Media Siege: Jonathan fighting a battle he can’t win — APC

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has condemned the siege on newspapers across the country by security agencies. The party warnend that the Jonathan Administration, by tampering with press freedom, had taken on a battle it cannot win.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said the President failed to learn the lessons of history that the Nigerian media could neither be intimidated nor suppressed by anyone, and that all those who tried to do so in the past lived to regret their actions.

It wondered why a government that was having problems prosecuting war on terror was instead waging a war on the media and using the security agencies to interfere with the country’s democracy.

52 Killed as Nigerian Troop and Boko Haram Clash

The Troops of the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army and suspected gunmen of the Boko Haram sect in over two dozens of Toyota Hilux vehicles and motorcycles, clashed Friday morning at the Mainok Village Market in Borno State, resulting in the death 52 terror suspects and nine traders attempting to flee the crossfire that lasted for over half an hour.

Mainok is a farming community 60 kilometres west of Maiduguri, the state capital.

According to military sources in Maiduguri who spoke with Guardian news, the gunmen planned to attack the village, which holds its weekly market on Fridays, to “terrorise and extort money and food items from the traders.”

Panic in Lagos over Bomb scare

Traders and residents around the central mosque area on Lagos Island were rattled on Thursday when they heard that there were explosives in a bag dumped in the area by an unknown person.

There was panic as residents and traders scampered for safety to avoid being hit by the suspected bomb. The state Police Spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), however said the content of the abandoned bag was not explosives but fillants.

Courageous Police officers foil suicide bombing in Damaturu

The Police on Sunday said they foiled an attempt by a suicide bomber operating in a pick-up van laden with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to explode them in Damaturu, the Yobe capital.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, Director of Defence Information and Coordinator of Joint Information Centre, Counter Terrorism Campaign.

According to the statement, “the target was the `A’ Division Police Command situated by the main round about in the heart of the town.

How a Police officer in Ogun state kills self, wife, six others

Tragedy struck in Abeokuta on Thursday as a police corporal shot dead his wife, a commercial motorcyclist and five members of a family. The corporal, Sunkanmi Ogunbiyi, also killed himself.

The incident occurred at 67, Ifelodun Street, Akingbala, Eleweeran in Abeokuta.

An eyewitness, who pleaded anonymity, told journalists that Sunkanmi arrived at the building at about 7am where the landlady, simply identified as Iya Basira, her three children and a grandchild were living.

Nigeria Police foil attack on students in Kebbi State

The Kebbi Police Command said on Monday that it had foiled an attempt by unknown gunmen to attack the Kebbi State College of Basic and Advanced Studies in Yauri, headquarters of Yauri Local Government Area of the state.

Niger Delta: JTF, police, SSS comb creeks for Jonathan’s adopted father

The Nigerian security outfits operating in Bayelsa State have murdered sleep following Sunday’s abduction of the 70-year-old Inengite Nitabai, the cousin of President Goodluck Jonathan. In a daring move, 10 heavily armed men stormed the expansive compound of Nitabai at Otuoke, hometown of President Jonathan in Ogbia Local Government Area and whisked the old man away.

But 48 hours after the incident, security agencies had been ordered to find Nitabai who is said to be the adopted father of the President.