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Tag: Borno State

  • JUST IN: Eight die, 15 injured in Maiduguri bomb explosion

    JUST IN: Eight die, 15 injured in Maiduguri bomb explosion

    No fewer than eight people died and fifteen others injured in a bomb explosion in Gwoza Local Government area of Borno State on Saturday, the police have confirmed. 

    Borno Police spokesman ASP Nahum Kenneth Daso reported that the tragic incident occurred on around 03:40 pm on Saturday. 

    Read Also: Vandals destroy rebuilt TCN towers on Damaturu- Maiduguri line

    It was gathered the explosion occurred when a woman carrying a baby detonated an Improvised Explosive Device IED at a busy motor park in Mararaba T. Junction in Gwoza town. 

    She died with the baby and six others with fifteen injured receiving treatment at General Hospital Gwoza.

    Details Shortly.. 

  • Boko Haram kills three soldiers, wound eight others in fresh attack

    The  Army has confirmed the killing of three soldiers while eight were wounded when troops encountered Boko Haram Terrorists along Monguno-Mairari-Gajiram axis in Borno state.

    Its spokesman, Col Sagir Musa, said the Chief of Army Staff Lt.Gen Tukur Buratai and other top military officers have visited the area and commiserated with troops.

    He explained in a statement that the wounded soldiers have been evacuated to a military hospital for medical attention.

    Col Musa said:”Troops of Sector  3, Operation LAFIYA DOLE attached to Super Camp Monguno on Friday 30th August 2019 while on patrol dealt a devastating blow on Boko Haram terrorists along Monguno-Mairari-Gajiram axis.

    Read Also: Air Force Jets strike Boko Haram terrorists in Sambisa

    ” The patrol team came in contact with the terrorists and engaged them with heavy volume of fire that neutralized countless number while a few escaped with gun shot wounds going by blood trails in the general area.

    “The gallant troops also recovered some weapons and equipment  from the terrorists.

    “Sadly, during the encounter 3 of our gallant soldiers paid the supreme price while 8 other soldiers sustained injuries. The bodies of the fallen heroes and those that sustained injuries have since been evacuated.

    “The wounded are being treated and are in stable condition. The highly motivated troops have continued combing the general area with a view to clear remnants of hiding terrorists.

    “The Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General TY Buratai, along with some Principal Staff Officers from the Army Headquarters, Theatre Commander Operation LAFIYA DOLE and other Commanders, have visited the troops and those wounded in action.  ”

     

  • Buhari greets Gov. Zulum at 50

    President Muhammadu Buhari has rejoiced with Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, as he hits the golden age of 50.

    The governor on the presidential delegation to the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama, Japan, got a goodwill message from the President.

    President Buhari, according to a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Chief Femi Adesina, wished him good health, long life, and strength to serve his people dutifully, having been inaugurated as governor last May 29.

    Professor Zulum, an academic and politician, holds a Ph.D in Soil and Water Engineering, and was Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement under the Kashim Shettima administration.

     

     

  • NLC cautions Fed Govt over delay in new wage

    THE delay in the implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage, rising insecurity and Federal Government’s plan to divest its 40 per cent stake in the electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos), were among the issues discussed on Monday by organised Labour.

    Officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) rose from their National Executive Council (NEC) meeting with a call on the government at all levels to immediately implement of the new national minimum wage.

    They said the government can no longer hide under the protracted negotiation with workers on consequential adjustment to delay the implementation.

    In a communique by its President, Ayuba Wabba and outgoing General Secretary Peter Ozo-Eson, the NLC expressed concern that no tier of the government has implemented the national minimum wage since it was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    According to the congress, the payment of the new wage should commence immediately, effective from the day the New National Minimum Wage was signed by the President.

    On rising insecurity, the Congress resolved to organise a national security summit to discuss and proffer solution.

    The communique reads: “As part of Labour contribution to finding solution to the security challenges in the country, the NLC would convene a national security summit to dispassionately engage the current challenge of insecurity in Nigeria and proffer sustainable solutions.

