by Admin | Jul 5, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, says the swap of Boko Haram prisoners to secure the release of the second batch of 82 abducted Chibok schoolgirls was a political decision, not that of the military. Featuring on BBC Programme, Hard Talk on Tuesday, the Army Chief said the Federal Government, at that time, believed that the decision to swap the prisoners for the girls was the best. According to Buratai, “As far as I am concerned, we performed our own role for the safe passage of the abducted Chibok girls. “The Boko Haram terrorists’ swap for the Chibok schoolgirls was a political decision, not a military decision. It is in the best interest of the nation and based on the circumstances, the government felt it was the best course. “Personally, I think it has its own advantages; the message is to rescue the Chibok girls. “I do not think anyone has said the Boko Haram has been eliminated. Terrorism is something that is resilient.” Buratai noted that the inability of the Boko Haram insurgents to attack the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and other northern states as they did before May 2015, showed they had been defeated. “Before May 2015, the Boko Haram insurgents were even in Abuja, Kano and Kaduna. They were operating even to the South. We had to stop them. “For the past one and a half years, we have not had any attack in Jos, Abuja, Kano and many other places, not even as close as Gombe State. “They are only concentrated within certain areas in Borno and Yobe states.” SOURCE:Daily...
by Admin | Jul 4, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI The Federal Government has made public details of how two military personnel – Wing Commander Ishaka Yakubu and Lt.-Commander Akinbamidele Odunsi – worked with two bankers to allegedly divert N339m from the Military Pension Board (MPB) in February 2016. The bankers’ are Mrs. Violet Ogoegbunam (the manager of a bank on Kuforodua Street, Wuse Zone 2, Abuja) and Mrs. Abidemi Aderemi Kolade (a relationship manager at the bank). They were said to have diverted N339,374,478.58 from the MPB, under the pretext that the money represented payments to some “supposed next of kins to dead military pensioners as death benefits”. Wing Commander Yakubu is said to be a cashier with the MPB. Lt.-Commander Odunsi is described as an Assistant Director, Computer, with the MPB. This information formed the substance of a four-count charge filed on behalf of the Federal Government by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The charge, filed on May 31, 2017, was endorsed by Steve Odiase of the Legal and Prosecution Department of the EFCC in Abuja. The two bankers are named in counts 1 and 2, relating to conspiracy and obtaining by false pretence in respect of the alleged N339,374,478.58 fraud. Yakubu and Odunsi ar named in the four counts, and charged with obtaining by false pretence, and abuse of office in respect of N190m which they allegedly received from the N390m. According to the EFCC, the offences of obtaining money under false pretence were said to be contrary to section 1(i) (a) and punishable under section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud...
by Admin | Jul 4, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI YENAGOA— AUTHORITIES of the Joint Task Force, JTF, in the Niger Delta codenamed Operation Delta Safe, have said that their operatives have uncovered a local arms manufacturing hideout in Arhavwarien Kingdom, Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State, leading to the arrest of 18 suspects. In a related development, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, yesterday, disclosed that about 500 illegal refineries were shut down in the Niger Delta in the last six months. •Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas He said that illegal refineries operating at various locations in the creeks of the Niger Delta region were traced and shut down within the period, just as he commended the efforts of his men for the feat. Ibas, who spoke in Abuja, while receiving the Managing Director of Nigerian Port Authority, Hajiya Hadiza Usman, who led her organisation’s top management team on a courtesy visit to the Naval Headquarters, Abuja, lauded naval personnel for their commitment to security and safety of the Nigerian maritime domain. He said that the number of the refineries shutdown by his organisation was far more than what was recorded in the past two years. He said, “What is happening is that once you focus on the activities of pirates and other criminals in the maritime sector, you see them run away and begin to struggle for survival in other areas. To some extent, we have been able to curtail them and their nefarious activities in the maritime sector.” “In the last six months, we have been able to shut down about 500 illegal refineries and this is more than what has...
by Admin | Jul 4, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI No fewer than 123 suspected drug dealers have been arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Bayelsa State. According to the Bayelsa State command of the agency, illicit drugs weighing 81.95 kilogrammes were also confiscated from suspects in the state. This was disclosed by the NDLEA Commander in the state, Abdullahi Abdul, during a press conference at the agency’s secretariat in Yenagoa. Abdul, who said the arrests and seizures were carried out between January and June 2017, noted that 85 males and 38 females arrested were. According to him, a breakdown of the seizures indicated that cannabis was 74.615 kg, cocaine – 0.011kg, heroin – 0.059kg, and psychotropic drug – 7.265kg. The commandant revealed that during the period under review, they were able to convict three drug suspects – one male and two females – with various prison terms ranging from 18 to 20 months. He added that another seven suspects – two females and five males – were being remanded in prison custody for various drug trafficking offences. Abdul lamented that the major handicap of the Command was logistics that would enable the NDLEA to cover all the nooks and crannies of the state, particularly the coastal areas and the hinterland. The commandant, however, said that the agency was working assiduously with the Bayelsa State government to facilitate their operations in every part of the state. He said: “In Bayelsa State, the major thing that worries us here is the use of psychotropic substances which are mostly abused by youths. We are trying our best to curtail the usage of these substances and...
by Admin | Jul 4, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI The police in Abuja have detained one Usman Adamu as a suspect in the death of a young woman, Joy Odama. According to a statement released earlier today by a police spokesman Jimoh Moshood, Mr. Adamu is being detained as the police continue their investigation into the circumstances surrounding Ms. Odama’s death in the suspect’s apartment in Abuja. Apart from Ms. Odama’s death, another young woman in the suspect’s residence, Victoria Ezekiel, fell gravely ill but was resuscitated at the Federal Medical Center in Jabi, Abuja. The police spokesman disclosed that the Mr. Adamu’s investigation for culpable homicide began after a law firm representing Philomena Odama, the mother of the deceased young woman, wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police. In the petition, dated January 5, 2017, Mrs. Odama urged the IGP to order an investigation into her daughter’s death in Mr. Adamu’s apartment. The late Joy Odama was a second-year student of Mass Communication at Cross River State University of Technology. The police statement said she “died mysteriously in the flat of Alhaji Usman Adamu located at Ibro Quarters, Karmo, Abuja on 21/12/2016.” According to the police report, on December 18, 2016, one Elizabeth Okpata James asked Ms. Joy Odama to go with her to Mr. Adamu’s house along with another woman, Martha Hassan. The report added that Mrs. Philomena Odama later met Mr. Adamu “who promised to offer her a job with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).” On December 20, 2016, the suspect requested that Joy Odama come to his apartment to help take care of his ill house-help while...
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