Army Kills More Boko Haram Terrorists ,Rescue Women,Children In Borno

In yet another display of gallantry and patriotism, the combined troops of 68/94 Battalions of Operation LAFIYA DOLE deployed at Malam Fatori in Abadam LGA of Borno State conducted an aggressive fighting patrol to a location earlier reported by the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission conducted by the Air Task Force of Operation LAFIYA DOLE as harbouring some activities of the Boko Haram criminal elements.   The troops successfully uncovered the enclave and proceeded to engage it with devastating volumes of fire. Without any attempt to return fire, the cowardly criminals scampered into the nearly bushes in complete disarray.

Subsequently, the troops immediately embarked on an exploitation of  this success by pursuing them along their withdrawal route. During the said  exploitation, troops discovered the body of one Boko Haram terrorist and further observed several trails of blood along the said route. Additionally, 2 AK 47 Rifles, 2 AK 47 Rifle magazines loaded with 30 rounds of 7.62mm Special ammunition each, 3 unexploded Mortar bombs for making of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were captured from the insurgents. Other items equally captured include, one bundle of IED cable, one IED battery, one camel bag, 3 motorcycles, 3 sets of overall cloths, bedding materials, cooking utensils, food items, motorcycle spare parts, 122 cylinder tubes and various mechanical tools.

It could be recalled that, in a related development that occurred on 3 December 2019, the criminal Boko Haram elements  suffered a similar defeat in the hands of the troops of 144 Battalion deployed at Limankara in Gwoza LGA of Borno State during a failed attempt to infiltrate the troops' location. During the exploitation exercise that followed the brief fire fight with the marauding criminals, the troops discovered burnt body parts of 3 Boko Haram criminals hit by a Rocket Propelled Grenade bomb explosion as well as some broken AK 47 Rifle parts and traces of blood along the criminals’ withdrawal route.

Furthermore, on 3  December 2019, troops of 101 Task Force Battalion deployed at Cross Kauwa in Kukawa LGA of Borno State made contact with some marauding Boko Haram criminals while conducting Clearance Operations along Cross Kauwa – Monguno Road. The visibly shaken Boko Haram criminals who evidently couldn’t stand the troops superiority fled for safety. Nevertheless, the unrelenting troops went on a hot pursuit and arrested 2 of the criminals. In another development that occured on 4 December 2019, troops of 68/94 Battalions deployed at Malam Fatori in Abadam LGA of Borno State conducted a successful ambush at a Boko Haram criminals crossing point North East of the town and neutralised one Boko Haram criminal while many others escaped with varying degrees of gunshot wounds. However, the troops recovered some vandalised roofing sheets, 33 IED detonator cords and other IED making materials. Preliminary investigation revealed that the criminals are part of IED laying party along the route.

In another successful ambush operation conducted by the troops of 21 Special Armoured Brigade on 4 December 2019, at Darel Jamel, Bama LGA of Borno State, the troops neutralised one Boko Haram terrorist while several others escaped with gunshot wounds. Same troops also conducted a robust clearance operation same day and cleared Boko Haram criminals’ hideouts at Mantari, Malam Masari and Gabchari Villages in Bama LGA of Borno State. During the Operation, troops neutralised one Boko Haram criminal and destroyed all discovered terrorists' enclaves within the area. It is gratifying to note that, the troops also rescued 31 persons comprising 14 women and 17 children from the insurgents.

In a related development, a Boko Haram member, Abba Modu, voluntarily surrendered to the troops of 3 Battalion (Main) deployed at Gamboru in Ngala LGA of Borno State on 3 December 2019. Preliminary investigation revealed that he joined the sect in 2015 and was a member of Mamman Nur group. He also disclosed that he actively participated in rustling cattle for the sect. He however declared that he regretted his past actions and called on his former colleagues to use this opportunity to surrender to authorities so that they do not perish as sinners.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai has therefore commended the troops for the exceptional display of gallantry, professionalism and responsiveness. He however admonishes them to remain resilient and continue to mount pressure on the Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) criminal elements as their end is obviously in sight.


