News Reports

The Lagos State Police Command has confirmed the killing of nine kidnappers in the Ladipo area of the state.

PUNCH Online gathered that the kidnappers were attempting to abduct someone on Thursday when the police foiled their operation.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the development to our correspondent, adding that the suspects were killed during a gun duel with the police.

He said, “The kidnappers were neutralised during a gun duel with the police. The kidnappers were nine in number and they wanted to abduct someone at Ladipo when the police foiled their operation. The incident happened around 8 pm on Thursday.”

Pictures of the corpses were sighted on a petrol vehicle at the command headquarters in the Ikeja area of the state.

The recovered gun, bullets and Army uniforms reportedly recovered from the suspects were also sighted by our correspondent.

Source: Punch

Twenty-five soldiers with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s army have been sentenced to death for fleeing battles against the notorious M23 rebels in the conflict-hit east of the country. The soldiers were also convicted of theft by a military tribunal as they stole goods from shops in a nearby village after abandoning their positions, an army spokesman said. Four of the soldiers’ wives were acquitted by the military court of receiving goods looted by their husbands.

In March, the government lifted a moratorium, in place for more than 20 years, on the death penalty being carried out after the justice minister cited the need to remove “traitors” from the army. A lawyer for the soldiers, two of whom were captains, said he would appeal against the sentence, which was handed down on Wednesday by the military tribunal in DR Congo’s North Kivu province. In addition to the 25 who received death sentences, one soldier was given a 10-year prison sentence and another was acquitted.

In May a military court in the city of Goma sentenced eight soldiers to death for “desertion” and “cowardice” when fighting rebel forces.They, too, are appealing against their sentences.

The M23 rebels have over the last few days captured several towns, including the strategic town of Kanyabayonga. Neighbouring Rwanda is widely accused of backing the M23, but the government in Kigali denies it. The UN has said that the current situation in North Kivu is “particularly concerning”.

In the past week more than 150,000 civilians fled their homes, it said, worsening a humanitarian crisis in a region where 2.8 million people had already been displaced. North Kivu is also “perilous” for humanitarian workers, the UN added.

On Sunday two aid workers with the charity Tearfund were killed after their convoy was attacked in the town of Butembo. The army’s fight against the M23 and other rebel groups in the east has long been hampered by the disarray within its ranks. The army is seen as unprofessional and badly disciplined. Soldiers complain of poor pay and a lack of equipment.

Both the UN and regional states have troops in DR Congo to support the army, but they have failed to stem the violence. M23 fighters are said to be well-armed and disciplined. The rebel group began operating in 2012 ostensibly to protect the Tutsi population in the east of DR Congo, which had long complained of persecution and discrimination. Despite Rwanda’s denials, UN experts – along with France and the US – say the M23 is supported by President Paul Kagame’s government.

Source: BBC

Pro-Palestine protesters have climbed the roof of Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra and unfurled several banners, one of them reading, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

The demonstration at the national parliament on Thursday followed recent divisions within Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor government, which suspended a Muslim Senator who crossed the floor to vote in favour of Australia recognising a Palestinian state.

Four people from the Renegade Activists group, dressed in dark clothing, stood on the roof of the building for about an hour, rolling out several large black and white banners, including one reading, “No peace on stolen land”.

One of the protesters gave a speech using a megaphone accusing the Israeli government of “war crimes” in Gaza with the support of the United States, and the Australian government of being complicit in the alleged abuses.

“We declare to the Australian government we will continue to unmask and resist the US imperial, hegemonic and capitalist interests you devote yourself to,” the protester yelled. “Australia continues to enable and commit war crimes as lackeys to our ‘great and powerful’ friends.”

A handful of police and security advised people not to walk directly under the protest at the main entrance to the building, while more were seen on the roof attempting to remove the group.The protesters packed up their banners before being led away by waiting police at about 11:30am local time (01:30 GMT).

“This is a serious breach of the Parliament’s security,” opposition Home Affairs spokesperson James Paterson said in a post on social media platform X. “The building was modified at great expense to prevent incursions like this. An investigation is required.”

The latest war in Gaza began when Palestinian fighters from Hamas burst into southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 250 others captive. Israel’s war on the besieged Palestinian territory has killed nearly 38,000 people, forcibly displaced most of the population multiple times and laid waste to the densely populated enclave.

South Africa has lodged a petition at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, while a United Nations inquiry last month found that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the early stages of the Gaza war.

