News

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has buried a staff of the commission that was killed by gunmen in Imo State.

INEC announced the burial of the deceased staff, Mr Anthony Nwokorie on Thursday, September 1, 2022 on their verified Facebook page.

The deceased, aged 35, was attached to Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State. He was killed on April 14, 2022 by gunmen at Nkwo-Ihitte while on official assignment for the commission.

“On 14th April 2022, Mr Anthony Nwokorie, a staff of INEC attached to Ihitte Uboma LGA office, was killed by unknown gunmen at Nkwo-Ihitte (Polling Unit 004) while on official duty during the just concluded Continuous Voter Registration.”

He is being buried today.

“RIPNkwokorie,” INEC Nigeria stated on Facebook

By Muhammadu Sabiu

The Nigeria Police Force in Zamfara State have arrested and paraded a 41-year-old notorious kidnapper, Sa’idu Lawal, for terrorising “Zamfara State and neighbouring Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Kebbi and Sokoto States.”

The Zamfara State police spokesman, SP Mohammed Shehu, disclosed this to journalists at a press conference on Wednesday in Gusau, the state’s capital.

The suspect, according to the police spokesman, was an Army service officer who was apprehended after the police received an intelligence report about his malicious activities.

SP Shehu said, “On 27th August, 2022 at about 1730hrs, Police Tactical/Escort Team attached to the Commissioner of Police Zamfara State Police Command, CP Kolo Yusuf psc acted on actionable intelligence that led to the arrest of the above named suspect who was an Ex-service personnel of the Nigeria Army attached 73 Battalion Janguza Army Barracks Kano.

The paraded kidnapper also made many confessions, including supplying weapons to gunmen in other local government areas and neighbouring states in the northwestern part of the country.

“In the course [of] interrogation, the suspect confessed that he was to convey the said exhibits from Loko LGA of Nasarawa State to his customer one Dogo Hamza ‘M’ of Bacha village in Tsafe LGA of Zamfara State. The suspect further confessed that he had previously supplied same consignment to his other customers in Kaduna, Katsina, Niger and Kebbi States respectively,” Mr Shehu added.

1 AK-47 Rifle Breech No. Q971987, 1 AK-49 Rifle Breech No. 34-7094, 200 7.6mm Rounds of Live Ammunition, 501 7.62X51mm Rounds of GPMG Live Ammunition, and 8 Empty Magazines were recovered from him.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Former senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Senator Shehu Sani, has reacted to the leaked nude video of Kannywood actress, Safia Yusuf famously known as Safara’u.

Safara’u granted BBC Pidgin English an interview on Tuesday August 30, 2022, where she narrated her ordeals when her friends leaked her nude video in 2020.

“Dat period when my nude video leak na di most depressing time for my life because I spend three months without nearing di gate of my house, I just dey indoors.

“And by di time I muster energy comot na so pipo just dey abuse me for road in fact e get one particular pesin wey stone me as I dey waka.” Safara’u disclosed to BBC Pidgin English

While commenting on the BBC Pidgin English interview of Safara’u on Facebook, Shehu Sani said he became unconscious when he saw the video.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

Matthew Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, has cautioned politicians against exploiting politics in the nation through religion, noting that a severe result would follow such a move just as it had in Germany during Adolf Hitler’s rule.

On Tuesday in Abuja, as part of the celebrations for his 70th birthday, Kukah spoke at the launch of his new book, Broken Truth.

“If you look at history, there is a consequence for using religion to manipulate politics. We just need to look at Germany. The consequences are there to see in Hitler.

“The problem is that the Nigerian political elites lack the mental capacity to understand the consequences of the fire they are stoking because there is nothing to suggest that the average person who is living in the north, who is Fulani, who is a Muslim, or who is Hausa, can say that they are proud of the Nigerian political system, beyond a very tiny percentage.

“So, if you decide that you want to give privilege to a religion or an ethnic group, what will happen is that others automatically become outsiders,” the bishop was quoted as saying.

Additionally, he indicated that protests are still taking place in the nation because the populace is more knowledgeable than those in charge of its affairs.

Kukah added, “The agitation that persists in Nigeria is largely borne out of the fact that those who govern us are not aware of how much mental progress ordinary people have made.

