The Nigerian Army has announced that land and air component troops of the Joint Task Force in the North-East killed many Boko Haram (BH) and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists in an encounter at Forward Operating Base, Gajiram Nganzai Local Government Area of Borno State.
Director Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, in a statement on Sunday 10 AK-47 riffles, one Anti-Aircraft Gun, one Shilka barrel, one 60mm Mortar tube and 61 rounds of PKT rifle ammunition amongst others were recovered from the terrorists.
“Several charred remains of the terrorists were also uncovered along the route. Sadly, two gallant soldiers paid the supreme price during the encounter,” he said.
He noted, “Land and Air Components troops of Joint Task Force, North East (NE), Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK) have annihilated several Boko Haram (BH) and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists in an encounter at Forward Operating Base, Gajiram Nganzai Local Government Area of Borno State, today 28 November 2021.
“The vigilant troops of Sector 3 Operation HADIN KAI supported by the Nigerian Air Force component, brought devastating volume of fire on the terrorists while attempting to infiltrate the Forward Operating Base using Gun trucks and several other weapons. The terrorists, having suffered several human and equipment casualties as at the time of this report, retreated in disarray.”
“The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya has urged the troops to aggressively maintain the momentum of the pursuit, until the remnants of the fleeing terrorists are destroyed,” he added
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An Islamic advocacy organisation, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), on Monday, rebuked the management of the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta (FUNAAB) the Ogun state capital, for placing a ban on the use of hijab and niqab by Muslim female students on campus.
The group described the action as sentimental and against the provisions of the Constitution which accommodate the coexistence of different religions in the country.
Prof. Ishaq Akintola, Director of MURIC
MURIC alleged that a Muslim female student of the school was asked to remove her veil by some security personnel before she could be allowed to enter the school.
This, according to the Islamic group, was a display of hate and an effort by the institution to profile innocent Muslim female students on campus.
It, however, gave the management seven days to change its position or risk a democratic action by the Muslim students on campus.
MURIC Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola said in a statement on Monday, “No institution of learning, from primary to tertiary, whether federal, state, or even private, has the right to prohibit the use of hijab or niqab. It is a contravention of the provisions of Section 38(i) & (ii) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended which says inter alia:
“‘Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.’
“Furthermore, Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right, (ICCPR) guarantees the right to freedom of religion unconditionally. In addition, Article 9 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights & Fundamental Freedoms contains a right to have ‘respect for the religious feelings of believers…’ But FUNAAB authorities have no respect for the religious feelings of Muslims. This must stop!
“The problem with some non-Muslim heads of educational institutions and public offices in the South-West is that they wrongly assume that they can compel Muslims under them to abide by their own non-Muslim way of dressing. They, therefore, go all out to enact rules and regulations which disallow Muslims from dressing like Muslims. This presupposes that they hate the sight of Muslims.
“We affirm that any rules and regulations which contradict the letter and spirit of the constitution are illegal, unlawful, illegitimate and unconstitutional. This is the import of Chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1(1) & (3) of the Constitution which stipulates.
“‘This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria.’ In particular, Section 1(3) says, ‘If any other law is inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void.’
“To that extent, therefore, all anti-niqab pronouncements, memos, circulars, posters, etc., issued by FUNAAB are null, void and of no legal effect whatsoever. The same goes for all such declarations and actions in other academic institutions throughout Yorubaland.
“We are not unaware of the security implications of the use of niqab and hijab, particularly in these days of general insecurity and we are going to be pragmatic in our approach to this danger. There is the assumption that the dresses may aid shoplifting in campus bookshops or libraries. Weapons may also be hidden under such clothing. But the same fears should also be entertained about some of our African dresses, e.g. agbada or babanriga. Or will any institution contemplate the banning of these African dresses on their campuses?
“Therefore, if the authorities are not just keen on profiling Muslims, all they need to do is to ensure that Muslim women wearing niqab or hijab are checked by female security personnel. Their identities can also be verified by female officials who will take them to one side and take a look at their faces and cross-check their identity cards.
“The security threat is not enough to deprive this insignificant number of students of their Allah-given fundamental human rights. Even the United Nations described Article 18 of the ICCPR as a provision that ‘cannot be derogated from, even in time of public emergency'.
“Hijab does not pose this kind of threat anyway. But how many female Muslim students use the niqab on campuses? They are very few, perhaps, 2, 3 or a maximum of 5 on campus. Those using niqab are very few because, unlike hijab, the niqab is not mandatory. It is a matter of choice but, at the same time, it is a symptom of a deeper spiritual journey into the labyrinth of taqwah (piety).
“Therefore, any Muslim woman who chooses to use niqab has simply elected not to ‘dress to kill’ or to show her curves just to make men salivate and run after her. Even for this reason alone, she deserves love and respect, not hate and humiliation.
“This is why we find the billboard on decent dressing erected by FUNAAB most illogical, highly irritating and extremely ridiculous. The university placed the picture of a Muslim woman in niqab among those of female students in hot pants, body hugs, male sagging trousers, crazy jeans, etc. We strongly condemn this act of provocation and we demand that the Muslim woman’s picture be removed from the billboard without delay.
