Dozens are feared dead after suspected Lakurawa terrorists carried out attacks on several rural communities in the Arewa Local Government Area on Wednesday.
According to local and security sources, the gunmen stormed villages in the remote border district, opening fire on residents in what survivors described as highly organised and indiscriminate assaults.
Breakdowns from security sources indicate that 16 people were killed in Mamunu, five in Awashaka, three in Masama, while two people each lost their lives in five other affected villages.
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The attacks triggered panic, forcing many residents to flee their homes as the assailants stormed homes and shot at civilians.
Security operatives have since been deployed to the area to secure the communities, assist survivors, and block possible escape routes for the attackers. Tracking operations are also ongoing.
Leigh Wood says he “does not want an easy night” against Josh Warrington when the former featherweight world champions renew their rivalry in Nottingham on Saturday.
The pair will contest a rematch at the Motorpoint Arena, more than two years after their dramatic first fight ended with a Wood knockout.
Despite plenty of needle and animosity lingering in the build-up, Thursday’s news conference was cordial, with both men fully focused.
“I don’t think it’s going to be easy. I’m not expecting it to be easy and nor do I want it to be easy,” said the 37-year-old Wood.
“I actually feel better when I’m going through it and then I get the victory.”
He holds a record of 28 wins and four defeats, with 17 of those victories coming by knockout.
Nottingham-born Wood – who has built a reputation in recent years for his heavy hands and consistent threat inside the ring – insisted he was not underestimating Warrington either.
His victory over the 35-year-old in October 2023 remains one of the most memorable all-British fights of recent years.
Warrington appeared to be edging the action in Sheffield through his work-rate and pressure, before Wood unleashed a powerful right hand in the seventh round to force a stunning stoppage.
Leeds-born Warrington described that as a “fantastic” punch but promised to make the necessary adjustments this time to change the outcome.
‘I mourned my career & returned’ – Warrington
Matchroom Boxing: Mark Robinson
Warrington, whose record has 32 wins in 37 bouts, with four defeats and a draw, is a two-time IBF featherweight champion, while Wood held the WBA featherweight crown in 2023.
But much has changed since their first meeting as both men have suffered setbacks against Anthony Cacace. Warrington briefly retired after his loss to the Belfast fighter in September 2024 before deciding to return.
“I mourned my career a little bit then decided to continue because I felt I had more than enough to do some things in this sport,” he said.
With careers hanging in the balance, there is a growing sense defeat could spell the end for either man, and even the winner might also call it a day.
Also on the undercard in Nottingham will be an exciting women’s contest as Derby-born Sandy Ryan challenges Mexico’s Karla Ramos Zamora for the vacant WBC world super lightweight title, while Bilal Fawaz meets Ishmael Davis for the British light middleweight crown.
The senator representing Anambra Central, Victor Umeh, has described President Bola Tinubu’s decision to sign the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2026 into law as expected, saying the legislative process clearly pointed to that outcome.
Umeh, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday, said the political and legislative dynamics surrounding the bill made the President’s assent inevitable.
“There is no surprise that it will be so. Anybody who was expecting the president not to assent to the bill is perhaps not honest to himself or herself. The whole process was predicted to end this way, and that’s what we have seen.
“Seeing what played out in both chambers of the National Assembly, one will be expecting that at the end, the president will veto the National Assembly or say that he doesn’t want to assent to the bill…because everything was tailored to meet a certain end,” he said.
Umeh traced the controversy to the debate over electronic transmission of election results, particularly the provision now captured in Section 63 of the amended law.
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He explained that the repealed Electoral Act 2022, then Section 65, only provided for the transfer of results in a manner prescribed by the electoral commission, without expressly mandating electronic transmission.
According to him, the commission’s guidelines for the 2023 general election required electronic transmission, but the law itself did not explicitly state it.
He said disputes arising from the 2023 process, especially claims of glitches affecting the presidential poll, triggered litigation that eventually reached the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Umeh noted that the court held that electronic transmission “was not expressly recognised by the Act,” even though the Independent National Electoral Commission had the power to prescribe the mode of result transfer.
He said the amendment was therefore aimed at giving clear statutory backing to electronic transmission to avoid similar disputes.
Inside NASS Deliberations
Reflecting on the legislative process within the National Assembly of Nigeria, Umeh said the Senate initially passed a version similar to the 2022 provision, while the House of Representatives adopted mandatory electronic transmission based on recommendations from joint committees.
He disclosed that disagreements emerged within the Senate when the mandatory transmission clause was removed and replaced with a broader “transfer of results” wording, prompting protests from some lawmakers.
“When that mandatory transmission was expunged and returned to ‘transfer’ as contained in Section 65 of the Act, we made noise. We went public. We said that wasn’t what we agreed to in the Senate executive session,” he said.
