How Kwara NSCDC ensured peace, orderliness in Kogi election.

The relative peace and harmony enjoyed during the just concluded Kogi State election was largely due to the unwavering efforts, doggedness and resilience of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officers and men led by Commandant and other security operatives deployed to the state

The Kwara State Commandant of NSCDC, Commandant Umar J.G. Mohammed’s commitment to free, fair election, contributed in no small measure to the success recorded during the process.

Recall that the Commandant General, Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, had mobilized personnel from Benue, Niger, Kwara, Nasarawa, FCT Commands and the National Headquarters, Commandant Umar spearheaded a comprehensive deployment strategy.

Officers from various specialized units, including the Armed Squad, Counter Terrorism Unit, CBRNE, Anti-Vandal Unit, Operations, Intelligence Department, Disaster Management Unit, Agro Rangers, and the Female Squad, were strategically deployed to ensure the protection of lives and property of citizens during the election.

Commandant Umar emphasized that the deployment aimed at mass mobilization and enhancing security measures in Kogi, fostering a safe and orderly electoral environment in accordance with NSCDC’s mandate.

Throughout the electoral process, Commandant Umar, alongside fellow counterparts, played a pivotal role in maintaining law and order, safeguarding lives, and significantly contributing to the overall success of the election.

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Many persons were feared dead today as suspected bandits opened fire on worshipers at the St Francis Catholic Church, Owa-luwa Street, in Owo council area of Ondo State capital.

The state police spokesperson, Funmi Odunlami said the command would speak on the ugly incident later.

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Biodun Oyebanji wins APC Governorship Primary in Ekiti with 101,703

Breakdown of votes

Bamidele Faparusi - 376
Ojo Kayode - 767
Opeyemi Bamidele - 760
Dayo Adeyeye - 691
Femi Bamisile - 400
Oyebanji Abiodun 101,703
Toyin Afolabi - 47
Demola Popoola - 239

#EkitiDecides2022

The United States has expressed its readiness to assist Nigeria identify sponsors of terrorism in the country.
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This was disclosed on Monday by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, during a meeting with journalists in Abuja.


US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard.
When the envoy was asked if the US was ready to help Nigeria identify sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria, she said talks were ongoing on the matter, The Punch reports.

Leonard said, “That is something we are very eager to partner Nigeria on. I have had at least three conversations in the last two months on this subject.

“I won’t like to go into details.”

She also allayed fear that the US partnership with Nigeria might end up like that of Afghanistan.

According to her, Nigeria has had a strong bilateral relationship with the US, saying that the situations are not the same.

She added, “I hear people making the analogy with Afghanistan a lot, it does not match up.

“When you listen to what President Biden said on how troops went to Afghanistan in the first place, it was because they were in a horrible tragedy, over 3,000 Americans were killed.
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“That is a different construct. The sovereign nations who have had strong bilateral relations. I don’t actually think the two match up.”

The Commander, US Air Forces in Europe, General Jeffrey Harrigian, said the purchase of Tucano fighter jets by Nigeria was an opportunity to cement the US relationship with the West African country and curb insecurity.

He said, “The A -29 Super Tucano gives us an opportunity to reconnect our relationship with Nigeria.

“It is also an opportunity to bring together the capabilities on the human side and what the A29 brings to the nation, practically as it would contribute to bringing stability to not only Nigeria but the region.”

By Yusuf Bakare, Ilorin

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kwara command is seeking measures to address the rising differences between the Farmers and Herders in the Agro allied industry.

As a result, the State Commandant of NSCDC, Mr Makinde Iskil Ayinla called a Stakeholders Forum organized by NSCDC in Ilorin, on Friday looking into causes, implications and solutions to the conflict between the two parties.

Ayinla said that the Command quest to critically analyze the issues, gave birth to the forum, which he said was important to the dear nation.

The Commandant said that other social vices such as kidnappings, banditry, terrorism, insurgencies, cultism and cyber crimes was becoming alarming.

“This forum will go along way in the sustainability of peace and the socio-economic development of the immediate society and the country at large,” the Commandant said.

He said that in the last three months 37 matters with regards to herders and farmers relationship had been intervened by the Command.

“The Command recovered about 27 stolen Cows, and was later released to their owners and created Cow-pathway in people’s farm

“We also assisted a farmer to recover his stolen Motorcycle, and had engagement with principal stakeholders (crop farmers and herders) in roundtable discussion, to forestall peace,” Ayinla said.

The Commandant assured commitment and readiness of NSCDC to continue to protect the Agro allied industry, and other security related challenges through the Agro-Rangers Unit.

He solicited for the support, cooperation and salient contributions from participating stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the conflict, thereby enhancing a viable Agro allied industry in the state and by extension, Nigeria.

The Coordinator of Tractors Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria, Kwara Chapter, Alhaji Muhammad Kudu said that the Herders and Farmers are brothers and should be working together for their success.