AMINU ILIYASU

Colonel
Nigerian Army Operations Media Coordinator

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Bizzare :Lady Weds Sleeping Mat

 A single mum of two identified as Bekki has tied the knot with her favorite rug named Mat and enjoying a relaxing honeymoon at home in Greater Manchester.

During the intimate hour-long service Bekki, who was dressed in a traditional all-white wedding dress for the occasion, promised to love, honor and care for Mat ‘till death us do part’, The Sun reports.

Bekki reveals she bought Mat about a year ago and has since been in love with him and willing to express it to anyone who will listen ever since.

“It became a bit of a thing with my friends who used to joke ‘if you love Mat so much why don’t you marry him?’

“I spend so much time looking after him – cleaning him and vacuuming him a couple of times every day and making sure he always looks his very best – I couldn’t imagine being without him now.”

Bekki uses a stain remover to clear up any mess her two young children may have left on ‘Mat’ during the day.

When the kids are in bed, I’ll often just lie down with him and tell him my most private thoughts.

“I’m a single mum, so he’s become a confidant and I always seem to be able to think things through properly when we’ve been together”.

The happy couple tied the knot during a special service, hosted by a celebrant at the Independent
However, Bekki is not the only person to ‘find love’ with an inanimate object.

Amanda Liberty, 35, from Leeds, says she is in an open relationship with several light fittings but plans to wed a chandelier called Lumiere.

She changed her surname from Whittaker during a previous long-distance relationship with the Statue of Liberty.

Amanda identifies as an objectum sexual — meaning she is attracted to objects.

Source:Sun UK

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FIRS Boss Fowler Tenure Ends,May Not Be Reappointed By Buhari

The tenure of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr Babatunde Fowler, ended on Sunday with no indication that he would get a second term in office.

Fowler, who is a childhood friend and former classmate of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, was appointed as the FIRS chairman on August 20, 2015

He was confirmed by the Senate on December 9, 2015 which implies that his tenure ended on December 8, 2019.

The FIRS Establishment Act stipulates that “the executive chairman shall be appointed by the President subject to the confirmation of the Senate.

“The  chairman  and  other  members  of  the  board,  other  than  ex-officio  members,   shall  each  hold  office for  a  term  of  four  years,  renewable  once  only.”

Findings revealed that as of Sunday, there was no indication that Fowler’s tenure would be renewed for another four years.

Sources at the FIRS said that since Sunday was the last day of his tenure in office, it was expected that the handover would be done on Monday to the most senior director in the agency.

Findings revealed that Fowler might hand over to the Coordinating Director in charge of Domestic Tax Group, Mr Abiodun Aina.

Aina was also the special adviser to Fowler.

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Orji Kalu Will Receive His Full Salaries And Allowances While In Prison..Senate

The convicted Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Kalu, will continue to receive his salaries and all other entitlements while in prison, the Senate has said.

This is despite that he will not be performing any legislative function from prison.

The spokesperson of the Senate, Godiya Akwashiki, disclosed this  on Sunday.

He said despite the conviction, Mr Kalu remains a sitting senator and will be paid all of his entitlements in full.

He said until the case gets to Surpeme Court and a final judgement is given, Mr Kalu remains a serving lawmaker.

“He is still a senator. This is the first court. The matter is going to Supreme Court so, he still has the opportunity to appeal up to the Supreme Court level.

“Of course they will pay him. Because he is a sitting senator just like I said…if you file for appeal, you are still serving and so they will pay you.

“All his entitlements will be paid. There is no cause for alarm. In fact, even if Court of Appeal says they have upheld the judgement of the lower court, he still has the right to go to Supreme Court. So once the Supreme Court says, yes, the judgement is okay, then that’s the final,” he explained.

