Edo police kill 7 suspected robbers

The operation was personally led by the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Folusho Adebanjo.

At press time, the CP and a special squad of detectives were still combing the area popular referred as haven for robbers.

Some of the robbers, according to CP Adebanjo, were still in the bushes with bullet wounds.

As at 10:30am when the bodies of the dead policemen were brought to the Edo State Police Command, one of the robbers who identified himself as Sanda from KebbiState, was still alive and he confessed that he only joined his dead colleagues for the first time, because he needed money to go back to KebbiState.

One AK 47, cutlasses and assorted charms were recovered from the armed bandits. It would be recalled that passengers and drivers have been robbed almost on daily basis along the Benin by-pass, while in most cases the women among the passengers were raped by the armed bandits who are mainly Hausa Fulanis.

However, Adebanjo who is known for his zero tolerance as regards activities of robbers in the state narrated that “this operation took place at about 5:30-6am. Because we noticed that arm robbers who operate there always come out early hours when people are travelling or going to the market for their businesses so we.

Their activities along that by-pass have become an embarrassment and with intelligence which we gathered, we laid an ambush.

“What happens is that they normally come with a bus where they load themselves and when they get to the by-pass they distribute themselves to different locations to perpetrate their evil. You will look at the bus as an old one, may be you will even think they are going to the farm but they are dare devil armed robbers.

“You that the by-pass leads to different states but unfortunately these hoodlums made that place haven for operation. So we stormed there this morning following a tip off, we met them and enged them. They engaged us too the result is what you are looking at now.

Some of them are still in the bushes with bullet wounds, my men are still there pushing them and I am going back there myself because we are going to round all of them up.

“Armed robbers cannot be safe anywhere in Edo state. That is the message we have for them throughout this festive period and next year” he asserted.

Five killed, 200 houses burnt in Plateau communal clash

Five persons were reportedly killed yesterday and over 200 houses burnt in an attack on Kuka village in Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The attack, according to sources, was a result of unresolved communal conflict between the Tarok of Langtang South Local Government and the Gomai of Shendam Local Government.

Sources from southern Plateau said over 300 attackers stormed Kuka village with sophisticated weapons shooting and burning houses.

Shendam is in the southern part of the state and about 300 kilometres from Jos.

A resident, Abdullahi Ragmin, who is Gommai, confirmed that the attackers burnt 200 houses and shot five persons.

He listed the victims as: Malam Inuwa (60), Yakubu Kaura (43), Alhassan Abdullahi (50), Abdullahi Dungu (35).

Abdurrahman, he said, sustained a fractured arm and Musa dan Union was shot in the abdomen.

It was gathered that the attackers outnumbered the policemen at Kuka.

The attackers allegedly burnt houses and mosque and shot at people but 30 minutes later military reinforcement came from Taraba State, which borders Kuka.

Police spokesman Felicia Anslem confirmed the incident.

She said five people were killed when the attackers stormed the village.

But the Media and Information Officer, Special Task Force (STF) on Jos crises, ‘operation Safe Haven’, Capt Salisu Mustapha, confirmed two deaths.

He said: “The attackers were estimated to be about 100, they burnt houses but they were repelled. Calm has returned.”

Aero Contractors becomes national carrier, renamed NIGERIAN Eagle

Nigeria’s Federal Government is set to turn heavily indebted Aero Contractors Airline into the country’s national carrier, photographs made available NE show.Nigeria’s oldest commercial airline will now be called the Nigerian Eagle and will be launched by President Goodluck Jonathan once he returns from London, sources said.

One of Aero Contractors’ planes with registration number 5N BLC has already been painted into Nigeria’s national colours of green and white, a photograph shows.

The plane now resembles the aircraft once used by Nigeria Airways, the mismanaged government airline that crumbled years ago.

Sources said the government has also bought ten new Embraer planes to flag off the new national carrier.The ten Embraer aircraft will be added to the planes already in the fleet of Aero Contractors Airline, the source said.

Critics have criticised the move saying that Aero Contractors was so badly indebted that the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, took it over last year, when the airline couldn’t pay its debts.

They said with the takeover, billions of naira borrowed from Nigerian coffers have been erased and nobody has been held accountable for the big losses.

Besides, critics argue that national airlines are no longer viable in the world as they are often being mismanaged or abused.

The new national carrier to be launched by President Goodluck Jonathan will be a privileged airline that will receive waivers for virtually everything, the source said.”Arik Air will just die because it won’t be able to compete.

The Nigerian Eagle will operate from the General Aviation Terminal in Lagos,” the source said.

Jonathan back from London, Confirms Receipt Of N255 million BMW armoured Cars Scam Report

The president also said he has received the report of the three-member administrative panel of enquiry set up to probe the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah’s role in the purchase of two bullet proof cars.

The President had in October instituted the panel to probe the procurement of two bullet proof cars by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, under the directive of Mrs. Oduah. The two cars were allegedly bought for N225million.

The panel was asked to investigate the minister’s role in the procurement and to determine if due process was followed in the procurement of the vehicles.

