Troops in pursuit of abductors of Niger students – Army

 

The Nigerian Army says its troops have been mobilised in pursuit of abductors of kidnapped members of staff and students of Government Science School, Kagara, Niger State.

About 27 students, three staff and 12 family members were abducted by the gunmen from the school.

The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Yerima, in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, said that the Nigerian Army had renewed efforts to ensure swift response to the unfortunate incident.

He said it had been reported that the bandits gained entry into the school in the early hours of Wednesday and abducted unspecified number of members of staff and students of the school.

“The Nigerian Army in line with its constitutional mandate wishes to reassure the public that troops in operational synergy with sister security agencies are in hot pursuit of the criminal elements to ensure safe return of the kidnapped victims.

“Furthermore, the Nigerian Army also urges the public to provide actionable information to security agencies that will lead to the arrest of these criminal elements,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari had since directed the Armed Forces and police, to ensure immediate and safe return of all the captives.

Buhari also dispatched a team of security chiefs to coordinate the rescue operation and meet with state officials, community leaders as well as parents and staff of the college.

BIAFRA : Terrorists attack Marte, Gubio in Borno

 

Boko Haram insurgents on Tuesday night attacked Marte and Gubio Local Government Areas of Borno State.

Although the report by residents of the area could not reach Maiduguri on time due to lack of telecommunication network in the area, residents said they could not ascertain the number of casualties as most people were yet to return to their homes.

However, in Gubio, residents said the insurgents stormed one of the vigilante/hunters checkpoints and opened fire on them, leaving one of the hunters dead with others sustaining gunshot wounds before they were repelled by military troops.

While in Marte, residents said the armed insurgents dislodged a military base before invading New Marte community, brandishing weapons and shooting sporadically as residents scampered for safety.

Sources also said the insurgents have taken over the town since yesterday (Tuesday) up to Wednesday noon before troops were reinforced to repel them.

Member of the Borno State House of Assembly, Marte constituency, Hon. Engineer Mohammed Gambomi, confirmed the attack on Marte town.

He told newsmen that he received a distress call that Boko Haram sect invaded Marte, but did not have details on the number of casualties, only that some few residential houses were torched during the encounter.

His words; ” Yes, there was an attack by suspected members of Boko Haram on Marte community yesterday. But from the reports I got, civilians are safe,” Gambomi said.

Nollywood actress , Court orders DNA test for Nollywood actress, Odusanya’s daughter

 

An Ogba Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered a DNA test to be conducted on Oluwafifehanmi, the daughter of Nollywood actress, Ronke Odusanya.

The trial Magistrate, M. O. Tanimola, gave the order while ruling on an application brought before her court by Olanrewaju Saheed, the estranged lover of Odusanya.

The daughter of the estranged couple was born in 2019.

The popular actress and the father of her child, Olanrewaju Saheed, also known as Jago, are currently in court for several reasons including the welfare and custody of their daughter.

During proceedings on Wednesday, Saheed, through his lawyer, requested the court to order a DNA test to ascertain the paternity of the child.

Saheed’s application was based on the grounds of suspicion of alleged infidelity on the part of Odusanya.

The actress and her lawyer agreed to the request on the condition that the DNA fees and other bills be footed by Saheed.

The actress’ lawyer also pleaded with the court to ensure it is a court-supervised DNA test.

.Bandits neutralized by troops in Kaduna village

 

Several armed bandits in Ungwan Danko village,

 Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna state have been neutralised by troops of the 2Battalion, Nigerian Army.

The affected village, Ungwan Danko, is close to Kidandan town of Giwa local government area.

This is contained in a statement by the state Commissioner, Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan.

He explained that the bandits had earlier invaded the village, abducted four persons (one woman and three children) and attempted to retreat from the village.

The statement further explained that the troops mobilized to the location laid ambush and intercepted the bandits, cutting off their escape.

It said that in the ensuing firefight, several bandits were neutralized, and others escaped with bullet wounds.

According to the statement, one AK47 rifle and some rounds of ammunition were recovered.

It explained that all four victims were rescued, they are Halisa Aliu, ldris Ilyasu, Amina Sahaibu and Shaaban Aliu.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai noted the report with thanks and received with elation the news of the rescued victims.

He commended the troops warmly for executing the successful ambush.

Residents of the general area, according to the statement are advised to report anyone found seeking medical attention or with suspicious wounds to the nearest military and police formations, or reach the Kaduna State Security Operations on these numbers: 09034000060 and 08170189999.

