VICE Principal of Dugja Bayan Tasha Junior Secondary School in Biu Local Government Area of Borno State, his wife and three children have been killed in a fire outbreak in their home. Details are still sketchy on the cause of the fire which occurred on Sunday, but neighbours narrated how the deceased family struggled to escape from the raging fire to no avail. One of the sources said the inferno ignited in the living room, blocking all avenues of the family to access the exit door. “We suspect it was caused by an electric spark in the living room, which…
Author: AbdulRahman Tahir, Maiduguri
Read More
TWO days after the killing of 20 fishermen in the Gadan Gari fishing community of Bama Local Government Area, Borno State, on Wednesday, another attack by armed terrorists, suspected to be Boko Haram/ISWAP, has reportedly claimed the lives of a military commander, two senior officers, and 17 soldiers at a military base in Malam-Fatori, the headquarters of Abadam Local Government Area. Bama is located in Borno Central, while Malam-Fatori, in the northern part of the state, lies near the border with the Republic of Niger. A similar incident occurred a few weeks ago when terrorists invaded a military base in…
THE Chief Of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa on Friday debunked claims that the military was involved in forceful abortions of babies fathered by Boko Haram insurgents in Northern Nigeria. A Reuters report in February 2022 stated that the military ran a secret abortion programme in its fight against armed groups in the northeast, adding that the military abortion programme involved terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls. However, General Musa, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today monitored by News Point Nigeria, slammed the allegations, indicating that they were machinations of NGOs who don’t wish…
THE Minister of State for Defense, UK, Lord Vernon Coaker, has said that terrorism cannot win, as it undermines the rule of law, international treaties, and borders across the globe. According to him, Nigeria and the United Kingdom should continue to stand together as strongly as they have done now and in the past. Coaker made the declaration yesterday (Wednesday) when he visited the Theatre Commander, Joint Task Force, Northeast, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), Maj-Gen. Waidi Shaibu, at the Maimalari Cantonment, Maiduguri, Borno State. He said the British government regarded Nigeria as extremely important in terms of alliances and friendship,…
THE Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Abdullahi Baba-Arah, has provided an update on the tragic tanker explosion that occurred in Diko, Niger State. As of 12pm on January 20, 2025, the death toll has risen to 98, while 69 people have been injured. The explosion also left 20 shops completely burnt, causing significant losses to business owners in the area. In a statement issued by Baba-Arah, he described the incident as a catastrophic tragedy that has thrown the state into mourning. He confirmed that rescue operations are ongoing, with emergency responders working tirelessly to ensure…
THE Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has commiserated with families of the victims of the tanker explosion along the Dikko/Kaduna Road, in Niger State but called for stricter enforcement of safety measures. Seventy-seven persons died and scores were injured during the incident that has thrown the country into mourning. In a statement, the chairman of the Forum, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, extended the heartfelt condolences of the NGF to the government and people of Niger State, as well as families who have suffered the unimaginable loss of their loved ones. “This heartbreaking incident has cast a shadow of grief across the entire…
IN a devastating incident, seventy-seven lives were lost in a tanker explosion at Dikko Junction, Niger State. News Point Nigeria reports that the tragic event, which occurred on Saturday, has plunged the community into mourning and raised concerns about safety measures in the area. The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Abdullahi Baba-Arah, confirmed the death toll to this newspaper through a telephone conversation. According to Baba-Arah, 25 injured victims were rushed to various hospitals in Suleja, Wuse, and nearby health facilities for urgent medical attention. Following the incident, the Niger State Government directed that no…
UNSPECIFIED numbers of Nigerian military personnel have been missing in a recent ambush by Boko Haram terrorists in Baga, at the fringes of the Lake Chad. Personnel of the armed forces, who spoke to News Point Nigeria on condition of anonymity, said soldiers were ambushed while trying to recover dead bodies of 40 residents killed by the insurgents and several soldiers were shot dead in the gun battle that ensued. “Our troops went in search of dead bodies of civilians killed by the terrorists, we went too far in search of them and the terrorists played ambush on us. A…
OPERATIONS Hadin Kai, the Joint Task Force of the military in the North East has banned the use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), popularly known as drones in the region. Air Component Commander, Air Commodore U U. Idris, who gave the directive in a signal sighted by this newspaper said the use of drones without permission amidst poses threats in the Borno, Yobe and Adamawa,(BAY) states. He decried that governments agencies and private individuals operates the drones without consent of the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai. The statement, “The proliferation of drones for domestic and commercial purposes has led…
BOKO Haram terrorists have attacked the community in Borno State and killed two persons while also razing down a church. The village is called Bamzir village under Whuntaku District, Chibok Local Government Area. In a statement, the media team of the local government chairman of Chibok LGA Mustapha Madu said the terrorists attacked around 2:10 am Sunday and set many houses ablaze resulting in the death of two blood brothers identified as Josiah Pogu Pudza, a student of SS Two, and Enoch Pogu Pudza while one Esther Yohanna sustained a bullet injury. The statement noted that the terrorists carted away…
