Author: AbdulRahman Tahir, Maiduguri

THE Nigerian Army has successfully rescued 12 teenage girls abducted by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists in Mussa District of Askira/Uba Local Government Area, Borno State. The victims as earlier reported by Vanguard last week, aged between 15 and 20, were kidnapped on 23 November while harvesting crops on their family farmlands and were freed on Saturday, 29 November, following a swift, intelligence-led operation by troops of Operation HADIN KAI in the southern Borno axis. According to a statement posted by Army Headquarters on its verified Facebook platform sighted by News Point Nigeria Sunday morning said, “the rescued girls have been evacuated…

THIRTEEN female teenagers were abducted by fighters of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in a fresh attack on farming communities in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State. News Point Nigeria reports that the incident occurred in Mussa district, where the teenagers were working on farmlands before they were rounded up and taken away by the insurgents. The Deputy Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Abdullahi Askira, confirmed the abductions on Sunday. Askira, who represents Askira-Uba Constituency, said the victims were between 15 and 20 years old and had gone to harvest crops when…

GOVERNOR Babagana Zulum of Borno State has declared fasting and prayer over the festering insecurity in the North-Eastern state. News Point Nigeria reports that Zulum made the declaration during a statewide broadcast on Saturday, saying the move is to seek God’s guidance amid the rising spate of insecurity in the state. “As a people of faith, we believe our security strategies must be underpinned by prayer. I, hereby declare Monday, 24th November, 2025, as a Statewide Day of Fasting and Prayer for the restoration of peace in Borno State and the country,” governor Zulum said. “On this day, I call…

BORNO State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has passionately appealed to the Nigerian Armed Forces to launch an urgent, full-scale offensive against terrorist strongholds in the Tumbus Islands of Lake Chad, the Mandara Hills, and the Sambisa Forest, declaring that such action is necessary to ‘end their madness.’ News Point Nigeria reports that Governor Zulum made the call on Tuesday during a meeting with the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, who paid a working visit to Maiduguri as part of ongoing assessments of counterterrorism operations in the North-East. Speaking with visible frustration over persistent terror attacks originating…

JUST hours after the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, departed Borno State, fighters of the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) launched a deadly attack on Mayenti town in Bama Local Government Area, killing at least eight civilians while several soldiers were reported missing. The brazen assault, which occurred Monday evening, has once again underscored the fragile security situation in the region despite intensified military operations. Security sources told News Point Nigeria that troops of Operation Hadin Kai engaged the insurgents in a fierce gun battle after the attackers stormed the community on multiple motorcycles…

TROOPS of the Joint Task Force (JTF), North East Operation Hadin Kai, have rescued 74 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) from a possible abduction by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists along the Buratai–Kamuya Road in Borno State. The Media Information Officer of the Task Force, Sani Uba, stated this in a statement on Thursday. “The corps members, 36 males and 38 females, were rescued at about 9:05 p.m. on Tuesday after their vehicles broke down near a known kidnapping hotspot,” Uba said. According to him, a military patrol team was swiftly deployed to the scene after a closed-circuit television…

FORMER Borno State Governor and ex–National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, has debunked a viral publication alleging that he accused Vice President Kashim Shettima of creating the Boko Haram insurgent group. The widely circulated article, bearing the headline “It’s Not Me, It’s Shettima Who Created Boko Haram – Sheriff Reveals”, claimed that the former governor made damaging comments linking Shettima to the genesis of the deadly extremist organization. But in a statement sent to News Point Nigeria, Sheriff dismissed the report as “false, malicious, and a deliberate attempt to mislead Nigerians and destroy his…

A MAJOR Boko Haram assault on Malam Fatori, the headquarters of Abadam Local Government Area in Borno State, was on Tuesday repelled by Nigerian troops backed by Nigerien forces and air support, leaving at least six terrorists dead while several others fled with injuries. News Point Nigeria reports that the coordinated pre-dawn attack, which occurred around 4:30am, targeted the Forward Operating Base (FOB) in the area. Security and military sources said the insurgents deployed armed drones, mortars and heavy weapons in an effort to breach the defence perimeter. A senior military source confirmed to News Point Nigeria that the terrorists…

BORNO State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has expressed shock over the use of drones by Boko Haram terrorists to attack soldiers, saying that despite well-circulated intelligence that the Mafa area of the state would be attacked, troops could not prevent it from happening. News Point Nigeria reports that Zulum disclosed this on Friday in Mafa town when he paid a post-assessment visit to areas attacked by Boko Haram in the early hours of Thursday. The governor, while briefing newsmen, expressed his grave concern over the emergence of this new threat, stating that the successful use of a drone by the terrorists…

PASSENGERS at the Maiduguri International Airport on Monday witnessed unexpected drama after a Max Air pilot allegedly refused to operate a scheduled flight due to unresolved financial disputes with the airline’s management. The incident, which left more than 100 passengers stranded for hours, threw the terminal into confusion as anxious travellers demanded explanations from airline officials. According to eyewitnesses who spoke to News Point Nigeria, the passengers had already boarded the aircraft and were preparing for departure when the pilot reportedly declined to proceed, citing unpaid entitlements and unsettled debts owed by the airline to its flight crew. An eyewitness,…

