metro
Army launches new operation in Kogi against criminals
The Command Army Records (CAR) in Lokoja, Kogi State on Tuesday launched an operation aimed at fishing out criminals from their hideouts in Kogi, tagged: ‘Exercise Enduring Peace ll’.
Speaking at the official flag-off in Okene, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, said the exercise was designed to be conducted in the last quarter of the year to checkmate all forms of criminality as the yuletide season approaches.
According to him, the exercise is a result of the prevailing security challenges across the country, saying that similar exercises are also ongoing in other parts of the country under different names depending on the peculiarity of each region.
The COAS, who was represented by the Commander, Command Army Records (CAR), Maj. Gen. Sunday Igbinomwanhia said “exercise enduring peace II” would hold from Oct. 18 to Dec. 22, 2022.
He explained that the exercise would involve stages of operational activities, including patrols, ambushes, and raids of criminal hideouts.
He added that it would involve some non-kinetic activities in form of a Civil-Military Cooperation program, such as free medical outreaches in some selected communities among others.
”Our choice of medical outreach in support of the exercise is deeply rooted in our belief that the support of the host communities is key to the success of the entire operations.”
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He stressed that the medical outreaches would ameliorate the existing health challenges within the targeted communities, and foster existing cordial relationships between CAR and host communities.
The COAS further disclosed that the exercise is a joint venture involving all security agencies in Kogi as well as the Vigilante Group to ensure peace across the state.
Yahaya emphasized that the decision to make it a joint exercise was in line with his vision to have ”a professional Nigerian Army, ready to accomplish assigned missions within a joint environment in defense of Nigeria.
”Therefore, we must work together to achieve the common goals of safeguarding the lives and properties of Nigerians everywhere,” he said.
The COAS commended Gov. Yahaya Bello for providing an enabling environment for them while appreciating heads of security agencies for their continuous support and collaborations
Speaking in his own capacity, Igbinomwanhia appreciated the COAS for providing the resources for the free medical outreaches and the entire exercise.
”Kogi is a peaceful place and very strategic and important to our nation. We must keep Kogi very safe and habitable for residents and passersby.
”We promise that wherever the criminals are, we will make Kogi unconformable for the criminals in whatsoever,” he said.
In his remarks, Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who flagged off the exercise, thanked the COAS for organizing the wonderful exercise to keep criminals out of the state and Nigeria at large.
Bello assured the COAS of the full support of the State Government, saying the exercise was timely, especially coming toward the 2023 general elections.
He urged all the Local Government Chairmen and the traditional rulers and the entire people of the state to continue to cooperate with the State Government as well as the security agencies.
He assured that Kogi would remain a peaceful and secure state as far as Nigeria is concerned, saying, ”if Kogi is in turmoil, the nation would be in turmoil being bordered by nine States, including the FCT”.
Bello, therefore, warned that anyone no matter how highly placed in society who got himself or herself involved in any criminal activity would face the wrath of the law.
”I will continue to lead this exercise from the front to ensure enduring peace for the people of Kogi. We come in peace and we mean business,” Bello said.
Attah Igala, Mathew Opaluwa, and other royal fathers were present at the occasion.
The Attah Igala, who is the President of Kogi State Traditional Councils, commended the COAS for the exercise and assured of the continuous support from the traditional institution for the security agencies and the state government.
Newsbreak
metro
Notorious cultist, Pelele, gunned down in Rivers
Notorious cultist, Pelele, gunned down in Rivers
Operatives of the Rivers State Police Command have successfully neutralized a suspected cultist and kidnapper, Gbarani Bume, popularly known as Pelele, in Luawii Community, Khana Local Government Area.
Bume, a reportedly known member of the Iceland cult group, had allegedly been terrorizing the Beree/Tabaa area of Khana LGA alongside his gang.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident in a statement released in Port Harcourt on Sunday.
According to Iringe-Koko, the police acted on intelligence that Pelele and his gang were attempting to abduct a site engineer in Luawii. Upon arrival, the operatives were met with gunfire from the suspects. In the ensuing shootout, Pelele sustained fatal injuries and later died, while his accomplices fled with gunshot wounds.
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The statement reads: “The Rivers State Police Command has made a significant breakthrough in its efforts to combat crime, neutralising a notorious cultist and kidnapper, Gbarani Bume, a.k.a. Pelele, a native of Bere Community in Khana LGA.
“He was a member of the Iceland Cult Group, which has been terrorising the Beree/Tabaa axis of Khana LGA.
