TheNewsGuru

Tag: Military

  • Be ruthless in fighting bandits, Buhari tells Military

    President Muhammadu Buhari has challenged military personnel deployed to Katsina State, saddled with the task of fighting bandits in Zamfara, to be “as ruthless as humanly possible” in carrying out their assignment.

    The president gave the challenge when he addressed the 1000-strong military force assembled to check the menace of the bandits and other criminal elements at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport Katsina, on Saturday.

    The Federal Government had, on July 29, assembled military personnel, comprising the army, air force, police and the civil defence to help in tackling the activities of the bandits.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Nigerian Air Force has deployed fighter aircraft to Katsina, the airport with the closest proximity to Zamfara, to allow for immediate and effective response to the menace of the bandits.

    The president had also authorised the engagement by NAF, of advanced satellite surveillance technology to help in accurate detection of movement and locations of the bandits.

    The bandits had been terrorising innocent rural dwellers, razing down several villages and towns across the local government areas of Zamfara, and also kidnapping for ransom.

    President Buhari, who expressed satisfaction with the way and manner the soldiers were carrying out their assignment, said that Nigerians deserved some peace.

    ‘‘Nigerians are looking up to you and us to secure the country. What is happening in the areas of operations is disgraceful.

    “I’m very pleased with the way officers and men are firmly putting it down and I want you to be as ruthless as humanly possible. Nigerians deserve some peace.

    “When we came into government, what we promised was security.The country has to be secured to be managed.

    “Secondly, on economy, more than 60 per cent of the population of Nigeria is under 30 years.

    ‘‘A lot of them did not have the opportunity to be educated to secure respective jobs; their expectations are very high.

    “The second undertaken we made is to improve the economy and the third is to fight corruption.

    ‘‘We have been doing our best and we depend a lot on you to do what is needed in the field.

    “I do not want you to spare any cattle rustler, armed robber or any stupid person who thinks he is above the law.

    ‘‘I commend you for the job you have been doing so far and I assure you that I will continue to be a worthy Commander-in-Chief,’’ he said.

    The president, who donated five bulls to the military personnel, departed for Abuja after the Sallah break in his country home, Daura.

    Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State and other government dignitaries were at the airport to wish the president safe trip back to Abuja.

    While in Daura, the president had received seven All Progressives Congress governors, many members of the National Assembly including Sen. Shehu Sani as well as cabinet ministers, who paid him Sallah homage.

    President Buhari also used the opportunity to hold various family meetings with relatives.

    (NAN)

  • Buhari running a military-style democracy – Secondus

    National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of running a militarized version of democracy since his assumption of office in 2015.

    Secondus stated this in his opening remarks at a reception dinner organised in honour of defectors from the All Progressives Congress, APC, to the party on Wednesday.

    <iframe style=”border: none; overflow: hidden;” src=”https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fofficialpdpnig%2Fvideos%2F1729245457124046%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560″ width=”560″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen”></i

    The PDP chair who chided President Buhari’s handling of the security situation in the country assured the new members of equal rights and opportunities as other members, stressing that nothing stays on their path of political aspirations.

    “We have seen in the past three years that the APC government has visited upon us a military styled democracy that cannot be described.

    The security agents that are charged with the responsibility of maintaining law and order are breaking the laws. “We can’t afford to watch the bloodletting going on across the country.

    We have seen in the past three years that the APC government has visited upon us a military styled democracy that cannot be described.

    The security agents that are charged with the responsibility of maintaining law and order are breaking the laws.

    “We need to honour our returnee members for leaving the ruling party which is very unusual,” he said, even as he urged them to realize that the road to Aso Rock is a fairly long one. “We are very far from our destination. It is going to be a long walk to freedom. The Press is not free. If you tell them the truth, they will say it is hate speech. If you tell them the truth, they will say it is fake news.”

    Taking a swipe at the ruling party, the PDP chair described the APC as a party that is neither bothered by what economic hardship in the land, nor about the defections that has rattled it in the past few days.

    He continued: “They are not aware that Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal and 18 members of the state house of assembly have defected to the PDP. They are not aware; they are not bothered. Former ambassador to South Africa, Ahmed Ibeto resigned his membership of the APC. ‘they are not losing sleep,” a reference to the remark by the APC chairman, Adams Oshiomhole who said the defection of party members was not enough to make him lose his sleep.

    Speaking earlier, National chairman of the party, Senator Umar Tsauri welcomed the defectors and thanked them for returning to the PDP.

