Author: Sani Nura

BANDITS dressed in a ‘Hijab’ otherwise known as Abaya have kidnapped 26 persons mostly women and children in an attack on the Runka community of Safana Local Government Area, Katsina State. Runka community is just a few kilometres away to the dreaded Rugu Forest which has over the years been harbouring criminals. A source in the community told Channels Television in a telephone call on Monday that the hoodlums invaded the area on Saturday night at about 10:00 p.m. He said the assailants shot sporadically in several places around the community. He claimed that the attack was a result of…

A FEDERAL High Court sitting in Kaduna State has adjourned to July 17th to hear the case filed by the former governor of the state, Nasir El-Rufai, against the State House of Assembly and the Attorney General of the State. El-Rufai is challenging the House committee’s report which accused him of corruption. At the commencement of the hearing of the case on Monday, counsel to the first respondent, the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Sani Katu, SAN, informed the court that they are in the process of filing a notice of preliminary objection, challenging the court’s jurisdiction to hear the…

GOMBE State Governor,  Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, CON is set to receive a distinguished award for excellence in governance. The award will be presented to the Governor by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR during the 2024 Nigeria Excellence Awards in Public Service (NEAPS) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja tomorrow, Saturday, 6th July, 2024. Inuwa Yahaya will be honoured as the best performing Governor in Governance, Health Sector, in recognition of his significant contributions to healthcare development in the state. He was nominated for this prestigious award by the Presidency through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the…

THE Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumini Usman, on Tuesday, led residents to perform rain-seeking prayers widely attended by the residents in their numbers. The prayers held at about 8:00 am at the Eid Prayer Ground Mosque, were led by the Chief Imam of the Katsina Central mosque, Imam Gambo Mustapha. Participants attending the prayers called for the intensification of such prayers by the residents, to ensure a bumper harvest, for the ease of economic hardship, and a decrease in food prices, including the resolving of insecurity currently bedevilling the state. One of the participants of the prayer, Malam Abdurrahman Bature,…

BANDITS have killed a lecturer with the Federal University Dutsinma (FUDMA) in Katsina State. Dr. Tiri Gyan David was killed in a fresh bandits attack in the early hours of Tuesday. The lecturer was the Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension, and Rural Development at the university. An eyewitness told News Point Nigeria on a telephone call that the incident occurred at about 1:30 am at the lecturer’s residence in the Yarima Quarters, Low-Cost Estate, Dutsinma Local Government Area of Katsina State. He added that the bandits invaded the community with sophisticated weapons, shooting sporadically to scare the…

VICE President Kashim Shettima on Monday visited victims of Saturday’s suicide bombings in Gwoza, Borno State. During the visit, Shettima made personal donations to the surviving victims while he condoled the families of dead victims. Eighteen persons were reported killed when four suicide bombers set off improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Gwoza on Saturday. A handful of injuries were also reported in the attack which was one of the deadliest reported in the state in recent months. The degree of injuries ranged from abdominal ruptures to skull and limb fractures. On Monday, Shettima disclosed that the death toll from the…

THE Katsina State Government has issued a query to the Emirate Council over the absence of some District Heads at the 2024 Eid-el-Kabeer Sallah Durbar held on June 16 and 17, 2024. The query was contained in a letter signed by the Director of Administration and Supply in the Governor’s Office, Government House Katsina, Rabiu Jibia, which directed the Emirate Council to provide reasons for the non-participation of some district heads in the celebration. Dated June 27, the letter referenced a previous letter from the Emirate Council dated June 7, 2024, and requested a prompt response. In his reaction when…

MANY people including a soldier and some wedding guests have been killed, and several others injured on Saturday, when four suicide bombers launched attacks at different spots in Gwoza and Pulka towns, all in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State. Gwoza is located 128 kilometres, in the southern part of Maiduguri, the state capital. The suicide attacks were launched on the same day when a man committed suicide in Anambra State, while a woman climbed the rail of a bridge, jumped and killed herself in Delta State. In Gwoza, it was learnt that the first suicide incident was at…

SIX persons have been killed as two suicide bombers detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) at a wedding venue in Gwoza town, Borno State. According to a survivor, the first bomber was a nursing mother carrying a baby on her back when she stormed the venue and detonated the IED. The wedding was held on Saturday at Tashan Mararaba near the Fire Service in Gwoza town. The bomber identified as a young mother in her twenties pretended to be a guest at the wedding. While trying to bury the dead persons, another bomber disguised as a mourner detonated an IED…

RESIDENTS of Magami community under Gusau Local Government of Zamfara State, have been thrown into a state of despair and confusion over an offer by a notorious bandits kingpin, Dogo Gide, to protect them. Our correspondent gathered that Gide had taken an unusual stance by offering protection to residents and farmers in community, urging them to go into their farmlands without fear of being kidnapped. His offer has since sparked a mix of reactions among the residents of the area and the surrounding communities. Gide was said to have relocated to Kizara village, a community around of Magami, and assumed…

