An increase in electricity prices by nearly three times has sparked a backlash in Nigeria. The decision to remove electricity subsidies is part of President Bola Tinubu's reform drive to ease pressure on the economy as the government targets up to 2.6 billion U.S. dollars from the subsidy removal.
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About 90 girls kidnapped from a government secondary school in Chibok, in Nigeria’s Borno State in 2014 remain missing. A total of 276 girls were taken. Many abductees have returned home and are trying to resume normal life. However, relatives of the girls still missing anxiously wait and hope for a reunion with their kin.
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Farmers in northern Nigeria have abandoned their commercial farms and turned to small-scale subsistence farming close to their homes to avoid being the victims of kidnapping. Insecurity in the region is an issue. Kidnappings for ransom are increasingly common.
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Kidnappings in Nigeria rise 10 years after Chibok girls abducted
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Security agents on Sunday announced the rescue of 23 students and workers kidnapped in September at the Federal University Gusau in Zamfara State, North-west Nigeria.
Security sources said they were rescued by security agents near Kuncin Dutse, a village in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara. The Coordinator of the National Counter-terrorism Centre, Adamu Laka, a major general, reportedly coordinated the operation.
PREMIUM TIMES they were further gathered that the rescued persons had been handed over to the security authorities in Abuja. Mr Laka is expected to present them to the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, on Monday.
The victims were evacuated to Abuja for debriefing and medical check-ups before being reunited with their families, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.
Earlier last month, nine of the female students were released after 178 days in captivity.
The 23 persons released in the latest development include 15 students and eight workers of the university. A woman abducted in Funtua in Katsina State was also rescued, a source told PREMIUM TIMES, asking for confidentiality because he was not invited to address the press.
One of the parents of the abducted students also confirmed the release of her daughter to DW Hausa Service late Sunday. She said her daughter called her and informed her that she was being moved to Gusau, the state capital.
The released students spent over 200 days in the terrorists’ camp following their abduction in September at their off-campus hostel in Sabon Gida, a community adjacent to the university campus in the state capital.
Some of the victims were rescued by security officials a few hours after their abduction. It was not immediately clear whether more or how many of the students were still being held by the terrorists.
The Zamfara State government is yet to speak on the latest release of the students.
The spokesperson for the Federal University, Gusau, Umar Usman, said he was yet to be briefed about the development when our reporter asked for his comments.
By Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu, Premium Times
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Gunmen in military uniform abducted five people in eastern Nigeria, tied their hands and shot them dead, police said on Saturday.
The attack overnight took place in Dananaca village, Taraba state, which is usually peaceful but which suffered a bombing at the hands of Islamist militants last week.
"The police are still investigating to ascertain if the people are real soldiers and from which unit," police spokesman for Taraba state Ibiam Mbaseki told Reuters by telephone.
"If they were genuine military men, they would have contacted us before carrying out such an operation, but we don't know where they came from."
Islamist sect Boko Haram, blamed for dozens of shootings and bombings since it launched an uprising in 2009, has sought to extend its reach too much of the north and the capital Abuja. The group has become President Goodluck Jonathan's number one security headache.
Suspected sect members attending a wedding party on Saturday opened fire on a military surveillance team monitoring the event, killing three civilians, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa of the joint military task force said.
Security forces combating Boko Haram complain that they hide amongst the civilian population, but the military's heavyhanded crackdowns and summary executions of suspects has angered the already alienated population of northern Nigeria.
The sect's armed struggle intensified after its spiritual leader Mohammed Yusuf died in police custody in 2009.
A bomb blast struck a police chief's convoy in eastern Nigeria's Taraba state on Monday, killing 11 people in the first such insurgent attack in the state.
A flurry of arrests of top figures in recent months had raised hopes the Boko Haram insurgency could be on the wane, but attacks in the past two weeks suggest they are very much still at large. Insecurity has spread across the north.
Suspected Boko Haram militants stormed a prison in their northeastern heartland on Friday, killing two guards and freeing the inmates, police said.
Gunmen threw bombs and opened fire on a cattle market in remote northeastern Nigeria on Wednesday, killing at least 60 people, a spokesman for the Yobe state governor said.
It was not clear if the killers were Islamists or a criminal gang.
By Ibrahim Mshelizza, Reuters
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