Daybreak, Politics, Entertainment, Sport

Tag: Banditry

  • Banditry: Forests should be Carpet-bombed, Trees Replanted – El-Rufai

    Banditry: Forests should be Carpet-bombed, Trees Replanted – El-Rufai

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has shared his thoughts on what should be done to flush out bandits terrorizing people of the State.

    El-Rufai said security operatives should “carpet-bomb forests” where bandits are located.

    Speaking on Arise Tv on Monday, the Governor said the trees around the affected forest can be replanted later, after the area has been bombed.

    He, however, admitted that carpet-bombing the forests would lead to collateral damage.

    El-Rufai noted that such measure would boost Agriculture in the rural communities.

    The Governor said lack of manpower was responsible for the prolonged inability of security operatives to curb banditry in the northwest.

    According to El-Rufai: “These bandits operate in the periphery because their hiding place is in the forest. It’s a major problem. The security agencies are doing their best but they are overstretched.

    “The reality is we don’t have enough boots on ground to address the myriad of security challenges that we face, and these security challenges are asymmetric, widespread, and there’s no part of Nigeria that doesn’t have one security problem or the other.

    “Ramp up the number of boots and more technology and more investment in armament and wipe these guys once and for all.

    “I’ve always believed that, you know, we should carpet-bomb the forests; we can replant the trees after. Let’s carpet-bomb the forests and bomb all of them.”

  • Group Lauds Military Over Successes Against Banditry, Terrorism

    Group Lauds Military Over Successes Against Banditry, Terrorism

    A pressure group, Northern Youth Network (NYN), has lauded the Nigerian Military over what it described as renewed success in the war against terrorism and bandits in recent times in Sokoto, Borno, Zamfara, Kaduna and other states in the North East.

    Spokesman of NYN, Mallan Abdulrahman Ahmed in a statement made available to newsman commended the Nigerian military and other security agencies involved in the fight against terrorists in the country.

    He particularly commended the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) for properly coordinating intelligence and sharing same with the armed forces which has led to precision in the ground operations and Airstrikes by the air component of the operation Hadin Kai.

    The group maintained that the success of the war in recent times against insurgency is as a result of the intelligence gathered nothing that the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, has yielded positive results.

    “Recently, the Airforce supported by ground troops have dealt a deadly blow on the terrorists and bandits, destroying their camps, armoury and eliminating several of them including their top commanders and their families. This kind of success would not be possible except for the Impeccable intelligence gathering by the DIA”, the statement added.

    It further explained that the success of the airstrikes can be seen in the bombardment of the compound of a notorious bandit leader, Alhaji Zaki in Bayan-Magari forest Birnin Magaji in Zamfara State stressing that the attack led to the elimination of all members of his family.

    Relatedly, a Joint Operation by the Nigeria and Niger Republic military forces around Diffa and Mallam Fatori Axis lead to the elimination of scores of Boko Haram insurgents and destruction of 5 gun trucks were destroyed and cache of weapons recovered.

    Mallam Abdulrahman Ahmed, stated that Nigerian military airstrikes killed most wanted ISWAP commander, Modu Kime Aka Abou Maryam and his group of insurgents along the borders of Lake Chad In Borno State. NAF airstrikes targeted the Gun Truck Which sheltered Abou Maryam during the battle and destroyed It at the River banks of Bisko and Tumbum Tawaye in Abadam local government area of the state. Abou Maryam who has been On the wanted list for a long time due to his attacks on Damasak, Nganzai and Maiduguri, Borno State.

    According to the spokesman of the Northern Youth Network, troops have rescued all 48 victims who were attacked and kidnapped by bandits while commuting to Kano on the Kaduna Birnin -Gwari highway after intense gun battle .

    “The military has also arrested several other bandits informants and many others supplying drugs and other logistics to the terrorists. A large number of insurgents have surrendered to the Military in the last few months.

