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PORT HARCOURT— One person has been feared killed and two houses razed during a clash between some youths and vigilante members at Egbeda community in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State.

It was gathered that five members of the vigilante group, Egbeda Security Planning and Advisory Committee, ESPAC, named in the shootings and killings have been arrested by operatives of the State Police Command.
A source from the community named the victim as Mr. Oregi, a native of Omuipo community in Egbeda Town.

It was gathered that the deceased and other youths were marching round the community protesting against the choice of a particular community leader as Liaison Officer, CLO, to a construction company handling the Egbeda-Elele Road construction.

It was learned that the youths were reportedly warned by the local vigilante members not to embark on the protest, but that the youths went on with the peaceful procession as planned.

The source in the community, who did not want his name in print, said while the protest was ongoing, some members of ESPAC intercepted the protesters at Egbeda roundabout and urged them to go home, but that the youths refused, maintaining that they have the right to peacefully express their concerns.

The source disclosed that an ESPAC member popularly known as Muffi said to be their commander got infuriated and allegedly opened fire on the protesters resulting in the death of Oregi.

However, it was gathered that the operatives of Egbeda Police Division, who responded to distress call arrested the prime suspect, Muffi and four other members of ESPAC.

Following the development, some unidentified youth stormed the home of the ESPAC Commander and one other and burnt down their houses.

Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the state Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, who confirmed the development noted that five suspects have been arrested and firearms recovered.

Source: Vanguard

Bauchi—Five persons have been confirmed killed at the ongoing North East trade fair following a rainstorm in Bauchi State, Saturday night.

Vanguard learned that the rain, which started at 8:30p.m., killed about two people while injuring three others, who later died at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital.

Public Relations Officer of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, Abdullahi Kobi, confirmed the casualty figure, yesterday.

He said: “It is true that we received a certain number of casualties from the scene of the incident. Unfortunately, two were brought in dead, while around three had severe injuries from the head to the abdomen and succumbed shortly after arrival.

“Currently, we have three patients with multiple fractures, who are receiving treatment and are gradually improving. Once our medical team completes their report on the actual number of deceased, we will provide an update.”

According to the Commissioner for Commerce and Industries, Mahmud Babamaji, the trade fair venue was indeed hit, affecting the Gombe and Yobe pavilions.

He said although the officials from those states had already returned to their respective states, as the trade fair had closed four days ago, there were still participants at the venue who were yet to leave.

The commissioner explained that the participants sought refuge in the pavilion when the windstorm struck, but unfortunately, it collapsed on them.

Source: Vanguard

The strike embarked upon by the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress has paralysed government activities in Kano State.

Our reporter who monitored the strike observed that all government ministries and parastatals and government schools, including the state Polytechnic, have been shut, as they remained under lock and key since early morning.

It was observed that the Audu Bako Secretariat which houses most of the ministries have also been shut.

However, all the major markets including Sabon Gari, Kantin Kwarai and Singer markets were opened for business with buyers and sellers transacting their normal businesses.

The story is the same at filling stations as most of them also were open for business.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the NLC set up two committees which are monitoring the ministries and parastatals to ensure total compliance with the strike in the state.

A cross-section of civil servants who spoke on the strike lauded the NLC for embarking on the strike to press home for a living wage.

According to them, workers in the country are going through hell following the depreciation of the naira as the salary being paid to workers is nothing to write home about.

Source: Punch

Some youths of Asta community, a suburb of Makurdi early hours of Monday blocked the road that leads to Joseph Sawuan University of Agriculture, Makurdi, in Benue, to protest an attack by suspected herders.

The blockage of the road prevented the movement of particularly motorists.

A resident of the area who spoke to our correspondent said that the blockage was to vent their anger on the attack by suspected herdsmen on the community, which led to various degrees of injury sustained by people in the community.

The resident, who identified himself as Dave, said that the suspected herders invaded the community at about 1:00 am on Monday.

He said, “Early hours of today, at about 1,00am, some people suspected to be herders came to this community (Asta) and attacked people with machetes, knives, and dangerous weapons.

“About six people were taken to the hospital; some security operatives came to repel the attackers.

“Because of what happened, some youths came out this morning to block the road and  vowed not to leave the road until the governor , Rev Fr Hycinth Alia comes to address them.

As of the time of filing this report, the youths have vacated the road.

The Special Adviser to the state governor on Internal security, Joseph Har, confirmed the incident but declined further comments.

Also, the state Command’s Spokesperson, Catherine Anene, confirmed the attack on the community and stated that the injured victims are receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital.

“Unigric road incident confirmed. some persons were injured and are currently receiving treatment,” the PPRO said in a terse statement.

