NIGERIA is facing its worst hunger crisis in nearly a decade as deep cuts in humanitarian assistance push vulnerable communities in the country’s conflict-ravaged northeast to the brink, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. In a statement sent to News Point Nigeria on Friday, the UN agency said thousands of people in northeastern Nigeria are now at risk of catastrophic food shortages for the first time in almost ten years, with Borno State emerging as one of the most severely affected areas. According to the WFP, about 15,000 people in Borno alone are facing an extreme risk…
Author: AbdulRahman Tahir, Maiduguri
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THE University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) has firmly denied claims circulating on social media that some of its students were arrested for allegedly collaborating with Boko Haram insurgents, describing the report as false, baseless, and deliberately misleading. The clarification was contained in an official statement sent to News Point Nigeria on Tuesday by the Registrar of the University, Ahmad Lawan, following the circulation of a viral video that sparked public concern and anxiety, particularly in the North-East. Lawan stated unequivocally that no student of the University of Maiduguri has been found to have any connection with Boko Haram or any other…
A FORMER Chairman of Biu Local Government Area of Borno State, Mr Hassan Biu Miringa, has issued a distress appeal from captivity, revealing that his abductors are demanding a ransom of $300,000 for his release and that of another captive. News Point Nigeria reports that Miringa, who served as chairman of the local government between 2020 and 2022, was abducted in December 2025 alongside two councillors representing Zarawuyaku and Miringa wards. The abduction reportedly occurred along the Kamuya–Buni Yadi Road, a notorious route linking parts of Borno and Yobe states. The victims were said to be travelling in a Hisbah…
AT least nine soldiers are feared dead following the detonation of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) along the Maiduguri–Gubio highway in Borno State, in what security sources described as a targeted attack by Boko Haram insurgents. News Point Nigeria reports that the explosion occurred on Sunday evening along the 85-kilometre Maiduguri–Gubio road, a critical military and civilian route in northern Borno. The affected troops were reportedly travelling from Maiduguri through Gubio town on their way to conduct an operation in the Sasawa Forest, located in neighbouring Yobe State. Confirming the incident to News Point Nigeria on Monday in Maiduguri, military and…
THE Nigerian military has identified Shariff Umar, also known as Yusuf, as the suspected principal coordinator of a suicide bombing network linked to recent deadly attacks in the North-East, including the December 24 bombing at the Gamboru Market Mosque in Maiduguri. News Point Nigeria reports that the identification followed a series of intelligence-led operations carried out by troops of the Joint Task Force North East, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), which led to the arrest of multiple suspects believed to be connected to suicide bombing activities. The breakthrough came after cordon-and-search operations conducted in the Kalmari area of Maiduguri on December…
TROOPS of Operation Hadin Kai have intercepted materials intended for the manufacturing of Improvised Explosive Devices and arrested a suspected suicide bomber, identified as Abubakar Mustapha, in Borno State. The Media Information Officer of the Joint Task Force, Northeast Operation Hadin Kai, Lt Col Sani Uba, disclosed this in a statement sent to News Point Nigeria on Tuesday. According to him, the suspect was arrested on Monday by troops of 152 Task Force Battalion in collaboration with other security agencies in the Bama local government area of the state. The statement reads, “The Joint Task Force North East (JTF NE),…
VICE President Kashim Shettima has condemned in strong terms the bomb explosion that claimed about two lives and left several others injured at a Mosque in Gamboru Market, Maiduguri, Borno State, describing the attack as a despicable assault on innocent citizens and the peace of the nation. In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha sent to News Point Nigeria, the Vice President condemned the attack. Shettima assured that the Federal Government is deploying additional tactical teams to the area to track down and apprehend those responsible for the terror attack. According to him,…
SUSPECTED Boko Haram insurgents have detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) at a Juma’at Mosque in Gamboru Ward, around the Customs area in the heart of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. News Point Nigeria reports that the incident occurred at about 6:10 p.m. on Wednesday while Muslim worshippers were observing the Maghrib prayer. Although information on the incident remains sketchy, residents told Channels Television via telephone that many worshippers were either killed or injured. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP Nahum Daso, could not confirm the blast but said he was on his way to the scene…
THE Troops of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), in collaboration with local vigilante elements, have successfully disrupted a terrorist logistics operation and neutralized multiple insurgents during a well-coordinated long-range ambush as part of current kinetic operations conducted in the early hours of December 21, 2025. The Media Information Officer of the Joint Task Force, Lt. Col. Sani Uba, disclosed this in a statement sent to News Pont Nigeria on Sunday. He revealed the troops “acting on credible intelligence from own sources regarding the movement of logistics supplies by suspected JAS/ISWAP elements, troops of OPHK and members of the Civilian Joint Task…
TROOPS of the Joint Task Force, North East Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), have intercepted two pick-up vans suspected to be transporting logistics supplies to fighters of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in Borno State. The interception was carried out by troops of Sector 2 of Operation Hadin Kai, working in close coordination with members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), following actionable intelligence on the movement of terrorist logistics within the North-East. The Media Information Officer of OPHK, Lt. Colonel Sani Uba, disclosed this in a statement sent to News Point Nigeria on Friday, noting that the…
SUSPECTED Boko Haram insurgents have abducted the newly elected Vice Chairman of Biu Local Government Area and two councillors in Borno State, barely five days after they emerged victorious in the recently concluded local government council elections. News Point Nigeria gathered that the abduction occurred on Wednesday evening along the Kamuya–Buni Yadi road, a notorious stretch linking parts of Borno and Yobe states that has witnessed repeated attacks by insurgents and criminal elements. Sources close to the families of the victims identified the Vice Chairman as Alhaji Saidu, while the two councillors were said to be representing Zarawuyaku and Miringa…
OPERATIVES of the Borno state police command on Monday defused a big Unexploded Ordnance planted under a network mast at Chuskon, Federal Low Cost Area of Maiduguri. A statement by the Police Public Relations Officer of the command, ASP Nahum Daso obtained to News Point Nigeria, indicated that the EOD-CBRN base 13 team made the recovery following a report received by the Divisional Police Officer ITE Police Division. The statement reads in parts, “The Borno State Police Command, under the leadership of the CP Naziru Abdulmajid, has recorded another operational success with the recovery of an Unexploded Ordnance in 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…