HUNDREDS of travellers were left stranded for hours on Friday morning along the Maiduguri–Damaturu Highway, following a late-night Boko Haram attack on a military base near Ngamdu, a strategic town less than 50 kilometres from Damaturu, the Yobe State capital. News Point Nigeria reports that the incident, which occurred late Thursday night, forced the Nigerian military to temporarily shut down the busy highway, a crucial link between Borno and Yobe states and one of the most vital economic and humanitarian corridors in the insurgency-ravaged North-East. Eyewitnesses and motorists told News Point Nigeria that the attack led to heavy gunfire and…

BORNO State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has directed an immediate investigation into allegations that some Muslim women were harassed for wearing the hijab in certain hospitals within Maiduguri, the state capital. The directive follows a recent statement issued by the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), claiming that several Muslim women seeking medical care in some public health facilities were subjected to harassment and discrimination on account of their hijab. Reacting to the report on Thursday, Governor Zulum expressed deep concern, noting that his administration had not previously received any official complaint on the matter. However, he emphasized that the allegations…

THE United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that Nigeria lost an estimated $10 billion to the prolonged armed conflict in the country’s North-East region over the last decade. News Point Nigeria reports that UNICEF’s Country Representative, Wafaa Saeed, made the disclosure on Wednesday in Maiduguri, Borno State, during the formal launch of a socio-economic reintegration programme for children affected by armed conflict. Represented by UNICEF’s Child Protection Manager, Shah Mohammad Khan, Saeed said the prolonged insurgency had not only crippled the region’s economy but also undermined the income and earning potential of millions of families and young people. “According…

THE Maiduguri community was thrown into grief on Tuesday following the discovery of the lifeless body of a young hawker, believed to be about 12 years old, in the Gamboru River, located in the Customs area of the city. Residents told News Point Nigeria that the child was first spotted floating along the riverbank before being pulled out by community members, who then alerted the authorities. Incidents of drowning are sadly not uncommon in Maiduguri and across Borno State, particularly during the rainy season when rivers and canals swell beyond their banks. Many vulnerable children, especially Almajiri pupils and young…

IN a landmark ruling aimed at cleaning up Nigeria’s military ranks, a Special Court-Martial of the Nigerian Army sitting in Maiduguri has convicted and sentenced four soldiers for their roles in a dangerous arms trafficking syndicate that supplied weapons and ammunition to terrorists and criminal groups. News Point Nigeria reports that the judgment, delivered on Monday at the Officers’ Mess of the Theatre Command Headquarters, Operation Hadin Kai, sent a stern message to security personnel aiding the enemy. Brigadier General Mohammed Abdullahi, who presided over the court-martial under the chairmanship of Brigadier General Ugochukwu Unachukwu, Acting General Officer Commanding 7…

FOUR months after the government evacuated more than 22,000 people and dismantled its water supply, Muna displaced persons camp on the outskirts of Maiduguri is now a shadow of its former self, a silent, skeletal relic of war on Boko Haram. But Maryam Suleiman, a 50-year-old widow, has refused to leave. Suleiman and her 12 children continue to sleep beneath rusting, leaking roofs as the walls of the camp slowly crumble around them. “They gave us options to stay or return home,” she says, standing in what remains of the camp that has sheltered her family for a decade. “But…

TROOPS have recorded a major battlefield success in the fight against insurgency, killing three top ISWAP commanders and eight of their fighters during a failed ambush along the Baga–Cross Kauwa supply route in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State. The slain commanders were identified as Modu Dogo Munzir of Dogon Chukun, an unidentified Munzir, and Abu Aisha, the Qaid of Tumbun Mota. The encounter occurred on Monday, September 15, 2025, around 8:00 a.m. when terrorists attempted to spring a deadly ambush on troops of Sector 3 of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) using a Command Improvised Explosive Device (IED). According…

GOVERNOR Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State has confirmed that 63 people, including five soldiers and 58 civilians, were killed in a fresh Boko Haram attack on Darajamal, a community in Bama Local Government Area. News Point Nigeria reports that the attack, which occurred on Friday night, marks one of the deadliest incidents in recent months as the insurgency continues to ravage communities in Nigeria’s northeast. Governor Zulum, visibly shaken, visited the community on Saturday to condole with grieving families and meet with local leaders. “We are here to commiserate with the people of Darajamal over what happened last night…

BORNO State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has approved the provision of free daily meals and ₦300,000 incentives for pupils and their parents to tackle low school enrollment in northern Borno. News Point Nigeria reports that Zulum announced the measures on Friday in Gajiganna town, where he also inaugurated the Higher Islamic College, designed to blend the traditional Almajiri education system (Sangaya) with formal learning. “We must establish deliberate measures to promote education in northern Borno. In this town with a total population of about 50,000 people, only 90 students were enrolled in a secondary school. It is imperative to ensure that…

AT least five farmers were brutally murdered by suspected Boko Haram terrorists in Gwoza local government area of southern part of Borno State on Saturday. News Point Nigeria gathered that the terrorists attacked farmers while working on their farms near the remote village of Ngoshe in Gwoza LGA of the state. According to a local who spoke to this newspaper the five farmers were found in the pool of blood as their attackers slit their throats. “Five precious lives were cut short, continued,: A dark cloud has once again fallen on Ngoshe community in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno…