“It’s a shame that those who claim to be men of honour cannot honour their word.”
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has said the ‘38 herders’ killed in airstrikes carried out in January in Rukubi community of Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State were terrorists and not innocent persons.
The NAF which had kept mum over the incident widely reported in the media about six months ago, said those killed were trying to wreak havoc, particularly the kidnapping of many school children at a secondary school in the location before they were eliminated.
Air Commodore Ayodele Famuyiwa, the spokesman of NAF, who spoke shortly after the bi-weekly press briefing at Defence headquarters, Abuja, said the air troops only eliminated the terrorists after thorough surveillance that took days.
Daily Trust had in January reported how controversy trailed the killing of some herders in the Rukubi community while they were returning from Makurdi, the Benue State capital, where they went to retrieve over 1,000 cows seized by the Benue Livestock Guards.
The Human Rights Watch in a report recently released criticised the Nigerian military for failing to own up to the airstrikes.
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The HRW described the military’s delay in accepting responsibility for the attack as unacceptable, demanding an urgent, independent, impartial, and transparent inquiry.
The organisation also called on the military to ensure financial compensation and livelihood assistance to the victims and their families.
But Famuyiwa, while answering a question from our correspondent at the briefing, challenged Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and others who claimed some herders and cows were killed during the airstrike to come out and show the pictorial evidence of dead animals and the deceased persons to the world.
“On the 24th of January, even before then, there had been intel from several reliable sources of the activities of terrorists in that particular area. You are all aware of the nefarious activities of the criminal elements in that part of the country.
“You are also aware that there is an ongoing operation i.e. the Operation Whirl Stroke and the intel here from several sources and even to the commander of that operation, to the air component, that there was a plan by the terrorists within that area to carry out massive attacks.
“There was a secondary school in question that they also planned to kidnap students too. To that extent, the Air Force carried out surveillance. Remember there had been several intel that built up to that. But this particular intel, there was surveillance and the surveillance confirmed terrorists. I mean terrorists!
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“And how did we know that they were terrorists? Because they have tactics they adopt, you see them coming on bikes in triples, converging at a location and after that, they disappear hiding under the forage. That surveillance continued almost throughout the day until later in the evening when a truck appeared in that scene.
“The truck was suspected to have brought logistics to them. And that was why the approval was given by the appropriate authority that, that truck should be checked out and in truth, it was taken out.”
“If you say people died, where is the truck? Where are the cattle? There was a truck. Where is the photograph of the dead bodies?
“The position with the Nigerian Air Force is that terrorists were struck that day and whether it is Miyetti Allah or whatever group that thinks there were innocent people, let them provide the evidence.
“If you think the military is going to give you the evidence of that operation for now, you won’t get it because there are some information that cannot be declassified now but let’s put the burden on the people. If they came there to collect their cow, where are the cows? Where is the picture of the truck that was struck? How did those people die?
“I think the press needs to do better than this. And if you look at it, after that particular incident, have you heard of any terrorist activity, or attack in that area? I think we need to do much better. No innocent person was killed.
“Let the people who said innocent people were killed provide the evidence and let the press do that analysis and let the truth come out.”
Daily Trust
Tinubu’s refusal to honour Seyi’s pact with us disappointing – Nnamdi Kanu’s family
The family of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, have expressed disappointment over the failure of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to honour an alleged agreement between his son Seyi , and the family before the 2023 general election.
Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, in a statement, claimed that Seyi with the approval of his father, personally met with him in Abuja shortly before the election, where both parties entered into agreement concerning Kanu.
According to him, it was agreed that IPOB would not bycott the polls on the condition that Tinubu would release Kanu if elected President.
Prince Emmanuel expressed disappointment that nearly two years after the emergence of Tinubu as President, his brother (Kanu), has continued to languish in detention despite the fact that the presiding Judge, Justice Binta Nyako, had since recused herself from the matter.
He said it was disappointing that those who claimed to be honourable, failed to keep their words.
The statement read:”Before the last election, I received a message from an ex-governor that Seyi the son of President Tinubu wanted to see me. I agreed to meet with him on the condition that the overriding priority and hence the fulcrum of our discussion will be the release of my brother. The meeting was held in Abuja in the presence of another individual whom I asked along to witness the deliberations and if need be provide independent verification should the need arise.
