The Nation Newspaper

Category: News Update

  • Police arrest 25 suspected gunmen in Kano

    Police arrest 25 suspected gunmen in Kano

    The Kano State Police Command on Sunday arrested 25 suspected gunmen over the killing of a policeman in Kano on Saturday.

    The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, confirmed the arrest at a news conference in Kano on Sunday.

    Idris said the gunmen attacked the policeman at Unguwa Uku area in the metropolis during the monthly environmental sanitation on Saturday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the monthly environmental sanitation, which was supposed to have been held on October 27, was shifted to November 3 because of the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations.

    The deceased police officer was cleaning his environment when the suspected gunmen, on a motorcycle opened fire on him.

     

  • South Sudan expels UN human rights officer

    South Sudan expels UN human rights officer

    South Sudan said on Sunday it had expelled a United States human rights investigator, accusing her of writing false reports, a move the U.N. mission said broke the country’s legal obligations to the body.

    U.N. sources, who named the officer as Sandra Beidas, said the expulsion may have been related to an August report accusing the army of torturing, raping, killing and abducting civilians.

    South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in July last year under a 2005 peace deal that ended a decades-long civil war in which some two million people died.

    Sporadic conflict has continued in disputed border areas.

    Reuters says human rights groups accuse the new nation, which depends heavily on Western donors, of allowing abuses by its security forces, mostly composed of poorly-trained former guerrilla and militia fighters.

    Government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the officer had been “writing reports which have no truth in them”. He did not elaborate.

    Hilde Johnson, head of the U.N. mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), called the expulsion a “breach of the legal obligations of the government of the Republic of South Sudan under the charter of the UN.”

    Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused South Sudan’s army of gross human rights violations during a disarmament campaign aimed at stopping inter-tribal warfare in Jonglei.

     

  • Reps will encourage FG, Boko Haram dialogue – Tambuwal

    Reps will encourage FG, Boko Haram dialogue – Tambuwal

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, said the House will encourage the Federal Government to engage in dialogue with the Boko Haram sect.

    Tambuwal who made the statement at the Benin airport on Saturday while speaking with journalists said the move would assist in ending the wave of terrorist acts by the group.

    The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the sect recently offered to engage in dialogue with the federal government.

    It also named a former head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), to lead its five-member negotiation team.

    “I will encourage our leadership to engage the leadership of the sect in dialogue. Whatever will bring peace to this country, we should go for it.

    “We have had more than enough bloodshed of innocent Nigerians and government should do everything possible, including dialoguing with the Boko Haram sect, to bring the killings to an end,’’ Tambuwal said.

    Commenting on the call by the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) for a referendum on the proposed amendment of the 1999 Constitution, Tambuwal described it as unconstitutional.

    “We are expecting that we will incorporate the views of Nigerians in the amendment, but the call by NBA for a referendum is unconstitutional.

    “I am a lawyer like the President of the NBA, and I know it is unconstitutional,’’ the Speaker said.

    NAN recalls that NBA President Okey Wali had criticised the high number of clauses slated for amendment.

    Wali had also questioned why the National Assembly was in a hurry to amend the Constitution.

    He had said this was inappropriate as President Goodluck Jonathan was yet to forward the Justice Alfa Belgore Report on Constitution Amendment to the legislative body for consideration.

     

     

  • Plateau police direct churches, mosques to be fenced against attacks

    Plateau police direct churches, mosques to be fenced against attacks

     

    The Plateau Police Command on Sunday in Jos directed that all churches and mosques must be fenced to secure them from attackers.

    The State Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Ayeni, said in a statement that the measure was one of the decisions taken at a stakeholders meeting on security on Saturday.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the meeting was attended by all heads of security agencies, government officials, as well as community and religious leaders.

    Ayeni who presided over the meeting said a fenced building was easier to secure, as attackers could only go through the entrances to get at their targets.

    The meeting, according to him, also agreed that all vehicles must be parked outside such fenced premises.

    It also advised that security guards must stop concentrating on just the entrances and exits of the buildings.

    “During worship sessions, the entire premises should be cordoned off, while religious leaders must provide technical devices to enable the guards carry out thorough checks on worshippers,’’ Ayeni said in the statement.