Source: Punch

The Federal Government has provided food relief to 37,000 vulnerable families in Borno State, aimed at cushioning the effect of high food costs.

The Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Zubaida Umar, presented 37,000 bags of assorted food commodities to Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, in Maiduguri on Monday.

She explained that the food items were part of the Federal Government’s strategic reserve under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMoA&FS), including maize, millet, sorghum, and garri.

According to her, the Borno government received 594 metric tonnes of maize, 252 metric tonnes of millet, and 9,972 metric tonnes of sorghum (in 50kg bags).

Representing the NEMA Director-General, Borno NEMA Zonal Coordinator, Muhammad Aji, said the Federal Government will continue to complement the efforts of the Borno State Government in providing relief to vulnerable and poor people in the state

Governor Zulum expressed his gratitude to the Federal Government for the support, promising to distribute the commodities judiciously.

“On behalf of the most vulnerable population of Borno, I appreciate the Federal Government for its continued support. I assure Mr. President, the Minister of Agriculture, and NEMA that the food will be distributed to the most vulnerable population, and no diversion will be found,”.

The Governor also commended the Federal Government for its ongoing support to strengthen the resilience of displaced populations in the state, in addition to food items.

“This intervention is a welcome relief to the vulnerable citizens of Borno State, demonstrating the government’s commitment to supporting those in need.”

Source: Nigerian Tribune

More than 2,000 people are feared buried in a Papua New Guinea landslide that destroyed a remote highland village, the government said Monday, as it pleaded for international help in the rescue effort.

The once-bustling hillside community in Enga province was almost wiped out when a chunk of Mount Mungalo collapsed in the early hours of Friday morning, smothering scores of homes and the people sleeping inside them.

“The landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive and caused major destruction to buildings, and food gardens and caused major impact on the economic lifeline of the country,” Papua New Guinea’s national disaster centre said in a letter to the UN obtained by AFP.

The main highway to the large Porgera gold mine was “completely blocked”, it told the UN resident coordinator’s office in the capital Port Moresby.

The landslip was continuing to “shift slowly, posing an ongoing danger to both the rescue teams and survivors alike”, the disaster centre said.

The scale of the catastrophe required “immediate and collaborative actions from all players”, it added, including the army, and national and provincial responders.

The centre also called on the United Nations to inform Papua New Guinea’s development partners “and other international friends” of the crisis.

The UN is scheduled to hold an online emergency meeting with foreign governments early Tuesday.

They will try to coordinate a relief effort that has been complicated by the remoteness of the site — which is situated in Papua New Guinea’s rugged highlands — as well as the severed road link and ongoing tribal fighting nearby.

Locals and rescue teams have been using shovels and pieces of wood to find bodies under the landslide — a mix of car-sized boulders uprooted trees and churned-up earth that is thought to be up to eight metres (26 feet) deep.

“Nobody escaped. We don’t know who died because records are buried,” a schoolteacher from a neighbouring village, Jacob Sowai, told AFP.

UN migration agency official Serhan Aktoprak told AFP that the danger was ongoing: “The landmass is still sliding, rocks are falling from the mountain.”

Streams of water were flowing between the soil and debris, while cracks were appearing in land adjacent to the landslip, he added.

“This might trigger a further sliding,” the UN official warned, posing a “serious risk” both to rescuers and people living in the area.

Close ally Australia said Monday that it would provide emergency relief supplies, such as shelters, hygiene kits, and specific support for women and children.

China’s President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolences saying he was “deeply sorry” to learn of the disaster and offering assistance.

US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the World Health Organisation have also offered support.

Locals said the landslip may have been triggered by heavy rains in recent weeks.

Papua New Guinea has one of the wettest climates in the world, and research has found shifting rainfall patterns linked to climate change could exacerbate the risk of landslides.

The death toll has been climbing since the disaster struck as officials reassess the size of the population lying beneath mud and rubble spanning almost four football fields in length, officials say.

Estimating the toll is difficult because many people fleeing tribal violence have moved into the area in the past few years, said UN Development Programme official Nicholas Booth.

Five bodies and the leg of a sixth had been pulled from the debris by Saturday night.

More than 1,000 people have been displaced by the catastrophe, aid agencies have estimated.

An outbreak of tribal fighting unrelated to the disaster was blocking attempts to bring in humanitarian aid from the provincial capital Wabag, the UN official Aktoprak said.

“Many houses are burning with others emitting smoke. Women and children have been displaced while all the youth and men in the area were carrying bush knives,” he said, quoting from a report from an aid convoy attempting to reach the disaster site.

The tribal battles had also delayed the delivery of heavy machinery and diggers.

The area is located about 600 kilometres (370 miles) from Port Moresby.

