WFP Food Truck Stripped by Looters in Nigeria’s Insurgency Zone…Dangote Refinery’s Currency Shift Sparks Market Jitters…Community Kills Man Who Played Both Sides in Bandit Crisis…Nigerian Troops Free Over 90 Hostages in Anti-Terror Raids
- WFP Food Aid Truck Looted in Nigeria’s Borno State
In yet another blow to humanitarian efforts in Nigeria’s insurgency-ravaged northeast, a truck carrying food supplies for the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) was looted in Gubio, a conflict-affected town in Borno State, while heading to Damasak, a border town near Niger known for past militant attacks.
According to Zagazola Makama, the incident happened on Wednesday when the driver, Aminu Mallam Umar, parked his Iveco truck by the roadside. While unattended, unidentified individuals stole several bags of rice, salt, sugar, beans, and vegetable oil. The exact value of the stolen supplies remains unknown.
Security forces responded to the scene, but no arrests have been made. The military later evacuated the truck from Gubio as authorities launched an investigation to identify the culprits and recover the looted goods.
Borno State remains one of Nigeria’s most volatile regions, where ongoing insecurity continues to disrupt humanitarian aid efforts.
- Dangote Refinery Stops Gas Sales in Local Currency, Prices Surge
Nigeria’s Dangote Petroleum Refinery has temporarily stopped the sale of refined petroleum products in the local currency, the naira, due to difficulties in securing crude oil under its naira-based government deal.
The move comes as the refinery struggles with the gap between crude oil purchases, which are priced in U.S. dollars, and local sales in naira.
“To date, our sales of petroleum products in naira has exceeded the value of naira-denominated crude we have received. As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company said in a statement.
Consequently, depot prices have risen to ₦875 per liter, approximately $0.57, up from less than ₦850 per liter, or about $0.55, before the announcement. Business Day reports that multiple depots across Nigeria have adjusted their prices accordingly.
After three rounds of gasoline price cuts this year, Nigerians now brace for higher gas costs.
- Bandit Spy Posing as Crime Fighter Gunned Down by Kinsmen
Awwalu Dan Garin Mararraba, a suspected bandit informant who had long deceived his community by posing as a crime fighter, was killed by enraged residents in Mararraba, a community in Nigeria’s northwest Zamfara State.
For years, Awwalu pretended to protect locals as a member of the community’s civilian guards while secretly working with the armed gangs terrorizing locals. Zagazola Makama reports that locals accused him of orchestrating multiple killings, including the executions of young men under false pretenses.
Despite suspicions, he moved freely between villages, switching between the roles of community defender and bandit accomplice. His luck ran out when he returned to Mararraba, claiming he was there for a business deal. Suspicious residents confronted him, searched his phone, and found incriminating evidence of his ties to bandits.
With emotions running high, villagers and community leaders agreed he had to face justice. Armed locals immediately opened fire, killing him on the spot.
- Nigerian Troops Rescue 101 Hostages, Kill 10 Terrorists in Northwest
Nigerian troops rescued 101 kidnapped victims and killed 10 terrorists in military operations across the northwestern states of Katsina and Zamfara, states plagued by armed banditry and insurgent attacks, the country’s defense forces announced Wednesday.
The raids, conducted on March 17 and 18, targeted terrorist hideouts in Kankara, a rural area in Katsina State frequently hit by mass abductions, and Shinkafi and Maradun in Zamfara, hotspots for criminal gangs operating from forested hideouts.
In Katsina, soldiers stormed a terrorist enclave, killing three militants and freeing 84 hostages. The rescued individuals were handed over to local authorities.
Meanwhile, in Zamfara’s Maradun district, troops acting on intelligence raided the Bagabuzu area, eliminating seven terrorists and recovering a motorcycle and weapons. Seventeen hostages were freed in nearby Shinkafi, a town near the border with Niger Republic.
—Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
