Headline

Insecurity: Change Security Chiefs Before It’s Too Late, Group Tells Buhari

Published

4 years ago

December 12, 2021

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to rejig the internal security architectures of the country to reflect federal character.

HURIWA made the call against the backdrop of killings by terrorists in the Northern part of Nigeria.

The right group said religious and ethnic bigotry by security heads was responsible for killings and terrorism in Nigeria.

A statement by HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko reads: “Following the serial blood cuddling butcher and slaughter by terrorists in the North West of Nigeria of civilians including travellers and the persistent failures of intelligence gathering capacity of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a call has gone to the President and Commander-In-Chief President Muhammadu Buhari to rejig, reorganise and reshape the internal security operations especially the hierarchies to reflect the Federal CHARACTER Principle as enshrined in section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution.

“HURIWA believes that religious and Ethnic bigotry by heads of the internal security operations is why there are a lot of terrorism and killings by armed non state actors aided by serving members of the armed forces.

“Specifically, Section 14 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria said thus: “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.”

HURIWA accused Buhari of being a habitual abuser of this law by not only concentrating strategic internal security appointments to Muslims but “he even violated with ignominy the law in making top two appointments into the Federal Character Commission which is an agency to address Federal character issues.”

The group tasked Buhari and the National Assembly to investigate the allegations that the Nigerian Army and Air force deliberately began uncoordinated and poorly executed military actions against terrorists hibernating in Zamfara State and deliberately created escape routes for them to escape the theatre of fire into Sokoto State where they are now transferring their unjust aggression to target civilians and innocent citizens.

The statement added: “It’s shocking that for over six years, President Muhammadu Buhari refused to listen to the voice of reason and stop the religious and Ethnic bigotry which characterised the formation of the heads of the entire agencies of government in charge of internal security operations, thereby allowing only Muslims and mostly Hausa/Fulani to head strategic internal security operations as the Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigerian Immigration, the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, the Nigerian Correctional Centre and the Nigerian Police Force and a South West fanatical Moslem heading the ministry of internal Affairs.

“It is disheartening that the heads of Department of State Services and the Nigerian Intelligence Agency are all headed by Fulani Muslims but yet sophisticated weapons have flooded into Nigeria from the North and these officers perfectly pretended not to know what they are doing whilst terrorists have overwhelmed the entire North, but it took pressures for the government to lazily proceed to the Federal High Court to belatedly classify these suspected Fulani armed militia in the North West as terrorists.

“Why is President Muhammadu Buhari comfortable and sleeping peacefully whilst Nigeria is turned upside down by killers and all kinds of armed non state actors and the Muslim-controlled internal security architectures that have failed and indeed compromised against national security are left intact in their offices as if the government is actually happy that blood is flowing all over the nation? Mr. President, sack these incompetent officers who cannot protect Nigerians. These persons are delegitimising your administration because any administration that is unable to defend the defenceless is a fraud.

“HURIWA is asking the President to appoint qualified Nigerians from all religions and ethnicities to man the internal security operations of Nigeria because empirical evidence now shows that the all Muslim-internal security team have acted like compromised bunch of Islamists who have permitted the infiltration and flooding of Nigeria by all kinds of armed bandits, terrorists and Islamists and it seems these bunch of killers are waging Jihad in Nigeria against Christians whilst a few of them are engaged in the terrorist acts of kidnapping of civilians and destruction of communities”.

(DAILY POST)

Headline

US Says Strikes ‘Devastated’ Iran’s Nuclear Program

Published

4 hours ago

June 22, 2025

Editor

Unprecedented US strikes have wrecked Iran’s nuclear program, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday as Washington sought to assess what remained of the three targeted sites.

The surprise strikes threaten to deepen conflict in the Middle East after Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, with Tehran vowing to retaliate against US involvement.

But the United States said President Donald Trump wanted peace and urged Iran to end the conflict after strikes on a key underground uranium enrichment site at Fordo, along with nuclear facilities in Isfahan and Natanz.

“We devastated the Iranian nuclear program,” Hegseth told a Pentagon press briefing, adding that the operation “did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people.”

Trump “seeks peace, and Iran should take that path”, Hegseth said. “This mission was not, and has not been, about regime change.”

Standing beside Hegseth, top US general Dan Caine said that “it would be way too early for me to comment on what may or may not still be there.”

“Initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” he told reporters.

– Protests in Tehran –

People gathered in the center of Tehran to protest against US and Israeli attacks, waving flags and chanting slogans, state TV showed.

Trump claimed total success for the operation in an address to the nation hours after the attack, and Vice President JD Vance followed up on Sunday morning.

