By Ezinwanne Onwuka
● Victory for Nigerians as lawmakers deny President Tinubu a yacht
The Nigerian House of Representatives has squashed the N5 billion budgetary provision for a presidential yacht following the public outcry against the item in the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget request by President Bola Tinubu.
Nigerians rejected the purchase of the presidential yacht, saying it was insensitive at a time when Africa’s largest economy has nosedived owing to Tinubu’s reforms since taking office in May. Ending the petrol subsidy has devastated working-class families. Yet Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu’s adviser on information and strategy, handled interference for his boss, saying the so-called yacht was actually “operational naval boat,” not for the President’s personal use but for the Nigerian Navy. “It is called a presidential yacht by way of nomenclature because of the high-level security features,” Onanuga said.
Not impressed, the House of Representatives Thursday moved the yacht money to the allocation for the nation’s proposed student loan programme expected to begin in January 2024. The budget for the student loan programme now stands at N10 billion. “We don’t have the yacht anymore in the budget,” Abubakar Bichi Abubakar, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, told reporters.
● Broadcaster abducted in Yola
Usman Sahabi, a staff of the Adamawa Broadcasting Corporation [ABC] in Yola, the capital city of Adamawa State, Northeast Nigeria, was abducted on Thursday. Confirming the abduction, police said the journalist was kidnapped at gunpoint at about 1:00 a.m. local time on Thursday in his residence at Wuro-chekke town in Yola South County.
Family sources said the abductors had already contacted the family and demanded a ransom of N20 million for his release, according to Pilot News. “We have not rested on our oars since we learnt about the incident and are giving the criminals a hot chase till, we rescue the journalist alive and apprehend the perpetrators,” said police spokesperson Sulaiman Nguroje.
Authorities also promised financial rewards for useful information that could lead to the rescue of Sahabi, who is also the chief of staff to the speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly.
Read more: https://www.westafricanpilotnews.com/2023/11/02/gunmen-abducts-journalist-others-in-adamawa/
● Governor to meet military chiefs over border security
Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, is scheduled to meet with Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff [COAS], Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja and Chief of Air Staff [CAS] Air Marshall Hassan Abubakar, to strategize on effective border security in the Northeast State.
Yobe shares a border with Borno State and an international boundary with Niger Republic, making it porous to infiltration by Boko Haram terrorists. The extremists opened fire on residents of Gurokayeya village in Yobe State’s Geidam district on Monday killing 17 people. At least 20 villagers who had gone to attend their burial were then killed on Tuesday when they drove into a land mine that exploded.
Governor Buni will put heads together with the military chiefs on how best to intensify security presence at the borders. “The governor will also seek for a joint operation of the Army, Air Force, and Police for clearance of possible undetonated, explosive ordnance devices in some suspected areas,” Mamman Mohammed, the Governor’s spokesperson, added.
● Army and secret police avert an imminent attack by Boko Haram in Kano
The Nigerian Army in collaboration with secret police Department of State Services [DSS] launched a surprise attack on Boko Haram terrorists in Kano State on Friday morning [today]. The terrorists were nesting at a hideout in the Gezawa district of the Northwest State ahead of a planned attack on residents.
Two Boko Haram fighters were arrested during the raid. Five AK-47 rifles and magazines, a rocket-propelled gun [RPG], five RPG rocket heads, six hand grenades, five pairs of desert camouflage uniforms, 10 pairs of magazine pouches and some improvised explosive device-making materials belonging to the insurgents were seized.
“The successful raid operation reinforces the Nigerian Army’s unwavering commitment to protecting lives and the property of our citizens,” Army spokesperson Onyema Nwachukwu said in a statement posted on the Nigerian Army’s X post on Friday.
Read more: https://twitter.com/HQNigerianArmy/status/1720399681379799096?s=19
● Terrorists free high school student abducted since 2021
![A Prayer Answered. – Treasure Ayuba [middle] with CAN Chairman, Kaduna State, Rev. John J. Hayab [left] and the Conference President of Kaduna Baptist Conference. Rev. Ishaya A. Jangado [right]. Credit: Bright Bayo Oladeji.](https://i0.wp.com/truthnigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-4.png?resize=696%2C313&quality=80&ssl=1)
Treasure Ayuba, a student at Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna City, is back home after spending two Christmas seasons in the den of terrorists.
A total of 121 students, including Ayuba, were hustled away at gunpoint to an unknown destination during a midnight invasion of the school’s dormitories on July 5, 2021. Some students escaped from their captors, others were ransomed and released to the authorities, except Ayuba, who is now 15 years old.
In fact, substantial money was paid as ransom to secure the boy’s release, but the terrorists refused to release him, according to Rev. Joseph Hayab, chair of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna told the Punch in an interview last year. Ayuba spent two years, three months, and 27 days in captivity.
Read more: https://dailynigerian.com/bandits-release-remaining-2/
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Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
