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700 Soldiers Missing, 2,000 Trapped As Boko Haram Takes Over Baga 

An estimated 700 soldiers are missing with more than 2,000 trapped following a Boko Haram attack on Thursday that culminated in the loss of Baga, a town in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State, by the Nigerian Army. A faction of the insurgents loyal to Abu Musab al-Barnawi attacked Baga, lying northeast of Kukawa, and succeeded in dislodging the soldiers and hoisting their flags. According to an aid worker who spoke with SaharaReporters, “a large number of soldiers are still missing and many others are trapped.” “Boko haram has taken over Baga town,” said the source. “More than 2,000 troops are there trapped, and 700 are missing. [Air Force] jets cannot do anything now because the soldiers are trapped in their midst”. News room could not independently verify the figures being mentioned, but a security source said it was "highly possible", considering Baga is the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) — a formation...

Fear Of ‘Yahoo Boys’ Has Made Us Stop Wearing Pants.

For some time, there have been reports that some ritualists, also known as ‘Yahoo boys’, have been stealing female underwear, sometimes at gunpoint, particularly around campuses of tertiary institutions in Delta State. Although the veracity of the claims that such stolen undies are used for ritual purposes has not been established, such reports have instilled fear into the hearts of ladies living in such areas, resulting in fear and panic. And in the ensuing panic, our correspondent observed that many ladies in the affected areas in Delta have been devising ways to safeguard themselves against danger. It was learnt that the underwear of girls and women, particularly of ages between 14 and 35, are allegedly considered as ‘hot cakes’ for use by the ritualists. Used pants, according to some students at Asaba campus of the Delta State University, sells for as much as N350,000, with some adding that the price can be higher if it is confirmed to have body fluids. A...

Fani-kayode Reacts As Senators, Reps Boo Buhari While Presenting 2019 Budget

A former minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has reacted to the drama which ensued while President Muhammadu Buhari was presenting the 2019 proposed budget before a joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday. The actions of the lawmaker made the President to remind the aggrieved lawmakers that, “The world is watching us and we are supposed to be above this.” But reacting, Fani-Kayode commended the lawmakers for “putting the President in his place”. He tweeted, ”I commend the members of NASS for standing up to the tyrant today and putting him in his place. ”It is a sign of things to come. My advice to Buhari, Jubril or whatever your name is: resign before you are disgraced out of office.”

Gudumbali Attack: 12 Soldiers Killed, Dozens Missing In Battle With Boko Haram

At least 12 Nigerian soldiers were killed and dozens of others are missing after fighting with Islamists in Borno State, three military sources said yesterday. This is coming as the $1billion earmarked for the purchase of arms and ammunition to aid the military in the fight against terrorism in the North-east region is now mired in confusion. But the army said it repelled the attack in which it said one soldier was killed and another injured. The fighting followed an attack on Friday by insurgents in Gudumbali Local Government Area – a part of Borno where Boko Haram breakaway group Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) is influential. Reuters quoted sources as saying the poor communication network in the remote area delayed details of the attack being relayed. The attack, the sources said, was carried out on a military base and a nearby community in the Gudumbali Local Government Area of the state. The three military sources, all of whom are soldiers who did not want to be name...

Acute Malnutrition Hits Nasarawa, 30 Children, 2,000 Others Hospitalised

Thirty children have been confirmed dead, while more than 2,000 are currently receiving attention for acute malnutrition in various medical centres across Nasarawa State. The Nasarawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency’s Nutrition Officer, Hajiya Halima Yusuf, confirmed this at a two-day meeting of the state Committee on Food and Nutrition on Sunday in Lafia. She explained that the children had in the last three months been admitted to 15 health care centres in 13 Local Government Areas and 18 development areas of the state following the increase in the cases of acute malnutrition and other diseases due to inadequate nutrition. “About 30 children have lost their lives to acute malnutrition and over 2,000 children are currently receiving medical attention in various medical centres across the state,” Yusuf said. She further explained that as a result of the rising cases of malnutrition, the state Primary Health Care Development Agency had embarked on an in...

APC State, Chapter And Ward Officers Declare For Udom Emmanuel And PDP.

Today, at Ibom hall grounds chieftains of the APC who held different offices since 2014 declared their support for Governor Udom Emmanuel and the PDP. They cited various reasons for their decision, the most important being the defection of their former tormentors to the APC.  Addressing the crowd, the Chairman of the forum of APC Chapter chairmen, Hon. Joseph Ama said that they were appalled by the level of impunity exhibited by the APC, since the defection of Senator Godswill Akpabio to the APC and the deaths that have occurred within the APC fold since then. Also addressing the audience, the Chapter chairman of APC in Itu Local government area, Hon. Sunday Okon Uyire, said that it was practically impossible for him and his EXCO members to remain in the same party with those who in 2011, plotted to kill them. He stated that the memories were still fresh and that the spirit of those who died in that incident, will not forgive them, if they tagged along with the architects and perp...

Dele Momodu: I Weep For Buhari… His Wife Has Cried Out Endlessly 

Dele Momodu, a Nigerian journalist and author, says he wishes President Muhammadu Buhari could liberate himself. Momodu said this in reaction to the critical comments Aisha Buhari, the president’s wife, made about him recently. She had asked Nigerians to stand up to the two people who are allegedly hindering the progress of her husband’s administration. “If 15.4 million people can bring in a government and only for the government to be dominated by two people or three people, where are the men of Nigeria? Where are the Nigerian men? What are you doing? Instead of them to come together and fight them, they keep visiting them one after the other licking their shoes (I’m sorry to use those words),” she had said. Aisha has repeatedly alleged that the government of her husband had been hijacked. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Momodu described Buhari as a man in “gilded cage”. He said while he likes Buhari’s “humorous persona...