Author: Naomitheboss

The Defence Headquarters in Abuja has confirmed that bandits breached National Defence Academy (NDA) security fences and kidnapped an officer.

The Director of Defence Information (DDI), General Benjamin Sawyerr, confirmed the incident to our reporter on Tuesday.

But Sawyerr said the bandits sneaked into the NDA complex at about 0215 hours and abducted an officer and killed two other officers.

He said the operation was well planned as the bandits knew exactly who they wanted and went straight to his accommodation.

“Yes the NDA security was breached by bandits, they sneaked in at about 02:15 hours. It must have been a well planned operation. They went straight into the officers’ accommodation. They knew where they were going. They killed two officers and abducted two.

“The NDA is working closely with troops of 1 Division and NAF. So, we expect that we’ll have positive response from there soon. It is unfortunate thing. NDA is a training institution for cadets, it’s not for cadets to be carrying weapons up and down but I can assure you that NDA will address the situation,” the DDI said.

Joe Igbokwe, an aide to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has alleged a threat to his life by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

Igbokwe alleged that IPOB was threatening his life because he is against the philosophy of the group and the Eastern Security Network, ESN.

In an open letter, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo chieftain described ESN as bandits bullying, threatening, killing, and destroying people of the Southeast.

Igbokwe addressed the letter to the Inspector General of Police, Anambra Police Commissioner, Commander of the Intelligence Response Team, IRT, Igbo governors, House of Representatives members, and other stakeholders in the Southeast.

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Friday, warned the president, Major General Muhammad Buhari (retd.), against turning Nigeria into a cow republic.

Governor Ortom, who was reacting to the statement from the Presidency indicating that President Buhari had approved recommendations of a committee to review “with dispatch,” 368 grazing sites across 25 states in the country, “to determine the levels of encroachment,” said that with the latest move, it was crystal clear that the president is planning to plunge the country into crisis.

“In a country where insecurity has reached an all-time high with hundreds being killed by armed herdsmen, bandits, and other terrorists, the Presidency is only bordered about animals and their safety and is deploying all machinery and arsenals of government to impose grazing reserves and cattle routes on Nigerians. This is unacceptable!

“The Buhari administration has turned a blind eye to the unimaginable levels of encroachment on lands belonging to Nigerians by cattle. Mr President has never come out even once to condemn activities of herdsmen and the attacks they visit on innocent people. The only time the President is heard speaking about atrocities of the herders is when he defends them.

“It is now clear that the Presidency wants to plunge the country into avoidable crisis. Otherwise, what is the justification for President Buhari’s insistence that grazing reserves be established across the country when Nigerians have openly kicked against the policy and have embraced ranching in place of open grazing.

International oil companies operating in Nigeria are owing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over $4 billion, the Minister of Niger Delta Development, Godswill Akpabio.

Mr Akpabio said this Thursday while briefing journalists at the State House in Abuja at the weekly briefing organised by the presidential communications team.

He said the NDDC law mandates IOCs to pay three per cent of their revenue to the agency, but oil firms have been defaulting for years. The NDDC was set up in 2001 as an interventionist agency to aid the development of the oil-rich Niger Delta.

“All of them have been defaulting and efforts are ongoing to get them to pay,” Mr Akpabio disclosed.