    Responding on behalf of the lawmakers who joined the PDP earlier in the week, Senator Dino Melaye who also represented Senate President, Bukola Saraki at the event thanked the party organs for providing an enabling environment for their return.

    He chided the APC-led administration for what he called the persecution of perceived enemies of government even as he described the APC as a 404 Peugeot car that has no air conditioning system.

  • Court sentences three militants to death over bombings

    Court sentences three militants to death over bombings

    Somali military court on Wednesday sentenced three al-Shabab militants to death after they were found guilty of being behind the hotel bombing in October last year, officials said.

    Chairperson of the Military Court, Hassan Ali Nur Shute, said the militants admitted to charges of carrying out attack on Nasa-hablod II Hotel in which more than 30 people were killed and several others injured.

    “The Court heard the cases of three terrorist militants in several sessions and found them guilty of carrying out attack on Hotel Nasa-hablod II attack on October 28, 2017, therefore the court sentenced Farhan Samatar, Abdinasir Hassan and Abshir Haji to death,” Shute said.

    Somali government’s military court often gives death penalties against al-Shabab militants and some soldiers.

    But human rights groups including the UN and the EU have condemned these executions.

    The EU says it considers the death penalty to be a cruel and inhuman punishment, which fails to provide deterrence to criminal behavior and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity.

    Xinhua/NAN

  • Military to redouble efforts in fighting insecurity – CAS

    The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar, has assured Nigerians that the Military will redouble its efforts to tackle the various security challenges in the country.

    Abubakar made this known during the inauguration of some projects at the Nigerian Air Force 209 Quick Response Group base in Ipetu-Ijesha, Osun state.

    He explained that the security challenges in the country ranging from farmers /herdsmen clashes in the middle belt to the insurgency in the North East among other vices necessitated the expansion of the Nigerian Air Force base.

    This, according to him, would enable them to provide swift responses to security emergencies in the southwestern region of the country.

    He also noted that as part of the development, 700 trained personnel have been deployed to the 209 Quick Response Group base.

    Abubakar expressed gratitude to the President for providing the necessary requirements for the Force to operate and therefore promised to do all it can to continue to secure the nation.

    He said: “We thank President Muhammadu Buhari who, in spite of the harsh economic realities has continued to avail us with necessary requirements to sustain our operations.

    “We will ensure the security of our people and uphold the democratic ideals for the progress and prosperity of our fatherland, while also ensuring that available resources are judiciously used,” he said.

    On the classroom project, the Chief Of Air Staff said it was inaugurated to increase the intake into the Air Force Primary School while the 10 block of flats was to provide accommodation for Air Force personnel.

     

  • Algeria: More than 250 killed in military plane crash

    More than 250 people were killed when a military plane crashed in a field near Algeria’s capital on Wednesday, state media said, with witnesses saying they saw a wing catch fire shortly after the plane took off.

    Dozens of firefighters, rescue workers and military officials worked around the blackened fuselage of the aircraft, which had been ripped open near its wings.

    Bits of mangled and smoldering debris were scattered across the field near Boufarik airport southwest of Algiers. Earlier TV images showed flames and smoke billowing from the site of the crash.

    “This morning at around 8:00 an Ilyushin model military transport plane … crashed directly after takeoff in an agricultural field that was clear of residents,” Major General Boualem Madi told state TV.

    A line of white body bags could be seen on the ground next to the wreck of what media said was a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane, part of which was still intact.

    “After taking off, with the plane at a height of 150 meters I saw the fire on its wing. The pilot avoided crashing on the road when he changed the flight path to the field,” Abd El Karim, a witness, told the private Ennahar TV station.

    Another witness said: “We saw bodies burned. It is a real disaster”.

    A total of 257 people were killed, most of them military, the defence ministry said. Ten crew and other people described as family members died, and a number of survivors were being treated at an army hospital, the ministry added.

    A member of Algeria’s ruling FLN party told Ennahar the dead included 26 members of the Polisario Front, an Algerian-backed group fighting for the independence of neighboring Western Sahara, a territory also claimed by Morocco in a long-running dispute.

    A source close to Polisario said that the dead included four refugee children and that around 30 refugees who had received medical treatment in the capital had been killed in all.

    The plane had been heading to Tindouf on the border with Western Sahara, Algeria’s defence ministry said. Tindouf is home to tens of thousands of refugees from the Western Sahara standoff.

    The defence ministry said in a statement it would investigate the cause of the crash, and it expressed condolences to the families of the victims.

