Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari on Saturday dismissed rumours circulating online that her husband plans to take on a second wife, cautioning against the rise of fake news in the country.

Aisha, who had been on holiday in the United Kingdom for two months, returned to the country, at a time when a video was circulating on social media, purportedly showing that she had been denied access to the presidential residence.

While she confirmed the authenticity of the video, which showed her complaining about huge deployments of security, and asking unidentified people to leave the palace, she clarified that it was an old video.

Aisha dismissed rumours that president Muhammadu Buhari intended to marry fellow politician Sadiya Farouq, who was recently appointed Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development.

Her spokesperson later issued a statement saying the First Lady was happy to be aback in the country after a ‘deserved rest’.

‘‘She confirmed that she was fully rejuvenated to continue the work of improving the health and well-being of women, children and other vulnerable Nigerians,’‘ Suleiman Haruna said.

Ruling party officials also added to Buhari’s voice, warning against the negative impact of fake news.

‘‘I wholeheartedly welcome our dear First Lady back to the country. Her elegant return has put full stop to fake news which dominated our public domain,’‘ a publicity secretary of the APC Kate Ofor told local journalists.

‘‘I think we have to not only find legitimate means to curb fake news, but also come to terms that social media have no gatekeeper. Therefore, we must cultivate the culture of sieving the genuine from fake news.’‘

Buhari herself had cautioned that the courge of Fake News ‘could lead us to something unimaginable’.

The president himself has repeatedly warned against the rise of fake news and hate speech in Nigerian discourse.

Source: Africa News

The announcement was made during a press conference by female supporters of Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, who accused soldiers of the Nigerian army of abducting twenty-three girls in December 2015 during the massacre in the northern Nigerian town of Zaria.

The ladies demanded for the release of the girls and asked all people of conscience and civil society organizations to make the issue of the twenty-three Muslim girls an important national and international agenda in order for the truth to prevail.

The ladies also said that seven hundred and five people are still unaccounted for following the 2015 Zaria Massacre, and their families are still waiting for answers regarding the whereabouts of their loved ones.

Hundreds of Zakzaky supporters are reported to have been killed and buried in mass graves outside the northern Nigerian city of Zaria. The whereabouts of several others remains unknown.

Zakzaky supporters have a list with the names of the twenty-three girls abducted and believed to be held by security forces.

Both the army and the police did not respond to Press TV’s request for an interview on this matter.

Zakzaky supporters also want to know when the Nigerian government is going to start the process of prosecuting the people responsible for the 2015 Zaria Massacre.

They accuse security forces of continuing with the persecution of Zakzaky supporters judging by the attacks on their religious processions.

Source: Presstv

At least 16 people, including 11 soldiers, have been killed in jihadist attacks in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, military and militia sources said Saturday.

Rival factions of Boko Haram launched the attacks on military and civilian targets between Thursday and Saturday, they said.

On Thursday, fighters from the IS-aligned Islamic State West Africa Province ambushed a military convoy near Mauro village in Benisheikh district, a military source told AFP.

“Our men on patrol fell into a terrorist ambush… which claimed 11 soldiers and wounded 16 others. Two other soldiers are still missing,”  said the officer, who asked not to be identified.

He said the troops were travelling in three vehicles.

“The terrorists made away with 11 AK-47 rifles and anti-aircraft gun mounted on the gun truck,” he said.

In another attack the same day, Boko Haram gunmen opened fire on a vehicle at Frigi village, killing one person and injuring another, militia sources said.

Jihadist fighters also killed two militiamen in Gubio, 80 kilometres from the state capital Maiduguri.

On Saturday, Boko Haram militants stormed a camp for those displaced by the conflict in the town of Banki near the border with Cameroon, killing two residents and injuring three vigilantes guarding the area, two militia sources said.Shop Related Products

The decade-long Boko Haram campaign has killed 35,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes in northeast Nigeria. 

The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the insurgents.

Rival factions of Boko Haram launched the attacks on military and civilian targets.

Source: Wion

The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has killed more than a dozen Nigerian people, including military forces and an aid worker, in the country’s volatile northeastern region.

