The Nation Newspaper

Tag: kill

  • ‘Smoking will kill 1 billion people this century’

    A new study finds smokers who quit before the age of 40 can live almost as long as people who never smoked.

    Researchers at the University of Toronto report quitting smoking before turning 40 gives back almost all of the 10 years that smoking generally cuts off a person’s life span.

    But that does not mean smoking is safe up until age 40. The study’s lead researcher – Prabhat Jha, a University of Toronto professor and head of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael’s Hospital – said former smokers still have a greater risk of dying sooner than lifetime non-smokers.

    “Now it’s not true that the best thing to do is to smoke until 40 and quit. Because if you do that, you still have at least 20 percent higher risk of dying if you have quit smoking by age 40,” said Jha. “Now that’s much lower than the risk of continuing to smoke, but it’s still quite significant. In contrast, those that quit by age 30 basically are close to never-smoker rates, meaning they get almost all of that full decade of life back. So the key message is not that it’s safe to smoke until age 40 and quit. The key message is: Don’t smoke, and if you do smoke, quit as early as possible.”

    The researchers also found that women’s risks of dying from smoking-related causes were 50 percent higher than what studies in the 1980s found. This most recent study looked at health and death records in the United States, but Jha said the findings can be applied worldwide.

    “What smoking does is multiply the background rates of disease in any population upward. What this study adds, along with actually about three more recent studies, is that, that upward multiplication, if you will, of the risks is about threefold,” Jha said. “So this suggests worldwide the risks are probably going to be as extreme. Basically, what we found is if women smoke like men, they die like men. And similarly if Indians smoke like Americans, they are going to die like Americans. If Chinese smoke like Americans, they are going to die like Americans.”

    Jha said just five countries – Brazil, China, Russia, Indonesia and India – are home to about half of the world’s estimated 1.3 billion smokers. If the current trends continue, his report said smoking will kill about 1 billion people in the 21st century, a dramatic increase from 100 million in the 20th century.

  • Polio vaccination tragedy: Gunmen kill nine women in Kano

    Polio vaccination tragedy: Gunmen kill nine women in Kano

    The anti-polio campaign turned bloody in Kano yesterday as no fewer than nine health workers, all of them women, deployed for the routine inoculation of children in the metropolis were gunned down by terrorists.

    The killings, which occurred in two areas of the city, appeared co-ordinated and came three weeks after gunmen attacked the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero.

    Four of the Emir’s guards and his driver died in the January 19 attack while two of his sons were injured. The three are currently abroad for treatment.

    The first of yesterday’s attacks occurred at Haye, Hotoro Quarters, when terrorists opened fire on health workers who were in the area for the exercise. Seven were killed in the incident.

    Witnesses said they saw gunmen arrive in tricycles before launching their attack.

    Some thirty minutes later, terrorists riding on a motor cycle stormed the Shargawlle Comprehensive Health centre at Unguwa Uku on the outskirts of the city and made to burn it down while the immunisation programme was in progress.

    They succeeded in torching only a part of the centre and then opened fire on the health workers, killing two of them.

    The terrorists immediately fled the scene before the arrival of operatives of the Joint Task Force (JTF).

    The attack shocked residents of Kano where women often go from house to house to carry out the vaccination exercise as Muslim families feel more comfortable allowing them inside their homes than men.

    The incident also signaled a new wave of anger targeting immunization drives in the country, where clerics once claimed the vaccines were part of a Western plot to sterilize young girls and underlined the religious tensions surrounding the inoculation of children in one of the few nations where the disease still remains endemic.

    The spokesman for the State Police Command, Magaji Musa, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident.

    He said: “This morning (yesterday), at about 9.30 am, some gunmen stormed Hotoro and Angwar Uku health centres and killed nine people, including two women.

    “The health workers were on routine immunization exercise,” he said.

    No arreast has been made, but the affected areas have been cordoned off,” he said.

    Also speaking on the incident, the Commissioner of Health, Dr Abubakar Labaran, said two of the injured people had been rushed to the hospital.

    He described the development as sad.

    In October, police said two officers involved in guarding a polio immunization drive there were shot and killed.

    Some Islamic leaders in the North have previously opposed polio vaccinations, claiming they could cause infertility.

    On Thursday, a controversial Islamic cleric spoke out against the polio vaccination campaign, telling people that new cases of polio were caused by contaminated medicine.

