Headline

‘How Ex-Boko Haram Leader, Shekau, Fled Without Pregnant Wife’

Published

2 years ago

March 28, 2023

The Theater Commander, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), Major General Ibrahim Sallau Ali, has narrated before the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, now the deceased leader of the Boko Haram terrorist sect, Abubakar Shekau, abandoned his wives and fled when Nigerian Armed Forces attacked his camp.

The top Army officer who appeared to testify before a panel the Commission constituted to investigate allegations of human rights violations against the Nigerian military, disclosed that one of the wives of the late terrorist leader that was left behind by her husband, was heavily pregnant.

He said the woman was subsequently handed over to government authorities that took care of her needs till she gave birth.

Major General Ali denied the allegation that women were maltreated by soldiers engaged in counter-terrorism operations in the North Eastern part of the country.

He described a report by an international media organization, Reuters, which accused the Nigerian Military of running a secret, systematic and illegal abortion program in the North East region of the country, as false and lacking in credibility.

It will be recalled that the report specifically alleged that the covert abortion program, which it said was backed by the government, had led to the illegal termination of at least 10, 000 pregnancies in the crisis torn states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, since 2013.

Irked by the report, the Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, General Lucky Irabor, had on December 16, 2022, stormed the NHRC, asking it to investigate the allegation.

Following the request, the Commission constituted a seven-man probe panel which is chaired by a retired Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice Abdu Aboki.

Meanwhile, the Commission, in a statement it made available to newsmen through its Deputy Director, Public Relations and External Linkages, Hajiya Fatima Agwai Mohammed, revealed that Major Ali testified before the panel which sat in Maiduguri, on behalf of the Nigerian Armed Forces.

According to the statement, responding to questions by the general counsel to the panel, Mr. Hilary Ogbonna, Major General Ali, maintained that the illegal abortion report by the media outlet was “not just possible”.

He said the military was doing its best to restore peace and normalcy in the region.

Major General Ali said before he took over the counter-insurgency operations, terrorist hitherto controlled most things.

“Terrorists were in the city, going to various houses and we made sure we arrested them”, he added.

Continuing, the witness said: “When I came on board an officer was shot in the mouth inside Damaturu by the insurgents in an unsuccessful attempt to kill, but he escaped and later on, there was a Bomb blast because the enemy’s vehicle was laden with explosive device”.

He further narrated to the panel, how he was injured by the insurgents on two different occasions.

He said the insurgents who were initially living in the cities with their families, later relocated and occupied the bushes.

On how his team encountered the Boko Haram leader, Major General Ali said: “The military moved against them and neutralized those who wanted to kill us.

“When we attacked them at one point during a clearance operation, the leader, Abubakar Shekau escaped, leaving his wives and we arrested and brought them to the State government lodge.

“One of Shekau’s wives was pregnant at that time and I think she even delivered successfully and I never had the experience of clearance operations targeted at women and children.

“We don’t arrest the women in the cities but rather focus on the men that carried arms against the State”.

On the allegation of massive killing of children on the premise that they were fathered by Boko Haram insurgents, Major General Ali who was formerly the Deputy Director of Logistics at the Army Headquarters, said the military operated with a high sense of professionalism and utmost regard for human life.

He said the military medical facility in Damaturu was not equipped to do surgery, adding that women were often referred to the University of Maiduguri when the need arose.

Similarly, the Borno State Coordinator of Civil Joint Task Force (CJTF), Mr Abba Aji Kalli, in his oral evidence before the panel, said they usually assist the military to navigate through pathways in the communities since they were more familiar with the terrain as indigenes of the state.

According to him, the CJTF members took an oath to remain fair to every member of the public, irrespective of whether they were friendly with them or not.

The CJTF leader told the panel that the military is professionally minded in their operations both on and off the battlefield.

He, therefore, dismissed the report of alleged illegal abortions by the military as false and unfounded.
VANGUARD

Headline

Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

Published

13 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

Headline

Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

13 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women’s rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

“These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents,” it added.

Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

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“Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated,” the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

The issue of women’s rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

“Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified,” Tokayev said last year.

AFP

Headline

Russia Arrests Woman For Detonating Bomb On Railway

Published

13 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had arrested a woman in her fifties accused of detonating explosives in a bid to sabotage the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The suspect was allegedly working on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB said, in the latest incident of alleged covert activity during the countries’ conflict.

“In August 2025, following the instructions provided by the adversary, the suspect manufactured a homemade explosive device from publicly available components, placed it on the railway tracks and triggered it,” the Russian agency said.

“She recorded the moment of the explosion on her mobile phone camera and sent the footage as a report to the handler to receive a reward.”

The statement did not name the suspect but said she was born in 1974 and carried out the alleged attack in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.

The FSB warned Russians that it was monitoring social networks and online messenger services such as Telegram and WhatsApp for evidence of Ukrainian services recruiting Russians to carry out sabotage.

Separately, the agency told state news agency TASS that a man had been sentenced to 18 years and six months for transporting explosives on behalf of a “pro-Ukrainian” group.

A resident of the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, had, the FSB said, established contact through the Telegram app with a banned “terrorist organisation”.

He allegedly retrieved explosives from a cache on the orders of this group before waiting for “further instructions”, according to the same source cited by TASS.

He was jailed by a military tribunal.

AFP