A 17-year-old student of the Redeemers University, Osun State, Akinlaja Ireoluwa Oluwatomiwa, who was kidnapped in Ogun State has escaped from his abductors.
The 100-Level Mass Communication student was on his way to the Redemption camp to join his parents when he was abducted by the kidnappers around Sagamu Interchange, Ogun state on Sunday, August 14.
It was gathered that he had alighted from a vehicle and while waiting for his parents to pick him up, the kidnappers captured him.
Akinlaja immediately sent a message to his mother, informing her that he had been kidnapped.
Men of the Ogun State Police Command immediately swung into action in an effort to rescue the victim and apprehend the hoodlums.
However, the student escaped from his abductors before security agents got to Ikorodu, where he was driven to.
Reacting to the incident, Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, vowed that there will be no-hiding place for criminals in the state.
In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, on Monday, August 15, Abiodun confirmed that the victim, who was kidnapped while on his way to the Redemption Camp on Lagos-Ibadan expressway, escaped from his abductors as security operatives swooped on their den, in Ikorodu, Lagos.
"The victim, Akinlaja Ireoluwa Oluwatomiwa is a student of the Redeemers University in Osun State. He was on his way to join his parents when he was kidnapped," the statement read.
"Our security men had trailed the kidnappers to Ikorodu, where the victim was being held hostage. Their arrival on the scene had given an opportunity for the victim to escape from captivity. We are happy that the victim escaped unhurt. He has since been reunited with his parents,"
The statement further noted that the security operatives are still on the trail of the kidnappers, adding that no effort would be spared to rid the State of undesirable elements.
"The Governor appreciates the sacrifices of the security personnel and tasked them not relent in their commitment at restoring public confidence and safety on the highways always,"
"Ogun State has zero tolerance for terrorists, bandits, kidnappers or ritual murderers and other criminals by whatever name they are called", the state helmsman insisted, saying: "our security system has been fortified to repel them; we will smoke them out and visit the full wrath of the law on them."
Source; Daily Post
THE Presidency has described the boundaries between Nigeria and her neighbours as artificial.
The Chief of Staff of to President Muhamnadu Buhari, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, stated this when he honoured two of the President’s staff, who were recently honoured by the President of Niger Republic, Mohammed Bazoum.
Prof. Gambari, at the reception that was held in the State House, described Buhari’s foreign policy as ‘concentric circle’.
The presidential aides on whom the Nigerien highest honour were recently conferred were the State Chief of Protocol (SCOP), Lawal Kazaure, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Household and Domestic Affairs, Sarkin Ada.
Gambari said that those countries sharing borders with Nigeria, including Cameroon, Benin Republic, Chad and Niger Republic, share same interests and cultural affinities which bind them together.
According to him, “All these boundaries are very much artificial. The Europeans in Congress of Berlin just took a piece of paper and were drawing lines across places where they have never been.
“They never intended to be separated. People who should be united and uniting people.
“But the leaders of Africa decided that it’s wise to keep those boundaries artificial as they may be, because to change them other than peacefully will be creating even more problems than they can solve.
“But in any case, whether by those lines, whether artificial or not, Niger/Nigeria share common boundaries, common interests, common concerns for their families across the borders.”
Commenting on Buhari’s foreign policy, Prof. Gambari said: “In his (Buhari’s) earlier incarnation as Head of State, the defining feature of his policies was concentric circle of Nigerian foreign policy.
“That our interests, our efforts, will be concentrated on promoting Nigeria’s interests in concentric circles at the epicenter; the defense of Nigeria’s integrity, the prosperity, the welfare of its people.
“But next is the neighbouring countries, then West Africa, then Africa, and then the rest of the world.
“And he has proved the continuity of Nigeria foreign policy in this sense by the fact that the first countries he visited after being sworn in were the neighbouring countries.”
Speaking at the occasion, the State House Permanent Secretary, Tijjani Umar, congratulated the awardees, adding that the challenge of COVID-19, climate change and lately, the Russian/Ukraine war have impacted the population negatively and, as such, it has become important for countries to watch each other’s back.