The three-member panel, chaired by the immediate former Head of Service of the Federation, Isa Bello, also has the National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, and Dick Iruenebere as members.

Speaking to State House correspondents on his arrival at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, the president was silent on the state of the report or whether government had decided to act on it.

A separate investigation by the House of Representatives had indicted Mrs. Oduah for the purchase and allegedly called for her removal and prosecution.

Several lawyers, activists and other Nigerians have also called for Mrs. Oduah’s removal and prosecution following the scandal.

Thanks Nigerians on illness

Also at the airport, Mr. Jonathan thanked Nigerians for the show of love and concern towards him over his health issues; saying

“I had health challenges, we thank God again because (of) the concern showed by Nigerians.”

“First let me thank and appreciate Nigerians for the show of love and concern. First on Wednesday, even though I was in London I read how people congratulated me, remembering my birthday that I don’t normally celebrate anyway.

“I really had some health challenges I have to thank God again because, the concern shown my Nigerians and the love. I thank God that I am very okay to resume work I believe from this night.

“The most important thing is that I am back. You will expect that when you are holding a political office as the president of a country, anything that affects

you attract a lot of attention. So that the President is sick alone even if you don’t know ailment definitely it will cause apprehension,” he said.
The President also disclosed that he would meet with aggrieved governors (G7) of his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but did not state when the meeting would take place.

“I don’t know I am just coming in, I believe within the week we will be able to meet,” he said.

“Politics is about discussion, we belong to the same political party or even people from different political parties engaged in political discussion and political discussion is a continuous process, even during election people discuss. So we will continue to discuss.”

The G7 governors belong to a faction of the PDP led by Abubakar Baraje and are opposed to Bamanga Tukur as the national chairman of the party and also allegedly opposed to the planned re-election bid of Mr. Jonathan in 2015

Deacon shoots dead his pastor while preaching in church

A pastor in Lake Charles, Louisiana was on Friday shot and killed as he preached in his church.

The man who shot him is allegedly Woodrow Karey, a 53-year-old deacon in the church. He is said to have called 911 and told the dispatcher what he had done.

According to witnesses, Karey went into the church – Tabernacle of Praise Worship Centre – at around 8:20 p.m. and shot Pastor Ronald Harris two times.

He shot him the first time as he entered the church and the second time at close range after he (Harris) fell on the floor.

The suspect then fled the scene on foot but called the sheriff’s office later to surrender.

The deacon has no known criminal record and his motive of killing his pastor is still unknown. His bond was set at $1million.

Zimbabwe orders Nigerians, other foreigners to close shops by Jan 1

Zimbabwean authorities say they have given foreign shop-owners mostly Nigerians and Chinese an ultimatum to shut down their businesses by Jan. 1.

A top official of the black empowerment ministry said only Zimbabweans had the right to run shops that have sprung up across the country and are termed foreign businesses targeted under the nation’s black empowerment laws, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported Friday.

Those laws, passed in 2007, demand foreign businesses to cede 51 percent control to local blacks.

The foreign shop owners have been criticised for taking retail trade opportunities from Zimbabwean traders by selling cheap imports.

Poor townships and city flea markets have in recent years been inundated by shops run by foreigners.

According to state media, shop owners who fail to comply will be arrested.

Illegal immigrants: Saudi arrests 562 Nigerians – Envoy

Nigeria’s Consulate in Jeddah has issued Emergency Travel Certificates (ETC) to 45 Nigerians in Saudi Arabia to return home after the Saudi authorities began a clampdown on illegal immigrants three weeks ago.

Nigeria’s Consul General in Jeddah, Amb. Ahmed Umar, made this known in a telephone interview on Sunday in Abuja.

Umar said that the names and identity of the affected Nigerians had been dispatched to the Foreign Ministry in Abuja.

He that the Saudi authorities had arrested 526 Nigerians since the three-month amnesty given to undocumented immigrants to regularise their stay ended.

“It is not peculiar to Nigerians; it is applicable to all nationalities,” he said.
Umar dismissed reports that Nigerians detained in the country were kept in inhuman conditions at detention centres.

According to him, some of the detained Nigerians are being kept at the general services centre in Al-Shumaisi near Mecca, equipped with “modern facilities”.

He recalled that prior to the clampdown on illegal immigrants, the Saudi authorities had taken some foreign consular representatives to the centre.

Umar said that he had deployed some staff of the Nigeria consulate to the centre to identify Nigerians, collect their bio-data and issue travel documents for their deportation.

He explained that the new law in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stipulated a ban of 10 years for illegal workers deported from the country.

Umar said that some Nigerians living in the country had ignored repeated appeals by the Consulate for them to regularise their stay since the Saudi government announced the clampdown early in the year.

“We have been talking to our people and organising town hall meetings on the need for our people to come forward and regularise their papers or leave the country.

“But our people became very adamant and complacent,’’ he said.

Nigeria’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Amb. Abubakar Bunu, also told NAN that an estimated one million Nigerians lived and worked in the country, although it remained unknown how many were illegal.

He observed that not many Nigerians had come forward to seek consular help since the crackdown began and warned that those staying in the country illegally could face arrest and detention, if caught.