“We know that we set the Iranian nuclear program back substantially last night, whether it’s years or beyond,” he told ABC.

“We’re not at war with Iran — we’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program,” he added. “The president took decisive action to destroy that program last night.”

In Tehran, AFP journalists said the roar of aircraft flying over the city was heard repeatedly for the first time since Israel’s initial attacks.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency said it had not detected any increase in radiation levels at the nuclear sites and Tehran said Sunday there were no signs of contamination.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Istanbul the United States and Israel had “crossed a very big red line,” asserting Iran would continue to defend itself “by all means necessary.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the US strikes, saying Trump’s decision to “target Iran’s nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history.”

The Israeli military was also checking the results of the US raid on the deeply buried nuclear facility in Fordo, with a spokesman saying it was “too soon” to know if Iran had removed enriched uranium from the site.

The main US strike group was seven B-2 Spirit bombers flying 18 hours from the US mainland to Iran with multiple aerial refuelings, Caine said.

– Global concern –

In response to the US attack, Iran’s armed forces said they targeted multiple sites in Israel including Ben Gurion airport, the country’s main international gateway near Tel Aviv.

Israeli rescuers said at least 23 people were wounded.

In Jerusalem, Claudio Hazan, a 62-year-old software engineer, said he hoped the US intervention would hasten an end to the Iran-Israel war.

“Israel by itself would not stop… and it would take longer,” he said.

Israel said it had launched fresh strikes on western Iran and in Qom, south of Tehran. Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported four Revolutionary Guard members were killed in strikes on a military base in the city’s north.

The Israeli military said it had “struck missile launchers ready to launch toward Israeli territory, soldiers in the Iranian Armed Forces, and swiftly neutralized the launchers that launched missiles toward Israeli territory.”

Iran’s Shargh newspaper reported that a “massive explosion was heard” Sunday in Bushehr province, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.

Iranian news agencies also reported strikes in Yazd province.

The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman, which had been mediating Iran-US nuclear talks, criticized the US move and urged de-escalation.

The European Union called on all sides “to step back,” while stressing Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

The Iranian foreign minister said he would travel to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

Following his address, Trump warned Iran against retaliation. Iran and its proxies have previously attacked US military bases in Iraq and elsewhere in the region.

Iran’s Huthi allies in Yemen on Sunday repeated their threat to resume attacks in the Red Sea if Washington joined the war, saying they were ready to target US ships and warships.

The US president had stepped up his rhetoric against Iran since Israel first struck the country on June 13, repeating his insistence it could never have nuclear weapons.

Tehran denies seeking an atomic bomb. On Saturday, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran’s right to pursue a civilian nuclear program “cannot be taken away… by threats or war.”

Headline

US Struck Iran With B-2 Bombers, Submarine-launched Missiles – Top US General

Published

4 hours ago

June 22, 2025

Editor

Seven stealth bombers were used in the US attack against Iranian nuclear sites, which apparently saw little response by Iran’s military, top general Dan Caine said Sunday.

Describing the complex operation, dubbed “Midnight Hammer,” Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine said the “main strike package comprised of 7 B-2 Spirit bombers” flying 18 hours from the US mainland to Iran with multiple aerial refuelings.

“Iran’s fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran’s surface to air missile systems did not see us throughout the mission. We retained the element of surprise,” Caine added.

Headline

UK ‘Was Informed Of US Strikes’ On Iran, Plans Evacuating Briton Out of Israel

Published

4 hours ago

June 22, 2025

Editor

Britain was notified in advance of the US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, though it played no part in the military action, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds confirmed today.

“We were informed, as you might expect, by a key ally,” Reynolds told Sky News, adding, “We were not and have not been involved in these attacks.”

The strikes—launched overnight by US B2 stealth bombers and submarines—targeted Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities. President Donald Trump hailed it as “a spectacular military success,” a claim Tehran swiftly denied.

The UK government is now working to evacuate British nationals trapped in Israel, after Iran launched a wave of retaliatory missiles. Reynolds said it would take “hours, not days” to evacuate them, citing airspace closures as the main delay.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed the US operation, describing Tehran’s nuclear programme as “a grave threat to international security.” He noted that the US acted to “alleviate that threat,” despite previously urging Trump to avoid military escalation.

Reynolds acknowledged public anxiety about the developments and warned of a possible rise in terrorism threats at home: “It would be naïve to say that that wouldn’t potentially increase.”

Opposition figures supported the strikes. Kemi Badenoch said the US had acted “decisively against a regime that fuels global terror.” Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted: “Iran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons. The future of Israel depends on it.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, condemned the US operation as “lawless and criminal behavior,” warning of “everlasting consequences.”