    “The aforementioned success can only be achieved through intelligence gathering and processing into actionable intelligence for the conduct of operations. The group while commending the security forces tasked them to garner the needed cooperation and synergy to finally defeat criminality and restore normalcy in the affected areas”, the statement noted.

  • Abacha’s CSO, Al-Mustapha accuses wealthy Nigerians of sponsoring terrorism, banditry

    Abacha’s CSO, Al-Mustapha accuses wealthy Nigerians of sponsoring terrorism, banditry

    Major Hamza Mustapha, a former Chief Security Officer to the late ex-Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, on Wednesday, blamed wealthy Nigerians for the country’s insecurity.

    Al Mustapha who featured in a programme in the Hausa Service of Voice of America (VOA), said rich people with access to weapons and hard drugs were sponsors of Boko Haram insurgency and banditry in Nigeria.

    He charged the Federal Government to act decisively against the individuals in a bid to halt the country’s slide into total ruins.

    The ex-CSO insisted that the few individuals benefitting from Nigeria’s mineral resources appeared unstoppable in their resolve to bring down the country.

    He said: ” It is high time that every patriotic Nigerian, anyone who has Nigeria, Africa, or the entire world at heart to stand up and make a personal contribution. Things are not moving as expected.

    “There are people spending their money to cause crisis and it appears they are succeeding.

    Major Hamza Mustapha, a former Chief Security Officer to the late ex-Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, on Wednesday, blamed wealthy Nigerians for the country’s insecurity.

    Al-Mustapha, who featured in a programme in the Hausa Service of Voice of America (VOA), said rich people with access to weapons and hard drugs were sponsors of Boko Haram insurgency and banditry in Nigeria.

    He charged the Federal Government to act decisively against the individuals in a bid to halt the country’s slide into total ruins.

    The ex-CSO insisted that the few individuals benefitting from Nigeria’s mineral resources appeared unstoppable in their resolve to bring down the country.

    He said: ” It is high time that every patriotic Nigerian, anyone who has Nigeria, Africa, or the entire world at heart to stand up and make a personal contribution. Things are not moving as expected.

    “There are people spending their money to cause crisis and it appears they are succeeding.

    “They have access to weapons and different kinds of drugs today in Africa, especially here in Nigeria.

    “That is why in my remarks I delved on these issues and other issues pertaining to world affairs.

    “A few powerful individuals have acquired the means of exploring, refining, and exporting the nation’s mineral resources.

    ” If you want to stop them, they are ever ready to use all means at their disposal to fight you. They can even do that in collaboration with their local and foreign allies.

    “They are powerful and can fight any government that tries to stop them.Fighting them will require tact, reverting the laws, and educating those carrying out the laws and those in government. They should know where they lag behind and where they are found wanting. ”

    “From what I have said, if things are to be corrected, the government must step on toes. People must be shown the right thing to do so that peace and harmony will be restored.

  • Army Acquires 60 New Armoured Vehicles From China To Tackle Banditry, Terrorism

    Army Acquires 60 New Armoured Vehicles From China To Tackle Banditry, Terrorism

    The Nigerian Army has taken delivery of 60 new VP – 1 Type Tracked Armoured Personnel Carriers manufactured in China to boost the ongoing war against Boko Haram insurgency and banditry in the North-East and North-West.

    Speaking during the commissioning of the new armoured tanks at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji Kaduna State, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya said the deployment of new platforms to the battlefield underscores the Federal Government’s commitment to ensure that a state of normalcy is achieved across the country.

    Represented by the Commandant of Infantry Corps, Major General Victor Ezugwu, the Army Chief assured that the military is taking cogent steps in ensuring that bandits and terrorists are neutralised and annihilated throughout the country.

    “It is an effort which is in line with the Federal Government’s cardinal objectives of tackling the totality of the security challenges facing our dear country Nigeria,” the Army Chief said.