The inquiry also said that Israel’s actions constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses.

Since the war began, Australia has been the site of several pro-Palestine protests, including weekly demonstrations in major cities and a months-long occupation of university campuses.

The Labor Party indefinitely suspended a senator, Fatima Payman, on Monday after she voted in favour of a parliamentary motion backing Palestinian statehood. Payman said she had been “exiled” after supporting the motion – put forward by the Greens party – in defiance of government policy.

Australia does not currently recognise Palestinian statehood, although Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in May it could do so before a formal peace process between Israel and Palestinian authorities is complete.

Source: Aljazeera

Twenty-five soldiers accused of fleeing fighting against M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been sentenced to death The Butembo military court in North Kivu province handed the sentences down on Wednesday, deeming them guilty of fleeing the enemy, dissipation of war munitions and violation of orders. “I find them guilty and sentence each of them to death,” said Colonel Kabeya Ya Hanu, president of the military court.

The tribunal was set up close to the scene of recent clashes between the Congolese army and M23 fighters with the aim of discouraging soldiers from fleeing the front line.

A total of 31 defendants, including 27 soldiers and four of their civilian wives, appeared before the military court during the one-day trial, said Jules Muvweko, one of the defence lawyers. The four women were acquitted while one soldier was sentenced to 10 years’ jail for robbery. The verdict for the last soldier was unclear.

‘Weaken our military’

In early May, eight Congolese soldiers, including five officers, were sentenced to death in Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, for “cowardice” and “fleeing the enemy”. Moise Hangi, a human rights activist, noted DRC’s government only recently lifted a moratorium on the death penalty that was in place since 2003.

“We are in danger of reaching the point where many military personnel are going to be candidates for this decision, rather than improving our security apparatus. This kind of decision will increasingly weaken our military and give more fear to those on all the front lines,” Hangi said.

Last week, M23 – the March 23 movement, which the United Nations claims is backed by Rwanda – seized several towns on the northern front of the conflict. Rwanda denies any involvement.

Its recent gains include the strategic town of Kanyabayonga, which is seen as a gateway to the major commercial centres of Butembo and Beni.

Faced with the combined might of the Rwandan army and M23, Congolese troops have repeatedly retreated without a fight, news reports say. “Many units have less than half the number of soldiers they are supposed to have due to desertions and casualties,” said Jason Stearns, a former UN investigator who now runs the Congo Research Group at New York University. “Above all, there is a lack of accountability and morale.”

M23 has seized vast swaths of territory, almost completely encircling Goma, and killed scores of people. There are already 2.8 million displaced people in North Kivu, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

DR Congo’s mineral-rich east has been racked by fighting between both local and foreign-based armed groups for the past three decades, the conflict having spilled over from the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s.

Last March, the Congolese government lifted the moratorium on the death penalty that had been in force since 2003 in the country.

‘Every officer is afraid’

Successive Congolese governments and UN peacekeeping missions have struggled to quell violence in the east, where more than 100 armed groups are fighting over land and minerals, including rich deposits of gold and coltan, essential for making mobile phones. Some have received backing from DRC’s eastern neighbours, which have a history of intervening in the region.

The eight officers convicted at a well-publicised court martial in May stared blankly as a colonel in a black beret declared them guilty of cowardice for abandoning their posts.

Defence lawyer Alexis Olenga rejected the charge, saying the battalion commander, Colonel Patient Mushengezi, was being treated in Goma for high blood pressure at the time, while his men left to replenish their ammunition when another unit failed to deliver the supplies.

A growing number of arrests is spreading fear and distrust in the military, army officers told Reuters news agency. “Even our greatest fighters have been put in prison for mere rumours,” an unnamed military intelligence officer was quoted as saying. “Every officer who comes in is afraid.”

Source: Aljazeera

A  judge of the Upper Customary Court, Sabon Tasha Division in Kaduna state, Janet Galadima, along with her four children have been kidnapped by bandits. 

Confirming the incident to Channels Television,  the  Spokesman of the Kaduna State Police Command, Mansir Hassan, said the judge and her four children were kidnapped from their residence in the Mahuta area of Chikun local government, in the outskirts of Kaduna metropolis on June, 24th, 2024.

He said that the bandits later killed the woman’s 14-year-old eldest son,  Victor Galadima. At the same time, his corpse was found by police operatives from the Sabon Tasha Division at  Ungwan Bayero of Dutse village, near the toll gate, along the Kaduna- Abuja Highway on Tuesday,  July 2nd,  2024.