He stressed that the honour conferred on the presidential aides has further strengthened the bonds between Nigeria and Niger Republic.
Responding, the SCOP, who spoke on behalf of his fellow awardee, said the international award was in recognition of the enviable strides made by the President, even as he lauded Buhari for exposing them locally and internationally.
He thanked the Chief of Staff for organising the reception in their honour.
Source; https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/08/boundaries-between-nigeria-neighbours-artificial-says-presidency/
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, Monday, forwarded a list of eight nominees for the positions of commissioners to the state House of Assembly for confirmation.
The Speaker of the House, Hamisu Chidari, read the names in a governor’s letter at plenary on Monday.
Chidari listed the names as Ibrahim Dan’azumi Gwarzo, Abdulhalim Liman Dan Maliki, Lamin Sani Zawiyya, Ya’u Abdullahi Yanshana, Garba Yusif Abubakar, Yusif Jibril Rurum, Adamu Abdu Panda and Saleh Kausani.
Eight commissioners who were interested in contesting elective positions had resigned their appointment before the primaries of political parties.
Their resignation was in line with the Electoral Act, 2022 as amended.
Chidari said the commissioner nominees would be screened on Monday next week.
Source; https://punchng.com/ganduje-moves-to-reshuffle-cabinet-nominates-eight-commissioners/
The Oyo State Police Command has arrested a suspected kidnapper, who wrote a letter to a private university in Oyo town and told the management of his plan to abduct three students of the institution.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Adebowale Williams, while parading the suspected kidnappers and other suspects on Monday, noted that the suspects were arrested at different times by men of the command.
The CP said the suspected kidnapper asked the university to pay N10 million to stop him from striking. He was also said to have written a bank in the town to notify the management of his intention to attack the place.
He, however, said the arrests of the suspects were made possible by the crime tackling approach “premised upon improved communal partnerships and technology-aided inquiries.”
He said, “The command’s monitoring unit has intercepted a kidnap mastermind whose mode of operation is to run detailed background checks on unsuspected victims and then inform them through writing of his intentions to abduct them unless a stipulated amount of money could be sourced and paid to him.
“Preliminary investigations revealed on Thursday, August 11, 2022 at about 8am, members of a notorious kidnapping syndicate sent a ‘’hand-written” note to the management of a private university in Oyo town wherein they threatened to abduct three of its students should the management fail to pay up N10,000,000 within a stipulated period.
“The threat, as expected, disrupted academic activities within the university, stirring up panic and uncertainty among the university community.
“Basking under the euphoria of what they presumed was a successful scheme, and blinded with greed, they decided to extend a similar (hand-written) notification to a branch office of a new generation bank within Owode area, Oyo, with the intentions of invading it later in the week.
“Consequent upon the above, discreet forensic based investigations were carried out and this led to the arrest of one Azeez Mufutau ‘M’ whose phone numbers were inscribed on the ‘’hand-written notes’’ sent to both the school management and bank.
“Upon questioning, the suspect confirmed that the phone number on the note was his but denied being the author of the document.
“The investigation further led to the arrest of one Olarinde Adekunle ‘M’ age 37 years, who confessed to being the author of the hand-written notes under scrutiny and added that Azeez Mufutau ‘m’ was used as a decoy for the purpose of concealing his direct involvement.”
According to him, a Tecno phone was recovered from the suspect who some said might not be mentally okay.
The command also paraded some alleged armed robbers who were arrested for attacking a Point of Sale operator and dispossessing him of his proceeds.
He said the hoodlums struck at shop of one Abass Taiwo around 8:30pm on July 23 at Oyo town and dispossessed him of his money.
Luck, however, ran out of them as the victim raised the alarm after the hoodlums had left and policemen on patrol arrested the suspects.
“The notorious hoodlums who were armed to the teeth attacked Taiwo, dispossessing him of huge proceeds from his POS Machine, 10 different mobile phones belonging to his customers and some other valuable items at gunpoint,” he added.
Source; https://punchng.com/kidnapper-writes-oyo-varsity-bank-threatens-abduction/