It explained that vigorous patrols would continue in the general area.

Man United to release three players this summer

 

Manchester United are set to release three of their players this summer transfer window, according to Manchester Evening News.

The three players are Sergio Romero, Joel Pereira and Paul Woolston.

Man United are frittering more than £600,000 a week on the goalkeepers’ salary, but the three players are expected to leave the club in the summer.

The Red Devils have no intention to trigger the one-year extension in Romero and Pereira’s contracts, while Woolston, popular Under-23 goalkeeper, is due to be let go after spending two-and-a-half years with the second string.

Romero has not played all season and is fifth-choice behind David de Gea, Dean Henderson, Lee Grant and Nathan Bishop.

The 33-year-old was unable to engineer a transfer in either of the last two windows and is now deserted at Old Trafford until the end of the season.

Pereira, on the other hand, has played once in the Championship for Huddersfield.

The 24-year-old has not appeared for Man United in more than three years.

Thierry Henry set to return to English football as manager

 

Bourne mouth believe they have convinced Thierry Henry to become their new manager, according to the UK Mirror.

Henry is currently in charge of Montreal in the Major League Soccer (MLS).

The 43-year-old is top of a shortlist that includes his former Arsenal team-mate Patrick Vieira, John Terry and former Huddersfield boss David Wagner.

Henry had spent time working as Roberto Martinez’s assistant in the Belgium national team, before taking over at Monaco in 2018.

The France international was named boss at Montreal in November 2019, signing a two-year contract.

Jason Tindall, who took over from Eddie Howe after the Cherries were relegated, was sacked by Bournemouth two weeks ago.

Time for Nigerians to decide , Peace or war

 

Nigeria has never had worse enemies than its own people who refuse to reason beyond geographical, religious or ethnic boundaries. Happenings across the country have never been uglier than now; from the dreaded Boko Haram sect unleashing their terrorism in the Northeast to the marauding bandits in the Northwest kidnapping and killing people in their villages at will, coupled with criminal elements among herdsmen bearing automatic weapons, creating discord with in the Southwest, to secessionists in the East, pushing for their Biafra.

Nigeria is on fire and unfortunately issues like the second EndSARS protest is also coming at this point acting more of a fuel to the on-going crises than a solution.

The truth is we all have no other country than Nigeria, and by virtue of the crises we have on our table at the moment, we already have more than enough to deal with. No one among us can kill another and live in peace; we are at the time to decide either to live in peace or die. We must leverage our commonalities and understand our differences to be able to live in peace.

Martin Luther King has never been more right in our context than today when he said “we must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”. This is the time for us to unite and identify our common enemy. Our enemies are not Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa for that matter; we must put aside our primitive thinking and wake up from the long-time slumber that blocked our vision from seeing our true enemies spread across all ethnic extraction and regions. These are predators always ready with their fangs wide open to bite upon any slide opportunities that present itself.

For those people thinking of going into full scale war, I refer them to the Rwandan genocide. It started with empowering some tribes under the pretext of self-defence. The case of South Sudan is no different; they are still fighting and killing themselves even after getting the much desired said freedom.

Current realities in Nigeria question our ability to learn from our history and the mistakes of many countries.  The value of human lives is far more than any tribe or religion, talk less of geography. Only the living goes to the mosque or church or even speak Yoruba or Hausa.

There are things in life that are far more than mere coincidence and the formation of Nigeria is one of such. We were brought together by God for a reason, and the best way to move forward and live in harmony is to realise that there are things we cannot change as humans and one of such things is our tribe.

Civil societies and organisations whose membership cut across the boundaries of all tribes and religions must live up to their expectations at this gloomy moment. To live in peace or perish in violence lies in our hands. The government might have failed us in this regard, but we can refuse to fail ourselves as a society. As eloquently said by Professor P.L.O Lumumba: we can still change our dancing steps even if the music refuses to change.  I’m afraid; changing our steps in Nigeria is no longer a choice but a necessity.

We must avoid general labelling of particular tribe or region as criminals, scammers or terrorists. We have reached the crossroads to decide for ourselves either peace or violence. I have chosen peace because I have seen what wars can do to people here in Maiduguri, and I still see on daily basis how life in internally displaced persons camps looks like.  Not even the whole world can handle an explosion of more than 200 million people.

• Musa Gambo, Maiduguri.