Friday, August 1, 2014

President Goodluck Jonathan appoints new Police Chief

President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the appointment of AIG Suleiman Abba as the new Inspector‑General of Police.

A statement by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said AIG Abba, currently the Assistant Inspector‑General of Police in charge of Zone 7, comprising Abuja, Kaduna and Niger states, replaces the incumbent Inspector‑General of Police, IGP Mohammed Abubakar, who proceeds on statutory retirement today (yesterday) having completed 35 years in service.

Suleiman Abba:


"The incoming Inspector‑General, a lawyer, hails from Jigawa State and is an alumnus of the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS. Positions previously held by him in the Police include Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department, FCT Command, Deputy Force Secretary and Commissioner of Police, Rivers State. His appointment is with effect from today, August 1, 2014″

The Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Sir Mike Mbama Okiro in a congratulatory message to the new IGP said it was a deserved appointment.

In a statement by Mr. Ferdinand Ekpe, Assistant Director, Information of the commission, Okiro advised him to rise up to the challenges of his new appointment, noting that as a tested officer who had held various Command positions in the Nigeria Police Force, he had no doubt he (Abba) would bring new perspectives in the search for solutions to the security threats confronting the nation.


Until his appointment, Abba was the Assistant Inspector‑General of Police in Charge of Zone 7, Abuja.

He formerly served as the Deputy Force Secretary at Force headquarters and Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Kebbi State Police Command. He was also the Aide de Camp to Mrs. Mariam Abacha. He was also at one time, the officer in charge MOPOL 44 Abuja.

It will be recalled that Vanguard had exclusively reported, yesterday, that President Goodluck Jonathan and the Police council made up of the 36 state governors and the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Sir Mike Mbama Okiro (IGP, rtd) settled for the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 7, Mr. Suleiman Abba as the next Inspector General of Police when incumbent, Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar retires after attaining the mandatory 35 years in service by 31st of this month.

The out-going Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar and his successor had earlier met with President Jonathan at the Presidential Villa.

The duo met with the president for less than 20 minutes before driving out of the Presidential Villa. They declined to speak with the press as they drove out together.

Vanguard

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Nigerian forces find 10-year old girl strapped with bombs

Nigerian forces have arrested two Boko Haram suspects who were travelling with a 10-year-old girl with explosives strapped to her, the government said on Wednesday.

Government spokesman Mike Omeri said the suspects had been intercepted in a Honda CRV car travelling along a road in the north's Katsina state.

"Ten-year old Hadiza was discovered to have been strapped with an explosive belt and, immediately, Iliya and Zainab made attempt to escape with the car, but were later blocked by other concerned Nigerians and subsequently arrested," he said.

Reuters

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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Video - Getting people reading in Nigeria


It's no news that the reading culture is dying in Nigeria. People no longer read as they used in the past and the cinema is much now preferred to the library. But one small start-up is embarking on the audacious mission to revive the reading culture in Nigeria by taking the library to people’s homes.

US Senators want Nigeria sanctioned for anti-gay law

Ten senators of the United States (US) are seeking sanctions against Nigeria, over what they described as “a growing trend of laws and proposed legislation targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals in Africa.”

In a letter to President Barack Obama, published by The Cable, the senators were seeking a review of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allowed for duty-free treatment of certain imports from Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries since 2000.

“We, therefore, ask that your administration review Nigeria and Uganda’s eligibility for AGOA’s trade preference and, if it is determined that those countries are not ‘making continual progress’ in meeting the statute’s requirements, that you take steps to revoke AGOA eligibility to Nigeria and Uganda, in accordance with 19 USC 2466a(a)(3),” the senators stated.

The senators believed that the enacted Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act by Nigeria in January and the enforcement of these laws would be a human rights abuse, in violation of the standards set forth in the AGOA.

“These laws, combined with the growing public vitriol by government officials and the media, threaten to usher in an era of widespread oppression of the LGBT community in many African countries.

“We believe that the discriminatory anti-LGBT laws in those countries represent a clear violation of human rights and hope that the interagency process charged with AGOA’s annual review will make this recommendation. We further ask that you not restore eligibility until these beneficiary countries have taken steps to eliminate harsh penalties for LGBT persons,” the senators said.

The senators, according to the letter published in The Cable, are Christopher S. Murphy, Tammy Baldwin, Martin Heinrich, Richard Blumenthal, Barbara Boxer, Al Franken, Kirsten Gillibrand, Edward Markey, Sherrod Brown and Mark E. Udall.

Tribune

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Female suicide bombers kill 3 in Kano, Nigeria

Two blasts by female suicide bombers have killed three people and injured 13 in Nigeria's Kano city, bringing the number of attacks this week in the area to five and overshadowing festivities marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

A woman detonated low-calibre explosives packed to her torso at a petrol station in the Hotoro area on the outskirts of the city, targeting women who had lined up to buy kerosene, Kano police spokesman Musa Magaji Majia told AFP news agency.
Majia said 10 victims were rushed to the hospital after the blast that went off at roughly 09:30 GMT on Monday and that three had died.

Roughly three hours after the petrol station blast another female bomber approached the Trade Fair Complex in a key commercial district, Kano state police chief Aderele Shinaba said.

She was stopped at the gate and blew herself up, he added. "It was the same modus operandi," Shinaba said. "Six people were injured, including two (police) officers."

Celebrations banned

The violence marred what was supposed to be a festive day in Kano, a city of more than six million people and the largest in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north.

The city of Kano has banned all public worship and celebrations over the holiday marking the end of Ramadan that is currently underway. Other northern Nigerian cities have banned personal vehicles, fearing intensified violence over the holidays.

Kano is outside the region of northern Nigeria that has been under emergency rule for more than a year, but it is a frequent target of Boko Haram attacks.

On Sunday, a 15-year-old girl detonated a bomb near a temporary university site, killing only herself, said Kano State Shinaba said.

Five others were killed in a church bombing the same day, he said, and a third bomb was discovered at a mosque before it exploded, harming no one, Reuters news agency reported.

Three suspected Boko Haram members were arrested immediately after the church bombing, Shinaba said.

Aljazeera

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Bomb blast in a Church in Kano, Nigeria kills 5