“On the 15th of November 2024, operatives from the Bori Division, acting on a tip-off, were mobilised to Luawii Community where Pelele and his gang were attempting to kidnap a site engineer.
“Upon sighting the operatives, the hoodlums opened fire, resulting in a fierce crossfire, during which Pelele was fatally wounded. His accomplices escaped with various degrees of bullet wounds.
“Items recovered from the suspect include one AK-47 rifle, two magazines, and 10 rounds of live ammunition.”
She further stated that investigations are ongoing to track down the fleeing gang members, emphasizing the Command’s commitment to tackling crime and enhancing public safety in the state.
Notorious cultist, Pelele, gunned down in Rivers
metro
Court stops police from arresting 68 Obaseki’s allies
Court stops police from arresting 68 Obaseki’s allies
metro
26 dead, 59 missing as Israel hits Gaza, Lebanon in deadly strikes
26 dead, 59 missing as Israel hits Gaza, Lebanon in deadly strikes
Strikes by the Israel military killed dozens in Gaza on Sunday, the civil defence said, while also hitting a Hezbollah stronghold near Beirut’s international airport.
Israel has been fighting on two fronts since September, intensifying attacks on Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah after nearly a year of cross-border clashes alongside its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A year after the Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attacks on its south, Israel vowed to stop the Islamist militants from regrouping in the north of the Palestinian territory, launching a major assault there.
In the latest violence in the besieged Palestinian territory, the civil defence agency said Israeli air raids killed at least 46 people.
The deadliest strike, in the middle of the night in Beit Lahia in the north, killed 26 people, including women and children, and left at least 59 others buried under the rubble, said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
Another strike killed 10 people in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, where a separate strike on a house claimed the life of a woman, he said.
An Israeli drone strike killed five people in the southern city of Rafah, Bassal said, adding another strike killed three women and a child in the Nuseirat camp.
Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry on Sunday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war had reached 43,846.
The majority of the dead are civilians, according to ministry figures, which the United Nations considers reliable.
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Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
– Lebanon rescuers mourned –
On Israel’s second front in the north, AFPTV footage showed several strikes hit Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, shortly after the Israeli military warned people to evacuate.
Columns of smoke were seen rising over the capital’s southern suburbs, where Lebanon’s only international airport is located.
Further south, overnight Israeli air strikes and shelling hit the flashpoint town of Khiam, the Lebanese state-run National News Agency reported.
Following the bombardment, the Israeli army said about 20 projectiles were seen crossing from Lebanon into Israel, and that some of them were intercepted. Emergency services did not immediately report any casualties.
Israel has escalated its bombing of Lebanon since September 23 and has since sent in ground troops, following almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Hezbollah militants in support of Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.
Its military on Saturday said Hezbollah had already “paid a big price”, but vowed to keep fighting until tens of thousands of Israelis displaced from the north can return home.
Israeli forces also shelled the southern area of Lebanon along the Litani River, the NNA said on Sunday.
The news agency had earlier reported strikes on the southern city of Tyre, including in a neighbourhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins. Israel’s military said late Saturday it had hit Hezbollah sites in the area.
In Lebanon’s east, the health ministry said an Israeli strike in the Bekaa Valley killed six people including three children.
Hezbollah said it fired a guided missile that set an Israeli tank ablaze in the southwestern Lebanese village of Chamaa.
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In eastern Lebanon, funerals were held for 14 civil defence staff killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday.
“They weren’t involved with any (armed) party… they were just waiting to answer calls for help,” said Ali al-Zein, a relative of one of the dead.
– Gaza famine alert –
Lebanese authorities say more than 3,452 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.
Israel announced the death of a soldier in southern Lebanon, bringing to 48 the number killed fighting Hezbollah.
A UN-backed assessment on November 9 warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza, amid the increased hostilities and a near-halt in food aid.
Israel has pushed back against a Human Rights Watch report this week alleging that its mass displacement of Gazans amounts to a “crime against humanity”, as well as findings from a UN Special Committee pointing to warfare practices “consistent with the characteristics of genocide”.
A foreign ministry spokesman dismissed the HRW report as “completely false”, while the United States — Israel’s main military supplier — said accusations of genocide “are certainly unfounded”.
In Israel, police said they arrested three suspects after flares shot near the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the central city of Caesarea, south of Haifa, while he was away.
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday reiterated demands that the government reach a deal to free dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.
The protest came a week after mediator Qatar suspended its role until Hamas and Israel show “seriousness” in truce and hostage-release talks.
26 dead, 59 missing as Israel hits Gaza, Lebanon in deadly strikes
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