People from adjoining villages were helping to unearth bodies, said Nickson Pakea, president of the nearby Porgera Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“Because of the hard rock and the clay, the stone, and the rocks that came in, it is quite messy. It needs excavators to remove the debris,” Pakea told AFP.

A nearby mining joint venture, New Porgera Limited, had agreed to provide mechanical diggers to help the rescuers and clear roads, he said.

Located on the side of densely forested Mount Mungalo, the village was home to a transient population that could swell to more than 4,000 people.

It served as a trading post for miners who panned for gold in the highlands.

Since the start of the year, the country has experienced multiple earthquakes, floods and landslides, stretching the resources of emergency services.

Source: Channels

Suspected jihadists killed at least 18 civilians in central Mali, numerous sources told AFP on Sunday, the latest attack in a region roiled by violence for years.

“The jihadists fired at villagers three kilometres (less than two miles) from Diallassagou. The provisional toll is 18 dead and 21 wounded”, three residents of the village told AFP. A police source and a regional official confirmed the attack, but gave the death toll of 19 and blamed “terrorists” and “armed men”.

“We confirm. The terrorists killed civilians in Diallassagou in cold blood,” the police source said, adding “there are 19 dead and 21 wounded. They accuse the civilians of helping the Malian army”.

An elected official in Bandiagara, a town some 60 kilometres from Diallassagou, told AFP on condition of anonymity that “the unidentified armed men killed 19 farmers in their fields. All of the victims are those who have been displaced and have settled in Diallassagou”.

Another Dandiagara official also said that 19 farmers had been killed by unidentified armed men.

In June 2022, more than 130 civilians were killed in the same village, in one of the worst attacks in Mali in recent years that the government blamed on Katiba Macina, a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda. The group denied the allegations.

Mali has since 2012 been plunged into turmoil by independence and Salafist insurgencies in the north.

The centre of the country has become a hotbed of violence since 2015, with the emergence of jihadist groups led in particular by the firebrand Fulani preacher Amadou Koufa, who has largely recruited from among his own community.

The violence has spilled over into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Clashes have increased between the Fulani, who are mainly herders, and the Bambara and Dogon, largely farmers, leading to the formation of ethnic self-defence groups.

The deteriorated security context, remote locations and a lack of reliable information mean that attacks often take a long time to confirm.

Source: Channels

Gunmen have killed three persons on Saturday night in an attack on the Akpoha community of Afikpo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

The gunmen stormed the community with sophisticated guns in two motorcycles started and shot sporadically. This led to the death of three persons.

Many residents of the community were also wounded during the assault.

The spokesperson of the Ebonyi State Police Command Joshua Ukandu told Channels Television on Sunday that operatives of the command are on the trail of the assailants.

He promised that the perpetrators of what he described as a heinous act must be brought to justice.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the deceased have been deposited at a morgue while investigations are ongoing to unravel the cause of the attack, he added.

Source: Channels

No fewer than three persons, including an 11-year-old girl, on Sunday, lost their lives when a mosque that was hit by an excavator collapsed in the Papa Ajao area of Lagos State.

The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, while confirming the development in a statement, said seven people sustained varying degrees of injury.

He added that the building of the mosque had been levelled to ground zero.

The statement read, “Final report on the building collapse on Yusuf Street, Papa Ajao. Following an extensive exercise, the final casualty report on the above incident is that three fatalities and seven casualties varying in severity were recorded.

“The affected buildings have been levelled to ground zero. Responders at the scene of the incident include the agency’s response team led by the PS, LRU Fire unit, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, LASBCA, NEMA, Nigeria Police, LNSC, FRSC and LASAMBUS.”

The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, in a post on X.com, said 10 people were believed to have been trapped when the building caved in following the collision.

He, however, noted that a corpse had been retrieved from the rubble of the collapsed structure, adding that the rescued victims received pre-hospital care and one of them with severe injuries was transferred to the hospital for treatment.

Omotoso’s post read in part, “Building collapse at Papa Ajao. A storey building has collapsed on Yusuf Street, Papa Ajao, Lagos. An excavator clearing a road hit a storey building, a mosque, which collapsed.

“Four injured persons were rushed to hospital; 10 people were believed to have been trapped in the rubble. Rescuers are on the site. One body was retrieved; the others received pre-hospital care. One with serious injuries was transferred to hospital. All Lagos State emergency agencies are at the scene.”

Meanwhile, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, in his reaction to the tragedy, said the corpse recovered at the scene was that of an 11-year-old girl, adding that the rescue operation was ongoing.

He said, “The rescue operation is ongoing but as I speak with you, the corpse of an 11-year-old girl has been recovered. The operation is still ongoing.”

Source: Punch