Lt Col Adeboye Obasanjo, the son of former president Olusegun Obasanjo who was shot and wounded by Boko Haram militants in a fight in Adamawa State Monday has been discharged from hospital, officials at the Federal Medical Centre said in Yola yesterday.
However, it emerges yesterday that a colonel in the Nigerian Army is feared killed in the current offensive against Boko Haram insurgents in Adamawa state.
The officer, whose name was simply given as Col Yakubu, was reportedly shot and killed in the same operation in which Lt Col Adeboye Obasanjo was wounded over the weekend. Lt Col Adeboye is the son of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Sources told Daily Trust yesterday that family members of Col Yakubu who have become aware of the incident are now said to be in Yola, concerned that their son may have been dead already. They are said to be asking for true information about the colonel and requesting as well that his whereabouts be disclosed to them dead or alive.
When contacted yesterday the Defence spokesman Major General Chris Olukolade said, the officer in question is considered Missing in Action.
Obasanjo's son was injured in Bazza, northern Adamawa State during a failed bid by troops to re-take the town from Boko Haram insurgents. He was taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) where he spent two days receiving treatment.
"He had a minor injury and he was treated and discharged," a senior official said. "He received the best attention that we could possibly offer and he responded quickly."
Security concerns also contributed to his early discharge, the source said, disclosing that it was the military top brass who suggested that he should be discharged and flown out of the state.
The Information Officer of the FMC Malam Adamu Dodo confirmed the story, stressing that both his speedy recovery and the security factor contributed to his early release.
"There is also the issue of his safety given the attention the story has been getting", he said.
The case has been receiving huge public attention and high profile personalities have been visiting him.
Meanwhile, additional details have emerged on how the former president's son was shot and wounded by the militants.
A source told Daily Trust that Lt Col Obasanjo and some other officers were overwhelmed by the insurgents because the soldiers failed to obey the orders of their commanders.
He said when the soldiers were confronted by the insurgents in Bazza, their commanders ordered them to fight but they failed to do so effectively. As soon as the insurgents opened fire on them, they ran without standing their ground to fight back as ordered by their superiors.
He said that was why some of the soldiers were killed and others, including Obasanjo's son, were injured. He also said Bazza, Michika, Gulak and Madagali are still under the firm control of the insurgents.
Daily Trust
Related stories: Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's son shot in Boko Haram attack
Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Friday, September 12, 2014
Video - Makoko Nigeria's thriving slum
Makoko in Nigeria is one of the more unusual slums in all of Africa.
It’s built on water, which provides a way of life for the fishing community - but also risks spreading disease because of the cramped population.
At least 200,000 people live here and after more than a century of non-inteference, local officials recently took a keen interest in the slum.
Aljazeera
Related stories: Video - Building a floating school in Makoko
Makoko's floating school struggles to stay afloat
Video - homeless battle in Makoko
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Tuface Idibia new album becomes Nigeria's best selling album
Tuface Idibia's new album is now the highest selling album according to iTunes Nigeria.After topping the iTunes Nigeria chart for some weeks now, the album has sold a higher number of copies and according to feelers, it will break other records. Tuface's sixth album within a month of release became the 12th world best album in terms of sales.
The iTunes Nigeria music chart showed that the album had become No.1 at the cadre.
Annie Idibia, wife and mother of Tuface's two kids went to the social media about a month ago to break the news of the albums as fast-selling and turned to praying and thanking God for the success of the album and her husband.
With the music scene recording new albums from our stars, it is indeed a feat for Tu Baba and also a testimony to his staying power having been in the music industry for twelve years now.
Leadership
Videos document gruesome abuse by Nigerian military in it's fight against Boko Haram
Dozens of gruesome videos appear to show horrifying abuses by Nigerian security forces and state-sponsored militias as part of a battle against the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. The existence of the videos was revealed in "Hunting Boko Haram," a new documentary by PBS Frontline.
Desperate to combat the rise of Boko Haram, Nigerian authorities launched a massive crackdown against the group in 2009 called "Operation Flush." Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have long accused security forces of committing massive human rights violations during the operation, including kidnappings, torture, extrajudicial killings and the arrests and murders of countless of civilians with no ties to the insurgent group.
The grainy videos obtained by Evan Williams for PBS Frontline appear to document some of these abuses. According to a militiaman who said he took part in some of the killings and ferried dozens of bodies to a morgue in northeast Nigeria , he and his colleagues were trained by Nigerian security forces.
Williams also spoke with several civilians in Nigeria’s northeast who said their brothers, fathers, sons or neighbors disappeared after being taken by militiamen or government forces during operations against Boko Haram. They said that many of the prisoners never returned and had no connections to Boko Haram.
