthen economic, social and cultural ties with the US.
A BASA is an air transport agreement between two countries and it liberalizes commercial civil aviation services between the concerned nations by allowing designated airlines to operate commercial flights, covering transportation of passengers and cargoes.

Gunmen suspected to be bandits have killed one Yohanna Abashiya, a Baptist Church pastor in the troubled Southern Kaduna in the North Central of Nigeria.
During the unfortunate incident that occurred in Marsha Rido in Chikun Local Government Area of the state, the daughter of the cleric was kidnapped by the marauders.

Residents of the area have lamented the constant invasion of their area by gunmen who come regularly to kidnap some people in the area. 
Some residents disclosed that most of them who are property owners had deserted their homes for fear of being abducted by gunmen. 
A resident in the area disclosed that in the latest inversion of their community, a pastor was killed while his daughter was taken away by the gunmen. 

The resident, who did not disclose his name, revealed to newsmen that the late pastor was among the residents who organized themselves into a community watch to safeguard the people in the area.
According to him, “He was with other residents at the community watch when he heard the shout of his wife and daughter being abducted.
“It was while going to find out what had happened to his family that he was shot by the gunmen,” the resident revealed. 

He said further: “We live in constant fear, our families have been relocated to other areas, while some of us have put up our houses for sale. But no one is ready to buy even below the amount we built.
“Who wants to expose his family to such danger. We sleep with our eyes open. 
 It was gathered that the deceased was the resident pastor of a Baptist Church in the community.
Rev Abashiya was pastoring at Baptist Church Agui Under Maraban Rido Kaduna State.

The kidnappers, it has been gathered, are yet to communicate with the family of the kidnapped girl for a possible ransom. 
Meanwhile, efforts to reach the Police Public Relations Officer of the state, Mohammed Jalige, was not successful, as his line was busy.

Malian authorities have released 180 Islamic extremists from a prison in the capital and flown them to the country’s north, an official confirmed late Sunday.

The move, according to The Telegraph, has fueled speculation that a prominent opposition politician held by jihadists could soon be freed after more than six months in captivity.

The Militants who abducted Soumaila Cisse back in late March were believed to be seeking a prisoner exchange with the Malian government. Some 70 men were released on Saturday and another 110 on Sunday, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

There was no immediate comment late Sunday from Mali’s transitional government, which was only recently put in place more than a month after the country’s democratically elected president was ousted in a military coup.

Mr. Cisse, a 70-year-old who has run for Mali’s presidency three times, was campaigning ahead of legislative elections not far from Timbuktu at the time of his abduction. His bodyguard was killed in the attack, and the only proof of life has been a handwritten letter delivered back in August.

Government efforts to negotiate his release were thrown into upheaval after the coup that forced President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita from power, though it did not appear progress was being made toward Mr. Cisse’s release.

Little is known about Mr. Cisse’s conditions in captivity after the initial abduction when the assailants opened fire on his vehicle and he was injured by broken glass from the attack.

Islamic militants are active throughout northern and central Mali, though typically launch attacks on the Malian military and U.N. peacekeepers. A 2013 French-led military operation dispersed the jihadists, who then regrouped and have expanded their reach in the years since.

Many fear that the political upheaval in Mali since the coup will allow them to do so again, a fear underscored by the weekend prisoner release.