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“Seyi confirmed to me that his father sanctioned the meeting and that I should consider any agreement we reach as binding on the then candidate Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“In good faith we agreed that I shall relay the outcome to my brother to reinforce the long held tradition of IPOB not interfering with the conduct of elections, either through boycott or any other form of civil disobedience. This understanding was duly communicated to my brother and he reaffirmed his commitment not to stop the elections or order any boycott.
“When President Tinubu as a candidate visited Owerri during his campaign, he too reiterated his commitment to facilitate the release of my brother if elected. We took his public statement as a tacit reaffirmation of the understanding I reached with his son Seyi.
“At the end, IPOB did not call for election boycott despite having the capacity to do so. IPOB also made sure that discordant voices urging election boycott were overcome because election boycotts would not reflect well on the reputation of a global movement that prides itself on adherence to democratic tenets.
“It therefore, defies logic that nearly two years after President Tinubu assumed the mantle of leadership in Nigeria, my brother is still in detention despite not having any charge against him. It’s been over three months now that Justice Binta Nyako recused herself from the case yet no new judge has been assigned the case.
“This is on top of the fact that Appeal Court had earlier discharged him of the sham charges and ordered his release which the previous regime of Buhari declined to obey.
“Supreme Court determination that his bail ought not to have been revoked has been ignored by the courts and the government. The latest insult is that Abuja courts of all persuasion are no longer willing to determine the case of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu on merit but are rather relying on ludicrous and inapplicable technicalities to stall the timely determination of his cases.
“The truth is that Nigerian courts cannot, will not and do not have both the substantive and procedural jurisdiction to try him. His detention is without the backing of any known law in Nigeria or elsewhere in the world.
“It’s a shame that those who claim to be men of honour cannot honour their word.”
Jealous husband stabs Bishop to death over allege affair with wife
A jealous husband has been reported to have stabbed a Bishop of a Church in Osogbo, Rapture Empowerment International, Dr Sina Olaribigbe for allegedly having an affair with his wife.
It was gathered that the jealous husband and his wife had a long misunderstanding which the deceased was trying to settle between them, but had not succeeded.
It was learnt that the deceased visited the wife, who lived separately with the husband early hours on Thursday and the husband got the hint and quickly trailed to the house.
Findings revealed that on getting to the house, located around BCGA area behind Olorunda local government Secretariat in Osogbo, Osun State capital, the jealous husband who had been getting hints of the Bishop’s affair with his wife descended on him and stabbed him severally on the chest.
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A member of the Church, Isaac Oyeleye confirmed that the Bishop was stabbed to death on his Facebook page on Thursday, describing his death as unfortunate.
Confirming the incident, Osun Police Command spokesperson, CSP Yemisi Opalola confirmed the incident, adding that the suspect and the enstraged wife have been arrested.
She said the couple were not living together and the deceased Bishop was an arbitrator trying to settle the dispute between the couple.
Her words, “They are couple but not living together. They are not separated by law yet. The Bishop, (deceased) used to settle fight between the couple. We were told the pastor was at the wife’s place today when the enstranged husband got there.
“We were also told the husband stabbed the pastor. We were also told the deceased was on the wife’s bed when the incident happened. The husband stabbed him severally and he died”
Police arrest couple over alleged rape, assault of minor
The Police Command in Rivers has confirmed the arrest of a couple for allegedly raping and beating a 13-year-old girl in their residence in Port Harcourt.
The command’s Spokesperson, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, disclosed the development in an interview with Newsmen in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
The wife was said to have stripped the teenager and inserted pepper into her private part after accusing her of having sexual intercourse with her husband.
Iringe-Koko stated that the suspects had been arrested and transferred to the State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department (SCIID) for investigation and possible prosecution.
Goodness, the mother of the teenager, whose full name was withheld to avoid stigmatisation, recounted the incident to Newsmen.
A resident of Rupokwu town in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Goodness revealed that the assault on her daughter occurred on the evening of Dec. 29, 2024.
She explained that when she was alerted by neighbours about the attack on her daughter by a neighbour, she immediately closed her shop and rushed home.
“Before I got home, neighbours had already rescued my daughter from the wife’s assault.
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“My daughter was still writhing in pain from the beating and the pepper applied to her body and private area,” she said.
Goodness said that after her daughter felt relieved, she revealed that on Dec. 25, 2024, a female neighbour, who is a friend to the wife, took her to the house.
She said that on that fateful day, the man sent his wife and her friend on an errand, leaving the teenager alone with him in the house.
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