Earlier, Mr Akwashiki said Mr Kalu’s seat will not be declared vacant.

He explained that no provision in the constitution that says the seat of any senator facing prosecution or convicted at a lower court should be declared vacant.

Mr Kalu’s seat will not be declared vacant except he (Mr Kalu) has explored all the legal options available to him without success, he said.

“Even the tenure of a former governor Joshua Dariye, who has been in prison for some time now, ran its course until the end of the 8th National Assembly. Nobody declared his seat vacant.”

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday sentenced Mr Kalu to 12 years in prison after convicting him of N7.65 billion fraud.

Mr Kalu, a former governor of Abia State, was pronounced guilty of the charge in a trial that lasted for 12 years.

The conviction comes 12 years after the ex-governor was first arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2007 and was tried alongside his company, Slok Nigeria Limited, and Udeh Udeogu, who was Director of Finance and Accounts at the Abia State Government House during Mr Kalu’s tenure as governor.

Source:Premium Times

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Femi Falana Pick Holes In DSS Press Release, Narrates Full Account Of How Sowore Was Rearrested In Court

 Omoyele Sowore's lawyer Femi Falana SAN issued this statement after the press released pushed out by the DSS on the invasion of a court and rearrest of his client.


Our attention has been drawn to the self contradictory press release of the SSS in which an unsuccessful attempt was made to absolve itself of responsibility for the armed invasion of the Federal High Court, Abuja Judicial Division, in general, and the desecration of Court No 7 of Hon. Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu in particular as well as the illegal rearrest of Omoyele Sowore.

First, pretending to forget that the abominable desecration of the Federal High Court was covered live by domestic and international media outfits and journlists, some of whom were also direct victims of the gangsterism, barbarism and brutalisation displayed by officers of the Service on the 6th day of December 2019, the Service has conducted "eye witness" accounts of what transpired with the aim of showing that officers of the Service were not involved in the rearrest of Sowore.

Second, the Service argues on the one hand that the arrest of Sowore was "stage managed" by his supporters in order to give the Service a bad name whilst also admitting at the same time that officers of the Service arrested Sowore outside the Court. Having declared that the Service arrested Sowore "outside the court", despite the "stage managing" argument, what the Nigerian people want to see happen is the immediate release of Sowore, pending his trial as ordered by the court.

INDUBITABLE FACTS CONFIRMING DESECRATION OF COURT AND RE-ARREST BY THE SERVICE

However, the following facts underscore our insistence that the Service was solely responsible for the desecration of the hallowed chambers of the court:

By the advantage of information technology, the whole world has placed responsibility for the gangsteric desecration of the court on the SSS. The SSS cannot extricate itself from the abominable acts of 6th December, 2019.

When I informed the court that fresh charges were being filed against our clients and that they could be re-arrested, the prosecution denied any such plan.

As soon as the case was adjourned, the SSS pounced on Sowore and caused a disruption of the proceedings of the court. Having taken over the court room vi et armis Justice Ojukwu hurriedly rose and asked the Registrar to adjourn all other cases. After the learned trial judge had risen for the day, she summoned the heads of the prosecution and defence teams to her chambers.

When the lead prosecutor, Dr. Liman Hassan SAN denied knowledge of the invasion of her court, she directed him to invite the head of the sss team in the court. When challenged to justify the invasion of the court, the officer could not. He apologised to Justice Ojukwu on behalf of the SSS. The judge then directed the officer to withdraw the SSS operatives from the court room. The directive was complied with as the operatives withdrew from the court room but rushed out to join their colleagues who had taken over the entire court house.

Notwithstanding that the SSS could not produce any warrant of arrest for Sowore, the defence team decided that I should accompany him to the SSS headquarters in view of his physical brutalisation inside the court room and the open threat to his life. I did and ensured that he was driven in my car to the SSS headquarters where I handed him over to the officers on duty. Thereafter, I requested for a meeting with the head of the SSS but I was informed that he was not in the office.

