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The former Olympic athlete, who came out as a trans woman in 2015, is running for California governor.

The Kaduna State Police Command has secured the release of two out of four abducted persons.

According to the command's spokesman, Muhammad Jalige, the four people were kidnapped last night in the Gonin Gora area of Kaduna State.

He, however, said two of the four were rescued because the bandits were unable to carry them along in bushes due to pressure from police officers, who were on their trail.

Jalige also reacted to the protest staged by residents against the incessant abductions and bandit attacks.

In the early hours of Saturday, the residents blocked the Gonin Gora end of the Abuja-Kaduna Highway in the Chikun Local Government Area of the State in protest.

The protesters barricaded the busy road with stones and wood, insisting that nobody would pass until the state Governor Nasir El-Rufai addresses them.

They also prevented the convoy of a top military officer from passing through the road.

Jalige revealed that there are allegations that bandits sent threatening messages to the area coupled with the earlier agitation to improve the security situation in the place.

He said this culminated in the peaceful protest by the youth in the area. Jalige, however, said no killing was recorded as being speculated in some quarters.

He also said efforts were being made to improve the security situation in the area as the command deployed Armoured Carrier Patrol to the place recently in response to their demands.

Gonin Gora, like some other communities in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, have been experiencing constant attacks and kidnappings by bandits.

Kaduna State government on Friday said bandits killed a total number of 323 people in Kaduna State between January and March 2021.

The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, who presented the figures during the state security report meeting, explained that of the 323 people killed by bandits during the period under review, 292 were males and 20 were females.

He added that 949 people were kidnapped by bandits during the period, while Kaduna Central senatorial district accounted for 236 deaths within Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Igabi, and Kajuru Local Government Areas.

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Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has declared his intention to negotiate with bandits to ascertain their grievances and the solutions to the current security challenges in the state.

Umahi disclosed this at the presentation of 40 Toyota Sienna vehicles and 20 Hilux vans to security agencies for enhanced operations in the state.

Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi

Attacks by gunmen on Ebonyi communities have heightened tension between herders in the state and their host communities.

Gunmen have also attacked several security facilities in the state.

At the ceremony, the governor declared his intention to negotiate with the bandits to ascertain their grievances and the way forward.

He also directed local government chairmen and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to identify the gunmen and present them for debriefing.

“I want to talk to the bandits and empower them as we cannot continue to kill ourselves and destroy public infrastructure,” he said.

“The bandits are our children, and I am pained when they or the security agencies are killed.

“I want to ascertain their grievances against the Ebonyi or federal government, collate the facts for discussions to commence.”

The governor expressed disappointment over the announcement of guidelines for the 2023 elections, noting that the nation was at a crossroad for such engagement.

“Let us forget about the 2023 elections with the leaders taking responsibility for the situation and discussing a way forward.

“No one takes money to the grave and when we hear a gunshot, we will run and abandon the money we acquired.”

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Former Minister of Aviation Femi Fani-Kayode has slammed prominent Islamic cleric Sheikh Gumi for saying Nigerians will regret removing Isa Pantami as the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy following his comments, which many alleged support the extremism.

Pantami has been under fire of late over past pro-Taliban comments supporting the activities of terrorist groups, including Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Femi Fani-Kayode

In audio clips that resurfaced lately, the minister who has been an Islamic scholar for about three decades, once declared that he was always happy when infidels – non-Muslims – were massacred.

Though he has since renounced the comments, blaming it on immaturity, many Nigerians continue to demand his sacking or resignation.

Defending the minister, Gumi claimed the nation would regret it if he is removed from office.

See Also Insurgency Nigeria Needs More Pantami's In Power, You’ll Regret It If He Leaves, Gumi Warns 0 Comments 5 Days Ago

The cleric said the allegations against Pantami are unfounded and should be discarded.

"You cannot Islamise the whole world. Jesus Christ came; he could not Christianise the whole world. Nobody can Islamise or Christianise Nigeria," Gumi said.

Responding in a recent interview online, Fani-Kayode stated that Gumi speaks for misguided people.

"His father, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, was the man that said that Nigeria would never have a Christian President during his lifetime, he died a few years later and a Christian became Head of State, that was a prophetic thing. The man died and a Christian took over the country. Now I can see that the son has taken his father's mantle and he's speaking nothing but absolute nonsense.

"He speaks for a large segment of people in the core north who are misguided and don't know any better and I think this is the sort of thing that upsets many of us. Nobody can tell me that it's right and proper for him to say that if Pantami is removed, we will regret it. I mean, who the hell does he think he is. Who do they think they are? We all own this country, and let me put this to him right here on this programme."

He added that something has to be done about people like Pantami and others, or else the government would regret it, especially in a situation where they're trying to fulanize and Islamize the nation through jihad.