    “These platforms we commission here today is in addition to other equipment brought in for the purpose and this underscores the strategic resolve to ensure that a state of normalcy is achieved across the length and breadth of Nigeria.”

    While thanking President Muhammadu Buhari for supporting the armed forces, the COAS said the vehicles would boost the fight against insurgency and banditry in the North-East and North-West regions.

    He, however, warned the bandits and other non- state actors to either surrender with their arms or be sent to hell.

    Lieutenant General Yahaya also reiterated the Nigeria Army’s commitment in protecting the territorial integrity of the country, adding that this would be achieved in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, partners and other agencies.

  • Insurgency, Banditry Forcing Children Out Of School – Presidency

    Insurgency, Banditry Forcing Children Out Of School – Presidency

    The Presidency has lamented the impact of insurgency and banditry on school attendance in the country.

    Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari said this on Tuesday at the fourth International Conference on Safe Schools Declaration in Abuja. Gambari, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the event, blamed increased insurgency and banditry for the rise in the number of out-of-school children.

    “The incessant attacks on the country’s education system in the form of kidnapping, abduction of pupils; students through the increased activities of insurgents and general insecurity in our schools have been chief among contributing factors responsible for the growing number of out-of-school children.

    “These perpetrators of evil, having turned their attention to innocent children in boarding schools or institutions outside city limits, adopt young learners in large numbers,” Gambari said.

    He pointed out that fear of abduction and a traumatic experience from school children, who have been victims of kidnapping, has forced many children of school age to stay out of educational institutions, thereby increasing the problem of out-of-school children.

    The Chief of Staff, however, assured Nigerians that the government is mindful of the fact that, to record adequate achievements in the education sector, the system would require a total overhaul and changes to improve the education sector.

    Meanwhile, 12 million children are reported to have been affected by the rise in insecurity in the country

    The first mass school abduction in the country was in the northeast region in 2014, when Boko Haram members picked 276 girls from Chibok, triggering a global campaign called #BringBackOurGirls.

    Since then, attacks on schools “have grown in number and spread across the northern part of the country,” President Buhari’s Chief of Staff said during the conference.

    “There are more than 12 million children currently traumatized and afraid of going to school”. Girls were particularly affected, he added.

    Gambari said further that “even when the abducted students are released, the trauma of the incidences remain long in their minds.”

  • Banditry Can Be Reduced Through Women- University Don

    Banditry Can Be Reduced Through Women- University Don

    By Muhammad Goronyo, Sokoto

    It has been asserted that women have a vital role to play towards addressing the bandits activities in the northern part of the country.

    The lecturer with the department of History Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, Dr. Murtala Rufa’i made the assertion while presenting a paper titled ‘The Current Insecurity In Northern Nigeria And The Role Of Women Towards Curtailing The Issue’ at the monthly Mu’utamar of the state chapter of the Muslim Sisters Organization held at the Conference Hall of Dr. Muhammad Isah Talata-Mafara Institute for Islamic Sciences, Gwiwa lowcost area, Sokoto.

    He said such can be achieved if women, especially wives of bandits discourage their husbands to shun the trend. Dr. Rufai also described ignorance, poverty and some of the factors responsible for banditry in the northern part of the country.

    The University Don charged Muslims to refrain from acts of disobedience to Allah and pray for Allah’s intervention to curtail the infamous acts bedevilling the society.

    Earlier, the National Amirah of the Association, Amina Musa Sakaba said the topic was chosen to seek Allah’s intervention and called on the participants to put into practice all that they have learnt and extend the message to others.

    Special prayer was later offered for Allah’s intervention to address the challenges facing the country as well as for the success of leaders at all levels.

  • BREAKING: Kaduna To Shutdown Telecom Services Over Increased Banditry

    BREAKING: Kaduna To Shutdown Telecom Services Over Increased Banditry

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has asked residents to prepare for a shutdown of telecommunication services.

    In a chat with some radio stations, the governor said security agents are prepared to launch an offensive on bandits taking refuge in some parts of the state.

