The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kaduna

  • Updated: Again, armed bandits kill 45 in Kaduna village

    Barely three days after Inspector-General of Police (IGP), visited Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna, suspected bandits have invaded a community in the area, killing 47 persons, including women and children.

    Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, while condemning the attack said, he has gotten the Federal Government’s nod for establishment of a permanent Army battalion in Birnin-Gwari.

    The IGP had during his last Wednesday visit ordered immediate deployment of additional 200 police personnel to the area.

    The dare-devil armed bandits stormed Gwaska village around 2:30pm on Saturday, killing 47 persons and setting many houses ablaze.

    Members of the Birnin-Gwari Vanguard for Security and Good Governance who pleaded anonymity said the gunmen came in from the neighbouring Zamfara state.

    “The armed bandits came from neighbouring Zamfara state and encircled Gwaska up to neighbouring Kuiga village shooting sporadically,

    “27 people have been killed. Most of them are even women and children.

    “We would continue to appeal to the authorities to take urgent steps to forestall further attacks and extinction of communities in Birnin Gwari local government area,” the source said.

    The source added that  many people were still missing and that arrangements were being made to evacuate those who sustained injuries during the attack.

    When contacted, Aliyu Mukhtar, spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, promised to get the details and get back,  but he had not done so as of the time this report.

    However, Governor El-Rufai in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan commiserated with the people of Birnin Gwari Emirate over the attack he described as fatal.
    He said, “to contain the situation, the military will be stationing a permanent Army battalion in Birnin-Gwari.”

    El-Rufai said, he was concerned by the incessant banditry attacks and has been engaging with the Federal Government on the matter.

    According to him, “The Kaduna State Government has received with sadness reports of the murder of our citizens by armed bandits in Birnin Gwari. The government has sent a message of condolence to the people of Birnin Gwari Emirate.”

    “Kaduna State Government is deeply committed to overcoming the unfortunate criminality and banditry being carried out against innocent citizens in Birnin Gwari local government.

    “The engagements between the state and federal governments have yielded results. President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the establishment of a permanent battalion of the Nigerian Army in the Birnin Gwari general area.

    “The new security arrangements also involve policing. The Inspector General of Police has already announced the creation of the Birnin Gwari Police Area Command and two new Divisional Police Headquarters.

    “The State Emergency Management Agency, has also been directed to provide relief materials with immediate effect to the affected communities,” said the Governor.

  • Kaduna: Two mechanics face trial for alleged assault

    Two auto-mechanics, Aminu Isa and Mohammed Mustapha, on Wednesday, appeared before a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Daura, Kaduna for allegedly assaulting a police officer.

    Isa, 20, and Ibrahim, 19, both of Ungwan Sanusi in Kaduna, are facing a four-count charge of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, possession of offensive weapons and causing harm.

    The prosecutor, Insp Felicia Samson, said on March 29 at about 2.00 p.m., a team of policemen on patrol, intercepted a group of youths called Sara Suka gang at Sabon Gari area of Ungwan Sarki in Kaduna.

    The prosecutor told the court that the accused persons, who were among the youth, were allegedly armed with knives and cutlasses before they were arrested.

    Samson said that during the arrest, Isa allegedly stabbed one of the police officers in the hand with a broken bottle.

    Samson noted that the offences contravened Sections 59, 67, 22 and 77 of the Penal Code, Laws of Kaduna State 2017.

    The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty.

    The magistrate, Mrs Zainab Mohammed, granted bail to the accused persons each in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties each in the like sum.

    Mohammed said the sureties must reside within the jurisdiction of the court and one of the sureties must be a biological parent of the defendants.

    Mohammed adjourned the case to May 10 for hearing.

    NAN

     