    Doctors who have been on strike for months over their pay and work conditions resumed work to treat the survivors, residents said. Some 70 ambulances arrived at the scene after the crash, local media said.

    The U.N. has long been trying to broker a settlement for Western Sahara, which has been contested since 1975 when Spanish colonial powers left. Despite Morocco’s claims, Polisario established its self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in part of the territory.

    Previous major air accidents in Algeria include an Air Algerie flight that crashed in northern Mali in July 2014 carrying 116 passengers and crew, nearly half of them French, en route from Burkina Faso to Algeria.

    In February that year, an Algerian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashed in a mountainous area in eastern Algeria killing 77 passengers and leaving one survivor.

    Reuters

  • Killings: Again, Taraba Govt blasts FG, Military, says ‘We’ve lost confidence in you’

    The Taraba State Government on Friday reiterated losing confidence in the Federal Government’s security apparatus in the state, particularly the military to curtail the recent killings by Fulani herdsmen in the state.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr. Bala Abu in an interview with The Punch said that the state had not regained its confidence in the military in the state.

    Recall that the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, had through his Spokesman, Col. Tukur Gusau said on Monday that Nigerians had been coming to report soldiers, who were accused of misconduct.

    He said that such soldiers were undergoing disciplinary procedures, but stated that there was no complaint from Taraba.

    But the state government on Tuesday said that the Federal Government was aware of security threats and soldiers’ misconduct in the state.

    In the statement made available to newsmen, the state government cited instances where the Federal Government was informed about the security breach and soldiers’ misconduct.

    In their separate reactions on Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence and the Nigerian Army insisted that they had not received any letter from the Taraba State Government.

    When contacted on Friday, the media aide to the state governor insisted that the state had lost confidence in the military in Taraba.

    Abu stated, “As of now, the state is relatively at peace. Even with the relative peace in Taraba, we do not have confidence in the military that is there. We have lost confidence in the military and we have not regained it.

    “We do not have confidence in the Federal Government’s security apparatus in Taraba. People are being disarmed. They are discriminatory in the way they are doing it. They invade people’s homes to seize machetes and kitchen knives and leave Fulani herdsmen that go about with AK 47.”

    Abu had earlier said that the state Governor, Darius Isaku, had in a letter, dated January 30, 2018, to the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), complained about the attitude of the Commanding Officer of 93 Battalion, Takum, Lt. Col. Ibrahim Gambari.

    He alleged that soldiers always looked the other way when the herdsmen militia killed people.

    It was gathered on Friday that the state government in the last one year had written at least eight letters to the Federal Government on security threats and soldiers’ misconduct in the state.

    It was learnt that the governor had on May 15, 2017, in a letter to the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Tukur Buratai, raised the alarm about criminal elements in parts of Donga and Bali local government areas.

    Findings also showed that the governor in a February 14, 2017 letter, written to the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, called for the establishment of a mobile police squadron in Takum.

    It was also gathered that the governor on August 11, 2017, wrote the Office of the National Security Adviser complaining about the conduct of the commanding officer in Takum.

    It was learnt that only the NSA and the vice-president replied the letters to them, out of the eight written to the Federal Government.

    A source stated, “The killings are not being done by the Fulani we know. They are being carried out by the Fulani militias, who were being sponsored by the elite.”

  • FG, Military and Herdsmen attack: our side of the story – Taraba Gov

    FG, Military and Herdsmen attack: our side of the story – Taraba Gov

    The Taraba State Government on Tuesday came out with their side of the story in the raging controversy that followed the call by former chief of army staff, General TY Danjuma on Nigerians to defend themselves against the rampaging herdsmen.

    General Danjuma accused the military of having an unholy alliance with the herdsmen.

    Darius Ishaku, the Taraba state governor, while reacting to Nigerian Army statement absolving itself of blame in the conflicts, insisted that the Federal Government and the Nigerian military were duly informed of impending dangers that led to the wanton destruction of lives and properties in the state recently.

    This governor’s position was revealed in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Darius Ishaku on Media and Publicity, Mr. Bala Abu. Abu in the letter cited few instances that the Federal Government and the military were informed about security breach and soldiers’ misconduct, which were allegedly ignored.

    The state government’s statement was in reaction to the claim made by the Federal Government on Monday that although it got reports of soldiers’ misconduct, there was none from Taraba State.

    Col. Tukur Gusau, the spokesperson for the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, who spoke in an interview with The Punch had alleged that while the military received distress messages from other states, none came from Taraba. In his words: “Nigerians have been coming to report incidents and we have been taking care of them… Soldiers have been put through disciplinary procedures.

