Soldiers attached to the Special Task Force, Operation Safe Haven maintaining peace in Plateau, have killed three notorious armed robbers in the state, Maj.-Gen Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, the Commander of the task force, said. Okonkwo disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Jos. According to him, the criminals were killed Wednesday night while operating around the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) permanent orientation camp in Mangu Halle, Mangu Local Government Area...
A few days before elections in the Central African Republic (CAR), an uptick in armed violence is threatening the safety of civilians and their rights to vote, according to the UN human rights office. “We are deeply alarmed by reports of escalating violence stoked by political grievances and hate speech, resulting in the forced displacement of civilians, including to neighbouring countries,” Liz Throssell, a Geneva-based spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for...
By John Campbell _____ There are signs that as the Nigerian army and the police continue to fail to meet the security needs of the Nigerian people, they will turn toward repression. In November, Chief of Army Staff Tukur Buratai called on all troops to put themselves in a “war mode.” An internal army communication obtained by the media exhorted Nigerian soldiers to treat all individuals in the region where Boko Haram is active as suspected jihadis until they...
The Department of State Services (DSS) says there are possible plans by some outlaw gangs to carry out violent attacks on public space especially key and vulnerable points during the Christmas season. In a statement, the DSS Spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, disclosed that the criminals planned to execute the attacks through the use of explosives, suicide bombing and other dangerous weapons. According to him, the move is to create a general sense of fear among the...
Some Customs officers serving at the Federal Operations Unit Zone “A’’ of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have been attacked by hoodlums working with smugglers. Deputy Comptroller, Usman Yahaya, made the disclosure in a statement by Mr. Theophilus Duniya, Public Relations Officer of Federal Operations Unit Zone A of NCS, in Lagos on Tuesday. According to Yahaya, at about 800 hours on Dec. 22, 2020, the officers who were carrying out their statutory duty of...
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected the $900 billion (N349.2 trillion) Coronavirus (COVID-19) relief bill passed by Congress, describing it as a disgrace. In a video message posted on Twitter, Trump alleged that the bill contained “wasteful and unnecessary items”, adding that there was almost nothing about COVID-19 in it. According to him, the bill contains $85.5 million (N33 billion) for assistance to Cambodia and $134 million (N51,9 billion) to Burma. The president stated...
The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 999 new infections of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in the country. The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Tuesday. The health agency said that since February, over 903,800 samples were tested, out of which, 79,789 were positive. It noted that with 27,091 infections, Lagos remained Nigeria’s epicenter, followed by Federal Capital Territory with 10,122 cases, and Kaduna with 4,628 cases, accounting for 70 per...
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipreye Sylva, said that the refinery rehabilitation exercise would be completed soon. He made this known during an interaction with members of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) in Abuja on Tuesday. “Apart from the completion of the plant equipment inspection and integrity study conducted since December 2019 as part of the phase one of the Port Harcourt refinery rehabilitation, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on...
FC Barcelona turned on the style to thrash Real Valladolid 3-0 away in La Liga on Tuesday as Lionel Messi scored his 644th goal to surpass Pele as the all-time record scorer for a single club. Messi finally got his first assist of the season when he picked out defender Clement Lenglet with a splendid cross and the Frenchman rose to head FC Barcelona in front after 21 minutes. The Argentine also had a hand...
South Korea said that it would suspend flights from Britain until the end of this year over concerns about a new strain of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The country’s health authorities on Wednesday said South Korean diplomatic missions in Britain would suspend issuing quarantine-waiver documents so as to place all arrivals from the European nation in a 14-day quarantine. The country will also conduct an additional virus test when they are released from quarantine. South...