    “Prior to the proposed Security Summit, the NEC resolved that NLC would hold rallies across Nigeria to sensitise government and citizens on the need to urgently arrest the current drift in security.”

    The NLC noted that the recent confession by a bandit that helicopters dropped weapons for criminals was suggestive of possible collusion between criminal elements and big-time financiers of criminality.

    It also decried the upsurge in insurgent attacks in three local government areas of Gubio, Magumeri and Konduga in Borno State and the villages of Dille, Lassa, Ngurthlavu, Dagu, Yaffa, Maikadiri and Kidlindila in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State.

    Read Also: NLC begs FG to release Sowore, 26 others

    According to the NLC, the victims of the renewed security breaches have always been workers and defenceless citizens, warning that the trend could impact negatively on the economy if not checked.

    The primary responsibility of government, the NLC said, “is the security of lives and property”. It called on the government at all levels to rein the resurgence in criminality and brigandage.

    “We call for improvement in the quality and quantity of policing deployed for the security of citizens and property and emphasized the need for improved intelligence gathering and the use of technology as being of utmost importance as effective measures in the fight against crime, brigandage and terrorism”, the communique added.

    On electricity, the NLC expressed concern over media reports that the government plans to divest 40 per cent of its shares in DisCos and GenCos, even as it decried persistence power outages.

    Restating its opposition to increase in electricity tariff, the NLC said: “It’s the conviction of the NEC that continuous hike in electricity tariff and persistent power outages present huge financial burden for businesses thus making goods and services produced in Nigeria not to be competitive as goods cum services produced elsewhere.”

     

     

  • Submerged Adamawa bridge rekindles pains of Boko Haram insurgency

    Residents of Michika community in Adamawa State were reminded at the weekend of the pains that Boko Haram insurgents inflicted on them when they destroyed an all-important bridge in the area about five years ago. The makeshift alternative was washed away by flood last weekend, leaving stranded travellers to lament the ugly fate that befell them, ONIMISI ALAO reports

     

    MATTHEW Yohana, a native of Michika town who lives in Yola, had just arrived Dilchim, a community some six kilometres to his hometown. He had departed Yola, the Adamawa State capital in a commercial vehicle last Saturday on a weekend visit to his native community, not knowing that a downpour that began in the night of penultimate Friday had continued to the early hours of the next day, causing a major river in Dilchim to overflow its bounds and cover the bridge that he and his fellow travellers would have crossed to Michika.

    Standing on the edge of the submerged bridge with his travelling bag hanging over his left shoulder, Yohana said: “I came from my workplace in Yola this morning to spend the weekend with my extended family. But now I will probably have to return to Yola after travelling hundreds of kilometres, because everywhere around the link bridge here is flooded and I can’t go further.”

    Michika town is 223 kilometres from away from Yola, meaning that Yohana had already travelled about 217 kilometres. He found it frustrating that he could not make the remaining six kilometres for the reunion he had anticipated with his people.

    And while the flood at Dilchim had eased considerably by Monday, the people were still far from being able to travel because their journey would be hampered by a damaged bridge. The destruction of the bridge was a confirmation of the fear the residents of Michika and others in neighbouring Madagali Local Government Area had nursed since 2014 that any serious flood incident around the bridge could cut them off from other parts of the state.

    Around Michika Local Government Area, the rain had poured heavily for hours, causing rivers to overflow their banks and turning the lowlands in the communities into seas of swirling floods. The impact of the floods was felt the most in the area over which a long bridge was built in Dilchim. Travellers from Madagali to Michika and others seeking to travel from communities in the two local government areas to other parts of the state were stranded for close to 48 hours.

    Until 2014, the Dilchim Bridge had dutifully linked Michika and Madagali, the two local government at the northern end of Adamawa State, with the remaining parts of the state southwards. The all-important bridge also links Adamawa with neighbouring Borno State and the Republic of Cameroon. Then in 2014, the rampaging Boko Haram sect seized seven local government areas mostly in the northern part of Adamawa, including Michika and Madagali, destroying many strategic institutions and infrastructure including Dilchim Bridge.

