Tag: Escalating Insecurity

Raids, Rustlings & Kidnappings: Insecurity spreads across Nigeria’s heartlands

Aminu Imam
9ja escalating insecurity

A fresh wave of violence across Nigeria has left farming and rural communities reeling, as banditry, kidnappings, cattle-rustling and insurgent attacks spread from the North-West to the South-South and parts of the South-East regions. Incidents reported this month in Sokoto, Kaduna, Delta, Edo, Benue, Enugu, Yobe, Nasarawa, Adamawa and Borno states underline the country’s persistent insecurity, particularly in remote settlements where poor communication and weak state presence enable attackers to strike with ease. In Sokoto’s Sabon-Birni LGA, at least seven villagers were killed, several injured and three abducted when armed…

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Insecurity: Niger Gov. Bago orders Kainji Lake residents to leave in 2 months 

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Gov. Bago Kainji Lake residents

Niger state governor, Mohammed Bago, has given a two-month notice to people living in hamlets around Kainji Lake to vacate the area to avoid collateral damage, as his administration, in collaboration with the Federal Government, was determined to clear the forest. Bago said those who are ready to heed the warning will be resettled by the Emirate Council. The forests in Kanji Lake area is believed to be harbouring the Lukarawa terrorists who who have been terrorising people in Niger and adjoining states. Bago said that the resettlement of the…

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Bandits impose ₦50,000 farming tax on Kano, Katsina settlements

Aminu Imam
Bandits impose farming tax2

Armed groups operating in parts of Kano and Katsina states are allegedly extorting farmers, demanding up to ₦50,000 per acre from sugarcane growers before harvest, as they enforce a parallel system of governance within key forest reserves in the region. According to reports, the bandits have entrenched themselves in the Rugu Forest of Faskari local government area of Katsina State and Falgore Forest, of Doguwa LGA of Kano State, where they collect illegal farm taxes and issue threats against non-compliant farmers. The report noted that farmers, who refuse to pay…

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Afenifere raises alarm over terror attacks in Yorubaland

Aminu Imam
Afenifere on banditry

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has lamented the upsurge in terror attacks in parts of Yorubaland and in other parts of Nigeria. This was contained in a statement issued yesterday by the organisation’s National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, and made available to journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Ajayi referenced the latest security breaches in the country. He lamented the latest killing of some Forest Guards at Old Oyo National Park in Oloka, Oriire LGA, and of four farmers in Igboho, Oorelope LGA, both in Oyo State, abduction of…

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Tinubu orders nationwide security dragnet after Niger attacks, as death toll rises

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Tinubu orders

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered an intensified manhunt for terrorists responsible for the deadly attacks on communities in Niger State, as fresh details emerged on the scale of killings, abductions and destruction across the Agwara and Borgu local government areas. The directive followed the attack on Kasuwan-Daji and surrounding villages, where more than 30 people were killed and dozens abducted, including schoolchildren, in coordinated raids by armed bandits suspected to have emerged from forest enclaves in the area. In an issued statement yesterday, President Tinubu said he had instructed…

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“US – FG should extend military airstrikes to North-East” – Ndume

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Ndume on military airstrikes

Former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume has appealed to the Federal Government to extend its joint military operations with the United States against terrorists’ hideouts in the country to the North-East region. He made the appeal yesterday in a statement in which he commended Friday’s military attacks on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) cells in the Tangaza local government area of Sokoto State. Recall that the United States President, Donald Trump, recently announced that the US military launched airstrikes on terrorist targets in Northwest Nigeria. Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs…

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Insecurity: ‘We’re not honest with Nigerians” – Sultan slams faith leaders 

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Sultan slams faith leaders

Sultan of Sokoto and Co-Chair of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), His Eminence, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, yesterday issued a stern warning to religious leaders, declaring that the Council risks “slipping into irrelevance” if sincerity and accountability are not restored to interfaith engagements. The remarks came during the Second Tri-Annual Meeting of NIREC in Abuja, where major Christian and Muslim leaders confronted the worsening state of insecurity and public distrust in Nigeria. Speaking with unusual bluntness, the Sultan said NIREC had drifted from the spirit of unity that defined its…

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“Why we can’t track terrorists showing-off ransom on social media” – Presidency

Aminu Imam
Presidency on tracking

…Says FG unable to trace them The Presidency has said that security agencies are unable to track down terrorists branding weapons and loads of ransom collected in cash on social media because they use Elon Musk’s Starlink and other Internet services from neighbouring countries. A spokesperson for President Tinubu, Daniel Bwala, disclosed this in an interview on Thursday when asked why Nigerian security agencies were swift to track-down, arrest and detain Government critics but have failed to do the same with terrorists boasting and flaunting ransom on social media. He…

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Exposed: 23-man global terror cash ring linked to over ₦500bn suspicious transactions

Aminu Imam
FG on global terror ring

A sweeping intelligence investigation has uncovered a sprawling 23-man network of suspected terror financiers, whose banking footprints show billions of Naira in suspicious transactions, linking them directly to Boko Haram convicts and international arms channels. The network – 20 Nigerians and 3 foreign nationals – spans multiple cities across the North and extends into the UAE, South Africa, and Niger Republic.  According to reports, confidential documents revealed that the group handled hundreds of billions of Naira, funnelling funds through hundreds of bank accounts tied to terrorism financing, money laundering, and…

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“Rising insecurity shows Nigeria has hit rock bottom” – Kukah

Aminu Imam
Kukah on insecurity

The Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese and member of the National Peace Committee, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, has said that the scale and depth of insecurity in Nigeria indicates that the country is at a critical point, but that the only direction forward is upward. Speaking at a dialogue on a whole-of-society approach to preventing violence and conflict in Northern Nigeria in Abuja, organised by the National Peace Committee, The Kukah Centre, and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Bishop Kukah said: “No Nigerian needs an explanation about…

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