The police in Kano State has announced the arrest of a dismissed military officer who had been training Boko Haram insurgents after a gun battle in Kano.

Kano State Police Commissioner, Rabiu Yusuf, told newsmen that the arrest followed by intelligence reports which his officers have been gathering about the movement of the Boko Haram members from Sambisa forest in Borno State.

He recalled that the exchange of fire occurred at about 2 am today, Sunday, at Gaya in Ungogo Local Government Area, adding that the dismissed army officer and other members of Boko Haram were among those who escaped from Sambisa forest in Borno from the military dislodged the sect.

He said that the dismissed military officer, who later escaped, had threw an improvised explosive device at the police and started to shoot before the police fought back.

“The police came under attack by the terrorists group at their location but were overpowered by the tactical task force. Three police officers sustained injuries and three of the Boko Haram gunned down.

” One of the three police officers injured during the battle has been discharged from the hospital after treatment.

“ A arrested suspects are 20 years old Abba Muhammad of Niger Republic, 22 years old Usman Buhari from Bornoand 46 years old Illiyasu Abdullahi from Kano .

” The two arrested women are Gezawa Yau and Ladidi Yunusa .”

Items recovered included an AK47 rifle, 49 rounds of ammunition, IEDs, two sets of Air Force uniforms, one military boot, one laptop, one iPad, and some pictures of the suspects wearing military uniform.

Meanwhile, 43 Boko Haram insurgents who recently surrendered to troops of Operation Lafiya Dole were today, Saturday, air lifted to join other surrendered insurgents in Gombe where they are to immediately commence a de-radicalization and rehabilitation programme under the auspices of Operation Safe Corridor.

Speaking while handing over the surrendered insurgents to Operation Safe Corridor, the Theatre Commander Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Ibrahim Attahiru gave assurance that the penitent insurgents will be given a new lease of life as they commence their journey back into the civil society through the de-radicalization and rehabilitation processes.

He advised them to embrace and undertake the programme whole heartedly to enable them benefit and positively reorient their views about life and the society in general.

It will be recalled that over 70 Boko Haram insurgents had earlier this month, surrendered to troops of Operation Lafiya Dole in the North East, thus, taking advantage of the window of grace provided by the Federal Government for insurgents who are willing to give up terrorism and turn a new leaf to surrender to any military location closest to them.

General Attahiru called on all other insurgents to abandon the futile struggle and reject the hypocrisy of the Boko Haram leadership who live in affluence, while their foot soldiers die in hunger.

[myad]

“I pray that Biafra and all those agitations will crumble in 2019. I am not PDP, APC or APGA. I am for every Nigerian. Nigerians will reject bad leaders in 2019.”

These were the words of the Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Samuel Uche, today, Sunday, at a Thanksgiving service in Ibekwe, Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

He said that those who are sponsoring the agitation for Biafra Republic are what he called ‘selfish politicians’ that are looking for power, swearing that the agitation for Biafra will crumble in 2019.

Uche warned that any politician who kills people in order to occupy certain positions will not enjoy that office.

“All these campaigns that the Igbo must leave a section of the country or that Biafra must be, they are all sponsored by politicians who are looking for political power.

“Any politician who sponsors people to kill others so that he or she can enter political office will never enjoy that office.”

[myad]

President Muhammadu Buhari was reported to have written off some Nigerians who have been telling all sort of stories about his health, as he formally met with some governors and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in his London resting home.
The story of the meeting was narrated today via a telephone conversation with one of those who visited the President, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State.
Okorocha said that the President was very cheerful and has not lost any bit of his sense of humour.
The governor said that the party delegation spent more than an hour with President Buhari over lunch, and that it was very clear from the discussions that he followed developments at home very closely.
Okorocha said that the President was delighted to receive the delegation and asked each governor about affairs in his state.
“He also asked the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, about the state of the railways.”
The Imo state governor said that the delegation asked Buhari to react to all the negative things being said about him, whereupon he “just laughed.”
The President described such negative reports as lies, and that the President was completely unperturbed by the cocktail of lies. “He, instead, sent his best wishes to Nigerians.”
The governor insisted that Nigerians should not worry at all about Buhari, adding: “President Buhari will be back as soon as the doctors give him the green light.
“By our visit to London today, the merchants of lies have been put out of business and Nigerians will not buy the garbage they have been selling. All those who look up to fake news can find better use for their time.”
In the entourage of those who visited the President were Governors Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State, Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State; Yahaya Bello of Kogi State and the APC National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun. [myad]

Late Head of State, General Sani Abacha’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), retired Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, has said that intelligent reports have proved that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu is being sponsored to distabilise Nigeria by politicians whose names would soon be made public.
Major Al-Mustapha, who spoke to news men in Abuja, said that exposure of the sponsors would be made soon by the security agencies.
“My understanding is that certain people are investing in these problems to promote themselves, but very soon the government would realize it.
“But our security agencies are doing a lot to identify them. Any call to divide Nigeria is unacceptable. I have been playing a role to ensure a united Nigeria. I have been criss-crossing the North and the South-East, and to all parties concerned, soliciting for peace.
“I was recently in Owerri to sign a peace accord with some associations and the North.
“If Arewa youths had addressed IPOB as a group or their leader Nnamdi Kanu as an individual, it would have been a fair- deal, but asking millions of Igbo that reside in the North to quit is not acceptable by law and the provisions of our Constitution.
“We have spoken to the Northern Leaders Forum as well as Ralph Uwazuruike because Nnamdi Kanu was his boy, he brought him up to be in the Radio House in London.
“The people creating tension in Nigeria are behind Kanu. What he is doing may not necessarily be to create tension but those behind him are investing in the tension to divide us as a nation.” [myad]

The leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has declared that the capital of the proposed Biafra republic will be in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Kanu who spoke when he visited Obigbo in Rivers State was quoted as saying: “ anybody saying that Rivers State is not part of Biafra is a Judas, and that person will be treated like Judas in the Bible.”

He stressed that it is misleading for people to say that Rivers State is not part of Biafra and that Igbos want to Include Rivers people to Biafra because of their Oil, saying that the oil belongs to all those in the South South and South East. [myad]

The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shiite has sent a word of warning to the Federal Government not to trespass on the land it legitimately acquired in Zaria.

In a statement by the President, media forum of the group, Ibrahim Musa, the Shiite stressed:” the federal government has no right to start developing a property that does not belong to it. This is a trespass of the highest order.”

In the statement, Ibrahim Musa said that yesterday, Friday, soldiers of the Nigerian Army were spotted giving cover to labourers that were hired by the government to fence the plot where the group’s Hussainiyyah Islamic center stood with a view to destructing it by the Military.

He said that though, the Kaduna State Urban Planning & Development Agency (KASUPDA) and its officials have claimed ignorance of the development at the site when contacted but that the action is being taken by the federal government under the direct supervision of the military, “who have harboured a secret desire to usurp the property for so long.

“We will like to draw the attention of the public and the international community to the fact that the land housing our Islamic centre, Husainiyyah Baqiyyatullah, was legitimately acquired from those who held title to the property. We have all the necessary duly certified documents and papers to that effect. Although it was unjustifiably vandalized by the unholy alliance of the military and the Kaduna state government under the tutelage of Elrufai, the plot remains ours.

“It is also noteworthy that the destruction of the Husainiyyah complex is part of a current legal tussle before federal courts in Kaduna. Furthermore, the site is a crime site, where extrajudicial murder of hundreds of citizens by the government took place. It is morally wrong for the government to therefore tamper with evidence.

[myad]