    The Kano State Government banned motorbikes from carrying passengers after the attack on the Emir.

    No group has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attacks.

    Nigeria remains one of the few countries left in the world where polio remains endemic. Several years ago, religious clerics had some of their followers stopped from receiving the vaccines, saying that it would sterilize their children.

    According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, there were 121 cases of polio in Nigeria last year, compared to 58 in Pakistan and 37 in Afghanistan.

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday condemned the killings, describing the incident as “dastardly terrorist attacks.”

    The President, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said he was saddened by the killings.

    He said the loss of the women’s lives would not be in vain as the Federal Government would ensure that the mission to totally eradicate polio from Nigeria in which they were patriotically engaged is carried out successfully.

    He commiserated with the families of the victims and the government and people of the state on behalf of himself and the government of Nigeria.

    The President also assured Nigerians and the international community, especially international health organisations and Nigeria’s development partners that the Federal Government would not be distracted from its objective of accelerating the reduction of maternal and child mortality in all parts of Nigeria.

    Promising that the Government would continue to do everything possible to track down agents of terrorism in the country, Jonathan also ordered enhanced security measures for health workers in high-risk areas.

    He prayed for the repose of the souls of the victims of the attack.

    The Inspector General of Police, Muhammadu Dahiru Aabubakar, said in Kano yesterday that the people behind the killings would be fished out.

    Abubakar, who was in Kano in company of the Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade, to commiserate with the people and government of the state over the attack on the convoy of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, which claimed six lives, said the police had swung into action in its efforts to track down the perpetrators of the dastardly act.

    He also lamented the attack on the Emir’s convoy, saying it was very disturbing, assuring that steps were being taken to tackle the ongoing security challenges.

    According to him, some successes were being recorded by the police, as some of the suspects had already been apprehended.

    He said: “We shall not be deterred in the task before us. Some time, some day, we will overcome the challenges.

  • Gunmen kill 2 in Gombe

    Unidentified gunmen on Friday shot dead two persons and injured a blind man in an attack in Hammadu Kafi area of Gombe township, Gombe State.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that one of those killed was a prison warder.

    The injured blind man, popularly called Malam Ali, who was critically wounded in the attack, is now receiving treatment.

    A source said the killers arrived the house of the blind man in a black Honda Hala at about 3.20 pm and opened fire on the man who was chatting with one of his friends.

    The friend died instantly.

    The source said the prison officer, who was passing by the area, stopped to greet the blind man and his friend when the gunmen shot him.

    Contacted on phone, the Commissioner of Police in Gombe State, Mr Mohammed Sule, confirmed the incident.

    He said an investigation had been launched to get to the root cause of the killings.

    Sule said the blind man who was injured was at the hospital receiving treatment.

  • Gunmen kill seven policemen in Kaduna, Gombe, Kano

    Gunmen kill seven policemen in Kaduna, Gombe, Kano

    Seven policemen have been killed in three attacks within the last 48 hours.

    In Kano, two policemen died after unknown gunmen threw explosives at a police station in Bunkure Local Government Area of the state.

    In Gombe, capital of Gombe State, gunmen opened fire on policemen who were on duty at a stop-and-search point at 6.30am in the central area of the city.

    In Kaduna, the North’s political capital, three policemen were killed in Birnin Gwari, headquarters of Birnin Gwari Local Government when an army of robbers overpowered the policemen on duty at a police station.

    They raided two banks in the town.

    The Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) for Zone 1, Kano, Mr. David Olufemi Omojola, told reporters that investigation had begun into the Kano attack.

    The Nation gathered that the incident took place at 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

    Omojola told reporters that a wing of the police station was razed when unknown gunmen suspected to be terrorists threw explosives at the station.

    A police source said a sergeant and a corporal were killed.

    “One of the wings of the station was razed down when explosives were thrown at it,” Omojola said he could not confirm whether the perpetrators were members of the Boko Haram sect.

    Gombe Police spokesman Fwaje Atajiri said they always fortified security in the area with two patrol vehicles and a Rapid Response Squad.

    He said the hoodlums struck after the reinforcements had left the Gombe Central roundabout at about 06:30 hours.

    Atajiri vowed that the culprits would be brought to book, adding that the police have got some leads.

