Gunmen in the northern Nigerian state of Kano killed a policeman and abducted a German citizen on Monday as they travelled to a construction site, police said.

Five gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying construction workers and opened fire on them along Sabon Titi Madobi road at around 7:45 a.m. (0645 GMT), a police spokesman said. The road is on the outskirts of the state’s capital city, also called Kano.

The vehicle was carrying staff of Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company, a Nigerian firm, to a building site, Kano police said in a statement. A police sergeant, who was part of a protection unit escorting the group, was killed and the German man was abducted, the statement added.

The “manhunt of the abductors is ongoing,” said Kano state police in a statement. The German embassy in Nigeria declined to comment. The company also did not immediately respond to calls and an email requesting comment.

While the gunmen’s motive iis not yet clear, kidnapping for ransom is common in parts of Nigeria. The abductions were originally targeted at expatriates in the south-eastern oil region of the country, but gradually spread to the north of the country, where the authorities increased their crackdown on cattle rustling, which was the most common crime. Abductees are often released after a few days, once a ransom has been paid.

In January, two Americans and two Canadians on business trips were abducted before being released after a few days in the northern state of Kaduna. Two South African nationals were also abducted and released a few days later in the same region in late January. Ten of Nigeria’s 36 states apply the death penalty to abductors.

Source: Africa News

A 70-year-old man, Alhaji Aliyu Onmaya, has been apprehended by Benue State Police Command for allegedly abducting a Cameroonian woman, Martha Eyom, for 28 years.

The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspect, yesterday, in Makurdi, alleged that he abducted his victim in 1990, explaining that his arrest was effected in Makurdi after a tip-off by the victim and her father.

“We arrested him when the father of his victim alerted us, this was after the woman had escaped from the suspect’s home,” Owoseni said.

Narrating her ordeal, the victim said, “It all happened 28 years ago when my friends and I came from Cameroon to write JAMB examination in Calabar. “My abductor saw us and chatted with us after which he waved an handkerchief on my face. At that point, I lost my memory and did not know anything about myself”, she said.

“I’ve been living with him since then and we have two children, one of them is in the university now. “The last place we lived was Otukpo. A young man helped me and a pastor who prayed and set me free from the spell that was on me.

“With the help of the young man, who is from Nigeria but plays football in Cameroon, I was able to traced my place and returned home 28 years after he mysteriously took me away.” The father of the victim, Michael Eyong, who was with her at the police headquarters in Makurdi, said he accompanied his daughter back to Benue to seek justice.

“We are from Mamfe in Cameroon. The man kidnapped my daughter for 28years and, within this period of her disappearance, I lived in pains because she is my first child.

“My 16-year-old little daughter returned home a week ago as a 44-year-old woman, looking even older than her age. I thank God for answering my prayer.

“We were able to arrest his alleged abductor with the help of Benue State Police Commissioner. All I am asking for at the moment is justice. He should be made to face the wrath of the law for what he did to my daughter and my family”.

Source: Todayng

President Muhammadu Buhari made his first official visit to Lagos on Thursday since coming to power in 2015.

During the visit, the head of State went ahead to inaugurate a vast public transport station.

The state government declared Thursday a work-free day for civil servants to allow them to welcome the 75-year-old leader. Buhari used the occasion to call on Nigerians to preserve their unity despite the diversity.

“Our goal is to bring together all sections of the nation and all Nigerians of every creed, region and ethnic group into a mutually beneficial productive, social, economic and political relationship,” Muhammadu Buhari said.

The visit comes less than a year to the presidential election scheduled for February 2019. Muhammadu Buhari is still to make his intentions clear about a possible second term.

Nigeria, a major oil producing country in Africa went through an economic recession last year aggravated by the fall in oil prices. The head of state suggested the way forward.

“We seek to replace corruption with correctness, insecurity with safety and poverty with prosperity. The road we thread is rough and hard in spots; the search for progress and reforms has its rough patches,” he added.

President Buhari was widely criticized – even by his own party – for his passivity and the rigidity of his economic policies which allegedly discouraged foreign investors.

His popularity within the ruling APC will be tested during party primaries expected to hold later this year.

Source: Africa News

A Nigerian lawmaker has been declared wanted by the police. The controversial Senator Dino Melaye described himself in part as a democratic evangelists and private investigator.

He is wanted over a fake assassination case. According to police Melaye provided false information in relation to an attempt on his life in 2017.

Police on Wednesday, March 28, declared him wanted and said they had requested assistance of Interpol to arrest the lawmaker who represents people in Kogi state.

He is wanted along with one Mohammed Audu, son of a former governor of the state, Abubakar Audu. In a related development, the Inspector General of Police also suspended Kogi State police chief after suspects being held in the Melaye matter escaped from custody.

The two escapees had accused the Senator of being their sponsor and gun supplier. In turn Melaye has threatened to sue the police for negligence in allowing the the suspects to slip from custody.

