Over 1000 soldiers secretly buried in Maiduguri

Over 1,000 soldiers killed on the battlefront in the fight against insurgency were secretly buried in Maiduguri, Borno state, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

Quoting military sources, the newspaper said the number of soldiers buried in that manner could be higher than the figure.

It said on the eve of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Borno in November, army commanders secretly moved corpses of soldiers from a morgue to unmarked graves.

“When President Buhari visited the Maiduguri base in November, commanders rushed to bury bodies that had collected at the morgue from the recent attack on the base in Metele and several others, according to several soldiers at the base,” the report read.

“They moved the bodies from the morgue into the unmarked graves under cover of darkness.”

A soldier was quoted as saying: “We could see the headlamps and the torches of the engineering division digging the graves.”

The report said as the commanders prepared the base for the president’s arrival, they also drafted in additional medical staff to treat the dozens of wounded soldiers in the base’s hospital wards.

It said as soldiers tried to register complaints about their conditions when Buhari addressed them, the president pledged to do everything within his powers to continue empowering them.

The military authorities are reportedly trying to expand the secret graveyard.

“As the secret cemetery at the Maimalari barracks grows, the military has expanded the site into neighboring fields,” the report read.

Sarah James, a 50-year-old farmer, was quoted as saying: “The farmland has been fenced off so they can bury the forces.”

TheCable could not reach Sagir Musa, army spokesman, for reaction as of the time of this report. He neither answered calls nor replied a text message sent.

- THECABLE

Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr: Details of rematch date, venue finally confirmed

Boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn has confirmed that Anthony Joshua’s rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr will take place at a neutral venue.

He also said that in the next 48 hours, Ruiz’s team will be alerted as to where this fight will take place.

According to Hearn, Cardiff is still the front-runner and also the favourite to host the rematch fight between the two boxers.

DAILY POST had reported that Ruiz never wanted an Anthony Joshua rematch in the UK.

Joshua’s world heavyweight title reign and unbeaten record were ended by a stunning defeat to Ruiz Jr in New York in June this year and Hearn has activated a clause to enforce an immediate second fight.

A number of British venues, including the Wembley Stadium, are being considered for a date in November or December.

“There are some other interesting options that would be quite iconic internationally, which does involve a lot of aggravation logistically, but does involve a spectacle that would be quite unique,” Hearn told Sky Sports News on Thursday.

“I keep saying this, but in the next 48 hours Andy Ruiz’s team will be alerted to where this fight will take place.

“Joshua is working hard to make sure he’s ready to win those belts back.”

“I have been speaking to Ruiz’s team this week, keeping them up to speed with where we’re going.

“They don’t want to come to the UK, they never have done. I think they used the Dillian Whyte saga as a little bit of a scapegoat in that decision as well, and we have to take that into consideration.

“Contractually we know our position, but we want to make sure we get the fight done. We want to respect Andy Ruiz, but we’ll decide where the venue is.

“A neutral venue, he would be a lot happier with. I think I can rule out America, right now. Cardiff is still the frontrunner, it’s still the favourite.”

- DAILY POST

EFCC secures final forfeiture of N150m plaza traced to Kwara govt accountant

The Ilorin zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday, secured the final forfeiture of “Asmau Plaza”, valued at about N150million, traced to Rasaq Momonu, Controller, Finance and Account, Kwara State Government House, which is suspected to be proceeds of crime.

The order of final forfeiture of the plaza, located at University Road, Tanke Area, Ilorin, was given by Justice Sikiru Oyinloye of a Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, following an application brought before the court by the EFCC seeking for its forfeiture.

Moving the motion dated July 19, 2019, Nnaemeka Omewa, counsel for the EFCC, urged the court to grant the prayer for final forfeiture pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences.



“I urge the Court to grant the motion,” he said.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Oyinloye granted the application and resolved all the issues raised in favour of the EFCC, noting that the EFCC fulfilled all the necessary requirements.