    He urged the public to remain calm as the security of their lives and property is guaranteed.

    Yesterday’s incident in Gombe takes the death toll to five and in four attacks on policemen at duty posts since December 31, last year.

    The robbers in Kaduna vandalise the two banks they robbed and set the police station on fire.

    Sources said the robbers made straight for the police station where they engaged policemen on duty in a gun duel for hours.

    According to a source, the attack started at about midnight. It lasted for about two hours, leaving the police station in ruins.

    A source said: “Yes, there was an attack on a police station and two banks here in Birnin-Gwari today.

    “Thereafter, they went to two banks – an old generation bank and a new one – where we heard a deafening sound of bombs. They vandalised the banks and broke their ATM machines.”

    The source said the robbers might also have planted Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in some buildings which exploded simultaneously, but this could not be confirmed.

    A police spokesman, who confirmed that three policemen were killed by the robbers, however, said no arrest had been made. He said an investigation had been launched.

    The robbery came barely 24 hours after the Emir of Birnin Gwari, Alhaji Zubairu Jibril, reportedly raised the alarm that armed robbers had taken over his domain.

    The Emir reportedly told Governor Mukhtar Yero that the robbers raped their victims’ wives and that over 7,000 cattle had been stolen by the bandits.

    The Emir said: “Since November last year when we had the Dogondawa incident, the government promised to do something. The late Governor Patrick Yakowa and the General Officer Commanding (GOC), One Division, were there, but till now, my people are still waiting for the action of the state government. The situation has worsened. They are doing what they like and they are heavily armed.

    “Except in Birnin Gwari town, in other villages in my domain, I am not in charge and you are not in charge too.”

    Police Commissioner Olufemi Adenike, who visited the robbery scene in company with Yero, said: “About 100 armed robbers attacked the station and the two banks with sophisticated weapons.”

    He assured that the command would do its best to address insecurity in the area.

    Yero said the state would partner with the five neighbouring states of Niger, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto and Katsina to ensure protection of lives and property.

    Two commercial banks were attacked with rocket launchers and undisclosed amount of money carted away.

  • Gunmen kill policeman, injure three in Kaduna

    Unidentified gunmen have killed a policeman in Kaduna.

    They injured another policeman as well as an unidentified woman and her child at Ungwan Dosa, Kaduna.

    The killing has heightened tension in the state, which had enjoyed some peace in the last few months.

    The attack, which was allegedly carried out by gunmen on a motorcycle, is the first since the death of former Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa about a month ago.

    The Nation learnt that the gunmen shot the two policemen at their duty post while the woman and her daughter were reportedly hit by stray bullets.

    A resident, who spoke in confidence, said: “The residents of the area were caught unawares because the gunmen pretended to be Okada riders. But before we could know what was happening, we heard gunshots that lasted several minutes. They attacked the two policemen.

    “It’s like they came mainly for the policemen. I believe they never meant to shoot the woman and her child; those were just unlucky.”

    Public spokesman Aminu Lawan, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), who confirmed the incident, said the command was investigating the circumstances of the attack.

    The ranks of the slain policemen could not be ascertained.

    Lawan said both policemen tried to repel the gunmen, adding that one of them died on the spot while the other was injured and is receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital.

    He regretted the attack on the six-year-old girl and her mother, adding: “The incident happened at a police checkpoint at 8.30pm on Friday. The gunmen came on a motorcycle and immediately opened fire on the officers at the checkpoint.

    “It was in the process of engaging the assailants in a gun battle that we lost one of our men. However, the gunmen escaped with bullet wounds and we are trailing them.”

    It was learnt that Governor Muktar Yero has visited the scene of the incident and the hospital where the woman and her daughter were said to be receiving treatment.

    The governor condemned the attack and promised to settle the hospital bills of the victims.

  • Kill the continuity syndrome

    Kill the continuity syndrome

    SIR: A situation in which a successor must follow the footsteps of his predecessor has its strong and weak points. The strong point is that the successor would not abandon all completed and yet-to-be completed projects. But, following a predecessor’s footsteps blindly can be as retrogressive as abandoning everything done by one’s predecessor. The solution is an objective and dispassionate evaluation of whatever one meets on ground, including the cost, financial and otherwise.