“Those who are being governed are more intelligent and endowed. And it will not have been a bad thing if people who don’t know seek knowledge.”

By Muhammad Aminu

At least ten people have been trapped in a three-storey building being constructed in the famous Beirut Road market in Kano City.

An unspecified number of people have been affected, including some people working on the construction site.

An eyewitness said that the Kano State Government is constructing the building. He confirmed that close to ten people are still trapped in the collapsed building.

Three people have been rescued so far, but residents are lamenting the late arrival of the rescue operations team. An eyewitness also said his friend was among the trapped as his number rang and he answered, saying he was suffocating.

The incident happened around 30:30pm Tuesday.

By Muhammad Aminu

The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has donated N50 million to Kantin Kwari textile market in Kano following a flood that affected the market.

The Star earlier reported that Kano has been witnessing torrential rainfall in the last few days that has led to floods in many parts of the metropolis, including the Kwari textile market.

The presidential candidate announced the donation Monday while welcoming former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau to the PDP.

He sympathized with the businessmen and women who were already suffering from an unfriendly business environment with economic hardship.

According to him, Shekarau’s defection is a win for the people of Kano State, the PDP and the country.

The former Kano State governor argued that Atiku was the most qualified candidate to get Nigeria working again come 2023.

Atiku was in Kano since Sunday alongside his running mate Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State, former Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, former Minister of Transportation, Senator Abdullahi Umar Idris, among other party chieftains.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Bashir El-Rufai, the son of Kaduna State Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, has described the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, as a “useless union” that should be scrapped.

The junior El-Rufai, on Monday, August 29, 2022, said ASUU is useless and should be replaced with educators that care about the students and Nigeria.

“ASUU is a very useless union. They should be scrapped & replaced with educators that actually give a damn about students and how that translates to the future of this country.” He tweeted

El-Rufai’s condemnation of ASUU is coming after the union extended its ongoing strike in the early hours of this morning. ASUU has been on strike for half a year, an industrial crisis that has crippled the academic activities across Nigeria’s public universities.

By Uzair Adam Imam

At least three people reportedly died while 15 others sustained injuries in an auto car accident that occurred in Takai Local Government Area of Kano State.

The Kano State Fire Service Spokesman, Yusuf Abdullahi, confirmed the development Sunday, saying the accident involved a Toyota Hilux conveying three people from Jigawa State and a commercial hummer bus conveying 15 others from Kano.

Abdullahi, who identified the dead victims as Sani Isah 28, Shamawilu Isah 30 and Musa Yusuf, 32, stated, “On receiving the information, we quickly sent out our rescue team to the scene of the accident for rescue.

“On arrival, we found out that it was a commercial bus (hummer bus) without registration number and conveying 15 people from Kano that had a head-on collision with a Toyota Hilux conveying three persons coming from Jigawa with registration number JMK 142 XA. The hummer bus was engulfed by fire.

“Out of the 18 people involved, 15 people were rescued alive while three out of the passengers from the hummer bus were rescued unconscious. We immediately conveyed them to Takai General Hospital where doctors on duty confirmed the three unconscious, dead,” he said.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, a former governor of Kano State, has formally rejoined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Shekarau joined the PDP on Monday in Kano after leaving the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

The PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Iyorchia Ayu, the party’s national chairman, and other PDP members met with the former governor.

Shekarau joined the NNPP from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and left it two months later.

Shekarau, a senator for Kano Central, previously served as Kano’s governor for two terms and as Nigeria’s minister of education.

He also contested for president of Nigeria in the 2011 general elections.

By Muhammad Aminu

Commuters plying Gwaram-Basirka road in Jigawa state are advised to take alternate routes to their various destinations.

This development followed a bridge collapse along the way due to a heavy downpour the previous night.

The Jigawa state Police Public Relations Officer, Lawan Shiisu, stated this in a terse statement on Sunday in Dutse.

“On 28/08/2022, as a result of downpour over the night, a culvert under Gwaram/ Basirka Road, precisely at Rabadi village in Gwaram LGA of Jigawa State, has been washed away.

“In view of this, road users should seek alternative or use the diversion created by the authority.”

Residents protested earlier this year on the same road that links that part of Jigawa with its neighbouring Bauchi State when a collapsed bridge led to its closure.