The police spokesman also explained that the Command’s anti-kidnapping squad, in collaboration with other sister security agencies, is working tirelessly to rescue the abducted judge and remaining three children and also apprehend the bandits.

Commenting on the incident, a human rights activist and the chief executive officer of the House of Justice, Barrister Gloria Ballason, said that the bandits killed the woman’s 14-year-old eldest after the family could not raise the ransom they demanded, while the judge and remaining three children are still in their custody.

She noted that the abduction of the judge and her children is contrary to Article 7 of the United Nations Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary, and Sections 33 and 14(2)b of the 1999 Constitution that guarantees the safety of the judge, describing the murder of woman’s the 14-year-old son as “horrible and blood-curdling”.

The human rights lawyer therefore called on the security agencies and the Kaduna State government, to ensure the speedy rescue of the abducted judge and her three children.

Also on its part, the Kaduna State chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA)had lent its voice in condemning the abduction of the judge,  her children, and the gruesome murder of her son by the bandits.

In a statement by the NMA Public Relations Officer,  Shuaibu Joga, described as outrageous, demand for the sum of N300m, to free the abducted judge and her three children by the bandits.He disclosed that security agencies have been informed about the incident while negotiations with the kidnappers are ongoing.

Source: Channels

Severe flooding in Dambam, the headquarters of Dambam Local Government Area of Bauchi State, has submerged the Model Central Primary School, forcing pupils to remain indoors.

DAILY POST reports that the pupils have been forced to temporarily stop attending school until the area dries out, which is likely to result in the loss of an entire term.

A resident who spoke anonymously with DAILY POST over the telephone said that the problem has persisted for years, with the government failing to take effective action.

According to him, “This is a recurring incident every rainy season,” adding that when such occurs, the children must stop attending school for three months until the rains cease.

He added: “During the peak of the rainy season, classrooms are flooded up to the window level, forcing the school to close entirely. ” He expressed regret that the government has neglected the school, denying children access to foundational education. He also urged local and state governments to address the situation to ensure children can access education, which is their fundamental right.

Reacting to the development in a phone interview with DAILY POST, the State Commissioner of Education, Dr. Jamila Dahiru, said the government is on top of the situation.

“For now, the students have been evacuated to a safe place; their safety is the most important thing to the government. We are trying to see that the problem is solved,” she stated.

Dr Dahiru assured that to prevent students from losing the ongoing term, they would be relocated to other schools not prone to flooding to continue their academic activities.

She added that a contract would soon be awarded to control rainwater by constructing drainage systems and completely landscaping the school environment. She stressed that the government is committed to upgrading the standard of education in the state as well as ensuring the best practices in the sector.

Source: Daily Post

Police have arrested eighteen persons suspected to be in connection with the violent protest that rocked the Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State on Wednesday.

The Police Public Relations Officer for the state command, SP Catherine Anene, disclosed this in a statement issued and made available to journalists in Makurdi on Thursday.

Anene said that the state Commissioner of Police, Hassan Yabanet, has relocated to the troubled local government. Recall that some youths had protested the killing of people in Ayati village by local bandits resulting in the destruction of personal and government properties by the protesters.

Following the violent protest, the state governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, declared a 24-hour curfew in the local government. Anene, in the statement, explained that the troubled local government had witnessed more security operatives deployed to the area.

The statement read in part, “It is worthy of note that Ukum is a boundary area between Benue and Taraba state which has been a turbulent area in the state. ” This turbulence increased after the death of the dreaded popular Gana and Ukum has attracted the highest deployment of security agents in the state. “The deployment is made to curtail activities of bandits that are found in three LGAs; Ukum, Logo, and Kastina-Ala collectively called Sankera axis.

“At about 0800hrs, violent protesters in hundreds began a protest sponsored by criminals to unleash mayhem on the people and destabilize the security network that has prevented them from operating freely in the area, especially with recent successful operations that dislodged several bandit camps in the last two months.

“During this violent protest, personal and government properties were destroyed. These hoodlums also attempted to invade the Ukum Police Division but were repelled by officers on guard duty.

“The Commissioner of Police,  Benue state command, CP. Hassan Steve Yabanet has since moved to the area with tactical teams and heads of other security agents to forestall further breakdown of law and order. “Eighteen suspects have been arrested and the investigation is ongoing.”

Source: Punch