    I take Kwara state as an example. The former Governor Akanbi Lawal did his best in terms of road construction and provision of borehole water which appeared unprecedented in the state capital. He set a standard which his predecessor could only ignore at his or her own peril. Yet he also did some things that should be undone. For instance, he dualised some single lanes without expanding them, which created traffic bottleneck in some streets in Ilorin. Indeed that was the only reason I did not regret he lost his re-election bid. What is more, that was the first thing I know his successor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, immediately undid.

    Unfortunately, after Saraki’s two term tenure, the song that rent the air from his supporters was: “continuity”, and his successor, who he appeared to have handpicked, AbdulFatah Ahmed, seems to have no choice but to follow his footsteps, strictly. What that means is that Ahmed cannot undo whatever was done by Saraki, whether good or bad. That is the tyranny of“continuity”. It is idolatrous, because it makes an individual to become a tin god, which is the trade mark of dictatorship.

    Today’s idols live in expensive houses built from misappropriated billions of public funds. Some ex-military leaders who played with public funds are one category. I heard of the house a particular state is building for its civilian idol. The members of the oligarchy surrounding him are selling him to the populace through jingles and special propaganda compositions. Today’s rulers build houses for God from public funds or ask public functionaries to come and “open” the house. Yes, it is corruption, and that is why the church and mosque cannot guide the politicians aright.

    How the Kwarans will overcome the dynasty trap is yet to be seen. Continuity syndrome? No, it does not exist in University of Ilorin, particularly since that is a federal university. You can trust that if it is tried, the labour unions, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), will kick against it. Yes, the Union will function normally as an organ of the national ASUU; University of Ilorin is better by far. One Dr. Imam Abubakre Aliagan, from that University, is always condemning what he calls “continuity in error” (in his Friday radio programme), while the continuity drummers turn blind eye to its negative aspects. To say that corruption is not the only issue in bad governance is either a psychiatry case, or callousness at its worst.

     

    • Pius Oyeniran Abioje, Ph. D,

    University of Ilorin.

  • Gunmen kill four in Plateau

    Gunmen kill four in Plateau

    The peace enjoyed by the indigenes and residents of Plateau State during and after the Christmas was disrupted yesterday when gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen sneaked into Bachit village in Riyom Local Government and killed three people, leaving others injured.

    Information received also showed that a retired soldier living in Rim village in the local government was also killed in his home on Christmas day by people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.

    The men, said to be more than 10, arrived Bachit village in the early hours of yesterday and forcefully entered a house, shooting a man and his wife at close range in their sleep.

    When trying to escape, a man, who was said to have seen them leaving, was also killed. As they left the village, they shot at random, during which stray bullets hit some people and others were attacked with machetes. Some of the injured are currently receiving treatment at the Vom Christian Hospital.

    A lawmaker representing Riyom Constituency, Mr. Daniel Dem, said the mode of the killings was not different from the previous ones, adding that those behind the act were the same people that have been attacking the local government.

    He appealed for calm and enjoined the people to be more vigilant, adding that they should not only rely on the security men posted to the area to guarantee their safety.

    Police spokesman Abuh Emmanuel could not be reached for confirmation, but information gathered indicated that the incident is being investigated to arrest the culprits.

  • Gunmen kill businessman, others in Maiduguri

    Gunmen yesterday shot dead a merchant, Alhaji Abubakar Girigiri, 58, at his warehouse in the Bolori area of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

    An eyewitness said the gunmen arrived at the warehouse on foot, pretending to be customers.

    They reportedly before shot him at close range.

    A resident, Modu Lawal, said: “A group of four teenagers arrived the warehouse on foot and met Girigiri attending to his business.

    “After a short while, two of them brought out guns from their trousers and shot him at close range.”

    Lawal added that the businessman died on the spot.

    “We tried to rush him to the hospital for help but he died before we could do anything.”

    Police spokesman Gideon Jibrin confirmed the story but said the police had not got details of the incident.

    Jibrin also confirmed that gunmen killed seven persons in Jere Local Government.

    He said: “The police are trying to get the details of the report so that we can unravel the mystery behind the killings.’’

    The Joint Task Force (JTF), code-named Operation Restore Order, also confirmed the killing of three security men early yesterday at Ruwan Zafi, Maiduguri.

    JTF spokesman Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, in a statement in Maiduguri, explained that the task force was trailing the suspected killers.

