Headline

Buhari Trekked From South-East To Cameroon Border For Nigeria – Adesina

Published

4 years ago

February 11, 2022

Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has said his principal cannot afford to idle away while the nation disintegrates.

According to the presidential aide, many Nigerians, including the president, have had to pay personal sacrifices to keep the country as an indivisible entity.

Adesina, who played host to the Black Apple Media Group, a production outfit devoted to making movies and documentaries towards the promotion of unity and peaceful coexistence in Nigeria, on Friday in his office, noted that Nigerians ought to, in all ways and at all times, embark on activities that promote the oneness and unity of the country.

He went down memory lane, narrating how President Buhari trekked from the South-East to a place called Gakem near the Cameroon border, “all to keep Nigeria one. Do you think somebody like that will sit idle and let some people try to dismember the country?”

The presidential aide said while some of the patriots are still alive, those who fought the civil war, wouldn’t sit back idle and watch the country disintegrate.

According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari hadOur always been committed to the unity of the country.

“By age 20, he joined the army, by 25, he was already at the civil war fighting for the unity of this country. Mr. President himself has always said that for three years that the war lasted, he was there throughout, he didn’t go for any break, he didn’t ask for any pass, he was at the war front,” Adesina said.

He also reminisced that during his school days, there was no division.

“When we were in school, it used to be Ife-Modakeke Students Union. They merged together, they had one group together, there was no difference, so when that war came, it was strange to us.

“We used to be one, that is how Nigeria was originally, and we didn’t know any difference. You are from here, you are from there, we were all together, all the ethnic groups in the country, there was no difference. To now see some things happening is confounding to us.

“That is why we must commend an initiative like this, anything that will promote unity, that will promote togetherness, that will show the evil of Fake News, Hate Speech is something that will be supported, so I want to assure you that as the Media Office of the President, we will support this initiative.

“All those who are trying to cause commotion, cause disunity, cause dismemberment, I think they just struggle in vain, it will not happen. Nigeria will be together. I want to thank you for coming and for this initiative and you can count on us for support,” he added.

Headline

Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

Published

20 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

AFP

Headline

20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

Published

22 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Headline

South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

Published

22 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP