News
Multiple Abduction Incidents in Kogi State, Several Victims Rescued, Search Ongoing

Multiple Abduction Incidents in Kogi State, Several Victims Rescued, Search Ongoing
By: Zagazola Makama
Kogi State was rocked by two separate abduction incidents on April 19, resulting in several victims being rescued, while authorities continue to search for the remaining hostages and pursue the perpetrators.
Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that The first incident occurred at about 0830 hours when armed hoodlums forcefully stopped an Opel Space Commercial Bus traveling from Ilorin to Isanlu.
The assailants abducted seven occupants of the bus, taking them into the nearby bush. Security operatives were swiftly mobilized to the scene. After combing the surrounding area, they successfully rescued four of the abducted victims. However, the search for the remaining three continues.
The second abduction occurred later that day at approximately 1530 hours when Hon. Obinna Chidoka, a politician from Anambra State, vehicle, a Toyota Hilux was ambushed by armed hoodlums along Mamerebo Village on the Itobe-Anyingba Road. The assailants shot at the vehicle, injuring the driver, Ngozi Kingsley, who sustained a bullet wound to his left leg.
Despite the injury, Kingsley managed to escape to a nearby police station for assistance. He was rushed to the Royal Medical Centre for treatment following the attack.
At the scene of the attack, the police discovered a Toyota Hiace bus. The bus driver, identified as Ogwuebu George, informed authorities that he was traveling from Abuja to Umuahia, Abia State, when the hoodlums stopped his vehicle and abducted five of his passengers.
Another vehicle, a Passat Golf, was also intercepted by the attackers, who abducted the driver while four of the passengers were rescued.
The police recovered the two vehicles, the Toyota Hiace and the Passat Golf, and have secured them at the station for safekeeping. Efforts are underway to rescue the remaining victims, while a manhunt for the assailants has been launched.
Multiple Abduction Incidents in Kogi State, Several Victims Rescued, Search Ongoing
News
5th ASWAN: Zulum calls for multifaceted approach to address crisis in the Sahel

5th ASWAN: Zulum calls for multifaceted approach to address crisis in the Sahel
By: Michael Mike
Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum has called for a comprehensive and multifaceted strategy, hinged on broader regional cooperation, to tackle the escalating security and humanitarian crisis in the Sahel region.
Zulum made the appeal while delivering a keynote address at the roundtable discussion of the 5th Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development held in Aswan, Egypt.
The governor, whose state has been at the epicentre of Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin, argued that a purely military solution has proven insufficient. He emphasised that lasting peace can only be achieved by simultaneously addressing the root causes of the conflict.

He said: “The crises of instability, terrorism and displacement that plague the Sahel cannot be solved by kinetic means alone,” stating that: “We must look beyond the battlefield. There is an urgent need for a multifaceted approach that combines security, development, and humanitarian assistance in a synchronised manner.”
Zulum also called for broader cooperation among countries in the Sahel region. He stressed that extremist groups and other criminal networks operate across borders with impunity, and the response must be equally transnational.
He said: “In the Sahel context, you cannot address the challenges by just looking at two or three countries. You need to look deeper into the political region of the Sahel as defined by the United Nations Strategy, which covers 10 countries, including Mauritania, Gambia and Guinea, among others. Collaboration among the larger Sahel communities is paramount.”
Beyond security collaboration, the governor called for improved development in the Sahel countries. He identified poverty, lack of education, and climate change-induced scarcity as key drivers of recruitment for armed groups.
“For the last 15 years, we have had many interventions in Borno State, but humanitarian support is not a sustainable solution. There is a need for longer-term sustainable solutions. We received many donors, partners, and non-governmental organisations, but most of them engaged in short-term humanitarian solutions.”
“There is a need for sustainable solutions, including development. The nexus between peace, development and security need not be overemphasised. If there is no development, there cannot be peace or security.”