    The deadly sect had destroyed the bridge midstream, making travelling on it impossible and forcing travellers to use a makeshift passage that was usable in the dry season but impossible to use when it rains with some intensity, such as the people witnessed between Saturday and Sunday, when flood washed off the makeshift alternative.

    The flood of last Saturday which in effect cut off the people of Michika and Madagali LGAs from the other 19 LGAs of Adamawa State, reminded Michika people of the harm that Boko Haram had done to them.

    While the Boko Haram elements had in their destructive craving blown off a huge chunk of the long Dilchim Bridge in 2014, the military, which was deployed to contain their excesses, had blown off the nearby Kudzum Bridge on the same trunk A road leading to Michika, to prevent the Boko Haram elements from advancing to other parts of the state.

    In 2014, the Boko Haram sect had seized Michika, Madagali and five other LGAs in Adamawa State, namely Mubi North, Mubi South, Maiha, Gombi and Hong, in a bid to carve out a territory of their own. They carried out extensive destruction during the period, rendering the Dilchim Bridge useless to vehicles, among other things that were destroyed.

    The deadly sect held sway in those areas from September 2014 when they ‘conquered’ the seven Adamawa LGAs to January 29, 2015 when the military succeeded in liberating the LGAs. Today, the people of Michika and Madagali and other concerned individuals and groups are lamenting that five years down the line, two major bridges destroyed by or because of Boko Haram are yet to be reconstructed.

    The Federal Government had in 2016 awarded the contract for the reconstruction of the bridges, but work got to a very slow start, and the senator representing Northern Adamawa Zone at the time, Binta Masi Garba, had to urge patience. She had said on a visit to the sites: “I am pleading with the members of Mubi, Madagali and Michika communities to be patient as we are working round the clock to see that this road and the collapsed bridges are fixed. These two destroyed bridges, in particular, are the greatest problem of our people. I’m happy that they are captured in the 2017 budget.”

    Read Also: Air Force hits another Boko Haram tactical base in Borno

    Two years later, in 2018, Binta found herself asking for the revocation of the contract for the bridges. Binta, who was reacting to the request of a group of people protesting the slow pace of work, asked the Federal Government to revoke the N20 billion contract over the allegation of incompetence levelled by the people against the contractor.

    The contractor, Gertz Zheradin of RHAS Nigeria Ltd, had shot back, attributing the snail speed of contract execution to delays in mobilisation and progress-inhibiting rains.

    More recently, Binta’s successor, Sen Ishaku Abbo, was furious when he visited the sites of the bridges, shortly before the Saturday flood, and saw things that were entirely different from what he said he was told.

    Abbo said: “Meeting with the contractors in Abuja, they assured me that work was already ongoing; that Kudzum Bridge was under construction and that the problem they are having is the rainfall which stopped them from erecting the full bridge. They said that their machines are here on site.

    “On reaching here today, I could only see a single crane. We are saying that we don’t see even a single person on site working. It should be noted that there was a budget provision for this work, and so far, based on record available to me, contractors received nearly N2 billion to do this work. If they received N2 billion, and this is what we see on the site, and this is the level of work, something needs to be done.”

    Adamawa State governor, Rt Hon Ahmadu Fintiri, who visited the Dilchim Bridge site after the flood of last Saturday, called for accelerated efforts on the part of the Federal Government in fixing the bad bridges.

    “The delay in the execution of the project has crippled business in the area and brought untold hardship to the people of Michika and Madagali who also have been cut off from other parts of the country,” Fintiri said.

    He pleaded that in the meantime, palliative steps should be taken to enable fairly dependable passage.

  • Zulum shuns Sallah as troops repel insurgents in Borno town

     BORNO State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum on Sunday visited Gubio Local Government area, after soldiers of the 5 Brigade repelled dozens of Boko Haram fighters, who stormed the council.

    For seven hours, there was a gun battle between the insurgents and troops.