Former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell says in the documentary that the videos confirm reports of abuses that have been circulating for years.
Huffington Post
Related stories: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Desperate to combat the rise of Boko Haram, Nigerian authorities launched a massive crackdown against the group in 2009 called "Operation Flush." Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have long accused security forces of committing massive human rights violations during the operation, including kidnappings, torture, extrajudicial killings and the arrests and murders of countless of civilians with no ties to the insurgent group.
The grainy videos obtained by Evan Williams for PBS Frontline appear to document some of these abuses. According to a militiaman who said he took part in some of the killings and ferried dozens of bodies to a morgue in northeast Nigeria , he and his colleagues were trained by Nigerian security forces.
Williams also spoke with several civilians in Nigeria’s northeast who said their brothers, fathers, sons or neighbors disappeared after being taken by militiamen or government forces during operations against Boko Haram. They said that many of the prisoners never returned and had no connections to Boko Haram.
Former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell says in the documentary that the videos confirm reports of abuses that have been circulating for years.
Huffington Post
Related stories: Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Syringe used to attack U.S. Air Marshal at airport in Lagos did not contain deadly pathogens
A U.S. air marshal was being monitored after being attacked with a syringe containing an unknown substance at a Nigerian airport, officials said Tuesday.
Preliminary tests showed the syringe did not contain any deadly pathogens, according to FBI spokesman Christos Sinos.
Authorities are still trying to determine what was in the syringe, but Sinos said initial tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are "negative for any bad stuff," including Ebola.
The air marshal, who was on duty at the time, was attacked Sunday at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria, one of the West African countries dealing with an Ebola outbreak.
The unidentified air marshal then boarded a United Airlines flight and was taken to a hospital after landing at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport on Monday.
"Out of an abundance of caution, the (CDC) conducted an on-scene screening of the victim when (the flight) landed in Houston early Monday morning," the FBI said in a statement. "The victim did not exhibit any signs of illness during the flight and was transported to a hospital upon landing for further testing. None of the testing conducted has indicated a danger to other passengers."
The air marshal's condition was not immediately known Tuesday. CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said her agency did not have any information about his condition, only that he had been examined by health officers with the federal agency when he arrived Monday.
The Transportation Security Administration, which runs the Federal Air Marshal Service, declined to comment on the air marshal's condition.
The TSA as well as United Airlines declined to comment when asked if the safety of passengers might have been placed in danger by letting the air marshal board his flight when officials did not know what he was injected with.
Joseph Gutheinz, a former special agent with both the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General and the FAA's Civil Aviation Security division, said the air marshal should have instead been quarantined in Nigeria until authorities had a better idea of what was in the syringe.
"The idea of a possibly infected person flying on a commercial flight is bizarre to me," said Gutheinz, who now works as a Houston-area attorney. "There are a lot of questions unanswered here. My focus is what procedures are they following, if any."
Yahoo
Related story: U.S. Air Marshal attacked with syringe at airport in Lagos, Nigeria
Preliminary tests showed the syringe did not contain any deadly pathogens, according to FBI spokesman Christos Sinos.
Authorities are still trying to determine what was in the syringe, but Sinos said initial tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are "negative for any bad stuff," including Ebola.
The air marshal, who was on duty at the time, was attacked Sunday at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria, one of the West African countries dealing with an Ebola outbreak.
The unidentified air marshal then boarded a United Airlines flight and was taken to a hospital after landing at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport on Monday.
"Out of an abundance of caution, the (CDC) conducted an on-scene screening of the victim when (the flight) landed in Houston early Monday morning," the FBI said in a statement. "The victim did not exhibit any signs of illness during the flight and was transported to a hospital upon landing for further testing. None of the testing conducted has indicated a danger to other passengers."
The air marshal's condition was not immediately known Tuesday. CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said her agency did not have any information about his condition, only that he had been examined by health officers with the federal agency when he arrived Monday.
The Transportation Security Administration, which runs the Federal Air Marshal Service, declined to comment on the air marshal's condition.
The TSA as well as United Airlines declined to comment when asked if the safety of passengers might have been placed in danger by letting the air marshal board his flight when officials did not know what he was injected with.
Joseph Gutheinz, a former special agent with both the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General and the FAA's Civil Aviation Security division, said the air marshal should have instead been quarantined in Nigeria until authorities had a better idea of what was in the syringe.
"The idea of a possibly infected person flying on a commercial flight is bizarre to me," said Gutheinz, who now works as a Houston-area attorney. "There are a lot of questions unanswered here. My focus is what procedures are they following, if any."
Yahoo
Related story: U.S. Air Marshal attacked with syringe at airport in Lagos, Nigeria
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