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Boko Haram Hits More Gombe Towns …Chad Denies Funding Insurgents
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen yesterday raided banks and burnt government buildings as well as political party offices in renewed attacks in towns in Northeast Nigeria.
Scores of gunmen dressed in military uniform arrived in Bajoga, 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Gombe city in a convoy of 20 vehicles at about 7 am (0600 GMT).Troops managed to push out the attackers and they then drove towards the town of Ashaka five kilometres away near the border with Yobe state to the northeast.
Both raids came after an attack on the Yobe state capital, Damaturu, on Monday, which left more than 150 people dead, including 38 police and six soldiers.
Militant fighters in that raid are thought to have come from the BuniYadi area in the southern part of Yobe, which Boko Haram has controlled for some time.Although not as badly hit by Boko Haram violence as Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states, Gombe has seen a number of attacks, including a bus station bombing in October which killed at least eight.
Ashaka, which is home to a giant cement works owned by French group Lafarge, was hit on November 4, when fighters stole huge quantities of dynamite and several pick-up trucks from the plant.
The two attacks on Bajoga and Ashaka fit a pattern of almost daily violence by the Islamists, who have taken over more than two dozen towns in the three worst-affected states in recent months.
In Bajoga, residents said the militants shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater) and fired indiscriminately before burning down a police station in a three-hour battle with troops.“They raided two banks and set fire to offices of political parties. They also set sections of the local government secretariat on fire,” said resident Babani Ashiru.
Another resident, Sani Dankani, said the sound of gunfire and explosions forced him to flee into the nearby bush. “From where I’m standing, I can see billows of black smoke coming from different parts of the town,” he added.
Troop reinforcements were sent from Gombe and a military jet which bombed the militants forced them to withdraw, said local schoolteacher Sa’adu Balarabe.
Residents in Ashaka reported heavy fighting between troops and the gunmen in the town from about 11 am.
The Chadian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Isah Braimah, yesterday, exonerated his country of funding or arming the Boko Haram insurgents.
He stated this when members of Bring Back Our Girls, BBOG, protested to Chadian embassy in Abuja, with banners, asking the Chadian government to explain its roles in the insurgency in the North-East and demanding a response to a media report that a close ally of the Chadian President, had been arrested by Cameroonian gendarmes, with lethal arms meant for Boko Haram.
He also asked the BBOG, coalition members who visited his mission, to meet the Federal Government for answers in the abducted Chibok girls.
The envoy, said his country had no inkling to the whereabouts of the over 200 Chibok girls who were abducted by the Boko Haram sect in April, 2014, stressing that it was only the Nigerian government that should be held responsible for the rescue of the school girls.
The leader of the BBOG members, Aisha Yesufu, who led five representatives of the movement to the meeting with the ambassador, quoted him as saying that Chad was not supporting Boko Haram insurgents in its war against Nigeria.
According to Yesufu, the envoy accused the Nigeria Police Force of dragging the name of his county in the mud by alleging that it arrested a Chadian with arms, that Isah challenged the Police to provide evidence of Chadian involvement in the terrorism in Nigeria.
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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.