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Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Following public backlash, he said the Senate revisited the clause and reinstated electronic transmission but inserted a proviso allowing exceptions in cases of communication failure, a move that triggered fresh controversy.
Umeh argued the proviso could weaken the intent of the reform.
“If you make a law and say, ‘provided that there will be no communication failure,’ you’re already proposing that there will be a communication failure.
“Once you say if this happens, you can jettison electronic transmission, you have opened the door back to anybody who will claim that there was no internet or communication availability,” he said.
Passage, Presidential Assent
Tinubu (centre) urged Nigerians have confidence in their system.
The Electoral Act generated public debate. Key proposals in the amendment included electronic transmission of results, digital voter identification using QR codes, compulsory National Identification Number linkage for voter registration, and voting rights for inmates.
Civil society groups under the “Occupy NASS” campaign demanded real-time transmission to curb manipulation, while opposition figures such as Peter Obi and Rotimi Amaechi pushed for the same cause.
Lawmakers were divided over whether electronic transmission should be compulsory or conditional, with some arguing that Nigeria’s infrastructure gaps necessitated retaining manual collation as a backup.
The bill was passed on Tuesday, February 17, after a tense session marked by disagreements across party lines, with the Senate adopting a conditional approach that allows manual collation where technological failures occur.
President Tinubu signed the legislation into law on Wednesday, February 18, citing concerns about broadband limitations, potential technical glitches and cybersecurity risks.
He maintained that election outcomes are ultimately determined by human officials, not technology alone.
Lando Norris has admitted he described the new Formula 1 cars as “a lot of fun” last week to “see what the reaction was of everyone”.
The world champion also suggested Max Verstappen, who had said the cars were “just not F1”, could “go and find something else to do” if he did not like them.
On Thursday, at the second pre-season test, Norris said: “I just didn’t want to come out into the media and complain to everyone on the first weekend back.
“I just wanted to say that and see what the reaction was of everyone.
6 days ago
22 hours ago
The McLaren driver also admitted that the cars were “certainly not the purest form of racing”, and that he shared Verstappen’s views in many ways.
“I agree with Max on a lot of comments,” the McLaren driver said. “Probably most of the comments I agree with, but it’s not that I don’t have fun out there. So there’s two sides.
“I do agree with basically every other driver, because I think every other driver has made their comments pretty clear. I just didn’t want to come out into the media and complain to everyone on the first weekend back. I want to still enjoy my time and just say what I feel.
“I had fun last week. I’ve still been having fun out there now. And I think we know as a championship with FIA and with Formula 1, we’re trying to improve the car that we have now, because it’s certainly not the purest form of racing, and that’s what Formula 1 should be.
“A lot of the driving is focused on just trying to get the battery to work properly and less focused on how can you as a driver get everything out of the car.”
Verstappen’s criticisms centred on the amount of energy management that is required with the new cars.
The combination of the power provided by the electrical part of the engine being increased three-fold, to about half of the total output, and the batteries being more or less the same size, has led to drivers doing tasks they have described as counter-intuitive.
These include not coming out of the corner before a qualifying lap as fast as possible, lifting and coasting on the straights on qualifying laps, and backing off before the end of a qualifying lap, all strategies aimed at the optimum use of energy and best overall lap time.
A number of drivers have also expressed concern about the potential difficulty of overtaking as the former DRS overtaking aid has been replaced by a “boost” button giving a burst of extra electrical energy, which is proving less effective so far.
Williams driver Carlos Sainz, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, said: “My message to (commercial rights holder) FOM and FIA is (at) the start of the year we need to stay a bit open-minded in case the regulations that we’ve come up with are maybe a bit exaggerated on the amount of harvesting or deployment that we have to do through a lap.
“It might make some circuits OK, like potentially here, even though I still think here is not fully OK with what we’re seeing so far.
“But tracks like Melbourne or potentially Jeddah, tracks that might be more energy-demanding, we might need to adjust a bit the regulations.
A new United Nations Human Rights Office report says Israel’s military campaign and blockade of Gaza have created living conditions “increasingly incompatible with Palestinians’ continued existence as a group in Gaza” as it presses its genocidal war on the enclave.
The report released on Thursday states that “intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighbourhoods and the denial of humanitarian assistance appeared to aim at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza”.
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“This, together with forcible transfers, which appear to aim at a permanent displacement, raise concerns over ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank.”
Covering the period from November 1, 2024 to October 31, 2025, the report documents Israel’s security forces’ “systematic use of unlawful force” in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
It highlights “widespread” arbitrary detention and the “extensive unlawful demolition” of Palestinian homes, stating that the measures seek to “systematically discriminate, oppress, control and dominate the Palestinian people”.
