Nigeria's ex-defence chief raided staff salary funds

Nigeria's former chief of defence staff bought property including a $5.5 million mansion with air force money, passing off his fraudulent withdrawals as staff salaries, a court heard Wednesday.

Retired air chief marshal Alex Badeh is on trial at a federal high court in Abuja, accused of diverting 3.97 billion naira ($19.8 million, 18 million euros) for his own use.

The 59-year-old, arrested as part of a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign by President Muhammadu Buhari, denies 10 counts of fraud, criminal breach of trust and money laundering.

The finance director under Badeh when he was chief of air staff at the time of the alleged offences in 2013 said he exchanged 558.2 million naira for dollars every month on his boss' instructions.

The money was part of some four billion naira set aside for monthly salaries for air force personnel, retired air commodore Salisu Abdullahi Yushau told the court in evidence.

Nigerian Army rescue 195 captives from Boko Haram

The Nigerian Army has rescued 195 persons held hostage by the Boko Haram sect.

The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in an electronic mail on Thursday that soldiers also recovered 300 cows, 200 sheep and 130 goats stolen by the insurgents.

Usman said that the troops of the 7 Division Garrison comprising the 112 Battalion and the Armed Forces Special Forces, who jointly attacked the camps of the insurgents on Wednesday, also recovered camouflages, rifle magazines and grenades from the insurgents.

He said that the troops cleared Boko Haram locations at Kwaptara, Mijigete, Garin Boka, Mosole, Ngubdori, Ma’asa, Dukje and Gulumba in Dikwa and Bama Local Government Areas of Borno State.

Borno govt awards scholarship to girls who got orphaned by boko haram activities

Borno State Government yesterday Tuesday sent fifty girls whose parents were killed by Boko Haram on full junior and senior secondary school scholarship ‎at Zaria Academy, in Kaduna State, a famous institution said to have with records of excellence in academics.

Nigerian Troops arrest Boko Haram logistics and medical drug suppliers (PHOTOS)

  

Troops of 3 Division Nigerian Army have intercepted and arrested some kingpins of Boko Haram. The men were found with hard drugs and other stimulants. A statement by the spokesperson of the Nigerian army, Sani Usman, said the men were arrested at Geidam local government in Borno state. The statement in part reads;

12 wives of Boko Haram militants surrender in Borno

12 wives of Boko Haram militants have surrendered to members of Civilian JTF in Borno. The women surrendered after their husbands abandoned them in the bush. The women when interrogated said their husbands left them in the forest due to lack of food and fuel supply.

A Leader of state vigilante group in Mussa District in Askira-Uba local government area of Borno state, Apagu Istifanus, said the women surrendered between Monday and Tuesday this week..

Boko Haram raids Borno village, kills seven, loots grains, carts away livestocks

On Monday, Boko Haram extremists raided a village in Borno state near the border with Niger, killing 7 people, community leaders said. Dozens of gunmen stormed Awonori, a farming and herding village near the fishing town of Damasak, and carted away food supplies and livestock, they said.

“They killed seven people, looted grains and took away all the livestocks in the village before fleeing into the bush,” Muhammadu Modu Wan-Wan, head of the Damasak fishermen’s union.

“The gunmen who came in vans and on motorcycles around 7:00 am (0600 GMT) besieged the village and opened fire on residents as they were having breakfast before moving to their farms,” he said.

592 IDPs return home to Borno from Yola camp

592 internally displaced persons pictured above as they were being transported back to their homes in Borno state from Malkohi camp in Yola, Adamawa state this morning. 

More photos after the cut...

Saraki's visit to Maiduguri not for 2019 presidential bid - Senate

The Senate has discredited claims in some quarters that Senate president Bukola Saraki's visit to some IDP camps in Maiduguri, Borno state on Monday August 3rd was geared towards his alleged presidential aspiration in 2019. Speaking through its chairman on publicity, Senator Dino Melaye, the senate said there was no truth in the claim.

“It is myopic to say the visit has a link with 2019. The visit was not the making of the Senate president but the resolution of the Senate during a plenary last week. The visit has nothing to do with the ambition of the Senate president. 

The visit was as a result of the motion moved by Senator George Thompson Sekibo of Rivers East Senatorial District on the Boko Haram insurgency. It was during the debate at the floor that Senate resolved that a delegation led by the Senate president should visit the North East states,” he said.

Boko Haram fuel supplier arrested (PHOTOS)

Nigerian troops yesterday August 5th arrested one Mai Mustapha alleged to be the fuel supplier to Boko Haram terrorists in Jehu village near Jakana in Borno state. Also arrested was a man identified as Madu who helps in purchasing food items for the terrorist.

During the troops operations in villages near Dikwa, piles of street lamps poles cut into pieces by Boko Haram terrorists which they use in making Improvised Explosives Devices was discovered.

In a related development, eight Boko Haram members were killed during a gun battle with the Nigerian troops at Dumbuluwa village in Fika Local Government Area of Yobe State today August 

6th. Unfortunately, two vigilantes were wounded by Improvised Explosive Devices fragments.”