Kudu said that patience and cooperation should be taken very serious in the discussion, in order to achieve a positive result.

“I beg my brothers, both the Farmers and Herders to work together to achieve security of lives and properties and also be our brothers keepers,” he said.

Alhaji Muhammad Gidado, representative of Fulani Herdsmen also pleaded with the parties involved to live in peace and stop any form of misunderstanding.

Gidado said that most of the causes of the problem is devil, and urged the two parties to shun evil whispering and work towards peace and progress.

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps, has reported the case of one Hassana Mohammed of yarugaba compound Kaiama who was murdered and her dead body dumped along kanikoko road Kaiama, by some suspected ritualists.

The deceased was not found at home and she did not pick her phone. Security agencies and local vigilantes were alerted.

On search, she was found dead along kanikoko road Kaiama. Upon medical examination, it was discovered that, her vagina and breast were removed by the ritualists.

She has since be buried after necessary examination while investigation is on going to unravel the perpetrators.

SC BABAWALE ZAID AFOLABI

PRO NSCDC, KWARA STATE COMMAMD

Three out of the 17 pilots and flight attendants who flew 14 Chinese medical doctors and medical supplies from China to Nigeria on Wednesday have boycotted the Lagos quarantine centre provided by the Lagos State Government, investigations by Sunday PUNCH have revealed.

The crew, who flew Air Peace’s Boeing 777-200ER jumbo jet from China, landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The 17 pilots and flight attendants later on Wednesday proceeded to Lagos to be quarantined by the Lagos State Government in line with an agreement the Ministry of Health reached with the carrier’s management.  The Chinese medical personnel were quarantined in Abuja.


Three out of the 17 pilots and flight attendants who flew 14 Chinese medical doctors and medical supplies from China to Nigeria on Wednesday have boycotted the Lagos quarantine centre provided by the Lagos State Government, investigations by Sunday PUNCH have revealed.

The crew, who flew Air Peace’s Boeing 777-200ER jumbo jet from China, landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The 17 pilots and flight attendants later on Wednesday proceeded to Lagos to be quarantined by the Lagos State Government in line with an agreement the Ministry of Health reached with the carrier’s management.  The Chinese medical personnel were quarantined in Abuja.

Air Peace partnered the Federal Government to ferry the 14-member Chinese medical team and medical supplies from China to Nigeria.

The Chinese team brought about 16 tons of test kits, ventilators, disinfection machine, disposable medical masks, N95 masks, medications, rubber gloves, protective gowns, goggles, face shields, infra-red thermometers and others.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, who was at the airport to receive the Chinese doctors and their supplies, said the team would be quarantined for two weeks.



Three out of the 17 pilots and flight attendants who flew 14 Chinese medical doctors and medical supplies from China to Nigeria on Wednesday have boycotted the Lagos quarantine centre provided by the Lagos State Government, investigations by Sunday PUNCH have revealed.

The crew, who flew Air Peace’s Boeing 777-200ER jumbo jet from China, landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The 17 pilots and flight attendants later on Wednesday proceeded to Lagos to be quarantined by the Lagos State Government in line with an agreement the Ministry of Health reached with the carrier’s management.  The Chinese medical personnel were quarantined in Abuja.

Air Peace partnered the Federal Government to ferry the 14-member Chinese medical team and medical supplies from China to Nigeria.

The Chinese team brought about 16 tons of test kits, ventilators, disinfection machine, disposable medical masks, N95 masks, medications, rubber gloves, protective gowns, goggles, face shields, infra-red thermometers and others.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, who was at the airport to receive the Chinese doctors and their supplies, said the team would be quarantined for two weeks.

He said, “They knew that before they came and have undergone tests before they left their country.

“Nevertheless, they will be in quarantine for 14 days. The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control has gone to see where they will be quarantined.”

Ehanire added: “The equipment (they brought) will assist a lot to fill some existing gaps. We now have 50 more ventilators.”

However, Sunday PUNCH investigation showed that the flight crew members disagreed with Port Health Services officials on duty at Lagos airport over the 14-day compulsory quarantine

Port Health Services is a unit of the Ministry of Health that screens arriving and departing passengers of infectious diseases especially COVID-19.

On arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at about 10pm on Wednesday, the flight crew initially refused to be quarantined.

Ministry of Health sources confirmed that the pilots and cabin crew members claimed their management did not inform them of the 14-day compulsory quarantine.


As such, the flight personnel initially refused to follow the port health officials to the quarantine centre provided by the Lagos State Government.

There was subsequently a heated exchange that lasted for about three hours over the 14-day compulsory quarantine between the crew and the port health officials.

After several calls by the port health officials on duty to top officials of the Ministry of Health in Abuja as well as top officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, the crew members bowed to pressure and agreed to go to the quarantine centre at about 1am.