  • Armed thugs disrupt Senator Hunkuyi’s meeting in Kaduna

    Thugs, armed with matchette on Sunday disrupted a meeting convened by Senator Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi with members of the All Progressives Congress from Kaduna Central Senatorial District at NUT Endwell Hotel.
    The meeting attended by representatives from each of the local governments and the district was at  being rounded up when some thugs, numbering about ten stormed the venue, breaking car windshields before policemen shot into the air to disperse them.
    But party faithfuls who had converged on the conference hall of the hotel scampered for safety and the meeting came to an abrupt end.
    Five persons sustained injuries and were moved to Barau Dikko hospital before the police quickly moved in to disperse the thugs.
    Senator Hunkuyi had last week met with party faithfuls from the Kaduna south senatorial district in Kafanchan where he promised to reinstate teachers and district heads sacked by the Kaduna state government.
    Earlier in his speech, Senator Hunkuyi told his supporters that they must resist any attempt at selecting delegates at the forthcoming ward and local government convention of the party, noting they delegates must emerge through election.
    According to the Senator, “there are perfected plans against ensuring that congresses do not hold to elect delegates through election but to read out names to be affirmed as delegates by the government in power.
    “For this reason this meeting has been convened to inform you of such plans and to inform you that my mind is already made up to contest the position of governorship come 2019 and send Malam Nasir el-Rufai to where he rightfully belong.
    “This meeting is also aimed at informing you, plans by the government not to allow Congresses where delegates will be elected but to bring out names written from government house to be affirmed as delegates.
    “Don’t allow yourselves to be used and dumped again, let’s join forces together to send packing this government of the state who has meted injustice to people and have no iota of regard to peoples right and feelings”.
    He urged stakeholders of the party from the zone  to constitute committee members of unquestionable characters and bring out trustworthy persons to contest as Ward, local and state delegates, assuring that he will support such contestants.

  • IG’s absence stalls hearing of Shi’ites’ case against Kaduna

    •State files fresh charges against Zakzaky, wife, others

    THE absence of Inspector General (IG) Ibrahim Idris yesterday stalled the hearing of a suit filed by the Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky-led Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) against Kaduna State government, following its proscription.

    El-Rufai’s administration, in October 2016, declared the Zakzaky group as “an unlawful” group.

    The IMN filed the suit seeking to overturn the proscription. It joined seven others in the suit as respondents over what it called harassment of its members.

    But The Nation learnt that the government has filed fresh 18-count charges against Zakzaky, his wife and two others.

    The interlocutory application slated for hearing yesterday could not be heard because the IG had not been served hearing notice and was not represented in court.

    Justice Saleh Musa Shuaibu directed that the hearing notice be served on the IG ahead of adjourned May 16 date.

    Speaking to reporters outside the court, counsel to IMN, Alex Ajodo, said they intend filing a counter affidavit.

    On his impression about the adjournment, he said it was in order.

    “The same interlocutory applications could not be heard today because the IG has not been served.

    “The adjournment came about and the court directed that the hearing motion be served on the IG along with all the processes filed,” he said.

    Followers of Zakzaky had on December 12, 2015, clashed with soldiers, when the sect members blocked the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff in Zaria.

    The clash, which lasted for three days, claimed scores of lives.

    The sect leader and his wife were arrested and taken to DSS custody, where they have been since 2015.

  • Court discharges woman accused of assaulting police officer

    A Barnawa Customary Court, Kaduna, on Thursday discharged a 31-year-old woman, Obi Rachael, who was alleged to have assaulted a police officer.

    The judge, Mr Dauda John, discharged the defendant following an application by the prosecutor, Sgt. Zaradeen Umar, who told the court to strike out the case for lack of complainant’s interest.

    John said “having heard the prosecution’s application to strike out the suit for lack of complainant’s interest, the case is hereby struck out.

    “The defendant is also discharged of all criminal charges.”

    He, however, warned the defendant never to commit such offence again.

    Rachael, a resident of Federal Housing Gonigora in Kaduna, was accused of assaulting a police officer while he was on duty.

    She had pleaded not guilty to the allegations on Jan. 12, when she was arraigned and was granted bail.

    Earlier, the prosecutor had told the court that the defendant had always appeared in court for the matter, but the complainant, Murtala Dangana, never appeared in court.

    Read Also: Court dismisses N10m case against police

    Umar said that there are two other officers who were witnesses in the matter, but also refused to appear in court to testify.

    He further stated that all efforts to make the complainant and the two witnesses to come to court proved abortive.

    The newsmen, recalls that the matter was reported at the Television Police Station on Jan. 8, by Sgt. Murtala Dangana.

    The defendant was driving without a licence, and the complainant who was on duty at Peugeot Junction, Kaduna, stopped her.

    The defendant stopped, started arguing with the complainant and in the process assaulted him.

    NAN

  • NiMet predicts cloudy skies, rain showers on Wednesday

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy weather conditions over the central states of the country on Wednesday morning with chances of localised rain showers over Abuja, Minna, Bida, Ilorin, Lokoja, Mambilla and Jalingo axis.

    NiMet’s Weather Outlook by its Central Forecast Office in Abuja on Tuesday also predicted day and night temperatures in the range of 33 to 41 and 25 to 28 degrees Celsius respectively.

    It added that places like Yola, Jos, Kaduna and Makurdi axis were expected to be under the influence of localised thunderstorms during afternoon and evening hours.

    The agency predicted that the southern States would experience cloudy conditions with chances of isolated thunderstorms over Ogoja, Ikom, Obudu and environs in the morning hours.