Boko Haram commander captured by the military, 178 people rescued from sect's camp

The Nigeria military has captured Boko Haram Commander and rescued 178 captivities in Bama axis, Borno State.

The development was sequel to the ongoing operations to clear Boko Haram terrorists in its area of operations, the troops of 21 Brigade in conjunction with elements of 151 Task Force Battalion of 7 Division, Nigerian Army have conducted offensive operations along Aulari in Bama axis.

IGP awards post humous awards to three police officers killed in Yobe bomb blast

The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase has awarded post humous award to the three police officers who were killed in a bomb attack on a military checkpoint in Borno state yesterday July 20th.

In a statement released today July 21st, IGP Arase praised the deceased officers for their commitment to duty even until death. He also announced that 4 children of each of the officers killed will be given scholarship up to their secondary school level. The statement after the cut...

How Shekau Raped And Made Me Pregnant For Him - Boko Haram Victim

A young girl who was taken into captivity by the Boko Haram insurgents over two years ago has narrated the gory tale of how the sect leader, Abubakar Shekau, made her his sex slave and got impregnated her during the process.

Speaking exclusively to IQ4News’ Prince Dickson, the victim who identified herself as Meenah Dawah (pseudonym) disclosed that she escaped from her captors earlier in the year.

She explained how the insurgents made her watch as they murdered her parents in their village located at Konduga, Borno State, while she was only 17 years old.

Dawah further stated that she escaped the insurgent’s camp following a raid by the military adding that she got pregnant for Shekau during her 27-month captivity.

The insurgents shot her in the leg during her escape bid. The bullet was later removed at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital in Borno State.

Governor Kashim Shettima insists on Amnesty for Boko Haram

Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, yesterday once again asked that the federal government grant pardon through a programme of amnesty to Boko Haram members

According to Thisday, Shettima's support for an amnesty programme for the terrorist group was re-emphasised at an interactive session organised by his Special Adviser on Communications and Strategy, Mallam Isa Gusau, with selected journalists in Abuja. 

Gusau said Shettima's call was scientific and had been vindicated by a very desperate effort of Boko Haram leaders to stop their fighters from leaving their fold when a group of 16 members renounced the sect's ideology in Borno State following which they were slaughtered by the sect's leaders.

He said: "Governor Kashim Shettima was misunderstood by many Nigerians when in his May 29 inaugural remarks revisited his stance on the need to apply a political solution to fighting the Boko Haram by way of granting a window to admit those willing to surrender their arms and renounce the Boko Haram ideology.

Boko Haram massacres 100 in twin Borno villages

From TIMOTHY OLANREWAJU, Maiduguri

Boko Haram insurgents have massacred about 100 people in multiple attacks on three communities in Borno State, sources said.

Some terrorists hit the twin villages of Mussarami in Monguno Local Government, north of Borno State on Tuesday night shortly after breaking of fast. “The insurgents opened fire on the people and killed over 40,” says a military source, but a National Assembly member representing Monguno in the House of Representatives,

Hon. Mohammed Tahir Monguno, said 48 people were killed. He told BBC Hausa Service monitored in Maiduguri that he received the sad news of the incident.

“I received the sad news yesterday that Boko Haram attacked some communities in my area. Since Boko Haram insurgents were dislodged from Sambisa Forest, many of them have relocated to the area around Monguno where they have been picking on hapless villagers and killing residents there.

VP Osinbajo meets baby disfigured during Boko Haram attack

The Vice President, who was in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital today, met with this baby who is a victim of Boko Haram and her mother at the Maiduguri Teaching hospital. 

Heavenly Father, Please forgive them for they know not what they are doing.

Too sad! Another photo when you continue...

Suicide bombers attack hospital in Maiduguri

Two suicide bombers this morning attacked the Molai Leprosy/General Hospital in Maiduguri, Borno state. They only killed themselves and injured two others. Eyewitnesses say the first suicide bomber detonated his explosives as he tried to gain access into the hospital while the second one detonated his behind the hospital.

US provides $10.5m Grant For Internally Displaced People in NorthEeast Nigeria

The US government has provided a $10.5 million grant for the rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons in Northeast Nigeria. The grant was announced in a statement released by the USAID today June 11th.

The statement in part reads;

Twin Explosion Kills 7, Injures Many In Borno State

According to fresh report, the incident occurred at about six in the morning during a wedding ceremony.

Tashan Alade has come under severe attack from insurgents in recent time.

The Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, had said in a statement on Thursday, that  a cordon and search operations conducted by troops in Gombe State, also in the North-east, yielded the arrest of 3 bomb making experts.

He said that the cordon and search is continuing in certain localities and would be intensified along with mopping up operations in locations where offensive operations are being conducted.

A youth vigilante in Tashan Alade, Ibrahim Saleh, said a suspect has been arrested in connection with the incident.