Headlines
Bandits Attack Monarch’s Convoy in Kaduna, Riddle Car with Bullets
Some bandits were said to have attacked the convoy of the 73-year-old Emir of Birnin Gwari, Alhaji Zubairu Jibril Mai Gwari II, along the dreaded Kaduna-Birnin Gwari Highway.
The incident, according to a source, occurred on Tuesday evening while the monarch was on his way to Kaduna.
Although no life was lost during the attack, the royal father, a first-class chief, was said not to be in the convoy as of the time of the attack.
The source noted that the emir was somewhere else when the bandits struck.
He explained that the bandits who appeared in front of the vehicles placed tree leaves on the road all in the bid to force the vehicles to a halt but to no avail.
He added that apart from the minor injury he sustained as a result of shattered glasses from gunshots, nobody was halt during the encounter.
But the monarch’s car was riddled with bullets.
The emir had spoken on how his subjects had paid millions of naira to bandits as a ransom for kidnapped victims in Birnin Gwari at the presentation of the 2020 security reports to Governor Nasir El-Rufai by the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, last week.
The monarch had said, “It is terrible when you see 200 to 300 bandits with weapons surrounding a village, killing people and collecting their money. Our people paid hundreds of millions of naira as ransom.”
Birnin-Gwari, a gateway to the Southern part of the country had over the years been bedevilled by banditry, kidnapping and armed robbery.
As of the time of filing this report, the Kaduna Command of the Nigeria Police Force had yet to confirmed the attack.
The spokesman of the Command, ASP Mohammed Jalige neither picked our correspondent’s call nor respond to a text message sent to his telephone.
The Punch
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
