Category Nigeria News

Umaru Bago, the governor of Niger State, has urged residents to protect themselves from persistent bandit attacks as a result of growing concerns about insecurity in various parts of the nation.

He resolutely argued that no matter what the circumstances, his administration would never negotiate with or pay a ransom to criminals.

READ MORE:   Tanker Explosion: Gov Bago Sympathizes With Niger Community.

Bago made the statement while traveling to the local government areas of Rijau and Magama, where several communities have recently been attacked by bandits operating from the Kontagora axis.

The governor claimed that the state had reached a critical stage, urging people to take collective action, warning that paying ransom would only enrage criminals and encourage kidnapping.

“I won’t bargain with bandits,” I said. I won’t demand a ransom.

He said, “They will open a shop on our heads and continue kidnapping people until we start paying.”

“The situation has reached a war zone that calls for collective coercion.” We have enemies in our area, but we won’t give up.

The governor continued, “We will defend our lives and property as the constitution allows.”

Niger Government Commits and Approves Free Care for Explosion Victims

Bago announced plans to recruit and train 10,000 people for the state’s joint task force to improve community security and restore peace, calling the frequent attacks and residents’ displacement as “embarrassing and unacceptable.”

The governor also announced a total ban on all mining activities across Zone C of the state in a statement released by his Special Adviser on Print Media, Aisha Wakaso.

Magama, Kontagora, Rijau, Wushishi, Mariga, Borgu, Mashegu, and Agwara are the affected local government areas.

According to Bago, illegal mining had become a major contributor to the zone’s insecurity, noting that many miners had unrestricted access to forests that were viewed as unsafe for residents.

The bandits don’t touch the forests, despite suspicion that miners can freely enter them. He stated that I have mandated that anyone caught engaging in mining activities be detained by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).

Joash Amupitan, the newly appointed head of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is in Abuja for President Bola Tinubu’s swearing-in ceremony.

Amupitan met with onlookers at the State House on Thursday morning, clad in a white “agbada” and sporting a gold cap, and greeted them as he officially assumed the position of head of the nation’s electoral umpire.

The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. and the professor of law was accompanied by a few presidential aides.

The National Economic Council (NEC) meeting is being presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima in the Villa’s Council Chamber.

Governors and deputy governors from each of the Federation’s 36 states are present at the meeting.

Amupitan’s visit to the villa comes a week after the Senate approved his appointment as INEC Chairman following a rigorous screening session on October 16.

Senators questioned the 58-year-old don about his plans to bring about lasting reforms in the commission and restore credibility to the electoral process during his screening.

Amupitan succeeds Professor Mahmood Yakubu, whose term as INEC Chairman officially ended recently and was nominated by President Tinubu and supported by the National Council of State.

Since its founding, he is the electoral body’s sixth substantive head.

Amupitan had promised to prioritize electoral reforms that would boost voter confidence and ensure transparent polls while speaking to the Senate during his screening.

The professor stated that his main goals would be to strengthen the Electoral Act’s provisions to address irregularities in election dates and increase legitimacy.

“We must conduct elections where even the loser can congratulate the winner and declare, “You won fairly and well. When that occurs, voters’ confidence will naturally be restored, he said.

The law professor clarified that he neither represented the President nor appeared for any of the opposition candidates in response to reports that he had been connected to President Tinubu’s legal team during the 2023 Presidential Election Petitions Court.

He reiterated his impartiality to lawmakers by saying, “I never appeared before the Presidential Election Tribunal or the Supreme Court for any of the parties.”

A hit-and-run articulated vehicle (truck) in the state, according to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Kogi, led to the death of a female lecturer.

The lecturer, identified as Kemi Emmanuel, worked at the Federal University Lokoja (FUL), Kogi, according to the FRSC Sector Commander, Tenimu Etuku.

Etuku described her tragic and tragic passing.

In the university’s Department of Theatre Arts, late Mrs. Emmanuel was a well-known and admired lecturer.

According to Etuku, the accident happened at 3.30 p.m. The lecturer was struck by a running truck along the highway at Crusher in Lokoja metropolis on Wednesday when he fell off a commercial motorcycle, aka the Okada.

Read more about how 24 kidnapping victims are saved in Kogi, Kwara.

