The Edo Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Sunday denied a media report credited to it commander, Alumona Callys Obioma, as saying “drugs are being hawked in the streets of Benin City like sachet water”. The agency described the report as misleading and unfair sensationalism. The command’s spokesperson, Bebetu Ondotimi, who made the denial in a statement, urged the public to disabuse their minds from the report. “The attention of NDLEA Edo State Command has been drawn to a misleading report from some sections of the media on the courtesy visit of the newly posted state Commander, Alumona Obioma, a Commander of Narcotics, to the Chief of Staff to the Executive Governor of Edo State on March 21, 2024.” The report suggested that the State Commander in his briefing said that ‘Drugs were being hawked in the streets of Benin City like Pure Water’. According to him, the commander assumed duty barely four week ago, queering how he could he have travelled the entire length and breadth of the State to make such a comment. “The report is not only misleading but unfair sensationalism. That the State Commander was quoted as said that drugs were being sold in “Benin City” Iike sachet water was not only damaging, but a malicious report. “For the avoidance of doubt, the State Commander said that his predecessor briefed him about the unholy trade of Narcotic Drugs along Iyamu street and Country Home Area without restraint, that the Governor himself has identified these black spots,” Ondotimi said. He said there was no time Benin City was classified as drug infested or where drugs are hawked like pure water.

  On Sunday morning, the Kaduna State Government and the Defence Headquarters announced the return of 137 abducted pupils and students of LEA School, Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Governor Uba Sani and Major General Edward Buba, Director of Defence Media Operations, issued separate statements confirming the development. While Sani did not state the number of returnees, Buba said the military rescued 76 females and 61 males, totalling 137. Referring to the March 7 abduction, Buba’s statement partly read: “During the incident, unconfirmed number of pupils were abducted.” On Sunday, FIJ visited the Kuriga LEA school where the attack occurred and confirmed from security personnel what the actual figures were. During the course of our visit, the Kaduna State government was in a meeting with the Chikun LGA chairman, dignitaries from Kuriga and other stakeholders in the government house. At that meeting, the government questioned the total number of abducted persons, as only 137 had been rescued. This dispute led to the school’s vice principal having to produce attendance sheets for junior and senior secondary school students present on that day, who were all discovered to be missing. What he did not have was the register for the primary school. This register was in Kuriga. Sources told FIJ that the government and military representatives at the meeting began quizzing the community representatives over the primary school attendance lists for the day and sent for the files to arrive from Kuriga the same day. FIJ saw them before they were transported to the government house at about 12:30 pm. “Some persons escaped that day and found their ways out of captivity,” Jibrin Kuriga, a resident of the area, whose 9-year-old daughter was abducted, told FIJ. “These people who escaped were not up to 50, so they do not account for the total number of persons still missing. “We don’t know the total figure yet, but even the government has not told us how many they rescued or what their names are.” Jibrin was in the meeting with the government, and FIJ interviewed him at the government house after the meeting. He was involved in talks, as he was the first person the terrorists spoke with after the abduction. Kuriga residents described him as a negotiator and intermediary between the community, government and terrorists and said he was the one who informed them of the N1 billion ransom demand. “We told Jibrin we do not have that kind of money,” some of the abducted schoolchildren’s parents told FIJ. “But he told us the terrorists did not want our money; they wanted N1 billion from the government because the children were ‘government’s children’, according to them.” When FIJ asked Jibrin if the government paid ransom, he said, “No! No ransom was paid.” But he stated that he did not know how the military rescued the children or if any arrests were made. He also said he was not the only one with access to the terrorists. Meanwhile, FIJ confirmed 287 persons were abducted on March 7. “We have the full list. There were 287 abductees, including pupils, students and teachers,” a security officer told FIJ. “This list was compiled by parents and teachers and given to the vice principal because even the principal of the junior secondary school was kidnapped. “The government and military have not said anything about the principal’s rescue or release. The highest-ranking staff member is the vice principal, and he was at the meeting in the government house. The school had two principals: one for the senior secondary school and another for the junior secondary school. The senior secondary school principal was killed in his home earlier this year, while the junior one was abducted on March 7. The total number is 287.” FIJ learned that the schoolchildren had been taken to a military hospital for a check-up and would likely be presented to their parents on Monday. FIJ called Abdallah Yunusah, a senior special assistant to the Kaduna State Governor on media and publicity, but his number was unreachable. As of press time, he also had not responded to our text message. Credit: FIJ Nigeria

  Authorities in Chad said on Sunday they had barred 10 candidates, including two fierce opponents of the military regime, from standing in the presidential election on May 6. The constitutional court said the candidates’ applications – namely those of outspoken opponents Nassour Ibrahim Neguy Koursami and Rakhis Ahmat Saleh – had been rejected because they included “irregularities”. Ten other candidates remain in the race – most prominently the current junta leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and his prime minister Succes Masra. General Deby Itno was proclaimed president by a junta of 15 generals in 2021 following the death of his father Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled the Sahel country with an iron fist for more than three decades. Succes Masra, a former opposition leader, signed a reconciliation deal with the junta leader earlier this year. The opposition says his candidacy is a ploy to give a veneer of pluralism to an election that Deby Itno is certain to win since his main rivals are dead or in exile.

