110 Dapchi Girls unaccounted for - FG

ITREALMS:

he Federal Government has confirmed that 110 students of the Government Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State, are so far unaccounted for, after insurgents believed to be from a faction of Boko Haram invaded their school on Monday (19 Feb. 2018), reports ITRealms.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gathered revealed this to ITRealms after a meeting between a Federal Government Delegation and representatives of key stakeholders, including the state government, the college, the parents, security agencies and Bursari local government, where Dapchi is situated, in Damaturu on Sunday afternoon.

He said, based on the briefings from the Principal of the College, Hajia Adama Abdulkarim, and the state Commissioner for Education, Hon. Mohammed Lamin, 906 students - out of whom 110 have not been accounted for - were in the school on the day of the attack.

Alhaji Mohammed also announced that the Federal Government has directed the police and civil defence authorities in Yobe State to immediately deploy their personnel to all the schools in the state in order to ensure the security and safety of the students and their staffers.

The Minister disclosed that the Federal Government has stepped up efforts to rescue the girls and return them safely to their parents, saying the security agencies are working on many leads regarding the whereabouts of the girls.

''This is the second time in four days that a Federal Government delegation would visit Yobe State since the unfortunate incident. This is a measure of the seriousness with which we are addressing the issue. The security forces are leaving no stone unturned in their search for the girls.

''We are back here in Yobe as part of efforts to provide some succor to the parents of the girls, to let them know that they are not alone and also to reassure them that we will not rest until we have found the girls. We will carry the parents along on the efforts we are making,'' he said.

For his part, the Minister of Interior said the delegation embarked on the trip in order to get the facts right ''so that the approach to the solution can be correct''.

''We must get back the girls and also ensure that this does not happen again,'' he said.

The Federal Government delegation, which comprised the Ministers of Information and Culture as well as that of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retired), held an enlarged meeting that was attended by Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State; members of the state cabinet, the Principal and Vice Principal of the school, representatives of the parents of the missing girls and security agencies, among others.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Ambazonia president, abducted in Abuja, 9 others

ITREALMS:

The Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia has strongly condemned the abduction of its President, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and nine other senior officials by gunmen from la Republic du Cameroun, reports ITRealms.

The abduction which took place at about 19:30 pm in Nera Hotels, (Ekwueme Road),  on Friday January 5, 2018 in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria, Abuja.

According to the Secretary of Communications and Information Technology, Federal Republic of Ambazonia, Mr. Chris Anu, told ITRealms that the action of Cameroun is criminal and that the abduction took place during a meeting chaired by H.E. Sisiku Ayuk Tabe.

Those arrested along with the President H.E. Sisiku Ayuk Tabe include Dr. Nfor Ngala Nfor, Chairman of the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC), Dr. Fidelis Nde Che, Dr. Henry Kimeng, Prof. Awasum,  Dr. Cornelius Kwanga,  Mr. Tassang Wilfred, Barrister Eyambe Elias, Dr. Ojong Okongho and Barrister Nalowa Bih.

“The President and his team were in a High Command meeting in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria at the time the Cameroun gunmen showed up at the hotel. The meeting started at around 5pm, Nigerian time. At around 7:30PM, the gunmen came into the hotel and abducted all of them including the President,” he said.

The meeting was scheduled to discuss the Southern Cameroons Refugee crisis in Nigeria and to galvanize relief support for housing, medical and feeding in anticipation of the approaching rainy season.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has been notified of the incident and is currently investigating the situation.

“The Interim Government of the Southern Cameroons calls on all Southern Cameroonians to remain calm as it pursues investigations,” he said and condemned the continuous victimization on them via extra judicial killings orchestrated by President Paul Biya and his henchmen.

He also alleged that President Paul Biya and his henchmen must know that Southern Cameroonians will continue to assert their rights to self-determination and will hold Paul Biya to account on all the killings of Southern Cameroonians.

“We call on Nigerian authorities to address this issue immediately and ensure that the Cameroun Government does not do any harm to them. We also call on the Nigerian authorities to investigate this threat against its sovereignty by La Republique du Cameroun,” he said, calling further on the Nigerian government to guarantee the security of the more than 20,000 Southern Cameroonian refugees in various camps in Nigeria.

Uboshe Uboshe & Doris Minimah/GEE

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Pix; Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe

Elombah.com family abducted by SARS, barred from leaving Nigeria

ITREALMS:

The publisher of Elombah.com and a United Kingdom-based lawyer, Mr. Daniel Elombah, has confirmed that at least three members of his family were abducted on the New Year day 2018 by members of the Federal Special Anti-Armed Robbery Squad (SARS), reports ITRealms.

Elombah in a public statement sighted by ITRealms, lamented that till the time of going to the press, his family cannot leave the country, whilst his children school resumption was on Wednesday, January 3, 2018.

According to him, “on the 1st day of January 2018, men of the Federal Special Anti-Armed Robbery Squad, SARS, numbering about 15 and armed to the teeth stormed our family compound in Edoji Uruagu Nnewi, Anambra state.

“The men who struck around 5:am on the new year day climbed over the gate with their ladder and ransacked the entire house. At the end of the operation, 6 adult male members of the family including myself were handcuffed, herded into a rickety bus and driven to the SARS Nnewi office where we were briefly detained.