He said, "If you want Nigeria to remain together, they better learn to keep their mouths shut and stop insulting southerners, middle belters, Christians, stop provoking us, stop killing us and telling us that you own this country and every one of us. We cant be slaves; I will never be a slave to anybody; what I mean by that is if you don't stop, then you'll see another dimension of this struggle.

"We are calling for the restructuring of this country; most of our youths are calling for restructuring."

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At least two police officers were feared dead after gunmen attacked the Divisional Police Headquarters of Ibiaku Ntok Opo, Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa-Ibom State, on Saturday.

A source, who spoke with SaharaReporters, said the incident occurred at 3am.

The gunmen, who were alleged to be Nnamdi Kanu's Eastern Security Network members, razed down the police station.

The source also stated that a policewoman sustained an injury in the attack while five vehicles were burnt and a flag was stolen.

He said: "Police Divisional Headquarters at Ibiaku Ntok Opo, Ikono LGA of Akwa-Ibom State has been attacked and razed at about 3 am today. Two policemen have been confirmed killed. A policewoman was injured, five vehicles burnt and a flag stolen. ESN/IPOB carried out the attack."

This comes barely three days after a female police officer was shot dead by some gunmen in the Ika Local Government Area of the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Odiko MacDon, confirmed the killing.

MacDon identified the slain police officer as Esther Akpan, a police corporal.

She was killed alongside a special police constabulary, Isonuyo Paul.

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At least two police officers were feared dead after gunmen attacked the Divisional Police Headquarters of Ibiaku Ntok Opo, Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa-Ibom State, on Saturday.

A source, who spoke with SaharaReporters, said the incident occurred at 3am.

The gunmen, who were alleged to be Nnamdi Kanu's Eastern Security Network members, razed down the police station.

The source also stated that a policewoman sustained an injury in the attack while five vehicles were burnt and a flag was stolen.

He said: "Police Divisional Headquarters at Ibiaku Ntok Opo, Ikono LGA of Akwa-Ibom State has been attacked and razed at about 3 am today. Two policemen have been confirmed killed. A policewoman was injured, five vehicles burnt and a flag stolen. ESN/IPOB carried out the attack."

This comes barely three days after a female police officer was shot dead by some gunmen in the Ika Local Government Area of the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Odiko MacDon, confirmed the killing.

MacDon identified the slain police officer as Esther Akpan, a police corporal.

She was killed alongside a special police constabulary, Isonuyo Paul.

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The denouncement comes as the White House prepares to unveil its "calibrated" approach to North Korea.

A total of 323 people were killed while 949 others kidnapped within three months in a spate of attacks by gunmen who have been on the rampage in Nigeria's northwestern state of Kaduna, official data released by the government on Friday indicated.

In a security report for the first quarter of 2021, the Kaduna government also confirmed that troops killed 64 gunmen and arrested several gunrunners during the period under review.

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According to Samuel Aruwan, the commissioner for internal security and home affairs in the state, the report covers various attacks, including banditry, reprisal attacks, kidnapping, and cattle-rustling in the northern state.

Of the total number of deaths recorded from the various aforementioned attacks, 20 were women and 11 were minors, Aruwan noted.

The official said, however, that multiple scores of bandits were neutralized via about 150 targeted aerial missions conducted by the Nigeria air force during the period under review.

"These missions were initiated based on credible intelligence of bandit activity and locations of camps, which were targeted and destroyed," he said.

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A total of 323 people were killed while 949 others kidnapped within three months in a spate of attacks by gunmen who have been on the rampage in Nigeria's northwestern state of Kaduna, official data released by the government on Friday indicated.

In a security report for the first quarter of 2021, the Kaduna government also confirmed that troops killed 64 gunmen and arrested several gunrunners during the period under review.

File Photo

According to Samuel Aruwan, the commissioner for internal security and home affairs in the state, the report covers various attacks, including banditry, reprisal attacks, kidnapping, and cattle-rustling in the northern state.

Of the total number of deaths recorded from the various aforementioned attacks, 20 were women and 11 were minors, Aruwan noted.

The official said, however, that multiple scores of bandits were neutralized via about 150 targeted aerial missions conducted by the Nigeria air force during the period under review.

"These missions were initiated based on credible intelligence of bandit activity and locations of camps, which were targeted and destroyed," he said.

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Four days after he renounced his earlier repentance and returned to the forest, Auwal Daudawa, best known for his role in the abduction of over 300 schoolboys in Katsina State, was killed in a fight with rivals.

According to Daily Trust, Daudawa was shot dead Friday evening during a gun duel with a rival gang at Dumburum forest located between Zurmi Local Government Area in Zamfara state and Batsari Local Government Area in Katsina State.