Oyinloye held that: “I have gone through the application brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, I also sighted the hearing notice issued to the respondent in the suit, Rasaq Momonu. This Honourable Court is persuaded that he had been served with the Court Processes.
“The application brought by the EFCC is meritorious and granted; this Honourable Court hereby orders the final forfeiture of the landed property known as Asmau Plaza, Tanke Road, Ilorin, Kwara State to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

It will be recalled that Momonu is facing money laundering charges before Justice Babangana Ashigar of the Federal High Court, sitting in Ilorin, and is expected back in court on September 25, 2019.
In an affidavit deposed to by Musa Gidado, an investigating officer with the EFCC, Momonu is alleged of being complicit in the diversion of state funds.

Gidado said: “Investigations revealed that Rasaq Momonu used his influence as Accountant with Kwara State Government to award and inflate contracts for the construction of two classrooms at Ogbondoroko and Obanisuwa Community in Kwara State.
“Investigations further revealed that the respondent who is a Civil Servant that earns less than N100,000 in a month cannot afford to build the house known as Asmau Plaza between 2010 -2012.

“That I know as a fact that the respondent was confronted with the above findings by the applicant which he did not dispute and has agreed to forfeit the property known as Asmau Plaza to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

- DAILY POST

23-year-old lady plots with boyfriend to rape close friend

A 23-year-old woman, Eniola Shittu has been arrested by officers of the Ogun State Police Command for conspiring with her boyfriend, a 31-year-old David Peremobowe, to rape her close friend (name withheld).

The incident happened in Ikopa tuntun Abiola way in Abeokuta, Ogun State, last week Wednesday.

According to a statement by DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, the command’s spokesman, the suspects were arrested following a report lodged by the victim at Obantoko Division.

The statement reads; “The victim reported that she was at home on 24th of July, 2019 at about 1:45pm, when her friend Eniola Shittu sent message to her on WhatsApp that she should help her to buy food and skushis and bring it to her boyfriend’s house at Somorin area of Obantoko Abeokuta.”

“On getting there, the boyfriend David Peremobowe offered her a bottle of beer which she took.”

“But immediately she finished taken the beer, she became very weak as a result of which David Peremobowe unlawfully had her carnal knowledge, and while he was doing it, her friend Eniola Shittu used her phone to do the video recording of how she was being raped.”

“On the strength of her complaint, the DPO Obantoko Division, SP Olasunkanmi Popoola detailed his detectives to the boy’s house where David Peremobowe and his girlfriend Eniola Shittu were promptly arrested.”

“The Gionee handset with which the video coverage was made was also recovered.”

The Commissioner of Police CP Bashir Makama has, however, ordered the transfer of the suspects to Anti-human trafficking and child labour unit of the State investigation and intelligence department for further investigation and possible prosecution.

- PM NEWS

Osama Bin Laden’s son Hamza killed by America

Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza, chosen heir to the leadership of Al-Qaeda, has been killed, US media reported Wednesday citing American officials.

NBC News said three US officials had confirmed they had information of Hamza bin Laden’s death, but gave no details of the place or date.

The New York Times subsequently cited two US officials saying they had confirmation that he was killed during the last two years in an operation that involved the United States.

Questioned by reporters in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump did not confirm or deny the NBC report.

“I don’t want to comment on it,” he said.

Both reports suggested that bin Laden may have been killed well before the US State Department announced a $1 million bounty on his head in February 2019.

The 15th of Osama bin Laden’s 20 children and a son of his third wife, Hamza, thought to be about 30 years old, was “emerging as a leader in the Al-Qaeda franchise,” the State Department said in announcing the reward.

Sometimes dubbed the “crown prince of jihad, he had put out audio and video messages calling for attacks on the United States and other countries, especially to avenge his father’s killing by US forces in Pakistan in May 2011, the department said.

Documents seized in the raid on his father’s house in Abbottabad suggested Hamza was being groomed as heir to the Al-Qaeda leadership.

