Connect with us

Defence and Security

Bandits Free Zamfara Heath Workers, Return N5M Ransom,

Published

on

Gunmen
Share

 

The abducted Chief Medical Director of Dansadau General Hospital and two other health workers in Zamfara were released by their Captors

They were released Friday night after seven days in Captivity.

The bandits also refunded the ransom a few hours after the payment

The Chairman, Nigeria Medical Association Zamfara State Chapter Dr. Mannir Bature Confirmed this to TVC NEWS.

He says, cattle herders who are committed to a lasting peace with the Dansadau farming communities intervened and secured the release of the health workers as well as facilitated the refund of the N5 million ransom the bandits demanded.

Dr. Mansur Muhammad alongside two other health workers were kidnapped last Saturday along the Gusau – Dansadau highway in the Maru Local Government Area of the state.

A reliable source told TVC NEWS that some concerned cattle herders escorted the ransom bearer, Sama’ila Nagogo, to the delivery location and caught the armed bandits, and took them to their superiors.

“The cattle herders asked the bandits to free their Victims and return the N5 million ransom which they did. The Source Said.

“The ransom according to him was returned to the owner. He added.

This according to our source is a result of the peace truce between members of the Community, cattle Headers, and bandits in the area after years of attacks and counter-attacks between the locals and the bandits

“I am that those Abductors are probably not aware of the peace truce entered between the crop farmers and the cattle herders around Dansad axis”.

The Communities around the area come to the conclusion that government can only do little or nothing to secure the area, and that prompted the agreement in the interest of peace.

Dansadau is ninety-seven kilometers from Gusau, Zamfara State capital, and is vulnerable to attack by bandits.

The area sits at the edge of a forest bordering Katsina, Kaduna, Kebbi, and Niger states.

Kidnapping for ransom has become a daily affair along the Popular Magami – Gusau – Dansadau highway
The release Victims were reunited with their families after thorough medical checks.

It would be recalled that some ward attendants and a relation of a patient were Abducted in the same Dansadau General Hospital last year.

Defence and Security

Senate Confirms Appointment Of Oluyede As COAS

Published

on

Major General Olufemi Oluyede
Share

The Senate has confirmed the nomination of Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede for appointment as Chief of Army Staff.

The confirmation today followed the consideration of reports by the Chairman of the sense committee on Army, Sen. Yar’ adua, Abdulaziz Musa (Katsina Central).

The committee’s recommendations were unanimously adopted by the upper chamber.

Lieutenant General Oluyede was appointed to act as the Chief of Army Staff following the illness and subsequent death of Lt. Gen. Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja.

 

Continue Reading

Defence and Security

Tinubu Appoints New DG for NIA, DSS

Published

on

President Bola Tinubu
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
Share

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of new Directors-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Department of State Services (DSS).

Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed is the new Director-General of the NIA.

Mr. Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi is the new Director-General of the DSS.

This is contained in a statement by Chief Ajuri Ngelale Special Adviser to the President, Media & Publicity

The statement reads : “Ambassador Mohammed has had an illustrious career in the foreign service since joining the NIA in 1995.

He had served in various roles, culminating in his promotion to the rank of Director and his subsequent appointment as the head of the Nigerian mission to Libya”

“The 1990 graduate of Bayero University, Kano, had served in North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, and at the State House, Abuja”

“The new DSS Director-General, Mr.

Adeola Ajayi, rose through the ranks to attain his current post of Assistant Director-General of the Service. He had, at various times, served as State Director in Bauchi, Enugu, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Kogi”

“The new appointments follow the resignation of the previous NIA and DSS chiefs”

“President Tinubu expects that the new security chiefs will work assiduously to reposition the two intelligence agencies for better results and charges them to bring their experience to bear in tackling the security challenges bedeviling the country through enhanced collaboration with sister agencies and in surgical alignment with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

The President thanks the outgoing Directors-General of the two pivotal intelligence agencies for their services to the nation while wishing them success in their future endeavours”

 

Continue Reading

Defence and Security

Army Has No Desire To Truncate Nigeria’s Democracy — COAS

Published

on

Chief of Army Staff
Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja
Share

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, on Tuesday, restated the commitment of the Nigerian Army to defend the nation’s choice of government, democracy.

Addressing participants at a seminar on career planning and management organised by the Army headquarters, the COAS said the Army has no plans to truncate democracy in the country.

He charged officers of the Nigerian Army to remain above board in the discharge of their professional duties.

“Permit me to seize this opportunity to reiterate that the Armed Forces of Nigeria, particularly the Nigerian Army has come to terms with the country’s choice of democracy as the preferred system of governance,” he said during his address to officers.

“We are therefore agents of democracy and have no desire to truncate it. The Nigerian Army will continue to defend our constitution and not suspend it for whatever reason.

“It is the duty of our elected leaders to lead while the military does its job as enshrined in our constitution. Nigerian Army personnel must therefore remain professional and be above board as they discharge their constitutional duties.”

The commitment by the COAS followed the series of putsches in West and Central Africa which have experienced at least seven military takeovers in the last four years.

Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and most recently, Niger Republic — all members of the Economic Community of Western African States ( ECOWAS) — have pulled out from the regional bloc in last four years. Outside of West Africa, Chad and Sudan also experienced military coups in 2021.

 

Continue Reading