Ten killed in fresh Jos attacks

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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Police arrest four suspects over journalists' kidnap

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 Goodluck Jonathan - Kidnapping is a National embarrassment

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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500 Nigerians in swiss prisons

No fewer than 500 Nigerians are currently serving jail terms for various offences in Switzerland. Also, 1,800 others are living and working legitimately in that country while 1,600 seek asylum annually.

Meanwhile, following the outcry that trailed the death of a 29-year-old Nigerian at the Zurich airport while being deported by the government of Switzerland, the Swiss government has announced new measures to deal with deportees and to avert a recurrence of the unfortunate tragedy.

Director of the Swiss Federal Office of Migration, Mr. Alard Du Bois-Reymond, who disclosed these in Abuja after a meeting with the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Martin Uhomoibhi, said as part of the new measures, a medical doctor will be detailed to be on all flights of repatriation while the health status of deportees would be ascertained before every deportation

The Swiss official further revealed that an autopsy carried out on the deceased showed that he had a serious heart condition which was not detected earlier.

He said the Swiss government believed that the issue of migration was very important to the relations between Nigeria and Switzerland and the two countries would explore ways of strengthening the collaboration.

Speaking on monies allegedly kept in Swiss bank accounts by corrupt Nigerian leaders, he assured Nigerians that as soon as the court case involving Abacha was disposed off, what was left of the Abacha loot would be returned to Nigeria.

"There has been some $400 million of the Abacha money that has been returned. The case of Mr. Abacha is almost complete. When the court process is completed, the (remaining) money will be returned," he said.

Earlier, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Martin Uhomoibhi, said Nigeria and the Swiss government were at the verge of signing a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, on migration issues.

"Our discussions have centred on migration partnership. We are close to reaching a consensus on the MoU on migration. We also talked about the death of the young Nigerian who died in Zurich airport and they assured us that new measures have been put in place to ensure that this does not happen again. The death of one human being is one death too many," the permanent secretary said.

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Kidnapped Journalists freed

Four journalists who were kidnapped by gunmen in Nigeria were freed on Sunday.

The journalists spent seven days in captivity and were reportedly released in a forest in a remote area of Abia state. Although the kidnappers originally demanded a ransom of 250 million naira (1.3 million euros), a police spokesperson said no money was paid.

"Traumatic, confined, frightening," was how Abdulwahab Oba, one of the kidnapped journalists, described the experience.

"We'd almost given up," Oba told RFI. "We had to sleep on the ground without a mat, we were chained on our legs."

The abduction of the reporters created outrage in the country with Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan calling it an "embarrassing situation".

Gunmen had ambushed a convoy of cars carrying the journalists in the southern state of Akwa Ibom on Monday as they travelled to Aba, in neighbouring Abia state.

"I just feel so happy that our brothers are safe and no one succumbed to the threat of the kidnappers who are criminals that go about torturing people emotionally," Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili told the News Agency of Nigeria.

Before the kidnappers released their hostages they took all their personal belongings.

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