The terrorists killed 14 Nigerian soldiers in attacks in the northeast state of Borno on Wednesday.

The fatalities took place when the Takfiris ambushed soldiers in the state following heavy clashes, according to a Nigerian military source speaking to Reuters.

Also on Wednesday, members of the terrorist group executed one of the six aid workers of the charity group Action against Hunger whom they had kidnapped in northeast Nigeria.

“The armed group holding captive an employee of Action against Hunger, two drivers, and three health ministry personnel, have executed a hostage,” the Paris-based organization said in a statement.

The aid workers were abducted in the restive northeastern city of Maiduguri in July.

The Nigerian army has closed the offices of the humanitarian group Action against Hunger n Maiduguri with no explanation, as tensions simmer with aid organizations in the region.

The Boko Haram terrorist group and its ISWAP splinter group — which is also affiliated with Daesh — have intensified attacks on civilian and military targets in recent months, despite the Nigerian government’s insistence that the terrorists have been defeated.

Around 27,000 people have been killed in the decade-long terrorism in Nigeria, which has spilled over into neighboring Chad, Niger, and Cameroon and has forced more than two million people to flee their homes.

The said countries have created a joint military force to stop the terrorists from further spreading their activities, but sustained efforts to eradicate the militants have failed and the military continues to suffer heavy losses.

Source: Presstv

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari says the country will do all it takes to combat the negative image that some citizens have saddled the country with.

He stressed that all will be done to combat the activities of such elements, be it at home or abroad.

Speaking at a side event at the ongoing Tokyo International Conference on African Development, TICAD, in Yokohama, Japan; Buhari said: ”There are few Nigerians in the Diaspora that are giving us a bad name by engaging in criminal activities.

“These Nigerians are a minority, they do not represent the values of our country, and I plead with them to change their ways.”

“We will not condone any crime whether at home or abroad, and we will also not allow these Nigerians define us as a people with reputation for criminality,” he added.

Nigeria has long been associated with financial crimes especially online fraud. The country endured bad press weeks back when FBI arrested a famed entrepreneur and scores of online fraudsters – in under a week.

Nigerians on Twitter bemoaned the impact of the reports on the country’s image with some calling for a government response to the arrests.

Source: Africa News

Eight people, including three soldiers, were killed in attacks on an army base and village in northeast Nigeria ahead of Monday’s Eid al-Adha festival, military sources said.

Three troops and three civilians died on Saturday when fighters from the Daesh-aligned ISWAP group attacked a base in Gubio, a town 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the regional capital Maiduguri, two sources said Sunday.

Three soldiers were killed “defending the base from ISWAP terrorists who wanted to overrun it”, the first source said.

“Three civilians were hit and killed in crossfire,” said the source, an officer who asked not to be identified for fear of punishment.

Two soldiers and six civilians were injured, he said.

The militants attacked the base in eight pickup trucks fitted with machine guns, leading to a two-hour long battle, said the second source, who gave the same toll.

The attack was repelled with the aid of a fighter jet which deployed two hours into the clashes, said the officer.

“The terrorists were pulverised and forced to withdraw. Eleven of them were killed and three of their vehicles were seized,” he said. 

ISWAP ransacked the same base in May, killing three soldiers.

In a separate assault on Sunday, rival Takfiri Boko Haram terrorists killed two residents and burnt homes in an attack on the village of Ngwom, 14 kilometers (eight miles) from Maiduguri.

Gunmen in pickup trucks stormed the village in a pre-dawn attack, shooting dead two male residents before robbing women of jewelry and torching four houses, anti-Boko Haram militia leader Babakura Kolo said.

“A woman had one of her ears chopped off by the insurgents as punishment for resisting being robbed,” Kolo said.

The militants attempted to seize a nearby military base after the raid, but were rebuffed following a one-hour gunfight, Kolo and a military source said.

The decade-long insurgency in northeast Nigeria has killed over 27,000 people, displaced some two million and spilled over into neighboring countries.

The militants are notorious for stepping up attacks during the Eid season, prompting heightened security across the region.