    El-Rufai said the shutdown would not cover the entire state, adding that only local government areas bordering the troubled Zamfara and Katsina states where military onslaught is ongoing will be affected.

    “We have been advised by the Military and other security agencies to shut down telecommunication services in certain LGAs but we are waiting for the security agencies to tell us which specific areas and when.

    “But I want the people of Kaduna State to know that if they give us the go-ahead tomorrow [Wednesday], we will shut down tomorrow.”

    El-Rufai, who spoke in Hausa, said due to the shutdown of telecommunication services in Zamfara and Katsina, some bandits crossed over to neighbouring local government areas in Kaduna to make phone calls and demand ransoms.

    “There is no doubt that bandits and other criminals rely on telecommunication to communicate with their informants as well as with relatives of kidnapped victims so as to demand ransom,” he said.

    The governor said he had already written to the federal government on the shutdown which he said had been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
    “I will not mention the LGAs to be affected but the local governments that are constantly being tormented by bandits know themselves,” he said adding that: “As soon as we get the nod from security agents, then the people of Kaduna State should know that we will shutdown telecommunication to give security agents the maximum cooperation to carry out operations in those areas.”

    Reports gathered that Kaduna’s Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Chikun, Igabi, Kajuru and Kachia local government areas are the most affected by banditry.

    El-Rufai also said the state government had established a task force that will go round the hinterlands to monitor compliance on some of the security measures adopted by the state to ensure that fuel stations and markets are closed to further strangulate bandits in the forest.

    While advising residents on the need to identify and report informants or accomplices of bandits, El-Rufai said: “Anyone who comes to buy between 20 to 100 loaves of bread, sell it to him but also notify security agents.
    “Or when someone comes with about 20 phones and wants to charge them, let them charge them, but also notify security agents.”

  • Int’l Peace Day: Culture Promotion, Panacea To Insurgency, Banditry In Nigeria – ActionAid

    Int’l Peace Day: Culture Promotion, Panacea To Insurgency, Banditry In Nigeria – ActionAid

    By Noah Ocheni, Lokoja

    The Actionaid Nigeria Resilience Programme Coordinator, Anicetus Atakpu on Wednesday in Lokoja described promotion of Culture as a panacea to insurgency, armed robbery, kidnapping and banditry ravaging the country.

    Atakpu who made the call on Wednesday in Lokoja at a cultural peace fiesta in commemoration of the 2021 global peace day, called on the Government to device a new structural approach to promote Nigeria culture in a bid to put an end to criminality.

    He lamented that Nigeria Culture has been relegated to the background, stressing the need to promote harmonious cohabitation through culture if the country must overcome the growing spate of insecurity bedevelling the nation today.

    He said ”Tribalism has played a very strong role in promoting violence extremism and building conflicts in Nigeria. The most recent is the farmers, herders conflict, that has led to so many deaths which we are out to finding the solution to the problem.”

    Culture according to him is a good way of building harmony, and peaceful coexistence adding, “We have been having this peaceful fiesta for the past three years, and we have come to restructure it. Rather than just gather youths to play, dance, we need to pass a message with it.”

    ”This year we have launch the cultural peace fiesta demonstrating our cultural diversity and making our youths and our teaming population understand that we have diversity in culture, and our looks but we are still one. We are passing a message that will make people appreciate the oneness in us despite our cultural diversity.”

    “ If the government could come up with a new model towards promoting our culture, the issue of Kidnapping, insurgency, armed robbery will be a thing is the past”.

    In her speech, Actionaid Nigeria country Director, Ene Obi who was represented by the organization Director, Social Mobilization Mr
    Adewale Adeduntan traced the neglect of Nigeria culture to the importation of foreign culture in the society.

