by Oge Okonkwo

Boko Haram attacks Nigerian military base, 24 personnel feared killed

Gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram have attacked a security base in Buni Yadi, the headquarters of Gujba Local Government Area killing 24 officials.

According to residents of the area, The victims include 13 soldiers and 11 police officers, the residents said.

The attack occurred on Tuesday evening, a few minutes after 5.00 p.m. Read more.…

Fashola pleads for release of Chibok girls

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Tuesday urged the Boko Haram insurgents to release over 200 Chibok schoolgirls abducted since 14 April.

Fashola made the plea while speaking during the state’s 2014 Children’s Day celebration in Ikeja.

The governor said it was unfair for the group to continue to hold the girls captive for the agitation they knew nothing about and the demands which they could not meet. Read more….

Resident doctors to begin 3-day warning strike on June 2

The National Association of Resident Doctors(NARD) on Tuesday threatened to begin a three-day warning strike from June 2, if the Federal Government fails to resolve issues affecting its members.

The National President, Dr Jibril Abdullahi, said at a news conference in Abuja after its ordinary general meeting that some of the main issues were residency training and re-integration of its members into the IPPIS. Read more….

CONFAB says churches, mosques now to pay tax 

Delegates at the on- going National Conference  Tuesday voted that henceforth, Churches and Mosques will be paying tax to the federal government, just as they also agreed that Federal and state governments should no longer fund Christian and Muslim pilgrimages to the Holy  lands.

These were part of the resolutions reached yesterday during discussions of report of Religion Committee.

The decision to make religious bodies pay taxes came up when a delegate representing Civil Organisations, Mallam Naseer Kura during his contribution on the report had raised it that religious leaders were making much money and should be taxed. Read more….

Gov. Kwankwaso visits embattled Gov. Nyako; holds meeting with 12 Adamawa lawmakers

Governors of Kano and Adamawa state, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Murtala Nyako, the speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, Ahmadu Usman and 12 lawmakers were alleged to have gathered together for a meeting at the residential Lodge, Government House Yola.

However the group did not disclose what went down during the meeting. Gov. Nyako, and Speaker Usman who were the last people  seen leaving the lodge refused to talk to reporters.

When Kwankwaso was asked a question by the reporters, he said to them: “Do I need a visa to visit Adamawa and see my elder brother? If you say I came to discuss with him some perceived problems; let me tell you that there are no problems. I was not sent by the northern governors to mediate between the House of Assembly and the governor because there is no problem between them.”

The Kano gov. however praised Nyako for the skills acquisition programmes in Adamawa State.

It was gathered that the meeting was called because of the stony relationship between the House and the governor with reports that the assembly plans to impeach Nyako.

There has been a recent decamping  of lawmakers from the APC to the PDP in Adamawa making the Adamawa assembly a total PDP controlled assembly.

Political pundits said the meeting was called because of the frosty relationship between the House and the governor with reports that the assembly plans to impeach Nyako. Recently several lawmakers decamped from the APC to the PDP in Adamawa making the Adamawa assembly a total PDP controlled assembly.

Lagos to abolish charges on telecom operators 

The Lagos State Government on Tuesday expressed its readiness to abolish arbitrary charges on telecommunication operators in the state.

This was disclosed by the Commissioner for Science and Technology, Adebiyi Mabadeje, at the just-concluded Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Eight Annual Business Law Conference in Lagos.

Mabadeje said this at the conference themed “Exemplary Governance: Enhancing Economic Development in Nigeria”. Read more….

Cameroon deploys 1,000 soldiers to border to help Nigeria fight Boko Haram

Cameroon has deployed about 1,000 of its troops, and dozens of armoured vehicles to its border with Nigeria, as a way of helping to stem activities of the Boko Haram Islamist sect around north-eastern Nigeria.

According to spokesman of the Cameroonian Ministry of Defence, Lieutenant Colonel Didier Badjeck, the troops “will help to carry out reconnaissance, and be ready to respond with enough fire power.”

Nigeria’s leaky borders with its neighbouring countries has always been identified as one of its major weaknesses in combating terrorism, as the Boko Haram’s foot soldiers have previously launched attacks, only to flee into Cameroon for cover. Read more….