Though, ordinarily, officers of the Service do not wear any uniform, on the 6th day of December, some of them were in mufti, many were not only armed but also masked, while others disguised in lawyer's black and white suit. Regardless of the form of appearance, the officers of the Service inside Court No. 7 were identifiable by their roles and acts of seizing Sowore and pinning him down. It is an utter poor reasoning to say that Sowore's supporters were also those bent on injuring him in order to arrest him. The argument of the Service in this respect is as unfortunate and pitiable as the earlier argument of the Service in respect of the Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi who was once accused of wanting to set ablaze his own house.

If Sowore's supporters subjected him to such brutalisation in the presence of SSS operatives, why were they not arrested for contravening the provisions of the Anti- Torture Act, 2017? Or were the SSS operatives expecting the supporters of a defendant wanted by the State to kill him in their presence?

Before submitting himself for arrest, Sowore had rightly demanded for a warrant of arrest and detention order but the SSS operatives were unable to produce either.

ON RATIONALISATION OF RE-ARREST OF SOWORE BY THE SERVICE

In rationalizing the re-arrest of Sowore, which is denied in the same press statement, the Serivce alleged that Sowore held metings with some people. Assuming without conceding that Sowore held meetings with some people in Transcorp Hotel as alleged by the SSS, why did the Prosecution not inform the trial court that the defendant had breached his bail condition?

ON THE CLAIM OF THE SERVICE THAT IT IS LAW-ABIDING

The sss says it is a law abiding institution. But why did it refuse to comply with the order of Justice Taiwo to release Sowore? Why did the sss threaten to report the judge to the NJC for granting bail to Sowore?
Why did the sss subject the order of Justice Ojukwu for the release of Sowore to its own approval by asking the sureties already verified by the judge to report themselves to the sss? Why did the SSS wait for the 24-hour ultimatum issued by the trial judge before releasing Sowore and Bakare?

Incidentally, the current prosecutor, Dr. Liman Hassan SAN was the counsel to the defendant in the case of FRN v Air Commodore Mohammed. In that case, the order of Justice Nnamdi Dimgba for the release of the defendant on bail was flouted by the SSS. As if that was not enough, the SSS invaded the home of the judge on 8th October 2016 when the houses of judges accused of corruption were raided. Even though I have never appeared before Justice Dimgba, I have always known him as a judge of impecable integrity. So, I challenged the SSS for painting an incorruptible judge with the brush of shame. It was after my intervention that the NJC gave the judge a clean bill of health.

Thereafter, the judge was compelled to withdraw from the case. The SSS thought that it had won but it was a phyrric victory. Thus, Justice John Tsoho (current Chief Judge of the federal high court) to whom the case was re assigned reiterated the orders of Justice Dimgba and proceeded to rule that trial would not commence in the case until the defendant was released from custody. It was at that stage that the SSS complied with the order of the federal high court.

Conclusion

In the light of the foregoing, we reiterate our demand for the release of not only Sowore in obedience to court orders, pending the verdict of the court in their trial. We equally call for the release of all other political detainees, and criminal suspects who have been admitted to bail pending trial by competent courts.

Finally, it is common knowledge that this country was ruled by military dictators for about three decades. On no occasion did security operatives invade court premises to arrest political activists inside a court room. Therefore, the bizarre harassment of courts cannot be tolerated under a democratically-elected government that claims to be operating under the rule of law.

Femi Falana, SAN

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Yahoo Yahoo Boy Burnt Girlfriend To Death In Lagos Over Alleged Infidelity

 Operatives of the Lagos State police command from Iba police station have arrested a 19-year-old man, Orji Ifeanyichukwu Victor, for setting his 24-year-old girlfriend, Alabi Tolani Mariam, ablaze because he suspected that she has another lover.DSP Bala Elkana, Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), disclosed this in a statement released to newsmen yesterday. Elkana said the incident took place in Ojo, Lagos, where they both lived in Ifeanyichukwu’s N600,000 per annum apartment.

