Author: Muhammad Maitela, Yobe

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called for increased collaboration and public participation ahead of the commencement of voter registration in Yobe State, scheduled to begin on August 12, 2023. Speaking during a stakeholders’ engagement session in Damaturu, the Yobe State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Ibrahim Abdullahi, emphasized that credible elections begin with a credible voter register, urging all eligible citizens and local actors to support the exercise. “Election management is not a one-day affair. It requires careful planning and active stakeholder involvement at every stage,” Abdullahi said. The upcoming Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise is part of preparations…

YOBE State is grappling with a deepening education crisis as poverty, cultural misconceptions, and infrastructural deficits continue to push hundreds of thousands of children out of the classroom and into the streets. Educators and community leaders across the state have raised the alarm over the growing number of out-of-school children, many of whom are forced into street hawking, begging, or menial labor trapped in a cycle of poverty and illiteracy that threatens the future of the region. Speaking to our correspondent, Malam Umar Maruma Alibe, a long-serving secondary school teacher in Yobe, lamented the worsening condition of the education sector,…

ADAMU Waziri, a founding member and Board of Trustees member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has resigned from the party and joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC), citing a loss of credibility in the PDP’s current leadership. Waziri made the announcement on Monday at his Dogo Tebo Ward in Potiskum, Yobe State, where he formally handed over his PDP membership card to the Ward Chairman, Malam Muhammad Bomai. He said the resignation was in line with the party’s constitutional requirement to notify the ward level. “I was a member of PDP, and due to the exigencies of the moment…

THE Yobe State Police Command has arrested two suspects in connection with the kidnapping of a 22-year-old female in Tashan Randa village, Fika area of the state. This was disclosed in a statement by the state Police Public Relations Officer, Dungus Abdulkarim, on Thursday. The PPRO described the arrest as a significant success in the command’s efforts to maintain security and safety in the state. Abdulkarim said that on May 6, 2025, armed individuals attacked the residence of a man, identified as Maikudi, abducted his daughter, and injured another girl in the process. He stated that the kidnap syndicate requested…

SUSPECTED Boko Haram terrorists on Saturday attacked the 27 Task Force Brigade, Buni Yadi, Gujba LGA of Yobe State, killing at least four soldiers and destroying many operational equipment. The attack happened less than 24 hours after the North East Governors Forum met in the state capital, Damaturu, and adopted a multidimensional approach to tackle insurgency in the region. Buni Yadi is located about 65km from Yobe State capital and is the country home of the state governor, Mai Mala Buni. A security source, who escaped the attack, told our correspondent that the assailants stormed their location around 2am on…

AN 18-seater Toyota Hiace Bus with registration number KTG 283 XA has rammed into the busy Damagum market in Yobe State, killing a pregnant woman, four others and injuring 19 persons. Confirming the number of casualties, the Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in the state, Livinus Yilzoom, said the incident happened Sunday evening when the pedestrian victims were closing from the market. “Note that five persons who died were not occupants of the vehicle, rather, they were pedestrians who were by the roadside waiting to cross. “The driver, in trying to avoid the pedestrian ran into…

SCORES of students have been feared dead after a classroom collapsed on students in a secondary school in Yobe State. The incident, which occurred at Government Girls Science Technical College Potiskum, also left some other students injured. This newspaper gathered the injured have been admitted at the General Hospital in Potiskum for treatment. Yobe State Government officials led by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Basic Education, Dr. Bukar Aji, with other senior officials visited the school to assess the situation. Aji told journalists in Damaturu: “We are deeply sad over this incident more so that it affects our girls which…

AN early fire incident has razed down about 50 shops at the popular Bayan Tasha market in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital. According to an eye witness, the incident started at about 2.00 am on Tuesday morning when electricity was restored in the area at the time all the shop owners had closed. However, the swift response of the federal and state fire services helped in quenching the fire from further destruction. Although there was no loss of life, already the response team of the state emergency management agency is on the ground taking stock of the properties destroyed and…

SUSPECTED Boko Haram insurgents have blown-off Tower No.T372 along Gombe-Damaturu-Maiduguri 330KVA transmission line. The blowing up of the tower on Saturday has thrown the two state capitals of Yobe and Borno into total darkness. According to a statement by Ndidi Mbah, the spokesman of the Transmission Company of Nigeria indicates that engineers have been deployed to dismantle and evacuate the collapsed tower for reconstruction. “The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) hereby states that its tower No.T372, along Gombe-Damaturu-Maiduguri 330KA transmission line was brought down by vandals on Saturday 21st September 2024, at about 1.44am. This development has thrown the whole…

A HEAVY downpour has cut off a third federal road in Yobe State linking Damaturu to Gujba and Gulani Local Government Areas, as well Biu, Hawul, Shani, Kwaya Kusar and Gombi Local Government areas in Borno and Adamawa states. The incident happened in the early hours of Tuesday near Katarko village, a distance of about 20 kilometers away from Damaturu, the state capital. Mustapha Babagana, who was travelling to Biu for business trip told News Point Nigeria’s correspondent that he had to return to Damaturu and take another route through Gombe State, a distance of 380 kilometers before reaching his…