    The governor’s trip came after he set aside activities lined up for the Sallah  celebration, including a lunch with stakeholders of All Progressives Congress (APC) and a traditional visit by the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai Al-Amin Elkanemi, to the Government House. The monarch’s visit usually takes place at 4pm on every Sallah day.

    Zulum postponed the Shehu’s visit till today.

    The governor visited the area alongside a member of the House of Representatives representing Gubio, Kaga and Magumeri federal constituency, Usman Zannah and some government officials.

    Read Also: Borno: Police ban street begging

    He first visited the Headquarters of the 5 Brigade in Gubio town, where a meeting, hosted by the brigade’s commander, Colonel I.A. Ajose and attended by the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major-General Benson Akinroloyo and the caretaker chairman of Gubio, Zannah Modu Gubio and other government officials was held.

    The caretaker chairman told Zulum that it was the gallant resistance by soldiers of the brigade, which saved Gubio from being taken over on Sallah’s eve.

    Zulum lauded the troops of the Brigade for their gallantry and patriotism.

  • New structure to tackle challenge

    THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has said it will collaborate with the Borno State Government and North East Development Commission to develop a new structure towards eliminating coordination gap in humanitarian response in the North East.

    The Director-General of NEMA, Alhaji Mustapha Maihaja, made the disclosure when he hosted Mr Richard Danziger, International Organisations for Migration (IOM), Regional Director for West Africa, on Wednesday in Abuja.

    Maihaja, who said that coordination gap had been a thorny issue in the activities of NEMA in the North East, assured the IOM official that the initiative by the three agencies would resolve it.

    He explained that a secretariat solely for coordination of activities would be establish and all parties would be represented to ensure that the objective of providing succour was attained without delay.

    “In our efforts to improve in our humanitarian response to make it more effective and efficient, we are developing a new structure in our approach.

    “ We are collaborating with the Borno State Government and the North East Development Commission so that the gap created in the past, in the coordination front, is reduced to the barest minimum, if not totally eliminated.

    “ Currently, we are holding monthly humanitarian coordination forum and, in the course of our discussion in the last three months, we were able to identify critical areas that need our collective efforts, particularly shelter. Areas affected are Damboa and some camps in Gumel camp in Maiduguri,” he said.

    Maihaja said that issues of security of personnel that would be involved would be made a priority, adding that without security, the activities of NEMA and other agencies would not be effective.

    He assured the official that government would liaise with the military authority to devise a mechanism of reaching to the people that are trapped somewhere within the North East.

  • How Boko Haram killed 68 Badu village mourners, by Borno council chair

    Caretaker  Committee Chairman of Nganzai Local Government Area Alhaji Mohammed Bulama has explained how some insurgents launched attack on villagers, who went to bury one of their own at Badu Village in the local government, Borno State.

    Bulama said the insurgents rode on about five motorcycles to launch the dastardly attack on unsuspecting mourners.

    He spoke to reporters at Gajiram, the headquarters of Nganzai Local Government when Governor Babagana Zulum visited to condole with the affected families.

    The caretaker committee chairman said about 60 people were killed and 10 people were also injured in the unfortunate incident.

    The latest attack on the village, a source said, might have been caused by a previous blow on the insurgents by security agents and vigilante group.

    “There was a  previous security encounter between Boko Haram and security agencies in this village and the insurgents suffered a major setback as many of their weapons were recovered by the Army. They are still angry over that attack and that might have prompted their action to go after the villagers at the burial ground,” the source said.

    Zulum, who condemned the attack equally, reaffirmed his  commitment to strengthen more ties with  security agencies to protect lives and property of the citizenry.

    He  condoled  with the  families and relations of the  murdered villagers and called on the villagers to take their personal security more serious and they should be more vigilant.

    He also  prayed  for the repose of the souls  the departed  and  God to grant the families of the deceased the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

    The governor was also  at the State  Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri to sympathise with those who sustained various injuries during the attack.

    The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres yesterday strongly condemned the recent spate of attacks against civilians in Nigeria, including the attack on 27 July in Borno State.

     The Secretary-General expressed his deep condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and people of Nigeria.