US forces also found a video of the wedding of Hamza to the daughter of another senior Al-Qaeda official that is believed to have taken place in Iran.

Hamza bin Laden’s whereabouts have never been pinpointed. He was believed to have been under house arrest in Iran but reports suggest he also may have resided in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria.

The group behind the deadly September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Al-Qaeda’s prominence as a radical Islamist group has faded over the past decade in the shadow of the Islamic State group.

But the proliferation of branches and associated jihadist groups in Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere have underscored its continuing potency.

Hamza bin Laden was not targeted just because he was bin Laden’s son, said Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks extremists.

“He was one of Al-Qaeda’s loudest voices calling for attacks in the West and giving directives. He, with Al-Qaeda’s help, was positioning himself to lead the global jihadi movement,” Katz said on Twitter.

“He was seen as a future leader who would unite the global jihad. Thus, if he is indeed dead, it will be a major blow to the movement,” she said.

“I think it’s a big loss for Al-Qaeda,” said Pakistani security expert Rahimullah Yusufzai, one the few journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden face to face.

- PM NEWS

REALLY ? Anti-corruption: No going back says Nigerian Govt

The Federal Government has renewed its commitment towards the fight against corruption, saying there is no going back on the war against corruption in the country.

Executive Secretary, Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Prof. Sadiq Isah-Radda, said this at a One-Day Forum on Anti-corruption held in Kano on Thursday.

“As far as the Federal Government is concern, there is no going back on the fight against corruption,” he declared.

The presidential aide said though the government was facing some challenges, that would not discourage it from tackling the menace.

“Even though there are challenges or problems but we will continue with the fight because nobody will come from heaven to do it for us.

“The most disturbing issue is ‘illicit financial flows’ where billions and billions are being taken out of the country by crooks.

“Corruption has been as old as the country so much so that it is becoming a way of life. Before now those who refused to loot were seen as fools.

“When things become worst, the fight against corruption becomes a campaign issue in 2015,” Isah-Radda said.

He therefore called on Nigerians, irrespective of their political and religious inclinations, to support President Muhammadu Buhari to enable him eliminate corruption in the country for the betterment of the country.

Isah-Radda said Nigerians have a duty to contribute their quota toward the development of the country, adding that the federal government cannot do it alone.

He also urged governors to support the federal government in its determined effort to curb corruption in the country, stressing that there is no way the country could progress if we don’t tackle corruption.

He assured that the federal government would continue to support similar effort of the Human Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), the organisers of the forum, in order to achieve the desired objective.

He noted that the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption had done a lot and urged all stakeholders to support the crusade for a better Nigeria.

The forum, which was the first of its kind at the state level, has its theme as: Anti-corruption Situation Room, The Imperative of State Anti-corruption Agency: Kano State as Case Study.

The workshop was organised as part of effort to boost the vigour and strengthening of the war against corruption by building synergies between anti-corruption focused CSOs, labour movements and the media, among others.

- PM NEWS

UN: Boko Haram has killed over 27,000 civilians in 10 years

Boko Haram insurgents have killed over 27,000 civilians since 2009 when the sect launched a campaign of violence.

Edward Kallon, United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, said this at the UN building in Abuja during a remembrance of 10 years of crisis in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.

The programme took place on Wednesday.

Kallon said rising insecurity in the country had pushed over 130,000 people into displacement with most of them seeking refuge at internally displaced persons camps.

Expressing condolences to the families of aid workers who had lost their lives in the north-east and other states, Kallon said their memories will continue to live on in the hearts of all humanitarian aid workers.

He said the humanitarian community will continue to do its best to assist those affected by crisis.

The sect has also killed many security operatives on the battlefront.

Efforts to put Boko Haram in check have not yielded the desired result. On Saturday, Boko Haram fighter killed over 60 mourners in Borno.

Three days later, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, said the sect had been defeated but critics of the government.

- THECABLE