News

How treacherous village head sold community to bandits at N700k

Published

4 months ago

June 1, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

A village head collected N700,000 from bandits to allow them free access to attack his community.

This was disclosed by Katsina State Governor, Dr Umaru Dikko Radda.

Recall that, months ago, Radda described banditry as a business venture for some highly placed individuals in the country.

He has now disclosed how a village head and other locals benefit from banditry.

The governor told Saturday Vanguard that a village head was paid N700,000 by bandits, to allow free access to his village, and the consequent killing of about 30 of his subjects.

He added that for as little as N2,000, some persons would volunteer information to bandits about their neighbours or relatives.

On the village head, the governor said; “I will say yes, that we have arrested a village head in Guga village in Bakori local government of the state because of his involvement with the bandits.

He was given N700,000 to allow bandits access into his village to kill over 30 people.

“The government deployed so many approaches but the notable ones are the kinetic and non-kinetic approaches and within, there are tangible approaches that have gone a long way in tackling security problems”.

Gov. Radda who said some of his statements had been misrepresented

said; “I hold the security agencies in high esteem because they too are being killed daily in their pursuit to curb the insecurity in the state. But the point is, there is no set category of people who are not involved in this. What are we hiding here? Who was not arrested? Different categories of people were arrested on allegations of being involved in banditry, criminality, and many other vices even here in Katsina.

‘I don’t know why people should be bothering themselves with why I said this other than the fact that some people want to fuel it. I still maintain that different categories of people, whether in government or anywhere, are involved. That is because there are several arrests and security reports we have. Even in prisons now, you will see the people we arrested from the security operatives, government officials, and traditional rulers.

“But the issue we should understand is that we have bad eggs, good people everywhere, but we can’t get away from the bad ones, and bad eggs are with us. Why should we be here and then you hear the information from the discussion we had after an hour or 30 minutes? Someone from those people who attended the meeting must have leaked the information

“You must ask yourself who told them that. It is not rocket science but logic. We don’t want to tell the truth because we don’t want to get to the root of the problem. We are shielding ourselves from the consequences of wrongdoing. We must tell ourselves the truth. We have to examine ourselves. No organization doesn’t have bad eggs in it. We should deal with it so that we get out of it.

“But, when we keep hiding things that we don’t want to blackmail, it continues and there will be no time that it will end. So, it is high time we told ourselves the truth. When we do that, we will correct it. Somebody can challenge me for doing something wrong, and that may be the basis for my correction. Why should we be hiding things from ourselves? And that is one of the major problems affecting this country”, he said.

On how far his administration has been able to tackle insecurity in the state, Dr Radda said 35 bandits were neutralized by the state joint security taskforce in the last year.

At the same time, 363 bandits were arrested and subjected to the state’s fair judicial system, while 565 kidnap victims were successfully rescued.

News

Ecoparl: Speaker Ibrahima Reaffirms Parliament’s Dedication to Regional Unity

Published

4 hours ago

September 18, 2024

Gloria Ikibah

By Gloria Ikibah

The Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Rt. Honourable Memounatou Ibrahima, restated that the parliament remains committed to ensuring the unity and integration of the people within the subregion.

According to Speaker Ibrahima, the Parliament will continue to use parliamentary diplomacy to engage countries that are considering leaving the bloc due to political challenges, such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, as a result of military coups they experienced.

The Speaker stated this when she led a delegation of the ECOWAS Parliament on a working visit to the President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, on Wednesday in Abuja.

She highlighted that while countries may break formal cooperation, the people of the region remain interconnected, adding that the Parliament, as representatives of these people, will work to maintain the unity.

Ibrahima expressed gratitude to the Nigerian Senate for supporting ECOWAS by providing necessary facilities for their plenary sessions, even as she discussed the socio-political challenges facing the region, as well as how parliamentarians can contribute more to address these issues.

She said: “We strengthen parliamentary diplomacy, because we know that the countries might break cooperation but we cannot separate the population. The population always live together and we as representatives of the people, we are doing our best so that this living together will continue to be reality and even made better.

“We came to thank him for all the facilities that the senate has been providing to the ECOWAS Parliament to facilitate the holding of our sessions here in Abuja. We also discussed on the socio-political situation in the community. We also discussed on the ways parliamentarians can make more contributions on the various issues and the challenges that we are experiencing in ECOWAS”.

