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Bandits Kill Kidnapped ECWA Church Pastor, After Collecting Ransom

Published

4 years ago

December 11, 2021

Editor

Bandits have finally killed Rev. Dauda Bature, Pastor of ECWA Church Nariya, Kaduna State who was kidnapped in his farm.

Rev. Joseph John Hayab, Vice President, Northern states and Abuja of the Christian Association of Nigeria ( CAN), had told journalists that late Rev. Dauda Bature was kidnapped on the 8th of November, 2021 by the bandits while he was on his farm, not far from the Rigasa Train station in Kaduna state.

The bandits later demanded for ransom and Rev. Dauda’s wife took the ransom and delivered to the bandits.

“They kidnapped her ,too,” Hayab said. On the 18th of November, the bandits released the wife and few days later, killed the husband.”

Rev. Joseph John Hayab who is also the Chairman of CAN in Kaduna state ,appealed to the security agents to double their efforts in the protection of lives and property, insisting that collecting ransom and going ahead to kill the victim, is an inhuman act that must be condemned.

Meanwhile, residents of a Kaduna community had to run for their lives as security agents and Invading bandits were engaged in a gun duel ,leading to shooting of a pregnant woman.

The pregnant woman was rushed to an undisclosed hospital.

Journalists are still waiting for reaction from the police. The security agents ,according to locals, “repelled the rampaging hoard of bandits that attempted to invade the community in the early hours of Saturday morning, December 11, 2021.

“The loud shots of different types of firearms rented the air from past 12 midnight to almost 3am.Three persons who were abducted from the community were later freed after military and JTF engaged them in gunfire.

“A woman among the freed was however, wounded by a gunshot. She is said to have been taken to an undisclosed hospital.

“Thousands of residents, including men, women and children took to the streets, with some just covered by their under wears.

“A residence was seen up in flames at about the same time, the bandits dug a hole through the fence, gained access and set the house ablaze before they fled.”

The community has been relatively safe, with an isolated incident of kidnapping recorded almost two years ago in December 2021, when a returnee from the United States was abducted alongside two of his brothers.

Meanwhile, sources said at about same time, a mother and two of her children were suspected to have been abducted from Oil Village, which shares boundary with Sabo GRA.

A day earlier, in the early hours of Friday, sources said a security operative alongside his wife and baby were abducted in Ungwan Bulus, another community bordering Sabo GRA from the western axis.

VANGUARD reports that normalcy has returned to the Sabo GRA as people were seen pursuing their legitimate businesses, even as stern looking combat ready security agents continued to patrol the area.

Related Topics:Bandit ECWA Church Pastor

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Syrian Ex-leader Assad Faces War Crime Charges For Killing Journalists

Published

16 hours ago

September 2, 2025

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French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six other top former officials over the bombardment of a rebel-held city in 2012 that killed two journalists, lawyers said Tuesday.

Marie Colvin, 56, an American working for The Sunday Times of Britain, and French photographer Remi Ochlik, 28, were killed on February 22, 2012, by the explosion in the eastern city of Homs, which is being investigated by the French judiciary as a potential crime against humanity as well as a war crime.

British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier, and Syrian translator Wael Omar were wounded in the attack on the informal press centre where they had been working.

Assad escaped with his family to Russia after being ousted by Islamist rebels at the end of 2024, although his precise whereabouts have not been confirmed.

Other than Assad, the warrants notably target his brother Maher al-Assad, who was the de facto head of the 4th Syrian armoured division at the time, intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, and then-army chief of staff Ali Ayoub.

“The issuing of the seven arrest warrants is a decisive step that paves the way for a trial in France for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” said Clemence Bectarte, lawyer for the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Ochlik’s parents.

The FIDH said the journalists had clandestinely entered the besieged city to “document the crimes committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime” and were victims of a “targeted bombing”.

“The investigation clearly established that the attack on the informal press centre was part of the Syrian regime’s explicit intention to target foreign journalists to limit media coverage of its crimes and force them to leave the city and the country,” said Mazen Darwish, lawyer and director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM).

Colvin was known for her fearless reporting and signature black eye patch, which she wore after losing sight in one eye in an explosion during Sri Lanka’s civil war. Her career was celebrated in a Golden Globe-nominated film, “A Private War”.

AFP

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Ghana’s President Sacks Chief Justice Over Corruption Allegations

Published

2 days ago

September 1, 2025

Editor

President John Dramani Mahama has dismissed the Chief Justice of Ghana following the outcome of a high-level investigation into allegations of falsifying judicial records and misusing public funds.

A five-member commission, chaired by a Supreme Court judge and set up by Mahama, concluded that the allegations against the country’s top judicial officer were substantiated and recommended her removal.

“After considering the petition and the evidence, the Committee found that the grounds of stated misbehaviour under Article 146(1) had been established and recommended her removal from office,” said the spokesperson to the President, Felix Ofosu, in a statement on Monday.

“President John Dramani Mahama has accordingly removed the Chief Justice from office with immediate effect.”

The dismissal marks the first time a sitting Chief Justice in Ghana has been investigated and dismissed from office.

While Mahama, who took office in January, has repeatedly pledged to intensify the fight against corruption, it remains unclear whether the embattled Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkonoo, will face criminal prosecution.

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Danish Court Sentences Ex-minister To Prison For Child Abuse Material

Published

2 days ago

September 1, 2025

Editor

A former Danish government minister was jailed for four months on Monday for possession of thousands of images of child sexual abuse.

Henrik Sass Larsen, once a senior Social Democrat who served as industry minister, admitted to having more than 6,000 photographs and 2,000 videos on his computer depicting sexual abuse of children.

He had denied the charges, saying he had the material because he was trying to find out who had abused him as a child.

Prosecutor Maria Cingari said she was “satisfied” with the verdict but added that it was sad that someone “who managed to make the most out of their life despite a bad start finds himself in such a situation.”

“You should never be in possession of child pornography, no matter the reason,” Cingari added.

During his trial, the 59-year-old told the court he had received a link in 2018 to a 50-year-old video showing him being sexually abused when he was three years old.

He testified that he received another video clip in 2020, in which a three-year-old girl was raped in his presence when he was around the same age.

The two videos disappeared after he viewed them, he said.

He told the court he regretted not having contacted the police when he received the videos.

Sass Larsen was also accused of being in possession of a child sex doll, but the court did not find him guilty on that charge.

His lawyer, Berit Ernst, told reporters that “we’ll see if it is a definitive end or if we will appeal.”

The scandal came to light last March and led to his expulsion from the Social Democratic Party.

At the time, Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed her shock over the case.

AFP