    “We have not received anything yet from Taraba State. We need to work on specific things. To my knowledge, we didn’t receive anything in respect of our operations in Taraba State.”

    But the Taraba State Government, in its reaction, warned that thousands of people might still be killed by herdsmen unless the military turned a new leaf.

    It said, “The case against the military in Taraba is that of outright collusion against the people which has made it easy for the Fulani militia to kill and destroy property. It is also a case of disrespect for the Office of the Governor of Taraba State.”

    Abu in the statement explained that in February 2016, the Ministry of Interior influenced the visit of military investigators to investigate an allegation against a monarch in the state, Dr. Shekarau Masa-Ibi.

    He stated that the military delegation “had no courtesy to inform the state governor” on the visit and purpose of the visit

    “The Taraba State Government protested this obvious act of disrespect… in a letter to the Chief of Army Staff, dated February 23, 2016,” he added.

    Abu noted that the state Governor, Darius Ishaku, also wrote the President on January 26, 2016, to complain about threat to peace and security in Taraba State.

    “In that letter signed by Governor Ishaku himself, he lamented the devastating effects of internal conflicts involving the Fulani and Tiv, which led to the sacking of 200 settlements in the Gassol, Bali, Ibi, Donga and Gashaka local government areas by herdsmen.

    “The governor informed the presidency about the concerns raised by some traditional rulers in the state concerning the influx of Fulani militia and about the attacks on their communities. Letters of complaints from the traditional rulers whose communities suffered from these attacks were also attached and forwarded to the presidency… Copies of this letter were sent to the National Security Adviser, Chief of Staff to the President and the Inspector-General of Police,” he added.

    According to Abu, Ishaku wrote another letter to the then Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on July 5, 2017, drawing his attention to “the precarious security situation as contained in a letter written by contractors handling the Kashimbilla Dam project and called for high level intervention. He called on the army, the Navy and Air Force to establish permanent security bases in the area. This was again ignored.”

    The Taraba State Government said it reported the misconduct of the Commanding Officer of 93 Battallion, Ada Barracks in Takum on several occasions, but no action was taken against him by the military.

    “For example, the Fulani militia attacked communities in Takum and Ussa on May 6, 2017. The crisis led to the abandonment of 224 cattle belonging to the Fulani herdsmen.

    “The Taraba State Government took possession of these cows and handed them over to the Commanding Officer for safe keeping until the owners return to collect. This was meant to be a ploy to get the perpetrators of the crisis arrested. Sadly, the Commanding Officer released the cows without arresting anybody.

    “There was another case when the commanding officer marched soldiers to attack and brutalise communities in Kashimbilla. Property of the people was damaged while many were injured.

    “The letter said the Commanding Officer was partial and discriminatory in the discharge of his duties and requested that he should be transferred. The advice was ignored,” the statement said.

    The governor’s spokesman said Ishaku had always raised the alarm on security situations in the state, but was always ignored.

    He said, “On January 30, this year, The governor wrote another letter to the Vice President to again complain about the attitude of the Commanding Officer of 93 Battalion, Takum, Lt. Col. Ibrahim Gambari, whose soldiers always looked the other way when the herdsmen militia come to kill.

    “The governor said the security situation in the country and in Taraba State demanded that every security officer cooperate and take directives from the chief security officer of the state which is the governor, but lamented that this has not been the case with the commanding officer.

    “The letter listed instances of security challenges in which the military failed to live up to expectations.

    “The letter also alerted the military authorities to a planned massive movement of Fulani and their cows into Takum LGA, adding that motive was to provoke the people and precipitate crisis. The military in-charge of security in the area did nothing.

    “The widely publicised report on social media and which was investigated and confirmed to the effect that a chopper dropped arms in a village near Wukari was downplayed by the security agencies.

    “Despite efforts by the Taraba State Government to get the military to act, they never did. Since then, the arms and ammunition brought into the state have been used against the people in various communities in the state by the herdsmen.

    “The present Operation Ayem Akpatuma in the state has also been discriminatory. While cutlasses and knives have been taken away from the people, the herdsmen have been left with AK-47 rifles.

    “Through these various acts of deliberate mischief on the part of the military thousands of people have been killed and a lot more may be killed unless the military turns a new leaf.”

     

  • DSS not military negotiated release of Dapchi schoolgirls – DHQ

    The Defence Headquarters has said the military were not involved in the negotiations leading to the release of 104 out of the 110 girls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents in Dapchi, Yobe state.