    He wishes a speedy recovery to the injured. He hopes those responsible for these attacks will be swiftly brought to justice.

    Reports yesterday indicated that troops have repelled attack by Boko Haram insurgents in Bama and Beneshiek.

    Beneshiek,  which is located on the Damaturu/Maiduguri highway is  75 kilometres (km) to Maiduguri and 60-km away from Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.

    Modu Ari, one of the resident of Beneshiek, who spoke to The Nation from his hiding place on phone, said they started hearing gunshots and heavy artillery sounds  from far until they learnt that the insurgents were chased out of the town.

  • How to rescue Southwest from criminals, by Omatseye

    The Editorial Board Chairman of The Nation Newspapers, Mr. Sam Omatseye, has said the creation of a civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) is a potent measure to checkmate kidnappers and other criminals in the Southwest.

    He said the deployment of drones to track down men of the underworld in the region has become expedient with the woes of the intelligence agencies to stem insecurity afflicting the country.

    The frontline journalist said if these measures are taken, they would boost the intelligence gathering for security agencies in combing the hideouts of kidnappers, killers and other criminals.

    Omatseye said the abatement of the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast was boosted by civilian JTF constituted by former Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima in collaboration with the military.

    The multiple award-winning columnist, who was represented by Obanla of Ijesa Isu Ekiti, Oba Gabriel-Oso Adeniyi, spoke yesterday while delivering a lecture, titled: To Secure, First We Have To Love: Herdsmen, Kidnappers, Boko Haram and the Climate of Fear.

    The occasion was the maiden edition of a public lecture organised by the Faculty of Arts, Ekiti State University (EKSU) in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

    He added that the bombings and killings in the Northeast, particularly in Borno State, could have persisted but for fearlessness of the locals who formed the civilian JTF for robust intelligence gathering.

    “With each afraid of the other, we can’t stop banditry or herdsmen crisis, or even Boko Haram. We need a leadership of fairness and fearlessness.

    “What did the former Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima do to drive out Boko Haram among the people? They were the civilian JTF. We need drones as intelligence when the military has failed us.

    “We need to create civilian equivalents of the JTF in the Southwest and other parts of the country. The JTF can gather intelligence about the whereabouts of these killers; the drones can then monitor where exactly they are and the Air Force and soldiers can go to work,” Omatseye said.

    Read Also: Omatseye delivers Igbinedion varsity lecture

    He added: “On the military level, why are they not using drones to target and isolate and knock out hoodlums? Are they not human beings? Are they not living among us? Are they spirits?”

    On why the herdsmen clashes and kidnapping might be difficult to resolve or permanently stamped out, Omatseye said: “Do we have the political will that will give us permanent peace to these crises? If we have the political will, then there will be peace; otherwise, there won’t be.”

    The frontline journalist disagreed with the call by the Prof Ango Abdullahi-led Northern Elders Forum (NEF) that all herders in the South should return to the North for their safety.

    “Sending herders away from the Southwest or any other part of the South is not the solution. If they go, where would they be settled? Where would the South get cow meat from?

    “I believe we must learn how to coexist. But we must also build an atmosphere of mutual trust for us to be able to benefit from each other.”

    Omatseye advised Nigerians to see security as everybody’s business and not the sole responsibility of the government and security agencies.

    Acting Vice Chancellor Prof. Olubunmi Ajayi said no society, which puts value on human lives, would underrate insecurity with its current tension across the country.

    “This is an issue that bothers all the citizens of the nation, regardless of race and tribes. So, it is the right issue to discuss,” she said.

     

  • How I brought RUGA to Abia, by Orji Kalu

    THE controversy trailing the aborted establishment of RUGA settlements for Fulani herders in parts of the country may be far from over.

    Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, on Friday said that the apprehension being expressed over the plan by the Federal Government to create Fulani settlements for herders under the acronym name of RUGA was misplaced.

    He told reporters in Abuja that he established a successful RUGA settlement in Abia State when he was governor of the state in 2001.

    The controversial cattle market, he said, is located in Lokpanta, Umunneochi Local Government Area, along Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.