    It also predicted isolated thunderstorms over the southwest and coastal axis during the afternoon and evening hours with day and night temperatures of 32 to 35 and 21 to 26 degrees Celsius respectively.

    According to NiMet, Northern States will experience partly cloudy to cloudy conditions in the morning hours with chances of localised thunderstorm over Maiduguri and Kebbi axis.

    “Northern States are expected to have day and night temperatures in the range of 43 to 43 and 26 to 30 degrees Celsius respectively.

    “With moisture as far as the extreme north, thunderstorms are probable across the country within the next 24 hours,” NiMet predicts.

    NAN

     

  • El-Rufai’s blunders making it easier for PDP to win in 2019 – Sani-Bello

    Dr Muhammad Sani-Bello, a leading member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State, says Governor Nasiru El-Rufai’s blunders is making it easier for the PDP to return to power 2019.

    Sani-Bello said in an interview with our reporters in Kaduna that the APC-administration in the state had sidelined the people and failed in giving them hope.

    “Before 2015, nobody envisaged that over 40, 000 civil servants will be relieved of their jobs; we never knew that 350 district heads will lose their jobs or that chiefdoms will be cancelled.

    “From history, the governor is not a pro-people and people agent, because he is elite by all standards.

    “When he had the opportunity to serve as Director- General Bureau of Public Enterprises, common assets belonging to people were sold to individuals.

    “When SIECOM was demonstrating the new acquired machine meant for LG election across the 255 wards of the state, our party, the PDP had the highest vote during the demonstration exercise.

    “That is to tell you that if there is going to be free and fair election today, the PDP will emerge victorious.”

    The PDP governorship aspirant claimed that the state government had also failed in its core responsibility of providing security to the people.

    “The state now lack the peaceful and harmonious coexistence that it used to enjoy, we didn’t have the state of kidnapping that we are witnessing today in Kaduna.

    “It is common for people to be escorted to their homes and then kidnapped without any hindrance and they have to pay ransom and nobody has been apprehended so far.

    “We know that some people will still want to be criminals and commit crime, but government will definitely have to do the needful and intervene to get the culprits and prosecute them,” he said.

    Sani-Bello, who holds the traditional title of Mainan Zazzau, also faulted the manner in which the government sacked about 22,000 primary school teachers, insisting that the law governing their appointments was not followed.

    According to him, there is a subsisting injunction secured by the teachers union from the Industrial Arbitration Court asking government not to go ahead with the exercise.

    “Because of the government’s non adherence to the rule of law, it told the world that the court and the union were late and went ahead to sack the teachers.

    “The remaining ones are all living in fear, they don’t know whether they would be sacked today or tomorrow,” Sani-Bello said.

    He stressed that the 11, 000 teachers recruited by the government to replace the sacked ones lack experience in the teaching profession to make meaningful impact.

    “For these reasons, we concluded that we need to buckle up, revive the PDP and serve the people again.’’

    San-Bello, a former commissioner in the state said no administration would succeed if it failed to ensure fair representation of all segments of the society and run its affairs in a transparent manner.

    “For any government to be successful, it has to be fully representative in nature, such that, every community irrespective of its religious affiliations is carried along and represented in governance.

    “For example, the district heads in this government have been sacked, so that is the issue of representation, if you are following the trend many communities believes that they are not represented.

    “Previously every LGA was represented in the executive council of the state but it is not so today.’’

    He assured that the next PDP administration in the state would do things “differently.’’

    “We will entrench good governance and operate within the ambit of the rule of law,’’ he added.

    NAN

     

  • Kaduna Electoral Commission gutted by fire days to LG polls

    The Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KAD-SIECOM) head office was on Saturday morning gutted by fire less than a month to the local government elections in the state.

    The cause of the fire could not be ascertained as at the time our correspondent visited the scene.

    However, the commission’s chairman, Dr. (Mrs) Saratu Binta Dikko-Audu, who briefed the press later in the afternoon confirmed that the fire started around 10:30am, and that it affected all the offices on the 2nd floor of the two-storey building.

    According to her, “The offices affected are that of the Chairman, legal and finance departments and conference room.

    “No life was lost, and there were no injuries recorded. At the time the fire started, the members of the commission were in an emergency meeting in the chairman’s office.

    “The ground floor, 1st floor and stores were not affected by the fire. The losses incurred will take a few days to determine.

    Dikko-Audu said, “The fire service and Police are investigating the immediate and remote causes of the fire.”

    Meanwhile, mixed reactions have continued to trail the fire incident.

