What’s News? Sept. 25, 2023
Among the top stories in Nigeria today.
By Ezinwanne Onwuka
· Nigerian official kidnapped
Gunmen on September 24th abducted a Nigerian government official from his home in Benue State.
According to local reports, Matthew Abo, the Commissioner for Information, Culture, and Tourism in Benue, was snatched by armed men who invaded his residence on four motorcycles in Zaki Biam, in the Ukum County, at 8pm local time.
The gunmen fired gunshots to scare residents before forcefully taking the Commissioner from his house and escaping with him to an undisclosed location, according to witnesses.
The identity of the captors and their demands remain unconfirmed.
Benue, known as Nigeria’s breadbasket State, has witnessed increasing attacks by both terrorists and criminal groups in recent years, with many of the attacks receiving limited attention from federal and state authorities.
· Nigerian Officials Direct Immediate Rescue of 24 Kidnapped University Students
Nigerian authorities have instructed the military to promptly rescue 24 university students who were abducted from a campus in the State of Zamfara on September 22.
On September 25, the Nigerian Senate issued an order to the military, making the rescue of the all-female hostages, kidnapped by terrorists, a top priority.
In a statement released by Senator Abdulaziz Yar’ Adua, Chairman of the Committee on Army, the Senate noted the threat posed by terrorists had reached “alarming levels” and could no longer be tolerated.
These concerns followed just 24 hours after President Tinubu issued a similar directive to the country’s military to rescue the students who were kidnapped in a late-evening attack at the Federal University Gussau. Troops of Operation Hadarin Daji of the Nigerian Army, a joint task force operation in Northwest Nigeria, rescued six among the scores of students of the Federal University, Gusau in Zamfara State kidnapped by bandits in the early hours of Friday (Sept. 22). Some of the assailants were killed by the troops during the rescue operation and operational motorcycles and an AK-47 rifle were also recovered.
· Nigerian Supreme Court engulfed in flames amidst mounting election lawsuits
An unexpected fire engulfed the Nigerian Supreme Court building in Abuja on September 25th, raising concerns over the safety of records relating to pending Presidential election cases.
Police say the fire affected only two chambers of the Supreme Court’s judges before it was swiftly brought under control.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated, wrote the Police spokesperson Josephine Adeh in a press statement.
But the blaze occurring just five days after local officials complained about an overwhelming number of lawsuits stemming from the disputed general elections in February and March 2023 has raised fears over the safety of court records relating to the elections.
On September 20th, Chief Justice Olukayode Ariwoola expressed concern about the courts being overwhelmed by election cases during the inauguration of nine new justices of the Court of Appeal.
At the time, opposition presidential candidates Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi had filed separate appeals at the Supreme Court to nullify President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s election due to alleged electoral fraud.
A lower court’s judgment on the same case had on 6 September favored Tinubu.
Nigeria still struggled with physical record management and ranks 88th in digital well-being globally according to the Surfshark’s 5th annual Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL).
But the morning fire on 25 September did not affect court records relating to the election cases, according to Festus Akande on Arise TV, Spokesman for the Supreme Court,.
· US Court to review ruling on Nigerian President’s Chicago University records
A US District Judge, Nancy Maldonado, will review the controversy involving Chicago State University’s academic documents of President Bola Tinubu on Monday.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had secured an order for CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records.
Magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert had previously ordered the university to provide these documents within two days.
Atiku is contesting Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election and his affirmation by an election petition court in Nigeria.
The documents requested by Atiku include admission records, attendance dates, degrees, awards, and honors received by Tinubu at the university. Tinubu’s lawyers requested a review and delay of the order, which was granted by the US district judge, extending the deadline to Monday.
● Gunmen kidnap clergy, daughter and neighbor
The presiding pastor of Word Alive Church, Rev. Mike Obiora alongside his daughter and neighbor were whisked away to an unknown destination by unidentified gunmen Thursday (Sept. 21) night, the latest onslaught on residents of a satellite town in Calabar metropolis in the past month.
A source who spoke to The Sun said the gunmen stormed their victims’ premises at 7:30 p.m. local time and operated freely till 9:30 p.m. whilst shooting sporadically to scare neighbors away.
Police spokesperson in Cross River State, Irene Ugbo said security agencies have combed the area in search of the bandits and the victims but could not track them. “We won’t relent until we find them,” she said. Plans are underway for the State Government to acquire a technological device that can detect the whereabouts of kidnappers across the State, a move, Governor Bassey Otu said, that would stem the high incidence of kidnapping-for-ransom that has become commonplace in the people’s paradise.
● Boko Haram kill 10 in latest attack in northeastern Nigeria
Islamic extremists killed ten farmers and abducted four in an attack in northeastern Nigeria, The PUNCH reports. The farmers were ambushed in the fields in the Borno State’s Mafa local government area on Saturday (Sept. 23).
The attackers, members of the Boko Haram terrorist group, killed the farmers for failing to give them money, a source said. “They came roving across farms in search of food and cash,” the source told The PUNCH, “When the farmers said they couldn’t afford the amounts they requested, they killed ten of them, all men, and went away with four.”
The attack is the latest in Borno, a hotbed for insurgency and the epicenter of a 14-year war on terror in Nigeria that has spilled into neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon. In June, the Islamist group beheaded seven farmers near the State capital, Maiduguri, and killed eight farmers and abducted ten in the Mafa district
Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja. X handle: @OnwukaEzinwanne.