ISWAP split from the Boko Haram faction headed by long-time leader Abubakar Shekau in 2016.

Since mid-2018 ISWAP has ramped up attacks on the military, while Shekau’s group tends to hit softer civilian targets.

On Saturday, several soldiers were also wounded when their vehicle hit a mine planted by ISWAP near the border with Niger, the military sources said.

(Source: AFP)

Three civilians have been killed and eight others wounded when two female bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of people in northeastern Nigeria.

The twin bombings took place in the town of Mafa, some 50 kilometers from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, late Tuesday.

“The female bombers killed three people and wounded eight others,” Bello Danbatta, head of security for the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in Borno state, told AFP on Wednesday.

Danbatta added that the attackers entered the town among a group of local women who had gone to bring firewood for cooking.

Local district spokesman Adamu Mohammed confirmed the toll, noting that the bombers waited until almost 8:30 pm (1930 GMT) before conducting their attack.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

The group uses female bombers, many of them young women and girls, to attack soft targets such as mosques, markets and bus stations.

Also on Tuesday, militants set fire to 11 houses and stole food in an assault on the village of Kotori, 12 kilometers outside Maiduguri, Danbatta said, noting that no one was hurt in that attack.

Boko Haram and its Daesh-supported ISWAP splinter have intensified attacks on civilian and military targets in recent months, despite the Nigerian government’s insistence that the terrorists have been defeated.

Some observers allege that certain Nigerian officials are profiting from the unrest via corruption and have little interest in ending the bloodshed.

Rights groups have accused some Nigerian security forces of abuses in the fight against Boko Haram, including extra-judicial killings and mass arrests.

Around 27,000 people have been killed in the decade-long Takfiri terrorism which has spilled over into neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon and forced more than two million people to flee their homes.

On Monday, three civilians were killed when a gun fight erupted between Nigerian forces and ISWAP fighters who made an incursion into the garrison town of Monguno in Borno state.

Presstv

The Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the February 2019 presidential election in Nigeria, Omowole Sowore, has reportedly been arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).

According to SaharaReporters, Sowore’s online outfit, he was picked up at his apartment in the early hours of Saturday, with an eyewitness confirming that his phone was forcefully taken from him.

Local media report his arrest by the DSS could be as a result of his plans to mobilised people in Lagos and many parts of the country for a revolution protest tagged ‘Days of Rage’ to demand a better Nigeria

Sowere and some other Nigerian activists are staging a ‘RevolutionNow’ protest planned for August 5.

Nigeria police has warned Nigerians to stay away from the planned demonstration saying it would amount to a felony and terrorism.

Hiw party, the African Action Congress (AAC) had declared 5th August for the commencement of revolution protest tagged ‘Days of Rage’ across the country to demand a better Nigeria.

Omoyele Sowore, disclosed recently in Abuja at the end of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting that the protest would be sustained until the country is put on the right path of honour where justice prevails.

However, Mohammedu Buhari’s administration and the security forces said they are working heavily to address the multi-faceted crisis in the country, thereby calling on citizens to be patient for the efforts to yield the desired result.

Source: Africa News

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria has challenged a ban imposed by the Nigerian government in a Federal High Court. 

The court action challenging the banning of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria was filed at the Federal High Court Abuja by lawyers representing the movement. The lawyers said the order was hastily filed and granted, and that it violates the Nigerian constitution.

The Federal High Court had earlier granted an application by the Nigerian government banning the activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, and designating it a terrorist organization. In an announcement after the court order, the Nigerian chief of police said any protester arrested in connection with the movement would be prosecuted under the terrorism act. The team of lawyers representing the Islamic Movement in Nigeria wants the Federal High Court to intervene.

Supporters of leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky, have been engaged in several protests demanding the release of the prominent cleric who has been in detention for close to four years in violation of a court ruling ordering his immediate release.

Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria have time and again stressed that the Nigerian government is determined to portray a negative impression of the Islamic Movement in order to justify the continuous oppression and murder of its members. They have pledged to be peaceful no matter the level of provocation.

Source: Presstv