The Nation Newspaper

Tag: attack

  • Don’t attack Governor Bello, PDP chieftain cautions

    Don’t attack Governor Bello, PDP chieftain cautions

    The Niger State deputy governorship candidate of the People Democratic Party PDP in the last general elections, Alhaji  Liman Kantigi, has cautioned party members against hurling insults at the Abubakar Bello-led government.

    Kantigi, who disassociated himself from the PDP’s attack against Governor Bello, said the actions taken so far by the All Progressives Congress (APC) government were in good faith.

    Kantigi’s statement is coming on the heels of the declaration by the PDP Deputy Chairman,  Tanko Beji, that the APC government was witch hunting PDP members. He said the committee set up by the APC government is on track.

    In a press statement issued in Minna, the state capital, Kantigi, who had been in the United Kingdom (UK), for medical attention, said every government has right to ask questions about the stewardship of the out-gone government and those who served in such government should be ready to explain.

    He said: “Afterall, the  Governor then, Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu, had always told us to put our record straight, even me have been invited and after my medical treatment, I will come and offer my explanation. This should not therefore be seen as if I am talking or afraid because I am one of those invited by a committee, if they said money is missing government has the right to find out.”

    He called for the people to support the government of Governor Bello, while urging his fellow PDP members to put aside their party difference and support the government.

    Kantigi added: “We should rally round  Governor Abubakar Bello to succeed in Niger State. After election, we should leave party differences behind and support whoever is in government. Since we all have our brothers and sisters in the government, why then do we fight the government.

    “We should not resort to media war to wash our dirty linens in public; we should be able to live and support anybody in power for the development of the state.”

  • Mob attacks policemen, snatches riffles

    Mob attacks policemen, snatches riffles

    Two policemen attached to Ebonyi State command were Tuesday hospitalized following injuries they sustained when they were attacked by a mob where they went to make arrest.

    Also, they were dispossessed of their service AK-47 riffles by the mob.

    The two officers whose names and ranks could not be immediately ascertained, it was gathered, were attacked at Amofia Ngbo, Ohaukwu local government area.

    The officers had gone to the community to arrest a man who stabbed another man for demanding to be paid money owed him when they were surrounded by members of the community who refused to allow them effect the arrest of the suspect.

    An eyewitness who did not want his name in print said that the policemen insisted that the suspect must be arrested and swooped on him.

    Another source added that following the attack on the policemen by the youths, stern looking policemen in large numbers stormed the area in the late evening and started destroying things.

    He disclosed that houses were razed in the alleged police reprisal attack.

    Police spokesman, ASP George Okafor confirmed the incident to our correspondent.

    He said the policemen attacked are responding to treatment and that their AK-47 riffles snatched are still missing.

    Okafor added that some arrest has been made in connection with the incident.

    Meanwhile, it was learnt that people have deserted the community.

     

  • I got no cash for attack, says Buhari

    I got no cash for attack, says Buhari

    •President entitled to two SUVs

    The Presidency last night declared that President Muhammadu Buhari did not get any monetary compensation from the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan for the Boko Haram attack on his convoy in Kaduna.

    The clarification was contained in a statement by Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina.

    The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to reports making the rounds, especially on internet-based media, that President Muhammadu Buhari received $300,000.00 and up to five armoured SUVs from the Office of the National Security Adviser in the aftermath of the attack on his convoy in Kaduna, last year.

    “We unequivocally deny that President Buhari received $300,000.00 or any monetary compensation whatsoever from the Jonathan Presidency or any of its officials, in the aftermath of that attack, or at any other time since then.

    “While it is true that one armoured SUV and one untreated SUV were sent to the President in the aftermath of the attack, the vehicles were in keeping with his entitlements as a former Head of State under the Remuneration of Former Presidents and Heads of State (And other Ancillary Matters) Decree of 1999.

    “Section 3, Sub Section 1 of that Decree provides that three vehicles will be provided for former heads of state and replaced every four years.”

    “There was therefore nothing untoward, illegal or tending to corruption in former Head of State Buhari and Presidential aspirant, as he then was, receiving vehicles, to which he was statutorily entitled, from the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    President Buhari was said to have shunned most of his entitlements as a former Head of State in keeping with his austere, spartan and frugal disposition.

    But President Buhari was prevailed upon by his supporters to accept the two vehicles for his personal safety in the aftermath of the dastardly attempt to assassinate him.

    The statement said it was preposterous to think that the President will allow his acclaimed reputation of honesty and incorruptibility to be tarnished by accepting a questionable monetary compensation from a discredited regime.

     

  • Four dead as gunmen attack Zamfara village

    Four dead as gunmen attack Zamfara village

    The police in Zamfara have confirmed the death of four persons following attack by gunmen on Tangaran village in Anka local government area of the state on Tuesday night.