  Police in Ondo State says a 17-year-old girl, who stabbed her aunt to death in Akure, has psychiatric problems. Police spokesperson in the state, SP Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, stated on Sunday in Akure that the police was informed about the aunt’s demise on March 17 when her body was already decomposing. She stated that the police took the remains of the aunt to the morgue and during a clean-up, a mark of violence (stabbing) was observed on the body. She added that a knife was also found at the scene of death. Odunlami-Omisanya stated also that a preliminary investigation showed that the 17-year-old niece who had been living with her deceased aunt since she was six years old suddenly disappeared from home. She added that the stench oozing out of the room attracted residents who notified the deceased’s sister. Upon arrival, the sister peeped through the window, saw the lifeless body on the floor and called the police, she explained. “The teenager was later arrested by the police and was interrogated on what happened to her foster mother. The suspect said she stabbed and locked her aunt up in the house because she was always disturbing her to use her medication. “Family members claimed the young girl had been under her late aunt’s tutelage since she was six years old, but developed mental illness in 2023, and was admitted at a psychiatric hospital in the state. “The hospital treated and discharged the young girl and handed her over to the deceased aunt for onward monitoring. “The psychiatric hospital where she was treated confirmed this claim and provided the police with her medical history,” Odunlami-Omisanya stated. She added that the teenager had been taken into protective custody at a police medical facility. (NAN)

  Ahead of President Bola Tinubu’s 72nd birthday anniversary on Friday, March 29, 2024, the Presidency has urged well-wishers and friends of Nigeria’s first individual not to organise any form of celebratory event or place adverts in the media. In a statement on Sunday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, attributed the President’s decision to the “challenging times” in the country. “As the leader of our country, President Tinubu in deference to this challenging times will not host any birthday event and does not want any of his associates and numerous well-wishers across the country to organise any celebratory event on his behalf or in his name,” Onanuga stated. By the announcement, the annual birthday colloquium for the ex-Lagos governor won’t hold. This year will be the fourth in recent times the birthday colloquium will not hold in deference to developments in the country. The President had cancelled the 2023 edition of the colloquium just as he put off the 2022 edition when terrorists bombed a Kaduna-Abuja train. The ex-Lagos governor had also cancelled the 202o edition to “empathise with those who lost their lives or affected by the COVID-19 pandemic”. Onanuga said the President has been “working very hard to make life better for the generality of our people”. According to him, because of the present mood of the nation and recent killing of the officers and men of our Army and Police in Delta State and recent spate of security breaches by criminal elements in different parts of Nigeria, there should be no form of birthday event and placing of birthday goodwill advertorial messages in newspapers. Goodwill messages should not be placed on radio and television stations too,” the statement noted. “President Tinubu enjoins friends and associates who may wish to place goodwill advertorials to kindly donate the money to charity organisations of their choice in his name. “Although the President appreciates the gallantry of our armed forces in freeing our children kidnapped in Kuriga, Kaduna State and in Sokoto State, he will use the opportunity of his birthday to reflect and re-dedicate himself to the task of building a more stable, more secure, virile, prosperous and united Nigeria.

  Hauwa Ali, the wife of the late Lt Col A.H Ali, says she will not allow any of her children to join the military following the gruesome death of her husband in Okuama community of Ughelli South local government area of Delta state. Ali’s widow made the statement during an interview with Daily Trust, saying that her late husband had already sacrificed himself for Nigeria.   Recall that the federal government, the Nigerian army and Nigerians as a whole received with shock the death of 17 military personnel on a peace mission as Okuama and Okoloba engaged in communal clash. The officers and soldiers died on Thursday 14 March, 2024, when they were ambushed by gunmen, who also carted away their weapons. The army has vowed to fish out the assailants and bring them to book, while some eminent Nigerians have called for an independent probe of the matter. Speaking about the dignified personality and selfless service of her late husband, Ali, the Commanding Officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion, Hauwa said, “Words cannot describe him because he was everything to us. He was a man of his words, dedicated to both his family and work. “Apart from his family, he sacrificed his life for Nigeria, and that’s the price he has paid. I pray that wherever he is God, would continue to be with him. “His dedication to humanity is one thing I will always remember. No matter how he was, once he was called to work, he would make sure he fulfilled it.” When asked if she would allow some of her children to join the military in future, she said, “I will not advise any of his children to be in the military. Their father has already sacrificed his life for the country.” Hauwa said Ali’s murder devastated her, adding that she never knew the peace mission he went to would be his last assignment for the country, as he called her when he was leaving. “We know that death is inevitable. As Muslim we have to die at some point and time, but I am really shattered by the way my husband was killed. He called me that very day and told me that he was going for a peace mission. I never knew that it was the last time we would speak. “Nobody could call to tell me the news until Saturday. I was called from the State House,” she added.