“The IGP dissatisfied with the circumstances surrounding the escape of six suspects including two principal suspects (KABIRU SEIDU A.K.A OSAMA, NUHU SALISU A.K.A SMALL) who indicted Senator Dino Melaye and Mohammed Audu in a case of conspiracy and unlawful possession of prohibited firearm already filed at the Federal High Court, Lokoja which came up in court today, 28th March, 2018, has ordered the immediate removal of Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Command, CP Ali Janga,” a statement from the Nigeria Police Force read.

Melaye has previously threatened to beat a female lawmaker after launching a verbal assualt on her back in 2016. He is on record to have also led an advocacy pushing for the abolishing of tribal marks.

He has appeared in a music video with son of a top politician, released a track of his own and is the subject of a recall by his constituents. He lives a flashy lifestyle and has often shared his wealth on social media platform, Instagram.

The Senate has yet to respond to the police warrant for one of its own despite he being a very close ally of Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

Source: Africa News

There are over 80,000 ghost police officers on Nigeria, data from the office of the Accountant -General of the Federation has revealed.

According to local media reports, the disclosure came after staff count and full integration of payrolls across the country’s 42 police commands and formations into a federal information structure.

The federal government had instituted the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) last February. After its implementation, the formerly known 371,800 figure of police officers fell to 291,685.

The revelation means that an estimated 80,115 police officers have until now continually drawn salaries and benefits running into billions of naira. The government did not disclosed exactly how much money had been saved by the measure.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation continues to operate a federal police structure with all police officers deployed by central government. Some states have pushed for state police but the idea has repeatedly been shot down.

The Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, is on record to have disclosed that staff count under the IPPIS has also revealed similar ghost workers in other para-military agencies like the Immigration Service, the Prison service and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps.

There were series of protests in the capital Abuja and southeastern Port Harcourt State when government announced the move to implement IPPIS, the protest was hinged on the fact that integration will lead to delays in payment of salaries.

The government through the Finance Ministry insisted on going ahead with the move leading to the disclosure. Nigeria has also been dogged with a corruption problem across its public and private sectors.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led by Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 2015 with the promise to restore security, fight corruption and to rescue an ailing economy.

Culled from the Africa News

Nigeria’s military was on Tuesday accused of ignoring repeated warnings about the movements of Boko Haram fighters before they kidnapped 110 schoolgirls in the country’s restive northeast.

The students, the youngest of whom is aged just 10, were seized from the town of Dapchi, Yobe state, on February 19 in virtually identical circumstances to those in Chibok in 2014.

Then, more than 200 schoolgirls were taken in an attack that brought sustained world attention on the Islamist insurgency and sparked a global campaign for their release.

President Muhammadu Buhari has called the Dapchi abduction a “national disaster” and vowed to use negotiation rather than force to secure their release.

But as in Chibok nearly four years ago, human rights group Amnesty International claimed the military was warned about the arrival of the heavily-armed jihadists, yet it still failed to act.

In the hours that followed both attacks, the authorities also tried to claim the girls had not been abducted.

Amnesty’s Nigeria director Osa Ojigho said “no lessons appear to have been learned” from Chibok and called for an immediate probe into what she called “inexcusable security lapses”.

“The government’s failure in this incident must be investigated and the findings made public, and it is absolutely crucial that any investigation focuses on the root causes,” she added.

“Why were insufficient troops available? Why was it decided to withdraw troops? What measures have the government taken to protect schools in northeast Nigeria?

“And what procedures are supposed to be followed in response to an attempted abduction?”

There was no immediate response from the Nigerian military when contacted by AFP.

Multiple calls

Amnesty said that between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm on February 19, at least five calls were made to tell the security services that Islamist fighters were in the Dapchi area.

Locals spotted about 50 members of the Islamic State group affiliate in a convoy of nine vehicles in Futchimiram, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Dapchi, then at Gumsa.

In Gumsa, where Boko Haram stayed until about 5:00 pm, residents phoned ahead to Dapchi to warn them. The convoy arrived at about 6:30 pm and left about 90 minutes later.

Amnesty, whose researchers spoke to about 23 people and three security officials, said the army command in Geidam had told callers they were aware of the situation and were monitoring.

Police in Dapchi promised to tell divisional commanders, while army commanders in Geidam and Damaturu were also alerted during the attack, it added.

People in Dapchi have previously said troops were withdrawn from the town earlier this year, leaving only a few police officers. The nearest military detachment was an hour away.

The Dapchi abduction has thrown into doubt repeated government and military claims that Boko Haram is on the brink of defeat, after nearly nine years of fighting and at least 20,000 deaths.

Boko Haram, which has used kidnapping as a weapon of war during the conflict, has not claimed responsibility but it is believed a faction headed by Abu Mus’ab al-Barnawi is behind it.

IS in August 2015 publicly backed Barnawi as the leader of Boko Haram, or Islamic State West Africa Province, over Abubakar Shekau, whose supporters carried out the Chibok abduction.