These policies are altering “the character, status and demographic composition of the occupied West Bank, raising serious concerns of ethnic cleansing”.
In Gaza, the report condemns the killing and maiming of “unprecedented numbers of civilians”, the spread of famine and the destruction of the “remaining civilian infrastructure”.
At least 463 Palestinians, including 157 children, starved to death during the 12-month period, according to the findings.
“Palestinians faced the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risking being killed while trying to get food,” it says, adding that the famine and “foreseeable and repeatedly foretold” deaths directly resulted from actions taken by the Israeli government.
Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza
Israeli forces launched new air strikes and artillery attacks across the Gaza Strip, as families in the besieged enclave woke to begin their Ramadan fast under bombardment.
Shelling struck areas east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza at dawn on Thursday, where Israeli troops remain deployed. Warplanes also hit Rafah and areas east of Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera’s correspondent.
A day earlier, medical officials at Nasser Medical Complex confirmed that two Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire near the so-called “yellow line” in Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis.
Israeli forces continue to demolish homes and infrastructure in areas they control, flattening entire neighbourhoods and entrenching displacement.
The attacks form part of Israel’s repeated breaches of the ceasefire that began on October 10, 2025.
Gaza’s Ministry of Health says those violations have killed 603 Palestinians and wounded 1,618 others as of Monday.
‘Partnership between settlers and the occupation forces’
Violence has also intensified in the occupied West Bank.
On Wednesday evening, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the death of 19-year-old Nasrallah Mohammad Jamal Abu Siam, who succumbed to wounds sustained during a settler assault on Mukhmas, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem.
Settlers, operating under the protection of Israeli forces, opened fire and stole dozens of sheep from Palestinian farmers. Three of the wounded were shot with live ammunition.
With Abu Siam’s killing, the number of Palestinians shot dead by settlers alone since October 7, 2023 has risen to 37, according to the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission.
Moayad Shaaban, head of the commission, described events in Mukhmas as a “dangerous escalation in organised settler terrorism”, citing a “full partnership between settlers and the occupation forces”.
Israeli troops also raided the town of Arraba, south of Jenin, wounding two young men with live fire, one critically. Soldiers detained several others during the incursion.
In Jerusalem, Ramadan has brought further restrictions at Al-Aqsa Mosque. The mosque’s imam, Sheikh Akrama Sabri, said Israeli authorities are “imposing a reality by force” by limiting worshippers while allowing extremist Jewish incursions into the compound.
Occupation authorities have issued more than 100 deportation orders barring young Jerusalemites from entering the mosque and restricted West Bank worshippers to 10,000 permits under strict age and security conditions. Al-Aqsa can hold up to half a million people.
Cricket does not have an alcohol problem but players “need to understand the time to have a drink and the time not to”, says former England captain Alec Stewart.
Discussion around drinking dominated this winter’s Ashes series in Australia with the behaviour of England’s players heavily scrutinised during their 4-1 defeat in the Tests.
The England and Wales Cricket Board investigated reports of players drinking excessively during a mid-series trip to Noosa, while white-ball captain Harry Brook was punched by a nightclub bouncer the night before a one-day match in New Zealand in November.
“Alcohol will not improve anyone’s performance so this is why the education is so important,” said Stewart, currently director of cricket at Surrey.
“People aren’t going to just live like monks and be completely teetotal, but people need to understand the time to have a drink and the time not to.
9 January
Stewart was speaking after being announced as the new president of the Cricketers’ Trust charity, which provides support to current and former players and their families around their health and wellbeing.
He was also suggested as a potential candidate to replace England’s managing director Rob Key, though Key is expected to be given the chance to improve England’s fortunes.
Selector Luke Wright left his position after the Ashes and is yet to be replaced.
The charity has released a new report to outline its work, including providing mental health support to 239 current and former professional cricketers over the past five years. There has been a 33% increase in therapy sessions from 667 in 2024 to 889 in 2025.
The report references eight cases of players going into “residential rehabilitation” – receiving treatment in specialist facilities at which they can stay for a period of time supported financially by the trust – for various issues including to alcohol, anxiety, gambling and substance abuse.
Speaking about the high-profile discussion around alcohol this winter, former batter Ian Thomas who now works at the Professional Cricketers’ Association and is a Cricketers’ Trust trustee said: “We’ve continued to work hard on the education front.
“It’s something that’s in everyday life in society, but there is a responsibility for athletes and cricketers to make the right choices at the right times and that’s what our education was about.
“We’re still going to have people make the wrong choices and we’re still going to have human error.
“The biggest part for us if that does happen is that we’re able to pick them up.”
The report says more than half of the issues affecting players relate to low mood, anxiety and emotional support.
“We’ve got to make sure the support mechanisms are in place and that individuals are not afraid to actually put a hand up and say I’m struggling,” Stewart said.