HAJIYA Halima Adamu, mother of the famous Hausa Singer Dauda Adamu, popularly known as Rarara, has been abducted, this newspaper can report. She was abducted at her residence in Kahutu village, Danja local government area of Katsina State, according to a source in Kahutu village. According to the source, the bandits stormed the village around 1am Friday and abducted the aged woman. “The bandits came on foot and silently because they did not fire a single shot during the operation that lasted for just a few minutes. The woman did not resist when the bandits requested her to go along…

THE Incidence Manager and Director of Epidemiology at the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Kabir Suleiman at a press conference held on Wednesday, revealed that the state has recorded 118 suspected cases of Cholera. He also said it is fully prepared to prevent its spread and other vaccine-preventable outbreaks in the state. According to the agency, it has also activated its Incidence Management System as part of measures taken by the state government, to ensure that the Cholera outbreak is being managed. He announced that the state government has embarked on building about 102 health facilities across the LGAs,…

THE Sokoto State House of Assembly has passed the Sokoto Emirate Council Amendment Bill through the first and second readings. The amendment bill, if passed into law, will strip the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, of powers to appoint the kingmakers and to appoint district heads without government approval, among other things. This development comes a day after the Muslim Rights Concern raised concerns about an alleged plan by the Sokoto State Governor, Ahmed Aliyu, to depose the Sultan of Sokoto. In a statement on Monday, MURIC’s Executive Director, Prof. Isiaq Akintola, expressed alarm over the potential move,…

STUDENTS of Federal Polytechnic Bauchi residing in Gwallameji, an off-campus community near the school, took to the streets on Tuesday to protest the alarming surge of armed robberies and rape cases in the area. The students during the protest blocked the federal highway along Bauchi-Dass Road. According to a press release by the Bauchi State Police Command, the protest was sparked by an incident where a group of hoodlums trespassed into student housing and robbed one Cletus Chomo, a 50-year-old resident of Sarauniya Lodge. The statement noted that Chomo was reportedly injured during the incident. In response, a team of…

THE Sokoto State Government says contrary to speculations by some persons and groups, the current administration of Governor Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto State has no plan to depose the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III. In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesman for the state government, Abubakar Bawa, condemned campaigns “to smear the cordial relationship existing between the state government and the Sultanate Council”. A religious organisation, the Muslims Rights Concern (MURIC), had alleged a plot by the state government to dethrone the Sultan. Subsequently, Vice President Kashim Shettima on Monday said the throne of the Sultan is an…

BOKO Haram insurgents have abducted Justice Haruna Mshelia, a High Court judge, alongside his wife, driver and orderly. It was gathered that the incident occurred on Monday afternoon along the Buratai-Buni-gari road as Justice Mshelia was returning to Maiduguri, where he serves at the Borno State High Court. Sources reveal that the judge’s vehicle was intercepted by armed men who emerged from the bush, and then barricaded the road. One of the sources said despite an attempt to manoeuvre and escape, the vehicle was stopped by another group of insurgents. “The abductees were subsequently taken into the Sambisa Forest,” he…

THE Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Saad Abubakar III, says it will take decades for the bandit-ravaged North-West geopolitical zone to come out of the menacing security challenge. The President General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) stated this at the North-West Peace and Security Summit in Katsina State on Monday. “What we must do is to challenge these bandits because we all know the consequences of banditry and insurgency on our lives. But it will take decades to get out of it if all we get out of it. We all know the consequences and the problems,”…

AT least seven persons were killed in a fresh bandits attack on Saturday night on Mai Dabino village in Danmusa Local Government Area of Katsina State. The attack, according to an eyewitness, saw the abduction of unspecified number of persons mostly women and children whom have been taken to a nearby forest. The eyewitness told News Point Nigeria on Sunday that the hoodlums operated for about three hours after invading the village at about 10:00 pm, shooting sporadically to scare the residents. He said that those killed by the hoodlums were set ablaze. The hoodlums armed with sophisticated weapons said…

FARMERS in Katsina State on Saturday lamented the rate at which a strange worm continues to destroy their grain plantations. In a visit to a cross-section of the affected farmlands in the state capital, News Point Nigeria learned that the strange worm population has continued to increase in size over the past few days. Two of the affected farmers, namely Umar Masoyi and Ahmad Labaran said, the increasing population of worms was predominant over the week presumably due to rainfall shortage as most farmers were rounding up this year’s farming season plantations. They said the worms are only interested in…

THE Bauchi State Police Command has confirmed a tragic incident that occurred in Nasaru Village Wednesday, resulting in the loss of life. According to a press release issued by the command’s Public Relations Officer, Ahmed Wakili, an individual named Usman was involved in sharing information about a new religious movement known as the Fera Movement. This led to an altercation, ultimately leading to Usman’s death. The Commissioner of Police, CP Auwal Musa Muhammad, has strongly condemned the actions of those involved, emphasizing the importance of upholding the law. The police have vowed to step up surveillance patrols in the area…