8—Vanguard, TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014
Soldiers kill 50 Boko Haram members in Borno zGunmen abduct 20 women near Chibok BY NDAHI MARAMA
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AIDUGURI—TROOPS of the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, weekend, killed over 50 Boko Haram terrorists in Bita village of Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State on their way to attack some villages in Borno and Adamawa states. However, suspected Boko Haram gunmen have reportedly kidnapped 20 women from a nomadic settlement in the North-East near Chibok, where over 200 schoolgirls were abducted in April. Alhaji Tar, a member of the vigilante group in the area, said the men arrived at noon, weekend, in the Garkin Fulani settlement and forced the women into their vehicles at gunpoint, adding that three young men that tried to stop the kidnapping were also abducted. Meanwhile, residents of the ancient town of Dikwa, Borno State, ran into the bush when faulty solar street light batteries exploded in a store yesterday. The loud explosion was followed by sporadic gunshots by security forces.
DHQ’s statement
The Fence Headquarters, in a statement by the Director, Defense information, Major General Chris Olukolade, said: “Troops conducting antiterrorists campaign in NorthEastern Nigeria have successfully averted attempted massive raid on villages in Borno and Adamawa states, during the weekend. “The terrorists, who were on their way to attack selected communities, were ambushed by troops along Bilta, Borno State, on receiving intelligence report of the terrorists’ intention.” The statement said the attack was launched on the terrorists as they filed out of the forest to embark on their mission at about 10p.m. on Saturday. “Over 50 terrorists died in the fierce encounter that ensued, while 30 rifles, 36 hand grenades, seven machine guns and 11 rocketpropelled grenade tubes were captured by the troops,” General Olukolade added. Also recovered from the terrorists were over 3,500 rounds of ammunition, six smoke grenade canisters, locally fabricated guns and four vehicles. The army stated that four soldiers were injured in the operation and are currently receiving medical treatment in the military medical facility.
Dikwa explosion
In Dikwa, there was confusion occasioned by mass exodus of people, including women and children, yesterday, after a thunderous
blast. A senior security official in Maiduguri said: “There was no attack in Dikwa by the terror group. The locals were actually scared when
they heard a scaring bang, which was caused by some solar light batteries kept in a store. “Soon after the ‘blast’ troops in Dikwa fired friendly shots into the air and the residents mistook the development and fled. “Many people took to the
bushes because they thought our men were engaging the terrorists. I want to assure you that normalcy has returned.” Vanguard also gathered that the Divisional Police Officer of Dikwa and his team visited the scene and discovered that the batteries exploded due to excessive heat.
AGM: From left— Dr. Okey Oramah, Executive Vice President, Afrexim Bank; Mr. Emeka Ugwu-Oju, President, SouthEast South-South Professionals of Nigeria; Marcellin Agaya, Deputy Minister of Economy, Gabon; Jean-Louis Ekra, President and Chairman of the Board, Afrexim Bank, at the reception for attendees of the 21st annual general meeting of the bank, held last weekend in Libreville, Gabon.
How I escaped from Kano— AMAECHI zNCAA, NAMA deny grounding of aircraft BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, POLITICAL EDITOR & DANIEL ETEGHE
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OVERNOR Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has narrated how he was detained and escaped from Kano after his plane made an air return due to bad weather at Abuja Airport. Governor Amaechi visited Kano on Sunday on a condolence visit, following the death of the late emir, Ado Bayero. His return to Kano, however, led to the grounding of the private jet in which he was travelling. The governor said even when they came down from the aircraft, they were not allowed to leave the airport by the officials who claimed to be acting on orders from above. But the regulatory agency, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, swiftly denied reports that it grounded the plane which took Amaechi to Kano. A source close to the agency said: “NCAA is not connected to the grounding of the aircraft. I think the order could be from the presidency or did you see NCAA in your report.” The Nigerian Airspace
Management Agency, NAMA, also denied issuing the order for the grounding of the aircraft. A NAMA source, however, stressed that the aircraft in question was not the controversial aircraft earlier grounded by the aviation authorities last year that was only released a week ago, adding that the aircraft was currently parked in Port Harcourt. However, Governor Amaechi told Vanguard yesterday that those with him had to break the exit gates, made a dash through the night for Abuja by road and arrived in the early hours of yesterday. Governor Amaechi was with Senator Danjuma Goje, Senator Shaban Lafiagi and erstwhile national chairman of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party, nPDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, when the incident happened on Sunday evening hours after Sanusi was named as 57th Emir of Kano. Danjuma and Lafiagi, both serving senators, were former governors of Gombe and Kwara states, respectively. The presence of Governor
Amaechi and other top chieftains of All Progressives Congress, APC, earlier in the day in Kano, it was reported, was to put pressure on the authorities in Kano to push for the emergence of Sanusi as emir. Amaechi, however, denied the insinuations, saying he only came for a condolence visit. The reported lobby of the APC chieftains was in the face of alleged similar moves by sympathisers of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to stop Sanusi, who had lately emerged as a vicious critic of the Federal Government.
Amaechi’s story
Noting his experience in an interview with Vanguard, Governor Amaechi said: “We made contact with the tower to depart and they said we cannot leave, that the airport commandant said that no private jet can leave or enter Kano today. “We thought it was a joke. We then called the airport commandant and I again called the governor to intervene and the governor called the commandant who said that it was the order he got from Abuja. “Then five minutes after,
they locked us inside the airport. They locked all the exits to the airport and we had to break the key to one of the exits and then we stepped out. “We had to take a big decision. We called the governor who said he was sending cars to bring us to Government House and we said okay. But we made a decision that when the cars (from Government House) come, we would tell them to go back and not to tell the governor where we are. “So we entered our car, got instruction to put off our phones and I drove from Kano to Abuja. We arrived Abuja 2a.m. “We arrived after the announcement and we were impounded because they did not get what they wanted. “The kingmakers selected Sanusi as number one, Ado Bayero as number two. Do I know any kingmaker? We all went for condolence visit.” He also denied any role in the emergence of Sanusi as the Emir of Kano. “We are in a dictatorship and it is supposed to be a democracy and everybody has a right to disagree with the President,” Amaechi added.