After he masterminded the attack on Government Secondary School, Kankara, the notorious bandit, shot to prominence where he abducted over 300 schoolboys overnight.

Two months later, the bandit appeared in Gusau, capital of Zamfara, along with five of his men, where he announced his repentance and handed over 20 AK rifles and other weapons to the police.

The newspaper had on Thursday reported how Daudawa returned to the forest and his old ways after he vacated his new abode in Damba, on the outskirts of Gusau.

Sources said the bandits' leader was killed while leading his men on a revenge attack on bandits loyal to another gang called Ballolo.

It was gathered that while Daudawa was in Gusau following his repentance, some armed members of the Ballolo camp attacked his men's position in an attempt to rustle their cattle, killing two of his gang members in the process.

He was said to have vowed to retaliate.

A source said while Daudawa's gang succeeded in killing some persons in the opposing gang, bullets of Ballolo's boys felled down their leader.

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The pastor and founder of Victor's Church, Ilorin, Kwara State, Folayemi Richard, has reportedly beaten his pregnant wife, Odunola, to coma over a rift between them.

The cleric committed the assault in their residence located at Ita Olodan, Upper Gaa-Akanbi in Ilorin town.

The wife, while speaking with an online medium, The Informant, said the incident occurred in January 2021 when their wedding was three months old and her pregnancy was a month old.

The woman lamented that even when she collapsed, her husband kept torturing her, brutalising her with a cable wire.

She said a neighbour, who is an older woman, came to mediate for her but was overpowered and pushed aside.

Odunola said she had been experiencing marital turbulence since their marriage in late September 2020, adding that the man had once beaten her till she became unconscious.

"Last year, September 26, we got married, and we've been living together as husband and wife. When our wedding was one month old, that was when a terrible crisis occurred. We had a disagreement. Suddenly, he ordered me to stand up and that he would take me to a hospital, where he would dump me.

"He started insulting my parents; I cautioned him. He slapped me and began to beat me. He got a cable wire which we use for speakers in the church and beat me.

"I started shouting for help. I became so weak. I dashed out of the house; he followed me and started dragging me on the ground, saying he did not want the marriage again.

"At this time, people had already gathered and were begging him. He locked me out and went to my parents. When he came back again, he ordered me to leave his home," she narrated.

One of the eyewitnesses, Victoria Oluwaseun, confirmed the pastor dragged his wife out, beating her without considering the pregnancy.

As of the time of this report, the pastor's mobile lines could not be reached as they were switched off.

Odunola has complained to the National Human Right Commission to seek justice over the matter.

She also alleged that her husband had denied her access to move her belongings from the house.

She added that her certificates and other valuables are still in the house.

She appealed to the state Ministry of Women Affairs to come to her aid as she could no longer cope with the pains and assault in her marriage.

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The ECOWAS court has delivered judgment in a suit filed by an aircraftwoman who was raped by her superior officer, Flight Lieutenant B. S. Vibelko, and dismissed from the Nigerian Air Force after she lodged a complaint.

The court awarded $200,000 (N90 million) to the applicant (name withheld) on Friday and mandated the Air Force to investigate and prosecute Vibelko for the rape of the victim.

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The applicant had accused one of her superiors, Vibelko, of drugging and raping her on May 17, 2011, sued him and the Air Force, Chief of Air Staff, and Attorney-General of the Federation for her unlawful dismissal.

Until her illegal dismissal in 2015, the court held that the applicant was an aircraftwoman in the Nigeria Air Force. She was enlisted into the Nigerian Air Force on August 15, 2010, with Service No NAF10/25157F. She had put in over five years of active and meritorious service before her persistent victimisation, culminating in her dismissal.

In a judgement delivered on Friday, Justice Dupe Atoki, who read the judgement, described the applicant's experience as "undeserving of a human being".

She held that "the brutal rape of the applicant is beastly, undeserving of a human being, and the failure of the Nigerian Air Force to investigate and punish its perpetrator is a show of impunity by the Air Force and the Nigerian authorities.

"The Nigerian Air Force and the Nigerian authorities are hereby ordered to arrest, investigate and prosecute the perpetrator... what amount of money is enough to compensate a teenager gruesomely raped by her superiors on her way to womanhood."

The court further ordered that her dismissal be converted to retirement with attendant benefits. The court ordered that the applicant be paid $200,000 (about N90 million) as compensation and a report of compliance be submitted by the Nigerian authorities within three months of being served notice of judgement.

The Applicant was represented by her counsel, Marshal Abubakar.

The applicant had narrated that she "was sexually assaulted and brutally raped and deflowered by her superior officer in the Nigerian Air force, one Flight Lieutenant B. S Vibelko".

Attached to the suit were medical reports confirming the rape and breach of virginity.