The roundtable features other African leaders representing various countries, including H.E. Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration, and Egyptian Expatriates; H.E. Abdoulaye Diop, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and African Integration, Republic of Mali; and H.E. Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Burkinabes Abroad of the Republic of Burkina Faso.
5th ASWAN: Zulum calls for multifaceted approach to address crisis in the Sahel
News
MOTiON Condemns Violent Attack on Protesters in Abuja

MOTiON Condemns Violent Attack on Protesters in Abuja
…Calls on Government, Judiciary and Security Agencies to Stop Weaponising Citizen Dissent
By: Michael Mike
The Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria (MOTiON) has expressed outrage at what it termed brutal suppression of peaceful free Nnamdi Kanu protesters in Abuja.
The group in a statement on Tuesday, alleged that citizens exercising their constitutional right to dissent were shot at, tear-gassed, chased and arrested, in a chilling display of state hostility toward free expression.
In a statement jointly signed by its Convener, Hauwa Mustapha, and Co-Convener, Chris Isiguzo; the group said eyewitnesses and media reports confirm that security agents deployed heavy-handed tactics to crush a lawful assembly instead of protecting the rights of Nigerians.
The group said security agencies must be reminded that when citizens take to the streets to demand justice, reform, accountability or welfare, their duty is to safeguard and not silence them, stressing that only a few weeks ago, protesters demanding improved welfare for police and retired officers were not treated as adversaries because their demands favoured the same security institutions. Yet this week, citizens voicing dissent against perceived injustice were met with force and contempt. This double standard exposes a dangerous politicisation of the right to protest.
MOTiON asserted that the courts and government must stop framing citizen protests as illegitimate attempts to destabilise the state, insisting that such narratives embolden repression, obstruct reform dialogue, and erode democratic confidence.
It stated that judiciary must refuse to rubber-stamp blanket bans on assembly, and the executive must refrain from treating civic space as a political battleground.
The group said: “We further call on lawmakers to rise above partisan silence and defend the sanctity of citizens’ constitutional freedoms. They must use its oversight powers to ensure that: A public guarantee is issued that peaceful assemblies will never again be treated as criminal acts; All court injunctions restricting protests are reviewed to prevent their misuse as tools of intimidation under the guise of “security”; and Security agencies adopt and enforce a human-rights-compliant protest management protocol, and the Nigeria Police must commit to protecting citizens during protests, and ensure Nigerians are never treated as enemies simply for raising their voices.”
MOTiON said it stands in unwavering solidarity with all Nigerians exercising their right to peaceful protest, whether they are workers, students, retirees, or ordinary citizens. “We will not stay silent while legitimate dissent is criminalised and voices for justice are violently silenced.”
MOTiON is a collective force of Nigerians from mass democratic organisations, workers’ organisations, pro-democracy movements, movements for social justice, women groups, citizens groups, NGOs, academia, students and youth groups, and climate action groups.
According to it, it is a movement of movements channeling shared anger, frustration and aspirations of Nigerians into purposeful action. Through concerted, strategic effort, engaging in citizens’ actions to address and overcome the root causes of Nigeria’s current state: elite capture, ineffective leadership, institutional corruption, insecurity, and the pervasive culture of impunity.
MOTiON Condemns Violent Attack on Protesters in Abuja
Crime
Hunter mistakenly kills woman he mistook for a monkey in Boki forest

Hunter mistakenly kills woman he mistook for a monkey in Boki forest
By: Zagazola Makama
A hunter in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State has been arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a woman he mistook for a monkey while hunting in a forest.
Zagazola Makama learnt that the incident occurred on Monday at Basam Osokom community, when the hunter, identified as Otu Goodness Kanang, reportedly fired at what he believed to be a monkey perched on a tree.
According to the sources, Kanang said he heard a human cry after taking the shot and later discovered that he had mistakenly hit a woman identified as Victoria, whose other names were yet to be ascertained.
Detectives visited the scene, and with the help of community youths, evacuated the body to the residence of a local chief in Bansam for further action.
The suspect has been taken into custody as investigation into the incident continues.
Police said normalcy has been restored to the area and the Command remains calm.Hunter mistakenly kills woman he mistook for a monkey in Boki forest
By: Zagazola Makama
A hunter in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State has been arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a woman he mistook for a monkey while hunting in a forest.
Zagazola Makama learnt that the incident occurred on Monday at Basam Osokom community, when the hunter, identified as Otu Goodness Kanang, reportedly fired at what he believed to be a monkey perched on a tree.
According to the sources, Kanang said he heard a human cry after taking the shot and later discovered that he had mistakenly hit a woman identified as Victoria, whose other names were yet to be ascertained.
Detectives visited the scene, and with the help of community youths, evacuated the body to the residence of a local chief in Bansam for further action.
The suspect has been taken into custody as investigation into the incident continues.
Police said normalcy has been restored to the area and the Command remains calm.
Hunter mistakenly kills woman he mistook for a monkey in Boki forest
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