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CAN: Fish Out 61 Abducted Baptist Worshippers, Or …

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The Christian Association of Nigeria ( CAN ) has urged government and security agencies to be serious in locating 61 worshippers of Emmanuel Baptist Church who were abducted by bandits in Kaduna State.

The Christian body said failure to free the Baptist worshippers would make CAN think there was connivance in the kidnap incident.

Rev.Joseph John Hayab, Vice President of CAN in the North, and Chairman of the Kaduna chapter, told Vanguard that ” the
worshippers must be released,if truly there is something going on.”

Or else we would even think they are conniving with the people and making propaganda in the media that they are working. “

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“Okay, what’s the result of all these punishment that Kaduna state people are going through?That the network has been shut down and no practical result to show that criminals have been arrested? They showed us some videos sometimes ago, pictures of Fulani settlement ,claiming to be the bandits settlement that has been chased..But our people are still with the bandits, somewhere here,what’s goings-on?.

“How would bandits carry 66 people, now 61 people and they’re moving and nobody seems to know where they are?Nobody is doing anything?So that government or security agencies must go out there and get our 61 worshippers of Emmanuel Baptist Church released,if truly there is something going on..Or else we would even think they are conniving with the people and making propaganda in the media that they are working.

” This is because we cannot understand, 61 people at the time there’s no network, if 300 soldiers are put in a particular place, they would fish out these bandits and bring our people. What is happening, why the silence?Why is everybody keeping quite about our people who are in the hands of the bandits?Why is everybody keeping quite about our children who are suffering?These young children !! How can you expect these children to come tomorrow and want to serve Nigeria haven gone through this?.”

He said Nigerians need to know that their students are still with these bandits.

“The Bethel Baptist High School students have not come back all ,3 are still with them now since they have released the Head boy.They aremanding from us N5 million per Head for the remaining 3.We have paid them huge sum of money but look at how they are treating us.

“This makes us ask questions. All this shutting down of network, what has happened to it?Have we not used it to track criminals?Have we not used it that these bandits could still keep our 4 children to be demanding money from us?Because our understanding is they would’ve been able to track them.”

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“So they came up with an unpopular policy that is just punishing citizens and is not bringing any succour to the people. Look at what we are back to, now. So this is the challenge we face.As I speak to you ,the bandits that took away the 66 worshippers at Emmanuel Baptist Church Kakau Daji ,a week after ,they took them on 31st of October ,and you will remember on the 6th, Sunday was 31st October, then on the 6th of November, they now picked 5 young people between the ages of 15 to 24,as if ithey were to release them, not knowing that they had an evil intention. When they came near home.,they opened fire on all of them. Two died ,one later died .So we buried 3,and the other 2 who sustained gun injuries are still been treated. But the 61 are with them in the bush and nothing has happened.

READ ALSO: Ogbomoso Special Basic School: Govt. Suspends Three Teachers, Transfers Headteacher, Principal Over Alleged Sexual Harassment

“They asked us to give then food,we did. First they even refused the food,they later accepted it.Then they are demanding for N99 illion from us for those 61 people that are there with them in the bush. So where is the security that is working to fish out these criminals?That is the question we are asking. Where is the security that is working to fish out these criminals?They’ve done videos,the first video they were showing them and put an old man to speak and one other speaker. The second video they showed them,they even sarcastically said in the 2 videos , “let the world see these are Christians, they are Christians. They forced the people to be saying that they are angry with government, “,but we are the ones suffering the brunt. Christians and Southern Kaduna people. If I pass the video to you, you can listen to it very clearly. I am translating what was said in the video.

“So what’s going on? Are security no more? When there was kidnapping on Abuja road few days ago, the police and others quickly went. So where have they been that this thing is happening and nothing is happening? From the 31st of October to today ,these people have spent 26 days in the hands of these bandits and no effort whatsoever. Our children have over 150 days in the hands of the bandits and no effort whatsoever.

We are paying money and there is nothing. We rejoice that our Head boy is back but we are sad because of the other 3 and we are sad because of the experience that these whole children are going through, through out this period. That’s why I said I needed to share the concern of the church with you people so that Nigerians would know that our children are not yet back. If anybody is thinking that all is well about Bethel Baptist High School children, now we still have 3.We just got…and they are demanding about 5 million again, per head. What we got to give them, which was almost N5 million, they just released one person. They are still insisting for 5 for each person.” he said.

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Man Stabs Four To Death In US

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Four people, including a teenage girl, were killed and at least five injured after a man went on a stabbing spree at multiple addresses in the US state of Illinois, police have said.

The stabbings took place on Wednesday afternoon, Rockford City Police said in a statement, adding that a 22-year-old suspect was taken into custody.

The statement did not say anything about a possible motive.

Rockford is located about 90 miles northwest of Chicago.

READ ALSO: Gender Balancing: Tellthatstory Empowers Women In African Storytelling

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Those killed included a 15-year-old girl, a 63-year-old woman, and two men aged 49 and 22, according to the police.

The police statement said that five people had been wounded, but US media later cited the police saying seven were wounded.