THE officials of Yobe State government led by the deputy governor, Idi Barde-Gubana, has conducted funeral prayers for the 34 victims who were killed in an attack by suspected Boko Haram terrorists on Sunday. The deputy governor, who sympathised with the victims, said the state government will work closely with the Federal Government to provide military formation in the area to forestall further occurrence. He also directed the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to ensure that the displaced persons as well as those who sustained injuries are well taken cared off at their camps and hospitals. Ali Abdullahi, a physically…

Dr HASSAN Gimba, the Publisher of Neptune Prime Newspaper, has constructed and commissioned a Nursery, Primary, and Secondary School named after his late mother, Hafsatu Gimba Ahmed, in Potiskum Local Government Area of Yobe State. The Publisher constructed and equipped the first Cervical Cancer center in the town, intending to commission the center at an appropriate time for the community’s benefit. The Foundation of the Veteran journalist, in collaboration with the Yobe State Science and Technical Schools Board, has trained youths in his community in tailoring and plumbing to reduce unemployment. Speaking to newsmen, the publisher said the school which…

SEVEN mass transit buses were burnt in Potiskum, the headquarters of Potiskum Local Government Area of Yobe State on Monday amid the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests. The buses were set ablaze on the premises of the local government secretariat in Potiskum on Thursday. An eyewitness told News Point Nigeria in the North-East state that some persons came in their numbers to cause mayhem but were quickly prevented by the security personnel. The Spokesman for the Yobe State Police Command, Dungus Abdulkarim, confirmed the incident at Potiskum, saying the perpetrators will be brought to book. Propagated on social media, the nationwide protests…

THE Yobe State Government has announced the closure of all primary and secondary schools in the state ahead of the nationwide hardship protests slated for August 1, 2024. The State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education disclosed this in a memo signed by the Director of Schools Management, Bukar M Modu. This newspaper reports that schools in the state would be closed on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 as against Friday, August 2, 2024 which marks the end of the academic session in the public and private schools. The memo said that the decision became necessary in light of the planned…

SUSPECTED Boko Haram insurgents about midnight of Saturday, March 23, attacked a military base in Gujba town, Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State, killing a soldier. Yobe State Police Command’s spokesman, DSP Dungus Abdulkarim, who confirmed the attack to The PUNCH on Sunday, said a military patrol vehicle was also torched by the suspected terrorists. “The only thing I can confirm to you now is the attack. A soldier was killed, and troops and CJTF engaged the suspected terrorists,” he said. Reliable local sources told this newspaper that the suspected insurgents, who stormed the town by 12 midnight, shooting…

A NEWLY appointed Caretaker Management Committee Chairman of the Karasuwa Local Government Area in Yobe State, Lawan Karasuwa has died less than 24 hours to his official swearing-in scheduled for Friday, May 26, 2023. A family source told News Point Nigeris via telephone that Karasuwa died at the Federal Medical Centre Nguru in Yobe State after he drove himself to the health facility on Wednesday. The news of the demise of the caretaker chairman also became public knowledge at the launching of third phase of an empowerment programme to vulnerable persons at Government House Event Centre in Damaturu, the state…

THE Borno State Specialist Hospital said it did not record any sign of sexual assaults among women and girls handed over to them by soldiers after their rescue from the frontline of counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria’s North East. The Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr Aisha Adamu Buba disclosed this at the facility to the Chairman and members of the Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter Insurgency Operations in North East Nigeria. She said, “I have never heard of Reuters’ report.” The CMD told the 7-Member panel chaired by Justice Abdu Aboki that the hospital…

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the incumbent Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni as the winner of the 2023 governorship election in the state. Announcing the result at the INEC headquarters in Damaturu, the State Returning Officer, Prof Umar Pate said Buni of the All Progressives Congress (APC) scored 317,113 to defeat his closest rival, Sheriff Abdullahi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 104,259. Buni, a former caretaker chairman of the APC, is returning as the governor of the North-East state for the second time under the APC. FINAL RESULTS FOR YOBE GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION…

THE Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has defeated the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State. The Governor of Yobe State Mai Mala Buni hails from Gujba LGA. The result was announced by the returning officer of the LGA, Dr Musa Hassan El-zamani. Atiku Ascored 8,204 votes against Tinubu who scored 6,643 votes. The candidate of Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) scored 25 and 217 votes respectively.

THE Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has won the polling unit of the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan. News Point Nigeria learnt that Lawan, who is the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Yobe North, cast his votes at the Katuzu Primary School polling unit 001B. While the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, got 107 votes, Atiku polled 186 votes. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) got 41 votes, Kola Abiola of PRP got 2 votes, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party scored 1 vote.