    The Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig. Gen John Agim said in a text message that the Department of State Services, (DSS) , led the negotiations for the release of the girls.

    Following series of enquiries from the Defence Headquarters on the role of the Military regarding the release of the girls in the early hours of Wednesday, Brig. Gen Agim responded via a text message saying “the girls were released through negotiations led by the Department of State Services (DSS)”

    Recall that the girls were abducted in their hostels at Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State by the Boko Haram insurgents on Monday 19, February 2018. They were however released on Wednesday (yesterday) following mass appeals and negotiations nationally and internationally.

     

  • Military will not be involved in 2019 election – INEC boss

    Military will not be involved in 2019 election – INEC boss

    The Independent National Electoral Commission has said the military will not be involved in election duties in 2019.

    The INEC boss said this in an interview with a monthly magazine, The Interview.

    Yakubu said the police would be the lead agency while the military would ‘form the outer core.’

    He said, “The lead agency in election security is the Nigeria Police. But the Nigeria Police is also empowered where it deems it necessary a call on the support of other security agencies. So, we are operating on a concentric cycle sort of mechanism.

    “We have the inner core around the polling units, where you have unarmed policemen. You have the central ring where you have armed policemen that can be called in to assist in the polling units when the need arises.

    “And then you have the military in the outer cordon. I think that has been the mechanism that has worked. I have had no problem with that and will retain that. But the military will never be involved in election duty similar to what happened in elections before 2015.”

    Yakubu also said that the commission could not hold the continuous voter registration at the polling unit levels because it would cost N1.2bn per day, the total amount approved for the entire exercise.

    He regretted that N1.2bn was what was approved for INEC in the 2017 Budget for the entire exercise for a year.

    He explained that due to financial constraints, the commission decided to move the registration of voters to the local government level, which slowed down the process of registration and caused queues at the centres nationwide.

    Yakubu said, “At what level can we best register citizens? We said the polling units because these are the closest points to the voters. They are literally at the doorsteps of citizens. With 120,000 polling units nationwide and on the basis of the four officials we deploy to each registration centre, we came to the conclusion that we required 620, 000 ad hoc workers.

    “Can we engage 620, 000 ad hoc workers all year round? Assuming that each one of them is paid N1, 500 for transportation and feeding, that will cost the nation N1.2bn everyday in ad hoc workers’ allowances alone. By the time you add cost of the Direct Data Capture machines, your security, the generators and the fuelling and servicing of the generators, the consumables from ink to paper, the cost for the take-off of the exercise came to N131bn.”

    Yakubu said when the registration was brought to the local government level, many people complained about the pace of registration.

    Yakubu also attributed the rush at the registration centres partly to the rumour on the social media that INEC would soon suspend registration.

  • Military might ‘take over’ if governance does not improve, Kukah warns

    The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Arch-Diocese, Mathew Kukah, has warned political leaders to govern well in order to avert any temptation by military to take over governance via coups.

    The Bishop was speaking at a press briefing organised by the Kukah center, as part of a public lecture with theme: “How to make democracy work for Africa,” in Abuja on Friday.

    Mr. Kukah lamented the worsening state of the country from poor leadership. He added that Nigeria has only survived the democratic dispensation because of the confidence reposed on the system by the military.

    Mr. Kukah commended the efforts of the military in ensuring almost two decades of democracy and added that political leaders ‘should not take the patience of the military for granted’.

    “Democracy requires lots and lots of patience and hardwork,” he was quoted by Leadership newspaper as saying. ” And I think we are mightily grateful to ourselves as a people that despite the frustrations, despite the temptations, unlike before: we have witnessed 16 to 17 years of patience on the side of the military because if it were 20 to 30 years ago, we would have had at least three or four coups already.

    ‘’I think it is a measure of the faith of the military itself on the urgency of democratisation that has kept them in the barracks. But I think the politicians and the political class cannot take this patience for granted. What we have experienced in the last few years has made us a laughing stock of other nations,” he said.

    According to the report, Mr. Kukah regarded as a tragedy the religious dimension currently experienced in opinions about the poor quality of government.

    “Adding a religious dimension to the issue by politicians is dubious and criminal. In fact, we do need people with the requisite tools to be in power irrespective of their religion or faith.

    “Those in power have been holding us hostages, so we need to wake up and take the necessary steps. Our people are too naive to have taken all promises seriously. For example, we were told that corruption would be fought but we never asked questions on how. Nigerians have lost the sense of integrity and courage. We should take seriously the issue of courage in our convictions,” Mr. Kukah reportedly noted.