    According to her, ”Am not in any way antagonizing foreign culture in our system, but I am bold to say that some of this culture brought to our country is drilled with hypocrasy, hatred, violence and many more that does not reflect Nigeria Culture. Our culture preaches peace, and peace we must maintain if we want to move forward”

    Earlier in her opening remarks, the Executive Director, Participation Initiative for Behavioral Change in Development, (PIBCID), Halima Oiza Sadiq admitted that cultural diversity has a great role to play in promoting peace and harmonious coexistence looking at the ethnic diversity of Kogi State.

    “As such, the 2021 peace fiesta (Cultural Fiesta) is an occasion for us as peace ambassadors from diverse ethnic groups, to reflect on how aspects of this culture including music, dance, attire, craft and cultural expression can be exploited to enrich the lives of the people of Kogi and our country as a whole.

    The cultural peace fiesta to mark the 2021 International peace day with the theme ” Promoting harmonious cohabitation through culture” was organised by Actionaid Nigeria, in collaboration with the Participation Initiative for Behavioral Change in Development, (PIBCID), and funding from Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, (GCERF).

  • Banditry: Sokoto Govt Shuts Down Telecom Networks In 14 LGs

    Banditry: Sokoto Govt Shuts Down Telecom Networks In 14 LGs

    The Sokoto State government has shut down telecommunications networks in 14 of the 23 local government areas of the state.

    This was disclosed in a statement on Monday by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Governor Aminu Tambuwal, Muhammad Bello.

    “About three weeks after it approved an Executive Order in response to the situation of insecurity in the eastern flank of Sokoto State, Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, on Monday disclosed the state’s collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to block services of communications operations in 14 local government areas of the state,” Bello said.

    The LGAs affected by the Executive Order include Gada, Goronyo, Gudu, Ilela, Isa, Kebbe, Sabon Birni, Shagari, Rabah, Tambuwal, Tangaza, Tureta, Wurno, and Dange Shuni.

    Bello stated that 13 of the local governments were initially affected by the Security Challenges (Containment) Order approved on September 1.

    He explained that the order led to the closure of some roads to motorists, suspension of animal trades, prohibition of transportation of cattle, as well as transportation of more than three persons on motorcycles and tricycles, among others.

    “In addition to these local government areas, Dange Shuni local government area will also be affected by the latest communications blockade, bringing the number of LGAs affected to 14,” the governor’s spokesman added.

    Meanwhile, there was confusion in parts of Sokoto after the telecommunications network from two major service providers went down, as residents were unable to make calls or access internet services.

    But telecommunication services were available for users of two other service providers, a situation that reduced the tension and apprehension among the people.

    Comments and posts on most social media platforms in the state were mostly expressions of frustration and anger by residents questioning the rationale behind the decision of the authorities.

    On Sunday, six locals were killed when bandits attacked Saminaka – a village located along the Bale-Tangaza Road in Tangaza, one of the LGAs affected by the Executive Order.

    Sources in the village said the village came under attack in the morning and those killed comprised two married women and four children.

    The women were reported to have been shot dead when they made an attempt to escape from the assailants.

    However, the spokesman for the Sokoto State Police Command, said they had not been briefed of the attack.

  • Ex-NPA MD Donates Relief Materials to Victims of Banditry in Katsina

    Ex-NPA MD Donates Relief Materials to Victims of Banditry in Katsina

    A former Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hajiya Hadiza Bala Usman, has donated relief materials worth millions of naira to victims of banditry in Matazu Local Government Area of Katsina State.

    Items donated included 50 bags of rice, 12 jerricans of vegetable and palm oil, five cartons of maggi, 10 cartons of soap, 20 cartons of detergent, 50 mats, 24 buckets and grinding mechine, among others.

    Presenting the items to the beneficiaries in Matazu, the former NPA boss said the gesture was to assuage their suffering and support government’s effort in alleviating the plight of internally displaced persons in the state.

    Usman, represented by Hajiya Jamila Abdu Mani, sympathised with the victims and urged them to intensify prayers against banditry and other security challenges afflicting the country.