The suspect who resides at G54 Army Post Service Housing Estate, Ojo, Lagos was arrested after setting his girlfriend ablaze on Saturday. The suspect confessed that he used petrol to set the victim ablaze. The victim died during treatment at Igando General Hospital in the early hours of yesterday.

“Ifeanyichukwu met the victim on February 28 through a hookup site and she moved into his house in March. He has been into internet fraud, popularly known as ‘Yahoo’ for the past three years where he gets the proceeds for renting the apartment. They have, since then, co-habited as lovers because her parents live apart,” the police spokesman said.He added that Ifeanyichukwu brought Tolani into his house with conditions that she would quit prostitution and stick to him alone. “However, trouble started on Thursday when the victim left home to fix her hair and did not return until the next day.

“She also left the house on Friday under the guise of visiting her father, but ended up seeing another man. Ifeanyichukwu got to know on Saturday when she returned by scrolling through her phone and saw her chats, video calls and nude pictures of herself that she sent to her client whom she spent the night with,” Elkana said.

He noted that the suspect (Ifeanyichukwu) became angry and used the petrol he kept for his generating set to set her ablaze. “A team of detectives visited the scene and the victim has been taken to General Hospital, Igando, where she was admitted. She, however, died in the early hours of Sunday.

“The Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, has directed the immediate transfer of the case to Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba. The suspect confessed to the commission of the crime and will be charged to court for murder,” Elkana said.

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High Court Workers Injure Six LASG Officials

Over six operatives of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) have been badly injured on Friday 6th of December, 2019 while carrying out enforcement on street trading along Queens Drive in Ikoyi, leaving the officers seriously injured with three of the operational trucks also damaged.

The operation which is part of the Governor’s mandate to clear every part of the State of all environmental nuisances and infractions such as street trading on walk-ways/setbacks as well as erection of illegal shanties across the State was led by the Deputy Corps Mashal Operation, Mr. Ganiu Kazeem and Deputy Corps Marshal Discipline and Staff Welfare, Mr. Adeleke Adeeso on the instructions of the Honourable Commissioner of Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello.

The staff of the Federal High Court who were known to patronise the street traders obstructed the operatives while dislodging the street traders who had earlier been given several notices to vacate the drainage part used for  hawking of food items and drinks.

The Deputy Corps Marshal explained that on getting to the scene of the incident at about 1:45 pm the staff of the Federal High Court with the private security personnel of the Court came out en mass to attack the team with stones, Iron-rod, broken bottles and cutlasses leaving them injured and damaging two operational vehicles. He further explained that the operation had nothing to do with the staff of the Court, but for the fact that the hawkers who occupied the drainage channels were allegedly paying rent to the private security of the Court, the private securities in conjunction with some staff of the Court decided to stop the peaceful  operation.

The Agency’s officers who were injured include; Oyedokun Samson (driver), Iwatan Oluwa Seun; Riwatan Oluwatobi; Shipeolu Babatunde amongst others were immediately rushed to the hospital and currently receiving treatment, with one of them stabbed on the neck under serious condition.

The Deputy Corp Marshal confirmed that some of suspects were arrested during the fracas, while the case was also immediately reported at the Ikoyi Police Station for further investigation. He advised Lagosians to comply with the law of the Lagos State Government on Zero Tolerance to street trading, as the government would no longer tolerate the slightest attack on any enforcement personnel forthwith,” he stated.

Consequently, the Corp Mashal of the Agency, CP Gbemisola Akinpelu (retd) reiterated the determination of the agency to ensure that all the citizens in the state abide by the stipulated environmental regulations of the State, noting that nobody in the State is above the law and warning people to desist from attacking enforcement officers out to carry their legal duties.

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