Analysts have attributed a financial motive to the Dapchi kidnapping given government ransom payments made to Boko Haram to secure the release of some of the captives from Chibok.

AFP

Police in Nigeria’s Southeastern Abia State have reiterated that they do not know the whereabouts of pro-Biafra leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

Commissioner of Police Anthony Ogbizi told the local Punch news portal that as far as they were concerned Kanu has a case before court. That he had been granted bail with three sureties, those persons according to Ogbizi were best placed to tell where Kanu was.

“Nnamdi Kanu was charged to court; he still has a case in court. He was granted bail by the court, but we heard that he jumped bail.

“The sureties, who secured the bail conditions for Nnamdi Kanu, should tell us his whereabouts,” he stressed.

An Abuja Federal High Court granted Kanu bail in April 2017 after over a year in detention on treason charges. He, however, went missing after members of his group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) clashed with the army at his family home in September 2017.

The army insists it is not holding him and the government has since secured a court order proscribing the group. Kanu failed to show up at the last hearing date for his trial. The trial judge has since ordered his lawyer to produce him at the next sitting on March 28.

The three sureties who signed his bail bond were: Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, a Jewish High Chief Priest, Immanuu-El Shalom and a Chartered Accountant, Tochukwu Uchendu.

Kanu is leading a secession movement pushing for the independent state of Biafra. The earlier push for a separate republic of Biafra was championed by Chief Ojukwu nearly 50 years ago.

The declaration of independence sparked a civil war which left more than a million people dead. President Buhari has previously said the unity of Nigeria was non-negotiable.

Source: Africa News

Two female suicide bombers have been confirmed dead after a failed suicide attack in the city of Maiduguri, Nigeria.

The attack took place on Wednesday evening and injured nine civilians.

Local reports say the women detonated their vests after being denied entry into the are by security personnel.

In a statment Borno State Police said: “Two female suicide bombers in an attempt to infiltrate the Alikaramanti area, after Giwa Barracks, were intercepted by security operatives on duty, but they hurriedly detonated the IED strapped to their bodies, killing themselves and injuring nine others.”

He added “Corpses and injured victims have been evacuated to the hospital and normalcy restored.”

Source: BBC

A rights group in Nigeria has threatened to take legal action against the government for its “criminal negligence” allegedly resulting in the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls.

In its stronghold in northeastern Nigeria, the Takfiri Boko Haram terrorist group has abducted hundreds of schoolsgirls, causing public outcry.

Recently, more than 100 girls were kidnapped from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, reviving memories of the mass abduction of 276 girls from another boarding school in Chibok in April 2014.

The #BringBackOurGirls movement has served the Federal Government a seven-day notice to rescue the abductees or face legal action for the “criminal negligence which enabled the abduction of Dapchi girls,” Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) lawyer Femi Falana said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The group’s lawyer added that his clients not only demanded the rescue of the abducted girls but also punishment for the local security officials who had failed to guarantee the students’ safety.

“We are not just going to court to demand the rescue of the girls; we are also going to demand sanctions because once you do not punish impunity, you are going to have criminality happen all over the place,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said his government is determined to ensure the release of all girls abducted by Boko Haram through negotiation.

Buhari has also reportedly ordered the country’s security forces to guarantee the safety of schools and students.

Source: Presstv

Nigeria’s presidency said on Monday it plans to negotiate for the release of 110 girls abducted from a school in the northeastern town of Dapchi last month, rather than use a military operation to free them by force.

The kidnapping is one of the largest since the jihadist group Boko Haram abducted more than 270 schoolgirls from the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014. Some of the Chibok girls have been freed after what security sources say were ransom payments; around 100 are still being held.

Nigeria is grappling with an insurgency by Boko Haram that has killed at least 20,000 people since 2009. Members of the group are suspected of the latest kidnapping, which happened on Feb. 19, in the state of Yobe.

President Muhammadu Buhari, a 75-year-old former military ruler, discussed the use of negotiations during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in the capital, Abuja, the presidency said.

“Nigeria prefers to have schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from Chibok and Dapchi back alive, and that is why it has chosen negotiation, rather than a military option,” Buhari’s office said in an emailed statement issued by the president’s spokesman.

“President Buhari added that Nigeria was working together with international organisations and negotiators, to ensure that the girls were released unharmed by their captors,” the presidency statement said.

The issue of security has become politically charged in Nigeria less than a year before a presidential election. Buhari is touring areas hit by security problems and this week will visit the state where the schoolgirls were abducted, the statement said.

Tillerson was in Nigeria for the last stop in a week-long tour of African countries, his first trip to the continent as Secretary of State, during which he has emphasised security partnerships. He visited Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Chad before arriving in Nigeria’s capital.

The emailed statement also said Buhari thanked the U.S. for assistance rendered in the fight against Boko Haram, noting that Nigerian forces are good but need assistance with training and equipment.

REUTERS