The President of the Senate,

Senator Akpabio, who was represented by his Deputy, Senator Barau Jubril, commended Ibrahima’s leadership and her efforts in using parliamentary diplomacy to foster cooperation within ECOWAS, especially in light of the challenges posed by countries considering an exit from the bloc.

He noted that since Speaker Meimounatou assumed office, she has deployed enormous parliamentary diplomacy to bear not only on the level of cooperation with institutions in the region but also on those that have expressed the wish to quit the regional block.

Naijablitznews.com reports that Senator Jubril is the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament.

He said: “Since she was elected the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, she has been up and doing in terms of giving leadership to the parliament. It is in that regard that she is here trying to chart a better course for the parliament to make sure that she brings parliamentary diplomacy to bear in terms of our cooperation not only with those who are within the community as we speak but also even those who are attempting to leave the community.

“It is in that respect that she is here, and what she is doing is commendable. She has come to strengthen her idea and initiative of making the parliament stronger and more effective”.

News

Air Force Begins Moving Electoral Materials For Edo Guber Election

Published

7 hours ago

September 18, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has began airlifting the sensitive election materials for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to Benin, Edo State, ahead of the upcoming governorship election scheduled for September 21, 2024.

This was disclosed on Wednesday by the Deputy Director, Public Relations and Information, Group Captain Kabiru Ali.

The operation is part of the NAF’s efforts to ensure the timely and secure delivery of materials necessary for a smooth electoral process.

This development reinforces the collaboration between NAF and INEC to facilitate logistics and ensure a peaceful election in Edo State.

The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, had previously reiterated NAF’s commitment to providing airlift support for the swift movement of electoral materials during a meeting with INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu.

This airlift operation is a crucial aspect of NAF’s constitutional responsibility to provide Military Aid to Civil Authority, underscoring the force’s dedication to supporting democratic processes in Nigeria. With the election just days away, the NAF’s timely intervention will help ensure the successful conduct of the governorship elections in Edo State.

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State had earlier accused the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, of working with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to hunt the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members and supporters in the state and force them into hiding ahead of September 21 governorship election.

Obaseki, who made the allegation when a delegation led by the former Head of State, Abdusalam Abubakar, met with him to get the governor and his party to sign peace accord, said that the IGP had made nonsense of his (Obaseki’s) role as the chief security officer of the state.

The governor had said that the police chief obtained a warrant to arrest 60 members and supporters of PDP in Edo and that the IGP sent an armed “gang” of policemen who invaded the state, attacked PDP members, shot at a local government chairman and arrested 10 persons who are currently being detained in Abuja without charges.

Asked by the former head of state if his party would sign the peace accord, Obaseki said, “The person who is supposed to enforce the peace accord is now an active participant in creating a destructive environment.

“We are now in a situation where from the Inspector General’s office, there are armed gang policemen who came into Edo State, invaded, arrested and took away PDP members.

News

“Dancing gives me abundant joy and peace of mind”-Gov Adeleke

Published

7 hours ago

September 18, 2024

Kayode Sanni-Arewa

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, has given reasons why he loves dancing.

The ‘Dancing Governor’, as he is fondly called, revealed this on Wednesday while responding to a tweet on X.

An X user, @Iwogoke, while praising the governor, stated that Adeleke has been busy fulfilling his electoral promises to the people of Osun State, while his political opponents believe he is only good at dancing.

Iwogoke tweeted, “I’m not flattering you, Your Excellency, your opponents think you can only dance but while they are busy shouting and calling you ‘Dancing Governor’, you are busy fulfilling your electoral promises to the people.”

Responding to the tweet via his verified X account, Adeleke explained that he loves dancing because it brings him joy.

Speaking further on his love for dancing, Adeleke highlighted that while dancing brings him immense happiness, his greater fulfilment comes from delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of Osun.

Outlining his administration’s efforts to enhance the state’s infrastructure, he noted that primary health centre rehabilitation is underway in at least 200 out of the 332 wards across Osun State, adding that road construction projects are also progressing in every local government area.

He wrote, “Dancing gives me joy, but delivering on my electoral promises and providing the dividends of democracy to the good people of Osun gives me even greater joy. Rehabilitation of primary health centers is ongoing in at least 200 out of 332 wards, and road construction is progressing in every Local Government!”