Our rescue team immediately arrived at the scene of the accident and transported the victim to Kogi State Specialist Hospital, where she had been declared dead.

He stated that the hospital’s mortuary has the deceased’s corpse lying in its place.

He expressed shock at the allegedly obstructing the said hit-and-run truck’s attitude by the said okada rider, who allegedly flew off in disguise.

To prevent such unfortunate events and save lives of innocent passengers, the sector commander advised okada riders against driving with enclosed vehicles on the highway.

In addition, a significant counter-banditry operation involving Kwara and Kogi states last week resulted in the rescue of 24 kidnap victims from the Nigerian Army.

The operation came after coordinated offensives by troops from the 12 Brigade Lokoja and 22 Armoured Brigade Ilorin, according to Acting Deputy Director of Army Public Relations, Polycarp Okoye, 2 Division Nigerian Army, Polycarp Okoye, according to a statement from the organization.

Four Chinese nationals, five women, an infant, and 14 males who had been abducted from various locations throughout Kwara and Kogi states, were among the victims who were rescued, according to Okoye.

The tragic petrol tanker explosion that occurred on Tuesday at the Essa community in Katcha Local Government Area, which claimed several lives and injured many others, has been condolened by the Niger State Government.

The government expressed its support for the victims and their families in a statement released by Murtala Bagana, the governor’s special adviser to the governor on special duties.

“We feel heavy in our hearts as the people of Essa and the surrounding communities deplore.” Our state suffers greatly from this. We show our support for all those who have been affected, according to Bagana.

A powerful delegation led by Bagana visited the scene of the incident and the hospitals where the injured victims are being treated, following Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago’s orders.

He made it clear that the governor had approved comprehensive and cost-free medical care for all the explosion victims.

Read more about the Niger State Tanker Explosion: Residents Blame Bad Road, Death Toll Hits 42.

He claims that people who have sustained serious injuries are being transported to the National Hospital, Gwagwalada, for advanced treatment, while others are receiving care at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Bida and Agaie General Hospital.

Bagana rebuked the bereaved families while offering condolences for the dangerous practice of scooping fuel from tankers that have caused numerous tragedies throughout the nation.

We grieve with the affected families and offer our prayers for the departed’s souls. Additionally, we urge people to refrain from hurling fuel from accident-planning. He stated that our administration is “remaining fully committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of our citizens.”

To prevent similar incidents in the future, the Niger State Government reiterated its commitment to improving road safety, emergency response, and infrastructure rehabilitation across the state.

42 people were killed in the explosion, and more than 60 were hurt.

A tanker flipped on the deteriorating Bida–Badeggi–Agaie Road, causing an explosion as locals attempted to remove fuel from the fallen vehicle.

The injured, which included men, women, and children, each had varying degrees of burns, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

For the rescue operations, which continued as some residents were still unaccounted for, emergency responders, including the police, DSS, NSCDC, FRSC, and local volunteers, were dispatched to the scene.

Three suspected gunrunners have been detained by Department of State Services (DSS) operations after allegedly providing bandits with weapons and ammunition in Kaduna State.

According to the agency, the state’s Igabi and Kachia Local Government Areas were the subjects of coordinated sting operations.

A 30-year-old man was being detained along the Nnamdi Azikiwe Bypass in Igabi while carrying 200 rounds of live ammunition, four empty magazines, and two AK-47 rifles, one of which was being transported by a PKT machine gun.

In a Volkswagen Golf car, two others were detained in Kachia’s Doka village while attempting to sell three AK-47 rifles to bandits along the Abuja–Kaduna Expressway.

REPs Probe $4.6b Health Grants READ ALSO

Governor Uba Sani praised the DSS for conducting the operation and said that under his administration’s peace model, there would no place for bandits and other criminal elements to hide.

The governor thanked President Bola Tinubu and the Director-General of the DSS for continuing to support Kaduna’s security framework through his Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Sule Shuaibu (SAN).

He noted that the state’s non-kinetic peace model, which his administration introduced, has significantly lowered crime rates, and warned against engaging in criminal activity that might compromise stability.

The DSS maintained that ongoing inquiries are being conducted and that suspects would face full legal repercussions.