    The Abia North senator noted that necessity pushed him to pioneer the establishment of RUGA in the state.

    He insisted that the establishment of RUGA in parts of the country was not what anybody should be worried about.

    Kalu said that it was wrong for some people to see cow business as exclusively for the Fulani.

    He said that the settlement he created for Fulani herders has become the biggest cow market in the South east and the South south.

    Cattle business, which he described as profitable, he said, has become the trade of the elite in the country.

    The boisterous senator said the Federal Government should do necessary consultations and engagements with the people before implementing any policy to avoid misunderstanding.

    Kalu said, “When you talk about RUGA, it is not anything that people should be worried about. In 2001 I established RUGA in Abia.

    “In Lokpanta,( Umunneochi LGA Abia North) I built a place where the whole cattle is sold in Umuahia and Aba, in 2001, when I became governor.

    “I built it and they called me I said Umuahia and Aba, we need to de-congest.

    “What they call Shoprite today, used to be cattle settlement if anybody knows that. The same thing with Aba I had an honest meeting with them where I said I was going to provide electricity and water but this is where you are going to be.

    “I procured five Coaster buses and said bring your RUGA, I will join with some of your executives, let us go and see this land. If it is agreeable by all of us, I will call the communities and talk to them.

    “We had meetings and the communities said yes, they took off in Lokpanta.  That is the biggest cow market in both Southsouth and Southeast. It is the biggest cattle market today.

    “This is the issue, the Federal government should always do a wide consultation because if you just go back and put a deliberate policy, I want to do RUGA, people in my village in Igbere do not understand what RUGA is.

    “They will fear and say that they want to kill all of us. Some of us are the largest sellers of cattle. I started selling cows as far back as when I was in the university (of Maidugiri Borno State.)

    “I am still selling cow till tomorrow, because it is profitable. Most of the cattle you see are also not owned by the Hausa-Fulani in our area. Uzuakoli people and the surrounding areas also trade in cattle.

    Read Also: The Ruga conundrum

    “People should have information. Information is power and power is information.

    “They have kept at being critical of everybody, government, tribe, there is too much hatred by politicians. Everything is politics in Nigeria. When a Nigerian cannot pick food to eat, politicians are politicizing everything.

    “Nobody talks about the interest of Nigeria, everybody talks about the interest of his village. It is high time our politicians started being Nigerian politician not the Igbere politician, not ethnic politicians but they should see themselves as Nigerian politicians working for Nigeria.”

    On African Continental Free Trade Area, he said “If we must be in competition on ACFTA, the Federal government must designate Kano, Kaduna, Onitsha, Nnewi, Aba, Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt and make this places special cases that the Federal Government will pump in money.

    ‘It is like what I have said before, the Tradermoni is very good, but it is not the best of options because it is not sustainable. It is a very good programme but it is not sustainable.

    “For me, Tradermoni could have been money that would go into agriculture. You pick four business men in each zone if it is in Kano you tell them to go and get groundnut and cotton, same directive in the respective zones and their crops of comparative advantage.

    “Give them N10billion directly not through the banks. If you give them through the banks, the banks will keep the money.  Give them this money at one per cent interest rate.

    “They will develop agriculture and employ people. Each of them may employ about five to six thousand persons directly in the agricultural sector. This will be a big boost to the economy.”

    “It was very good to have the Tradermoni scheme but if I had the opportunity, I will have the tradermoni but spend half of the money on tradermoni and use the other half to invest in agriculture.”

    On appointments by the Federal Government, Kalu said that it does not bother him who is appointed.

    His interest, he said, is what the appointees have to offer the country and its citizens.

    He added that “for me the Eastern part of this country has been neglected for quite a long but now we have started redressing it. The Second Niger Bridge is coming. President Buhari is doing it.

    Kalu however noted that there might be the need to spread the appointment of Service Chiefs.

    On the alleged jumbo pay for National Assembly members, Kalu said that there was nothing like jumbo pay for them.

    The Abia senator said that had received his June salary to discover that the talk about jumbo pay was false.