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JTF Deploys Fighter Jets As Boko Haram Regroups

L-R: Minister Of State for Federal Capital Territory, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, Director-General, Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (Ntdc), Sally Mbafeno and a Board Member of Ntdc, Mariam Onuoha, during the visit of officials of the Corporation to the Minister in Abuja, recently.
The military, for the second day in a row, on Saturday engaged the fighter jets of the Nigeria Air Force in its continued battle to dislodge members of the Boko Haram sect.
Sources said that the remnants of the insurgents, flushed out of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, after a failed attempt to free their arrested members from Giwa Barracks, had started regrouping when information reached the Joint Task Force.
It was learnt that they were regrouping around the country’s borders towards Bama in Borno State.
Our source learnt that the air raid was to soften the ground for the ground troops to move in to complete the mop up operation it started after the routing of the Boko Haram sect in the battle in Maiduguri on Friday.
The Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, confirmed the development.
Details of the operation were made available by the Defence Headquarters later on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the military said on Saturday, with photo evidence, that it has captured a massive armoury with arms and ammunition dump at a Boko Haram camp.
A statement by the Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, said the operation, during which money was also recovered, was carried out on Friday night.
Olukolade said: “The large quantities of weapons recovered in the raid are still being evacuated from the scene of the night raid where several terrorists died.”
The Defence Headquarters spokesman said the tentacles of the operation has also been extended to Boko Haram camps located on the outskirts of Duguri, Polkime, Malafatori and other locations around the fringes of Lake Chad in conjunction with the troops of the Multi-National Joint Task Force.
He added: “Substantial money in different currencies and denominations were also recovered from the camps.
“A total of seven terrorists were captured in the operation during which altogether a soldier died while five were wounded.”
Giving an update on the failed attempt by the insurgents to free their colleagues from Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri, Borno State on Friday, Olukolade said the troops conducting cordon and search for remnants of the daring terrorists had an encounter with some of the surviving terrorists in the general area of Kayamla and Alu Dam on the outskirts of Maiduguri on Saturday morning.
He said during the encounter, more of the terrorists were killed and arrested.
According to him, the encounters are ongoing.
He added: “Those captured in the encounter are providing useful information towards the discovery of other hide outs of the daring terrorists.
“It has been revealed that the terrorists are now desperate to either free or kill the ones being detained, with a view to avenging or preventing further revelations about their operations and hideouts as this has been frustrating their plans lately.
“More bodies of fleeing terrorists have been discovered along the routes of their escape.
“Troops morale and fighting spirit have been further boosted by the outcome of the operations so far.
“Meanwhile, cordon and search as well as patrols and pursuit by air and land is continuing in the entire mission area of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.”
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I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
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RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
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Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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