    He said the stakeholders called for more training for the churches’ guards, to enable them meet up with their responsibilities.

    “Youths should also be sensitised against fighting security agents deployed to scenes of blasts or attacks,’’ the meeting agreed.

     

  • Council tasks Jonathan, NASS on PHCN, Sokoto govt feud

    Council tasks Jonathan, NASS on PHCN, Sokoto govt feud

    The Inter-Party Advisory Council of Nigeria, Sokoto State chapter, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the current feud between Governor Aliyu Wamakko and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.

    The News Agency of Nigeria quoted the chairman of the Council, Alhaji Ahmed Tangaza, as making the call at a news conference in Sokoto on Saturday.

    PHCN has been at logger heads with Wamakko over the alleged assault of one of its staff by the governor.

    Tangaza also appealed to the Senate, the House of Representatives, the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Minister of Mines and Power to help resolve the matter.

    “Our attention has been drawn to the act of lawlessness and provocation against the law abiding people of the state by PHCN staff operating under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees over a matter that is subjudice.

    “They should intervene and mitigate the unwarranted suffering of the people of Sokoto state by calling PHCN staff to order,’’ Tangaza said.

    He alleged that PHCN had cut off electricity supply to the state on an “unsubstantiated allegation against the governor.”

    “The council hereby condemned this act of lawlessness and urge PHCN to, within 24 hours, restore normal electricity supply to the state.

    “Otherwise, we would be left with no option than going to court to seek redress / compensation,” Tangaza said.

    The council chairman lamented that there were in-patients who were on life support machines in various health centres in the state.

    “Our returning pilgrims are currently using the Sultan Abubakar III international airport for landing.

    “Water supply is currently being hampered and PHCN should not be unmindful of the grave consequences of their actions to the provision of essential services,” Tangaza said.

     

  • Dialogue: Boko Haram leaders must reveal their identity- Lar

    Dialogue: Boko Haram leaders must reveal their identity- Lar

    Former National Chairman of the  Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Solomon Lar has said  that the proposed negotiation between the federal government and the Boko Haram Islamic group should hold only if members of the group reveal the  identity.
    The elder statesman while speaking with journalists in Kaduna  on Sunday  kicked against the proposed dialogue with the terrorists group insisting that the sect members must first reveal their identity.

    “I disagree completely (to dialoguing with Boko Haram) unless they show their identity that Mr. X, Y, Z is Boko Haram. For them to name some people to be their representatives, who are they? They are faceless people, let them come out and reveal their identity”.

    Chief Lar who is a second republic governor of old Plateau state  said that it was not enough for the sect to nominate people to negotiate on their behalf and charged them to come out in the open and identify themselves rather than remaining faceless.
    He wondered if  Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (rtd), Alhaji Ali Mungonu and others nominated by the Islamic group to negotiate on their behalf have agreed to represent them in the proposed dialogue with the federal government.
    “Has Gen Buhari agreed? Is Buhari their representative? Is Ali Mungonu their representative? You see, I didn’t want to mention names, but if they (Buhari and Mungonu) said yes, they are their (Boko Haram’s) representatives, we would.
    “But have they agreed to represent them? Let them come out. During the Niger Delta militants, some people came out and said they were the leaders of the militants. That was very reasonable and that was how the late President Musa Yar’adua was able to tackle the problem of militancy in the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta militants were not faceless like Boko Haram. Why didn’t Boko Haram follow the example of the militants by showing their faces?” he said.
    He condemned Friday’s killing of civil war hero, Major. Gen. Mohammed Shuwa (rtd) at his Maiduguri residence by unknown gunmen and urged the federal government to do everything possible to identify the culprits and bring them to justice.
    According to him, the role the Late Shuwa played in keeping Nigeria one during the Nigerian civil war has not been recognized by the Nigerian government, saying that he remain one of Nigeria’s unsung heroes who was never talk about or recognised by various governments in the country.
    “He was a hero but nobody talks about him. Government upon government never did anything to bring him up and recognise his contribution to Nigeria. Nobody sang his heroism. It is unfortunate, the government must do everything to find out those behind this unfortunate incident and bring them to justice. This is my plea” Lar added.
    He argued that the Jonathan administration was doing its best about the security situation in the country, saying that he was optimistic that “the question of Boko Haram is a matter of days….”