“No one explained to us the reason for our arrest thereby throwing the entire family including our aged mother, our wives and our little children into great distress. Our repeated requests for the reason for our arrest was met with a terse, "you'll be told at the station".

“From Nnewi we were driven to the SARS headquarters in Awkuzu, near Awka, again without being told the reason for our arrest.

“At the SARS state headquarters we were handed over to a different set of four armed men who were later identified as officers from the Special Tactical Squad, STS, a crack team of operatives directly in the office of Nigeria's Inspector General Of Police.

“Their team leader explained that the IGP (Inspector General of Police) personally ordered our arrest because my brother Tim Elombah, was accused of publishing an article on an online media, Elombah.com which article was allegedly aimed at blackmailing the IGP. We requested for details of the offending article but were told that we will be given the details in Abuja where we were headed shortly. “The STS team leader thereafter released 3 of my brothers who were told to find their way back home to Nnewi, while the 3 of us namely: myself, Tim and Izuchukwu Elombah were herded in handcuffs into another Bus after we were briefly interrogated.

“At this point I repeatedly requested to be told the offence for which I was arrested but was ignored. The allegation against Izuchukwu, a trader in Niger State was also not provided to us.

“We left Anambra State and arrived at the STS Abuja office around 5:00pm.

“My brother Tim who is also the editor-in-chief of the online news medium, www.Elombah.com was grilled for nearly three hours while I, and Izuchukwu were detained behind the Counter.

"All of us were eventually interrogated separately for several hours. It thereafter emerged that my brother Tim was accused of publishing a defamatory article on a website. The article titled "IGP Ibrahim Idris's Unending Baggage of Controversies" was published as an opinion piece on opinionnigeria.com, an online medium that was hitherto unknown to any us. Moreover the author of the said article was one Ebiowei Dickson, again a very strange name to the three of us.

"My brother, Tim repeatedly denied writing the article which in any case was NOT published on Elombah.com. Tim also denied knowing the identity of Ebiowei Dickson.

"Around midnight, my friend, Chief Obunike Ohaegbu who was a Federal Commissioner used his influence to secure my release and that of my brother Izuchukwu Elombah, but Tim Elombah remains in detention.

"Let me emphasise that up till now the Police have not revealed to me and Izuchukwu our alleged offences. No one has informed me why I was abducted from my country home, handcuffed like a criminal and transported in a bus over a very bad road for 700 miles to Abuja. Izuchukwu was assaulted, slapped, punched and beaten. We were physically and psychologically tortured and traumatised! My mother's blood pressure shot through the roof and she is presently undergoing medical treatment. 

"Our children were traumatised at the sight of gun totting hefty men that we initially mistook for armed robbers or kidnappers banging at our doors and waking up the entire household in the wee hours of the morning of the new year day. My movement is restricted and I'm not allowed to leave the country. That means that I and my family could not travel back to London as scheduled to enable our children resume schooling. The schools resumed on Wednesday 3rd January.”

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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65 days later: Six abducted students released

ITRealms:

The six abducted students of the Igbonla Model College near Epe last May, have been released to the Lagos State government, reports ITRealms

The school children, ITRealms gathered were released after 65 days at about 3.30pm in Aboto Creek at Ilaje LGA Ondo State in a joint effort of the Nigeria Police, the Lagos State Government and Ondo State Government, after over .

ITRealms recalls that a few days ago, the Lagos State Government (LASG) had demanded an unconditional release of the students from their abductors.

The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule, commended the security agencies especially the Police and Department of State Security (DSS).

According to the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, the boys were released Friday, July 28 after spending 65 days in the jungle just as the Lagos State Government has expressed excitement over the release of six students abducted May 25, 2017 in their school premises.

Ayorinde congratulated the parents of students and all concerned stakeholders over the development, stressing the students would undergo series of medical tests and trauma therapy before they are reunited with their families.

“This is a welcome development and the State Government has always believed that the students would be released unhurt. The news of their release is therefore a confirmation of that belief and we are glad that they would be reuniting with their families,” he said.

Ayorinde said the State Government remains resolute in its commitment to ensure the safety of lives and property of residents in the State and has already beefed up security in schools to prevent a re-occurrence.

“It is on record that the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration has invested massively on equipment and welfare of security personnel so as to ensure that the State remains safe for residents and investors.

“This Government has already taken giant steps to secure all our schools especially those in the suburbs and riverine areas and we are confident that the steps taken so far will go a long way in nipping a repeat of such in the bud,” he said, quoting Gov. Ambode as commending the efforts of security agencies who worked tirelessly to ensure the safe release and return of the students.

Uj. N. Dominic/GEE

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Donu Kogbara regains freedom

The Vanguard columnist, Ms Donu Kogbara, abducted by gunmen on August 30, 2015, has been released reports ITRealms.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ahmad Mohammad, according to Elombah.com and Vanguard .com, confirmed Ms Kogbara’s release and regaining of her freedom.

This, ITRealms gathered was via a press statement on Saturday morning, indicating that  the Vanguard columnist held for 11 days has reunited with her family.

Part of the press statement read: “Donu Kogbara has been freed by her abductors in the early hours of today, 4:00 am.”

Although it was not certain at the press time whether a ransom was paid.  

“We can confirm she has been reunited with her family,” the Mohammad pointed out in his press statement.

ITRealms gathered that kidnapping for ransom has become a common way of life in the Nigeria’s oil-rich region.

 

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