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The Federal Migration Office head has returned from a trip to Nigeria where he explained to officials how a Nigeria died while being deported.
Alard du Bois-Reymond expressed regret to the Nigerian foreign minister over the death and relayed details of an autopsy that found the 29-year-old Nigerian asylum seeker had died of a heart attack while at Zurich airport last year.
The victim was suffering from a serious heart condition that had not been diagnosed. The heart attack was probably brought on by the fact that the man had been on hunger strike and was in a stressed state at the time.
The Nigerian, a convicted drug dealer, had refused to leave the country and had been forcibly restrained while boarding a deportation flight.
Du Bois-Reymond said the meeting, which also included Swiss foreign ministry representatives, had given closure to the affair and re-established “mutual trust” between the two countries.
He also proposed that Nigerian representatives be present on special deportation flights from Switzerland to defuse tensions that may arise. Deportation flights were halted following the death but have since resumed to all countries besides Nigeria. These too are expected to start again this month.
The trip was also a chance for the Swiss to discuss closer cooperation with Nigeria in dealing with the problem of migration. A Nigerian delegation is due to visit Switzerland in October to continue discussions on the issue.
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The tentative peace recently achieved in Jos, Plateau State, has again been put asunder by violence that erupted yesterday morning in Mazah village, Jos North Local Government Area. The attack left at least 10 people dead and several others injured, the Plateau State Government has said.
"The attack is nothing unusual; it is just another attempt to destroy the peace Plateau people have been enjoying in the past months," the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr. Gregory Yenlong said.
He said that those injured were being treated at the Plateau Specialist Hospital.
"It is an embarrassing situation. Just when we thought we had found peace, we suddenly have to cope with another ugly situation," he said.
The Commissioner, who appealed to the people to remain calm, and not to take the law into their hands, called for more vigilance from the military Special Task Force (STF) to prevent a recurrence.
A number of houses were also burnt, while others, including the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) located in the village were vandalised. But this time, the natives of the village are not the Beroms as in the previous attacks, but the Anagutas.
"We are just coming out of the village; it is a difficult terrain really. There isn't much to say. This incident is just sad," Lt.-Col. Kingsley Umoh, spokesman for the Military Special Task Force (STF) charged with maintaining peace in Jos, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Plateau State Police Commissioner Gregory Anyating told Reuters the authorities were trying to find out "the root causes of the violence", but it had not spread to other villages."
The incident, which occurred at about 1:30 am, according to sources, claimed the life of the father of the councilor of the Mazah ward, Hon. Kankani Jaja. The Pastor of the COCIN, Rev. Nuhu Dawat, also lost his wife, two children, and a grandson.
Narrating his experience, Dawat said "It was at about 1:30 am when I heard a knock on my door. I went and opened the door but did not see anybody, so I went back into the house. A few minutes later we started hearing sporadic gun shots. It was then I escaped into the farmland near my house, but my family was not fortunate enough to escape too. My wife, daughter, son and grandson have all been killed".
Another resident of the village, Mr Gaya Suna, who narrated his ordeal said the attackers came with such a bright torchlight that they could locate where their victims hid. He was however able to escape with his wife but his daughter was killed. He said "People were sleeping when we heard some movement. We cannot say exactly why they came to attack us".
The Community leader of Mazah, Mr Abamu Kaiwa, who spoke with THISDAY said "This incident occured between 1 and 2am, they came in with some weapons and attacked some targeted houses. The personal house and family house of the Councilor representing Mazah ward in the Council, Hon. Kankani Jaja, were burnt, his father and son killed".
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Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police, Emmanuel Ojukwu, has said that four persons have been arrested in connection with the abduction of four journalists.
The journalists, Wahab Oba, Lagos State Chairman of the NUJ, Zone G Secretary, Adolphous Okoronkwo, Assistant Secretary, Sylva Okonkwo, Shola Oyeyipo and their driver, Azeez Abdulrauf, were abducted at Ukpabiri in Abia on July 11.
They were rescued on July 18 by the police in Obioma Ngwa Local Government in Abia after a week in captivity.
Ojukwu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt that the police arrested the four suspects in an operation to rescue the kidnapped journalists.
"We have four persons in custody in respect of this offence. We have four arrests made but we are also in hot pursuit of other fleeing members of the gang and we shall catch up with them and bring them to justice," he said.
Ojukwu said that more than 600 persons have been arrested for kidnapping in different parts of the country and that the strike by the courts delayed their prosecution.
He said some of the kidnappers had been charged to court and their cases were ongoing.
"Fighting kidnapping is not solely the responsibility of the Nigerian police. It is our common problem and all of us will have to put our acts together, join hands to fight the menace.
"Kidnappers do not live in police barracks, they are not policemen, they live with the people and people should be able to fish them out and inform the police to arrest them.
"We are doing all we can to make sure that we have the wherewithal to pursue the crime of kidnapping and other violent crimes," he said.
Meanwhile, State Security Service (SSS) in Abuja on Monday paraded four persons suspected to be members of a kidnapping gang operating in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Director of the FCT Command of SSS, Mike Fubara, who paraded the suspects before newsmen, said the four men were aged from 24 to 26 years.
Fubara said that the SSSe had rescued two men, Maurice Gonga and Abel Aguele, allegedly abducted by the gang along Abuja-Keffi road on July 12 and July 14, respectively.
According to him, leaders of the gang, residing in Port Harcourt, are now at large.
Fubara explained that the kidnappers took their victims to a thick forest in Masaka village in Nasarawa State and demanded N50 million ransom to set them free.
He said that the families of the victims alerted SSS and after negotiations, the kidnappers reduced their demand to N30 million and finally N500,000.
Fubara, however, said the victims were released on July 16 after some members of the gang were arrested during a "sting operation" by SSS.
He said the kidnappers, from Rivers, Lagos and Abia states had pretended to be policemen on duty at different locations in Mararaba and Masaka, some 11kilometres from the FCT.
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President Goddluck Jonathan has stated that the current spate of kidnapping and abduction of innocent citizens is an embarrassment to Nigerians, and that something drastic is being done about it.
Speaking at a town hall meeting with Akwa Ibom people held at the governor's lodge in Uyo, the president disclosed that the activities of this set of criminals is under surveillance and efforts are being made to bring all the perpetrators to book.
"It is even sad to note that some highly placed people are involved in the this ungodly act by their connivance with the criminals in arranging ransom negotiations and other things, but we will not relent in our collective resolve to ensure the security of lives and property of every citizen in this country is protected," Jonathan stated
According to him, those behind this ungodly act would soon be made to face the law as government is taking the issue very seriously with a view to putting an end to it.
On the issue of deregulation in the down stream sector of the economy and the appropriate pricing of petroleum products, Jonathan said the federal government would soon allow private investors to take over the running of the sector.
Jonathan, who was in Akwa Ibom state on a two-day working visit, said there was nothing like gender inequality in the polity, adding that the current administration in the country has given more opportunity to women, so as to compete favorable with their male folk.
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