  • Bomb kills Pakistani politician

    A bomb attack in the north-west Pakistani city of Buner has killed a local anti-Taliban politician and three of his guards, police sources told the BBC.

    Fateh Khan, an ex-leader of the secular Awami National Party, was killed as his car left a petrol station.

    It was not immediately clear if he was victim of a suicide attack or of a bomb placed on a motorcycle.

    Security forces largely freed Buner from the control of Taliban militants three years ago.

    District police chief Jehanzeb Khan told AFP news agency a suicide bomber had blown himself up in front of Mr. Khan’s vehicle, killing the politician and his guards.

    Up to five people were also injured in the attack, he said.

    According to Pakistan’s Express Tribune, Mr. Khan was a former ANP leader who had recently joined the Qaumi Watan Party.

    Mr. Khan was also the head of a local tribal anti-Taliban force.

    The BBC says ANP leaders have been a regular target of the Taliban in this region but that this is the first suicide attack there for several months.

     

  • Somalia wants Ugandan troops to remain

    Somalia wants Ugandan troops to remain

    Somalia’s prime minister said on Saturday that it could be a challenge for his country if Uganda followed through on a threat to withdraw troops fighting Islamist rebels in southern Somalia.

    Uganda’s foreign affairs ministry said earlier that it would withdraw from peace keeping initiatives in Africa unless the United Nations amended a report accusing it of supporting rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Reuters reports.

    Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid told Reuters in an interview that Somalia had not yet received any official communication from Uganda on the issue of withdrawing from the African Union force known as AMISOM.

    “We are not impressed with that message. We would like to work with AMISOM in that respect,” he said.

    “The Ugandans have contributed significantly and a lot, and this is now a critical moment and in light of that we are of the view, if the media reports turn out to be true, it may be a challenge.”

    Stung by accusations of support for Congo’s M23 rebel group, Uganda’s security minister said on Friday Kampala would tell the U.N. it was withdrawing its forces from military operations in Somalia and other regional hotspots.

    Uganda and its neighbour Rwanda have denied accusations contained in a leaked report by a U.N. Group of Experts that the two countries have helped the M23 rebels, whose warlord leader has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.

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  • Natural disasters: FG assures victims on relief materials

    Natural disasters: FG assures victims on relief materials

    Vice-President Namadi Sambo on Friday restated the Federal Government’s resolve to alleviate the sufferings of the victims of natural disasters.

    He gave the assurance in Buanchor, Boki Local Government Area of Cross River, after conducting an assessment tour of some communities that were recently ravaged by floods and landslide.

    The vice-president said the Federal Government had earmarked N400 million for the procurement of relief materials for all the affected communities in Cross River.

    He, however, gave an assurance that more relief would come for the affected communities in due course.

    Sambo, who described Governor Liyel Imoke as an honest and hardworking governor, expressed the hope that the victims of the natural disasters would be fairly treated and accommodated.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that he also conveyed the Federal Government’s commiseration for the affected people.

    Responding, Imoke thanked the Federal Government for giving the affected communities a sense of belonging.

    He said that Sambo’s visit was bound “to change the stories” of the victims of the natural disasters and commended the communities for managing the situation in a good way.

    Expressing gratitude to God, the governor noted that no outbreak of epidemics had been recorded in the affected communities in spite of their harrowing conditions.

     

  • Police kill terror suspect in Indonesia

    Anti-terror police on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have shot dead one suspected militant and arrested another in the district of Poso, police told BBC.

    The suspects allegedly resisted arrest by throwing home-made bombs at the police when they swooped before dawn in the jungle village of Kayamaya.

    Two policemen were killed in the area last month while investigating an alleged Islamist training camp.

    Poso was notorious for violence between Muslims and Christians a decade ago.

    On Wednesday, police killed another suspected militant, arrested two and found explosives in Poso.

    Security forces have been battling Islamist militants since the 2002 bombings in Bali which killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.