Fears of Boko Haram attacking Abuja grips senators – Newstrends
Connect with us

News

Fears of Boko Haram attacking Abuja grips senators

Published

on

…seek audience with Buhari

The Senate on Tuesday resolved to send its leadership to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari over the spate of insecurity in the country.

The decision came after many senators had expressed fear that the Boko Haram insurgents could overrun the nation’s capital, Abuja, following the group’s deadly attacks on neighboring states.

On Monday, the Governor of Niger State, Sani Bello, revealed that Boko Haram terrorists had taken over about 50 communities in the state.

Bello said the terrorist group is just some two hours away from Abuja.

The Senate dedicated Tuesday’s plenary to the discussion on the rising insecurity in different parts of the country. More than 15 of them contributed to the motion on the activities of Boko Haram terrorists in three local governments of Niger State.

Musa Sani from Niger State had moved the motion, tagged, “Activities of bandits and Boko Haram terrorists in Niger State”.

A Kogi senator, Smart Adeyemi, was one of the contributors. In an emotional speech, he spoke for over five minutes, describing the current state of insecurity in Nigeria as the worst so far.

He said, “Some people believe that some people in government are supporting this move. We cannot pretend that we are capable of handling the situation in our hands. America, as powerful as they are, when the pandemic came, it came to a point China came to their rescue.

“We shouldn’t pretend that we need foreign support now. Billions of naira has been voted for security service and nothing is coming out of it. I’m a party man and I’m supporting the APC but it has got to a point that as supporters we cannot keep quiet.”

Danjuma Tella La’ah of the PDP, representing Kaduna South, suggested that the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, could take over control of the country as the number three citizen.

“The Senate President, you’re number three in this country. If other people cannot fight for…go and take over, we’ll support you.

“If you call for impeachment now, they’ll be looking for who made the call. Whether it is good or not, they don’t want to know. But they don’t know we are saying the minds of our people.

“If you don’t move forward, we won’t follow you. If you move forward, we’ll follow you… I’ll not open my mouth to say let’s impeach but you know the rest.”

After debating the motion, the Senate resolved that the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, should lead other principal officers of the upper legislative chamber to meet with President Buhari.

It also resolved to summon the newly-appointed service chiefs to brief them on steps so far taken to salvage the situation.

But no date was announced for the meeting/briefing.

“I can authoritatively confirm that the Boko Haram terrorists have mounted their flags in many of the villages they have captured such as Kaure, Alawa and Magami,” Sani said.

He added, “Inhabitants of these war-torn parts of the State have been abandoned and left to their fate thereby compelling them to wallow in perpetual agony and abject misery.”

Sani informed his colleagues that about 42 communities across the two local government areas of Shiroro and Munya Local Government have so far fallen under the Boko Haram control with about 5,000 villagers already displaced in the last three days.

“They have kidnapped many and their wives seized from them and forcefully attached to Boko Haram members while three military camps in Allawa, Bassa and Zagzaga in the two local government areas have been sacked and some security personnel killed by the insurgents in the last one month of renewed attacks,” the lawmaker said.

Former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, said any government that could not secure its citizen had lost its legitimacy to lead.

He said since the primary responsibility of the government is to protect the people.

News

NCC extends NIN-SIM linkage deadline

Published

on

NCC extends NIN-SIM linkage deadline

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has extended the deadline for the the second phase of SIM-NIN linkage.

Recall that the process to disconnect SIMs not linked to NIN was initiated in stages, with the second phase slated for today, March 29.

The first phase was on February 28, 2024, after NCC directed telecom operators to disconnect millions of subscribers who didn’t link their SIMs to their NINs.

The third phase is slated to commence on April 15, 2024, as previously announced by NCC in December, 2023.

However, the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) said subscriber have been having difficulty linking their SIMs with their NINs, hence it would be unfair to bar them.

READ ALSO:

NATCOMS’ President, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, therefore, appealed to the NCC extend the deadline scheduled for the disconnection of telephone lines not linked to NIN beyond Friday, March 29, 2024.

Meanwhile, a senior official of NCC said the commission had changed the second phase deadline.

He disclosed that the change, which will now see the deadline extended by one week, was necessitated by the Easter public holiday.

The official, who spoke in confidence with Daily Trust, said the telcos had been directed not to bar any subscriber until after one week, from Friday, March 29.