    Reacting, a front runner for the Kaduna Central Senatorial Seat under the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC,  Alhaji Lawa Adamu popularly known as Mr. LA, described the incident as unfortunate and a drawback to the efforts of the state government and the APC towards building strong democratic institutions.

    Mr. LA, who spoke through an aide, Abdulazeez Suleiman, said it is regrettable that such ugly incident should occur at a time when the state is preparing for election into local government offices.

    However, the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN) has commiserated with the commission and the state government over the unfortunate fire incidence but insisted that the election must hold as scheduled.

    Chairman, GPN in Kaduna, Ahmed Mohammed Zagi in a statement said, his party believed in true and genuine democracy and of the view that the local government areas which are the closest to the grassroots deserve to be administered by elected representatives at the council and ward levels.

    He said “GPN has committed a lot of resources in preparing for the poll and would not hesitate to seek redress in court of law if the poll fails to hold as scheduled.

    Zagi called on the state government and law enforcement agencies to fully investigate the incidences surrounding the fire outbreak.

     

     

  • Kaduna electoral commission office gutted by fire days to LG polls

    The Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KAD-SIECOM) head office was on Saturday morning gutted by fire less than a month to the local government elections in the state.
    The cause of the fire could not be ascertained as at the time our Correspondent visited the scene.
    However, the commission’s chairman, Dr. (Mrs) Saratu Binta Dikko-Audu who briefed the press later in the afternoon confirmed that the fire started around 10:30am, saying that, it affected all the offices on the 2nd floor of the two storey building.
    According to her, “the offices affected are that of the Chairman, legal and finance departments and conference room.”
    “No life was lost, and there were no injuries recorded. At the time the fire started, the members of the Commission were in an emergency meeting in the Chairman’s office.
    “The ground floor, 1st floor and stores were not affected by the fire. The losses incurred will take a few days to determine.
    “The fire service and Police are investigating the immediate and remote causes of the fire,” The chairman added.
    She however declined providing answers to questions by newsmen.
    Meanwhile, mixed reactions have continued to trail the root cause of the fire outbreak.
    Reacting, a front runner for the Kaduna Central senatorial seat under the platform of All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Lawa Adamu popularly known as Mr. LA described the incident as unfortunate and a drawback to the efforts of the state government and the APC to build strong democratic institutions.
    Mr. LA, who spoke through an aide, Abdulazeez Suleiman, said it is regrettable that such ugly incident should occur at a time when the state is preparing for election into local government offices.
    However, the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN) has commiserated with the commission and the state government over the unfortunate fire incidence but insisted that the election must hold as scheduled.
    Chairman, GPN in Kaduna, Ahmed Mohammed Zagi in a statement said, his party believed in true and genuine democracy and of the view that the local government areas which are the closest to the grassroots deserve to be administered by elected representatives at the council and ward levels.
    “GPN has committed a lot of resources in preparing for the poll and would not hesitate to seek redress in court of law  if the poll fail to hold as scheduled.
    “We therefore, insist that the local council poll will still hold as scheduled, while calling on the state government and law enforcement agencies to fully investigate the incidences surrounding the fire outbreak to erase suspicions of sabotage from those who may not want the polls to hold”, he added.

  • UNFPA to support Kaduna govt in tackling violence, rape

    The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on Friday pledged to support Kaduna State Government in tackling the issues of violence and rape especially against children in the state.

    The UNFPA Nigeria representative, Dr Dianne Kiante made the commitment during an interactive session with youth in Rigasa, Igabi Local Government area of the state.

    “I am very honoured to be here as the state government prioritises this community, we are here to see how young people are doing, listen to their problems and proffer solutions.

    ” The issue of rape and violence happening in Kaduna is disturbing and we will try our best to help as the only solution is education”, she said.

    Kiante stated that the organization would improve on the provision of skills to the youth as well as create awareness on the ills of rape and violence.

    She commended the youth of the community for their enthusiasm and want for progress urging them to be persistent in pursuing their dreams.

    In her remark, the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajiya Hafsat Baba stated that the state government was doing it’s best in tackling social ills in the state and has given priority to education and health.

    ” The government has allocated more funds to education and health, that’s why more schools are being built in the state.

    “We have created a continuing education programme for girls who dropped out of school for marriage, to continue pursuing knowledge”, she said.

    Baba however urged parents to stop neglecting their responsibilities and blaming government for allowing their children to cause ills in the society.

    “It is the responsibility of government to provide school, road, hospital, pipe-borne water, security but it is not its responsible to train and inculcate good manners to the child. It is the responsibility of the parents”, she stressed.

    The commissioner also urged parents not to show disparity between genders, and stressed the need for all segments of the society to live peacefully, to ensure development.

    NAN