“FUNAAB must also withdraw the ban placed on niqab within seven days or Muslim students in the institution will embark on peaceful demonstration as from Monday, 6 December 2021. FUNAAB is advised not to test our will or that of the Muslim students.”
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Chiemeka Arinze, a co-defendant with alleged billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, popularly known as Evans, has died in custody.
Evans, Arinze, Joseph Emeka, and Udeme Upong are standing trial for the attempted abduction of Chief Vincent Obianodo, the Chairman of the Young Shall Grow Motors, before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of an Ikeja Special Offences Court.
The suspects are facing seven counts of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, attempt to kidnap, among others.
It was learnt that Arinze, said to have been ill, died last Friday, November 26, 2021.
He died at a General Hospital where he was taken to for treatment, Vanguard reports.
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Residents and indigenes of Azia community in the Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State are living in fear following the death of two police officers killed by yet-to-be-identified hoodlums.
In a statement on Sunday, Ikenga Tochukwu, Anambra command spokesperson, said the slain officers were travelling with their colleagues when they were ambushed by the gunmen.
He said the bodies of the slain officers were burnt by the gunmen, while one officer was still missing.
According to him, other officers were able to fight their way out of the ambush and rescue two civilian drivers travelling with them.
“In the attack, two police officers were killed and their bodies were burnt while one of the officers is still missing,” Tochukwu said.
A clip circulating on WhatsApp showed armed men strutting around the corpses of two officers in the middle of a tarred road. Close to the corpses, were some discarded car tyres.
“ESN! ESN! ESN (Eastern Security Network)! We are going! We are going!” One of the armed men is heard saying in the clip, indicating that the attack may have been carried out by the pro-Biafra group, Indigenous People of Biafra (ESN is an armed wing of IPOB).
He said the other officers “fought their way out of the ambush” and were also able to rescue two out of the three civilian drivers.
Tochukwu said the other officers “fought their way out of the ambush” and were also able to rescue two out of the three civilian drivers.
He said the armed men attacked a rescue team, hurling improvised explosive devices at police vehicles.
Meanwhile, residents of the community have accused the police of killing a 20-year-old woman, Chidimma Ezeanochie.
Tonna Nwabueze, the president-general of Azia General Assembly, said in a petition to the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, that some police officers who came to their community in an armoured vehicle opened fire on Miss Ezeanochie and her brother, killing her instantly, while the brother survived.
Nwabueze, in his petition, was apparently referring to the police rescue operation in the community.
“About 100 metres from the site of this incident, the police equally opened fire on a Sienna Space bus parked by a block industry,” he said.
The community described Miss Ezeanochie’s killing as “gruesome, wicked and totally unacceptable,” and is demanding justice from the police.
In September, three police officers were killed by gunmen in the state, while two other officers were said to have been injured during the shooting incident at a security post mounted by the police operatives.
A month after, gunmen set ablaze the Ajali divisional police headquarters in Orumba North LGA of the state. Some police officers sustained gunshot wounds during the attack.
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Canada has said it has discovered its first cases of the new Omicron strain of Covid in two people who had travelled recently to Nigeria.
The government of Ontario confirmed on Sunday that the two cases are in the capital, Ottawa.
Federal and Ontario provincial officials disclosed both patients are in isolation while public health authorities trace their possible contacts, Punch reports.
“I was informed today by the Public Health Agency of Canada that testing and monitoring of COVID-19 cases has confirmed two cases of the Omicron variant of concern in Ontario,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said in a statement.
“As the monitoring and testing continue, it is expected that other cases of this variant will be found in Canada,” he was quoted as saying by France24.com.
But in reacting to the claims, the Nigerian Government had said that the new COVID-19 variant was not in Nigeria yet.
The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, said in a statement on Sunday that the centre is prioritising sequencing of recently accrued samples from SARS-COV-2 positive travellers from all countries, especially those from countries that have reported the Omicron variant already.
This newspaper had reported that virologists have faulted the decision of the Nigerian Government not to test the South African delegates on their arrival in the country on Monday (today) despite the newly discovered strain of the coronavirus in Southern Africa.
The World Health Organisation has listed Omicron as a “variant of concern” and countries around the world are now banning travel from southern Africa, where the new strain was first detected and taking other new precautions.
The WHO stated it could take several weeks to know if there are significant changes in transmissibility, severity or implications for Covid vaccines, tests and treatments.
On Friday, Canada banned travel from seven African countries over concerns about the spread of the Omicron strain, but Nigeria was not one of them.
The United States top infectious disease official, Dr Anthony Fauci told President Joe Biden on Sunday it will take about two weeks to have definitive information on the Omicron variant.
Biden, returning to Washington following the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, was briefed in person by his coronavirus response team on Sunday afternoon as officials expect the new variant to reach the United States despite an impending ban on travellers from Southern Africa, where it was first detected.
Fauci said he believes existing vaccines are likely to provide “a degree of protection against severe cases of COVID”, and officials reiterated their recommendation for vaccinated Americans to get booster shots, according to a readout of the briefing.
Earlier on Sunday, Fauci told ABC News' This Week that the new variant would, “inevitably” reach the United States.
“It clearly is giving the indication that it has the capability of transmitting rapidly. That’s the thing that’s causing us now to be concerned,” he added on NBC.
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