The Applicant in the suit further narrated that she made a frantic effort to resist the rape but the said Flight Lieutenant B.S. Vibelko overpowered her, hitting her head against the wall several times in the process, after which she eventually fainted while he had his way.

 The suit filed by her counsel further stated, "The Applicant avers that subsequent upon the fact deposed to above, on May 18, 2011, at about 12;00hrs. GMT, she woke up to find herself on admission at the accident and emergency ward in 345 Aeromedical Hospital Kaduna.

 "The Applicant further avers that as a result, her health suffered greatly, physically and in status and she contacted severe sexually transmitted infections which resulted into chronic pelvic inflammatory disease growing solid mass close to her uterus.

"The Applicant further avers that resulting from the foregoing; she suffered constant intermittent fainting, severe discharge, chronic lower abdominal pains, dizziness and swollen vulva.

"The Applicant further avers that her male superiors in the Nigeria Air force rather than investigate and mete out appropriate sanctions subjected her to unprecedented intimidation, victimisation and threat to her life.

"The Applicant avers that she was often locked up in the guardroom for no reason, placed on constant punishment duties constantly accused and put through various degrees of punishment, imprisonment with hard labour, often dragged on the ground and beaten to the point of comatose whilst nude with bruises all over her body.

"The Applicant avers that she received several death threats from several officers of the Nigerian Air Force who threatened to kill her for daring to expose an officer of the Nigerian Air Force for raping her.

"The Applicant further avers that a regimental entry was made into her file stating that she should never be promoted with her colleagues up until her unlawful dismissal, which was dutifully carried out. The Applicant avers that she sighted the said regimental entry in the Personnel Management Group (PMG), Sam Ethnan Base, Ikeja, Lagos."

According to her, from September 28, 2015, to October 1, 2015, she served various unjustifiable rifle punishment ordered by Squadron leader Ilori, the OC provost, "for daring to report the rape incident".

She said on October 1, 2015, she was diagnosed with severe high fever upon which she was required to report to the hospital but that Squadron Leader Ilori mandated her to stay on at the guard post. But she said shortly after, she suffered severe dehydration, fainted and had to be revived after a quick first aid treatment.

But as soon as she opened her eyes around 8 pm, she was ordered by her superiors to immediately go back to her duty post in line with the established military rule of 'obey before complaint', she said.

She narrated how she was also verbally and physically assaulted by one Flight Lieutenant, after which she was detained in a cell for ten days from October 1, 2015 - October 10, 2015, without food.

According to her, she was also later locked up by Squadron Leader Ejiga and was subjected to "severe beating, torture, degrading treatment" in the cell.

She also narrated how she regained consciousness in the hospital after one of the sessions of abuses she suffered, only to find that her hand had been cuffed to the hospital bed.

The applicant had medical reports and photographs of when she looked critically ill to support her claims before the court.

Among other things sought from the court, the applicant had asked for a declaration that the "dismissal of the Applicant as a soldier in the Nigerian Air Force by the Defendant without arraignment, prosecution and sentence by a duly constituted Court Martial is irregular, illegal, unlawful, null and void whatsoever as to the act of the Defendant herein constitute a violation of the Applicant's Fundamental Rights to fair hearing as stated in the provisions of SECTION 36 (1), (5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) Third Alteration Act, Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, Articles 8, 10, 11 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights".

 It sought an order of the court to compel the "Defendant, its agents, organs, servants, privies or by whatever name called to pay over to the Applicant her monthly salary and other allowances from the month such sum is last paid until the date judgment is enforced in this suit".

It also sought an order directing the "DefendantDefendant, their agents, organs, privies, servants or by whatever name called to pay over to the Applicant the sum of $10 000 000. 00 (about N4.5 billion) only as general damages for the physical, psychological and mental torture suffered by the Applicant due to the various human rights violations she was subjected to by the defendant.

"An order of this Honourable Court compelling the defendant, its agents, organs, servants, privies or by whatever name called to pay over to the Applicant the sum of $20, 000,000.00 (about N9 billion) only as aggravated and punitive damages that will serve as a deterrent to the defendant.

"An order of this Honourable Court directing the defendant to pay over to the Applicant the sum of $500 000.00 (about N225 million) only being the solicitor's fees and other incidental costs.

"An order of this Honourable Court directing the Defendant, its agents, organs, servants, privies or by whatever name called to immediately reinstate the Applicant to the rank her contemporaries in the Nigeria Air force currently occupies," the document stated.

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This marks the beginning of the end of the US's longest war, which has lasted almost 20 years.

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Some 32 of those killed in a stampede at a Jewish festival are identified, with funerals to follow.

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British troops have joined what is considered the world's most dangerous UN peacekeeping force in Mali.