    “This is to confirm that three security men were killed in the early hours of the day by suspected members of the Boko Haram group.

    “Efforts are on to apprehend the killers,” Musa said.

    The JTF in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, has arrested a group of suspected terrorists in Gujba Local Government, its spokesman, Lt. Lazarus Eli, said yesterday.

    In a statement, Lt. Eli said a Boko Haram member was killed in an encounter while others escaped with gunshot wounds.

    The JTF spokesman said over 200 rounds of ammunition and five AK 47 rifles were recovered from the suspects.

    The statement added: “At 2pm on December 27, men of the JTF on patrol encountered suspected terrorists at Gujba.

    “One suspected terrorist was killed in the encounter and several others escaped with gunshot wounds and abandoned their vehicle.

    “Items recovered include five AK 47 rifles, 211 rounds of ammunition and 10 magazines. Other are a Mitsubushi Canter truck, two motorcycles, Improvised Explosives Device (IED) materials, medical supplies and police uniform.”

  • Gunmen kill two in Katsina

    Two people were killed on Wednesday night when some gunmen bombed a police station and kidnapped a Frenchman, Mr Francis Colump, in Rimi Local Government Area of Katsina State.

    A policeman was injured in the attack.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported yesterday that the incident occurred at 10pm on Wednesday.

    The dead are Rabe Dan’Unguwa (45), a security man at the home of Colump; and Abubakar Sale (25), a passerby.

    The abducted Frenchman reportedly works with S. A. Vergnet France, the firm handling the contract for the 10Megawatts wind mill power project in Rimi.

    An eyewitness yesterday in Rimi told NAN that the attacks on the police station and the home of Colump were carried out simultaneously by about 30 gunmen, who were said to be in two groups.

    The eyewitness said the attackers arrived in the town in three vehicles and began shooting.

    They were said to have set off the bomb, which damaged the police station.

    But there was no casualty in the attack on the police station.

    The mobile policeman was injured in the attack on the Frenchman’s home.

    It was gathered that as soon as they shot the trio, the gunmen entered the home and abducted the Frenchman.

    When the NAN correspondent visited the town, the residents, including the Caretaker Chairman of the council, Alhaji Nasiru Ala, were conducting the burial rites of the dead.

    Ala described the incident as “tragic”.

    He prayed God to expose those who carried out the attacks.

    Police Commissioner Abdullahi Magaji confirmed the incidents.

    He said the gunmen used a gas cylinder to bomb the police station.

    Magaji added: “Their purpose was to kidnap the expatriate, Mr Colump. But they attacked the police station to divert attention.”

    The police chief said two civilians were killed while the injured policeman was receiving treatment at a hospital in Katsina.

    “One gun belonging to the hoodlums was recovered and we are going to pursue them,” he said.

  • Gunmen kill lawyer in Taraba

    A lawyer, Aliyu Chiroma, was killed yesterday by unknown gunmen in his home on Palace Way, Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.

    The gunmen reportedly stole his car and mobile telephones.

    The incident occurred at 7pm, his family said.

    Chiroma’s murder is coming a few weeks after a taxi driver was allegedly killed by military men. Besides, nine others were abducted; six of them were killed in Jalingo by unknown gunmen.

    Many of Chiroma’s clients were said to have stormed the lawyer’s home when they heard about his death.

    His relations said they were sitting outside when four strange men entered the house and invited the lawyer to his room for a discussion. They said they presumed the visitors had a business to transact with him.

    But the visitors reportedly shot him several times in the head and left.

    One of Chiroma’s relatives said: “When the gunmen came, we thought they were new patrons looking for his services. We didn’t know they were enemies.

    “They invited the lawyer for a discussion inside his room. The lawyer obliged. But what followed immediately after were gun shots. They shot him several times and left. They went with his car and handsets and collected our phones.”

    Police spokesman Amos Olaoye confirmed the killing.

    He said the police command was investigating the matter.

    Olaoye added: “We have swung into action to investigate it. When an incident of this nature occurs, the police investigate. That is what we are doing right now.

    “However, for the police to succeed in their investigation, people living in the area must make themselves available with useful information.

    “If the people around cooperate with us, we shall track down the culprits.”

    The police said the gunmen may have used sophisticated weapons, including an AK 47, as live ammunition. Used shells were found on the floor of the deceased room.