    The command Public Relations Officer, DSP Sanusi Amiru, confirmed the incident on Thursday in Gusau while briefing newsmen.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that the gunmen arrived the village in the night while the residents were getting ready to go to bed.

    They opened fire on those still outside during which the four persons were killed.

    An eye-witness, Kabiru Umar said an 11-year-old girl who was selling bean cake (kosai) was among those killed.

    When her mother came to pick her remains, she was shot on her buttocks.

    Umar said that other residents quickly locked their doors while those outside scampered for safety while the indiscriminate shootings lasted.

    The command spokesman said six other persons sustained various degrees of injuries and were taken to Anka General Hospital with the assistance of the police.

    He said that the police recovered three bullet shells.

    Amiru said that normalcy had returned to the area and the police had commenced tracking of the attackers.

    He expressed confidence that the attackers would be arrested by the police.

     

  • Attack on Shiite procession: Boko Haram claims responsibility

    Attack on Shiite procession: Boko Haram claims responsibility

    •Death toll rises to 22

    The terror sect, Boko Haram, yesterday claimed responsibility for Friday’s suicide bombing on a Shiite procession in Kano State that claimed 21 lives on the spot.

    One more person was confirmed dead yesterday taking the death toll to 22.

    “For now, we have 22 deaths following the death of one more person yesterday. Thirty-eight people have also been injured, two of whom have been discharged from the hospital,” one of the organizers of the procession Ali Kakaki told AFP.

    Boko Haram said in a statement in Arabic on social media its bomber “detonated his explosives which led to the death” of the victims on Friday.

    “And by the permission of Allah these attacks of ours against Shitte polytheists will continue ýuntil we cleanse the earth of their filth,” it warned.

    Kakaki said that  despite the attack the Islamic Movement of Nigeria members had continued their march from Kano to Zaria where their leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky is based.

    The march is to mark Ashura, which commemorates the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

    “Following the attack, many more of our members have joined the procession,” Kakaki said, adding that they aimed to arrive at their destination later this week.

    Friday’s attack took place in the village of Dakasoye, some 20 kilometres south of Kano.

    One of the procession’s organisers said a bomber clad in black ran into the crowd and detonated his explosives.

  • Warning of possible Boko Haram attack unsettles Abuja

    A memo by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) about possible Boko Haram attacks has unsettled residents.

    Copies of the letter with reference number FCTA/SSD/S.781/VOL 1 and entitled “Forwarding of Intelligence” circulated in Abuja last night.

    The letter was addressed to the National Presidents of Jaamatu Nasril Islam (JNI), Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the General Manager of the Abuja Markets Management Limited (AMML).

    It was also copied to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Permanent Secretary of Federal Capital Territory Authority and the Acting Secretary, Area Councils’ Services Secretariat.

    The letter reads: “Intelligence reaching this office revealed that insurgents are planning to attack the Federal Capital Territory.

    “Their main targets are worship centres and markets with the use of young girls as members of groups to carry out their planned attacks.

    “It is in view of the foregoing, I am directed to inform you to communicate the content of this letter to all mosques, churches and markets across the FCT for extra-vigilance, particularly unknown persons dressing as aid workers loitering around the worship areas and markets.

    “The Nigerian Police has made available, contact numbers to report any suspicious persons or movement. These are: 09063872207, 09053872208 and 09053872209.

    “Please give the content of this letter the widest and fastest circulation to enable our worshippers to be vigilant and curb the menace of insurgency in the territory and beyond,” the letter stated.

    Explaining the memo’s source to The Nation on Saturday, Alhaji Adamu Gwari, the Deputy Director of Federal Capital Territory Authority’s Security Services Department said the letter was “based on intelligence that those insurgents have new methods of operation whereby they use young girls posing as members of aid groups.”

    He said: “We are informing members of the public that the method of the operation is based on intelligence received that they would be targeting worship places and markets.

    “So, we decided to inform the most important bodies, that is, the two religious bodies and the General Manager of Abuja Market Management Limited so that they can give the content of the letter the widest circulation.

    “In the letter, you can see that we specified the possible use of young girls as members of aid groups; we had to intimate the religious bodies so that they can know or monitor those whom they deploy to their worship places. It is based on the intelligence we received that we decided that members of the public should be told to be vigilant about that particular group of people.

  • Russian plane black boxes point to ‘attack’

    Black box data from the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt penultimate  week indicate it was bombed, sources said, ahead of the Egyptian-led probe into the disaster.

    Both the flight data and voice recorders failed 24 minutes after the plane took off from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh resort en route to Saint Petersburg on October 31, when it plummeted from the sky into the Sinai Peninsula killing all 224 people on board.