VICE-PRESIDENT Kashim Shettima has described the soldiers who lost their lives repelling the terrorist attack in Damboa, Borno, as eternal heroes whose sacrifices would never be in vain. In a statement by his spokesperson, Stanley Nkwocha, on Friday in Abuja, Shettima reaffirmed deep sorrow and firm solidarity with families of the heroic soldiers. He noted that the military recorded a decisive victory in Nigeria’s ongoing counter-terrorism efforts but regretted that the price of freedom is eternally steep. ”It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that I received news of our brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice defending…
TWO police officers have been killed as Boko Haram terrorists attacked a police station in Gajiram with, Nganzai Local Government Area of Borno State with bombs. One other police officer was critically injured as the terrorists exchanged fire with police on duty at the station before they were eventually overpowered and repelled with the assistance of the civilian joint taskforce who are stationed near the police station. According to a security source, the Boko Haram terrorists attacked around 11pm on Wednesday. The source said no facility or security equipment was affected in the attack. However, a police statement which confirmed…
TERRORISTS linked to the Islamic State group have reportedly killed six soldiers in a raid on a military base in northeastern Nigeria, according to news agency AFP. AFP quoted two military officers, saying that the fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) reportedly launched a pre-dawn attack in trucks and on motorcycles on Sunday on the base in Sabon Gari in Borno State’s Damboa district. The insurgents reportedly set fire to the base along with army vehicles. “We lost six soldiers in the ISWAP terrorists attack on the base after an intense gun battle,” AFP quoted one of the…
BORNO State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, has announced that the state government will subsidise the cost of petrol to farmers in communities affected by Boko Haram insurgency. Zulum announced the subsidy on Friday evening in Bama town when he flagged off the distribution of farm inputs to over 5,000 farmers hitherto displaced by Boko Haram insurgents. According to the governor, a litre of petrol sold between N1,000 and N1,200 in Maiduguri will be subsidised to the farmers for N600. This is aimed at alleviating the financial burdens faced by farmers in communities that have suffered economic and infrastructural destruction due…
POLICE authorities in Borno State have recovered three projectile missiles in Borno State, averting a very big explosion. The spokesman of the Borno Police Command Nahum Daso said the projectiles were recovered in the Dala Kafanti Area of Maiduguri, the capital of the state. “On 2nd January 2025, at about 0925HRS, following a report received from one Asabe James of Dala Kafanti Area Maiduguri – Borno State reported to the command that she sighted a suspicious sack containing unidentified items behind her house, on receipt of the information, the Command EOD-CBRN Base 13 Maiduguri, swiftly moved to the scene, cordoned…
BORNO State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has received the final report from the flood relief disbursement committee with about N18.08 billion distributed to over 101,330 families. Providing details on the fund’s disbursement to the Governor at the council chamber of the Government House in Maiduguri on Monday, the Chairman of the committee, Engr Baba Bukar Gujibawu, revealed that ₦18.08 billion was distributed in cash to the displaced households alongside food and non-food items. Contributions totalling ₦4.3 billion from UNHCR, WFP, FAO, UNDP and other partners were instrumental in addressing immediate needs. Gujibawu emphasised that over one million people were affected by…
THE Federal Government has spent about N1.4bn for the rehabilitation of repentant terrorists and the establishment of centres for terrorism trials in the last one year and six months. The Federal Government established the National Counter-Terrorism Centre following former President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent to the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill on May 12, 2022. In December 2022, the government announced its decision to establish two disarmament, deradicalisation, rehabilitation, and reintegration centres for repentant members of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the country. The Coordinator of the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Rear Admiral Yem Musa (retd.), disclosed to the…
TWO students of the Borno State University were on Wednesday killed in an accident involving a school bus and a trailer. Three other students were critically injured while fifteen others are receiving medical attention. The Borno State University school bus was carrying thirty students when a travelling trailer ramped into the bus instantly killing the two students, leaving three others critically injured while ten of them were unhurt. A statement by the university’s spokesman Umar Garkuwa stated that the students were rushed to Umaru Shehu Hospital and the UMTH where they are currently receiving treatment. Garkuwa said that the University’s…
THE Aliko Dangote-led Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR) has delivered emergency relief materials valued at N1Billion to the Government of Borno State for onward distribution to persons affected by the 2024 flood in the State. During the handover ceremony held yesterday in Maiduguri, the Secretary of the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation, Mrs. Hajara Modu, said the committee was committed to supporting flood-affected communities. Representing the co-chairmen, Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, the Secretary said that the distribution of food and non-food items fulfills the pledge made by the committee at the height…
TWO persons have been killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion in a two-hundred housing estate under construction in Dalwa, Borno State. Available information indicated that the explosion happened around 1pm on Wednesday about the time the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum; and his Yobe counterpart, Mai Mala Buni, were commissioning housing estates in Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital. A source told News Point Nigeria that a similar incident occurred on Tuesday but there are no details for the Tuesday explosion. Dalwa is 175 kilometres from Maiduguri and is one of the many communities destroyed and displaced by the…