On arriving the Scholars Lodge at the University of Lagos where the state government had prepared for the crew to be quarantine around 2am, another debate ensued over the type of the apartment provided.

The crew members insisted that they wanted a single-user apartment for each member of the crew instead of the two-bedroom apartment meant to be shared by two persons which the state provided.

Top health officials told Sunday PUNCH the crew asked officers on duty to take them to another facility as the apartments were not the type they wanted.  This debate, it was learnt, went on for another three hours till about 5 am before the crew finally agreed to stay at the centre.


Meanwhile, before the crew departed the Lagos airport, one of the 17 crew members had escaped and left apparently for his house, unknown to the port health officials.

This was not discovered until Thursday evening when a head count was conducted at the quarantine centre.

It was also at this time officials discovered that two out of the 16 crew members brought to the Scholars Lodge had also escaped.

Findings by Sunday PUNCH revealed that the Ministry of Health and Lagos State Government had reached out to the management of the airline over the whereabouts of the two crew members.

As of the time of filing this report, it had yet to be ascertained where the two crew members were.

When contacted on Friday, the Director, Port Health Services, Ministry of Health, Dr Morenike Alex-Okoh, in her reaction, said she was not authorised to speak on the matter. She directed our correspondent to the minister of health or the health ministry’s permanent secretary.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Abdullahi Mashi, confirmed the development but noted that the cabin crew members who left the quarantine centre had returned to the facility, saying “they are back now.”

Asked further about the health risks of the crew leaving the quarantine, having met several other contacts during that period, Mashi said, “They are back, it is left for the Lagos State surveillance team to work on that. They will do the needful. The important thing is that they are back.”

Air Peace also confirmed the development but did not explain the reasons the crew members left the facility.

The Chief Operating Officer, Air Peace, Mrs Toyin Olajide, in a terse message to Sunday PUNCH said, “All crew are back in the quarantine facility, including the engineer.”

Asked when the crew members returned to the facility, she said “Friday afternoon.”

She did not give reasons the crew left the quarantine facility.


Also, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Olusegun Ogunye, when contacted on the matter, confirmed the development but noted that all the 17 pilots and flight attendants were back in the facility.

Ogunye, who spoke through the spokesperson for the state health ministry, Mr Tubosun Ogubanwo, said, “The state government has reached out to all the 17 pilots and flight attendants through the Epidemiology and Surveillance Team on COVID-19. So, all 17 of them are now together.”

Asked further on the health implications of the crew leaving the quarantine centre and returning after about 24 hours, Ogunye said, “What I want you to know is that the state government has reached out to them and necessary action has been taken. I believe the team is in charge of it..

A 90-year-old Adama* living in a village in Burkina Faso, was wrongfully accused and ejected from his village following a cultic ritual, but right in his ejected state, he found God.

It seems a 6-year-old girl in the village had died suddenly and mysteriously, and leaders of the Bwaba tribe near Tuy were looking for answers, according to a report by Christian Aid Mission (CAM).

They initiated a divination ritual to determine what had provoked local spirits to take the girl’s life. The results of the divination pointed the finger of blame at Adama. They accused him of using witchcraft to bring the deadly disease upon the girl.

“He was so stunned he could hardly mutter that he had done no such thing. The traditions of the animist village called for him to be expelled for two years to verify his guilt; if he managed to survive in the wilds, he would be declared innocent and could return,” according to CAM.

Adama knew they were essentially giving him a death sentence, since it would be difficult for him to endure in the wild at his advanced age.

For over a month he was able to survive by eating leaves and grass. His granddaughter even managed to sneak some meat to him. He made a crude shelter by attaching a blanket to tree branches.

“The solitude, the elements and the psychological trauma soon took their toll. Gaunt and broken, he was cursing some rocks when indigenous missionaries spied him,” according to CAM.

The missionaries had visited Adama’s village for a few weeks and had little to show for it. Only one family put their trust in Christ, otherwise, their message was rejected.

As the missionaries were leaving the village they saw a strange sight – an old man (Adama) shouting in the distance.

“The old man was at the end of his rope in despair and had already planned to kill himself,” the director of the ministry told CAM. One of the missionaries invited Adama to his house and began to care for him.

After a few weeks, the missionary invited the family in the village who had become Christian to speak with Adama.

“He learned about the love of God for men from the family and decided to follow that God of love who gave his life for the salvation of humanity,” the director said.

The Word and the Spirit touched Adama’s heart and he was born again!

Two months after his new found faith in Christ, villagers discovered the real reason for the death of the girl, and it had nothing to do with Adama.

ABUJA — Influential Chief of Staff to President Mohammed Buhari, Mallam Abba Kyari, has reportedly tested positive to the rampaging Coronavirus that is currently wreaking havoc in the country, forcing some state governors to either put their states on lock down or threaten to do so.