He explained that, “The telecom operators will not bar any subscriber yet. We will only be talking about barring after a week from tomorrow. Yes, technically, we can say the deadline has been extended by a week.”

Another NCC top staff member who corroborated what the first official told our reporter added that NCC yielded to appeals by some CSOs and telecom right groups calling for deadline extension because of internet glitches experienced in the country two weeks ago

NCC extends NIN-SIM linkage deadline

Continue Reading

News

30,000 students benefit from Ogun Educash transfer

Published

on

Gov. Dapo Abiodun

30,000 students benefit from Ogun Educash transfer

Ogun State said has said 20,000 of its students in tertiary institutions have benefited from Educash transfer of N50,000 to cushion the economic crisis.

Also, it said 10,000 indigent pupils in primary and secondary schools in the state got N10,000 cash transfer.

Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, spoke after monitoring the cash transfer to primary and secondary schools at Ogun West Senatorial District.

Arigbabu noted more would benefit from the scheme.

He said everyone captured would be paid.

“I can tell you that for the tertiary institutions, we have done 20,000 as at today, and the total for tertiary institution beneficiaries is a little bit less than 50,000. Hopefully, by end of next week, we will reach half of that, which is about 25,000 beneficiaries.

READ ALSO:

“I want to assure those who have not received theirs, for instance, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), a list of a little bit over 12,000 was sent to us. As we speak, we have paid just a little less than 6,000. The same thing at Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), where we have a little bit less than 8,000. We have tried to make sure we are targeting between 45 to 50 per cent,” he said.

Continue Reading

News

Binance Executive drags NSA, EFCC to court, demands public apology

Published

on

Binance Executive drags NSA, EFCC to court, demands public apology

Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan has taken legal action against National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alleging violations of his fundamental rights.

In a filing dated March 18 and presented by his lawyer Olujoke Aliyu from Aluko and Oyebode Law Firm, Gambaryan sought redress before Justice Inyang Ekwo, requesting five reliefs.

Similarly, Nadeem Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager who escaped custody on March 22, initiated a separate suit before Justice Ekwo.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gambaryan and Anjarwalla, in the suits marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/356/24 and FHC/ABJ/CS/355/24, had sued the Office of NSA (ONSA) and EFCC as 1st and 2nd respondents.

Gambaryan, a US citizen overseeing financial crime compliance at the crypto exchange platform, alleged that his detention and the confiscation of his international travel passport violated Section 35 (1) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution, constituting a breach of his fundamental right to personal liberty.

He further requested the court to order his immediate release and the return of his passport. Additionally, he sought an injunction preventing further detention related to any Binance investigations and demanded a public apology from the respondents, along with costs incurred.

READ ALSO:

Gambaryan stated that he visited Nigeria on February 26 alongside Nadeem Anjarwalla, representing Binance, in response to invitations from ONSA and EFCC. Despite attending the meeting as requested, both were detained afterward without formal charges.

During the court proceedings, T.J. Krukrubo, SAN, representing Anjarwalla and Gambaryan, informed the court of the respondents’ absence despite being served. Krukrubo also mentioned their notice of withdrawal of legal representation for Anjarwalla, filed on March 26.

Justice Ekwo noted the withdrawal of legal representation and adjourned the matter to April 8 to allow the applicants to seek new representation and give the respondents an opportunity to appear.

In Gambaryan’s case, Krukrubo stated that although the processes were served on ONSA and EFCC, they still had time to respond. He requested an adjournment, indicating that the respondents’ deadline to file their applications would expire the following week.

Consequently, Justice Ekwo scheduled the next hearing for April 8 to continue proceedings.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government will arraign Binance Holdings Limited and its two top officials, Tigran Gambaryan and the fleeing Nadeem Anjarwalla, on April 4 on allegations bordering on tax evasion.

Binance, Gambaryan, and Anjarwalla, listed as 1st to 3rd defendants respectively, are expected to be arraigned before Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court (FHC), Abuja on a four-count charge.

Anjarwalla, who had been in detention alongside Gambaryan, was said to have escaped from lawful custody. He escaped on Friday from the Abuja guest house where he and his colleague were detained.

Binance Executive drags NSA, EFCC to court, demands public apology

Continue Reading

Trending

Skip to content