    Cairo and Moscow initially dismissed a claim Islamic State (IS) jihadists downed the plane, but mounting evidence that the Airbus A321 was attacked has prompted a growing list of governments to warn against travel to Sharm el-Sheikh.

    On Friday, President Vladimir Putin ordered all Russian flights to Egypt halted, in a fresh blow to the country’s already struggling tourism industry.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told news agencies the measure did not mean Moscow believed the crash — the worst aviation disaster in Russia’s history — was due to an attack, and the investigation continued.

    The head of Russia’s emergencies ministry said Russian experts had taken samples from the crashed jet and were testing it for any traces of explosives.

    But a source close to the investigation told AFP the black box data “strongly favours” the theory a bomb on board brought down the plane.

    Another person close to the case in Paris said the plane had suffered “a violent, sudden” end, saying: “Everything was normal during the flight, absolutely normal, and suddenly there was nothing.”

    Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal and the head of the Egyptian-led investigation into the disaster are to hold a news conference at 1500 GMT on Saturday, the ministry confirmed.

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s office said he called Putin and they agreed to bolster coordination to “strengthen security measures for Russian planes”.

     

  • 7 killed, 17 injured in Borno attack – NEMA

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has confirmed that seven people were killed on Friday morning in a suicide attack inside a mosque at Molai, a settlement on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital.

    The attack also left 17 people wounded according to NEMA spokesman in North-East, Abdulkadir Ibrahim in a short sms message.

    “At umarari bayan waya, at around some minutes pass 5 AM today, 16 Oct, 2015. the suicide attack was carried out by three female suicide bombers.

    “17 casualties were taken to specialist Hospital, seven deaths including the suicide bombers,” Abdulkadir stated.

    According to him, the Village Head of Molai , Alhaji Balama Bako said the female bombers walked confidently into the mosque at about 5.30am and detonated the IEDs, killing seven including the three of them.

    Gov. Kashim Shettima with the Director General of NEMA, Sani Sidi went on a sympathy visit to Molai community and other parts of the metropolis to visits victims of terror.

  • Tension as gunmen attack army post in Bayelsa

     

    There was tension in Bayelsa State yesterday following an attack on an army post at Kolo Creek, Ogbia Local Government Area of the state by unknown gunmen.

    The military post is primarily stationed in the area to guard an oil field operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    The gunmen, who operated in a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), were said to have stormed the post, carting away arms and ammunition.

    A civilian guard working at the facility was said to have been shot dead by the bandits. A security source who spoke in confidence said it was still a mystery how the gunmen stole the weapons.

    “What we learnt was that the gunmen, who rode on an SUV, stopped close to the army post, walked majestically into the post and dismantled the General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG). They took the GPMG and other riffle and ammunition, entered their vehicle and zoomed off.”

    He said the gunmen may have killed the civilian guard on a suspicion that he recognised them.

    “We are still trying to know what happened to the soldiers. It was either they were asleep or that they were overpowered by the gunmen. The incident happened at about 5:30am. You know election is also around the corner,” he said.

    It was learnt that the incident has heightened fears of violence ahead of the governorship election scheduled to hold on December 5.

    The All Progressive Congress (APC) and its candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Chief Seriake Dickson, are the main rivals in the poll.

    The corpse of the deceased, identified as Mr. Austin Igwe, was reportedly evacuated by policemen from Ogbia Division and soldiers of Operation Pulo Shield (OPS) and was later deposited in a mortuary.

    Confirming the incident, the Chairman, Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Ogbia Clan, Mr. Osanya B. Osanya, condemned the attack.

    He called on security agencies to be vigilant, especially in view of the coming elections in the state.

    He said some politicians were desperate and could do anything, including sponsoring violence and bloodshed to win the election.

    “The leadership under my watch will, as a matter of importance, partner with the security agencies to rid our area of criminality. We also advise our youths to be at alert and not to allow some politicians to use them as willing tools to destroy our council,” he said.

    The Spokesman of OPS, Lt.-Col Isa Ado, could not be reached for his comment.

  • Army denies attack on Maiduguri

    •Urges calm

    The military in Maiduguri yesterday denied that the town was attacked.

    Residents reported explosions in some parts of the town. The situation caused panic.

    But spokesman for the 7 Division, Maiduguri Col. Tukur Gusau told our correspondent on the phone that the Army was testing its equipment. He urged residents to remain calm.

    Said he: “There is no attack in any part of Maiduguri as I speak with you today (Sunday). The sound the people are hearing is from our men. It is a routine check of our equipment and hardware. We are testing our equipment as part of measures to ensure that they are in good condition so as to be ready for any eventuality.

    “We appeal to Maiduguri residents not to panic. They should remain calm. The town is not under attack. The military is fully in control.

    “We advise residents to report suspicious movements of persons.”