Details later

AFP

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[JUST IN] Okuama Killings: Army Declares Eight Persons Wanted [FULL LIST]

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The Nigerian Army has declared Eight persons wanted in connection with the killing of 17 soldiers in the Okuama community in Delta state.

The Nigerian Army disclosed this on its official X account on Thursday.

The persons declared wanted include seven men and one woman.

Full list:

They are Akevwru Daniel Omotegbono, Prof Ekpekpo Arthur, Andaowei Dennis Bakriki, Igoli Ebi (female), Akata Malawa David, Sinclear Oliki, Clement Ikolo Oghenerukevwe and Reuben Baru.

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Okuama killings: Background
The suspected mastermind of the bloodbath, a militant leader, and his gang members, who are currently on the run, seem to have their operational stamping ground at Igbomotoru, a riverside community in the Southern-Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

However, the Nigerian Army, which has spread its dragnet for the fleeing suspects, went as far as Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, to pick up three persons, last Tuesday, in connection with the killing of the soldiers.

READ ALSO: Delta Killings: Military Sets To Build Barracks On Okuama As Demolition Of Houses Continues

So far, the demanding search for the killers of the soldiers in the quiet Okuama has spread to the creeks, hideouts, and communities in Delta State, Bayelsa, and Rivers states, and is likely to extend to other states in the Niger-Delta, and outside the region if need be, according to sources.

According to VANGUARD, many believe the killing of the soldiers was beyond the land dispute between Okuama and Okoloba in the Bomadi local government area, as insiders point to divergences on oil bunkering.

Lt. Col Ali was reportedly bent on stopping oil thieves in his operational area and had made appreciable inroads. There was suspicion that his killing with other military personnel could be a setup.

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We know who did it – General Musa, CDS

The Chief of the Defense Staff, CDS, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, who had given his troops marching orders to track down the killers, alluded to this notion.

Musa said: “I know him, the C.O himself, Lt. Col. Ali. Because of recent, we emphasized that we want oil production in Nigeria to increase so that we will be able to have enough foreign exchange for things to go down. Because we all know the challenges we are facing.

READ ALSO: Okuoma Ambush: Troops Recover Decomposing Hearts Of Killed Soldiers

“And so, he insisted that all illegal activities within his general area must stop. He directed all the troops and they were stopping illegal bunkering, and then these are the people benefiting from it. And so when this issue came up, it became an opportunity for them to do away with him, which is exactly what happened.

“We know who did it, we are following up on him, and it is just a matter of time, we are sure we are going to get him. They took away our arms, we must get those arms back, and we must get these guys so that they would be prosecuted accordingly.”

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From our findings, the countryside people of Okuama are not sophisticated enough to carry out this kind of attack on military officers.

And from the CDS declaration that “we know who did it..,” he confirmed that the premeditated killing was connected to oil bunkering, so why did the troops go after helpless Okuama women and children, and even razed the community?

However, the Army, on Friday, admitted knowledge of the viral video by a militant leader who confessed to participating in killing the 16 soldiers.

It noted: “The video among other things helps to narrow investigation to persons of interest and their cohorts.

“Accordingly, the state governments and host communities of these personalities are required to assist investigation in flushing out these culprits.

“There can be no hiding place for perpetrators of such dastardly act against the nation. This is a clarion call to duty by members of those communities and the state governments”.

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Iran Sentences Police Officer To Death For Killing Protester

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An Iranian court has sentenced a police chief in northern Iran to death after he was charged with killing a man during mass protests in 2022, local media reported Wednesday.

Local police chief Jafar Javanmardi was arrested in December 2022 over the killing of a protester during the widespread demonstrations sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in custody.

Iranian Kurd Amini, 22, died in custody in September that year following her arrest for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.

READ ALSO: Tinubu Orders Army To Pay Slain Soldiers’ Benefits Within 90 Days

Javanmardi was sentenced to death “in accordance with the Islamic law of retribution, known as the ‘qisas’ law, on the charge of premeditated murder”, the lawyer for the victim’s family, Majid Ahmadi, told the reformist Shargh daily.

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The protestor, Mehran Samak, 27, succumbed to injuries he sustained after being hit by shotgun pellets during a rally in the northern city of Bandar Anzali on November 30, 2022.

Rights groups based outside of Iran said Samak was shot dead by Iranian security forces after honking his car horn in celebration of Iran’s loss to the United States in the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar while at the Amini protest.

READ ALSO: Tinubu Appoints Coordinator For Centre For Control Of Small Arms

The defeat eliminated Iran from the football tournament and drew a mixed response from government supporters and opponents.

The lawyer, Ahmadi, said at the time that the police official was charged with “violating the rules for firearms usage, resulting in the death of Samak”.

In mid-January, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said the Supreme Court had annulled a death sentence and referred the case to another court.

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Gilan province, where Bandar Anzali is located, was a flashpoint of the nationwide protest movement that shook Iran.

Hundreds of people were killed during the months-long protests, including dozens of security forces, while thousands were arrested and nine men were executed in cases linked to the demonstrations.

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