News

Why Military Hasn’t Gone After Asari-Dokubo – DHQ

Published

9 months ago

October 11, 2024

Editor

The Defence Headquarters stated on Thursday that it chose not to go after former Niger Delta militant warlord, Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, to avoid being accused of acting “undemocratically.”

The Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, made this remark in Abuja while responding to a recent report about Asari-Dokubo’s alleged threat to shoot down a military helicopter that had reportedly hovered around his residence.

Addressing journalists, the DHQ spokesman described Asari-Dokubo’s threat as laughable, challenging him to confront soldiers on the battlefield if he was bold enough.

Buba said, “Now, the comment by an individual that he can shoot down military helicopters is laughable. And I am about to laugh at that. We are in a democracy, and we are professionals. Of course, we cannot just, based on somebody’s comments, begin to take certain actions. They would accuse the military of being undemocratic.

“The military is not the only security force or department in the country. There are other security agencies that have a constitutional role to play in handling such issues.

“I tell you that he doesn’t have that capability, but I will allow the security forces responsible for such matters to take it up. As for us, come to the battlefield, and we’ll take you out. He should come to the battlefield and see whether we can react or not.”

Buba explained that the military’s focus remained on combating terrorists across various theatres of operations.

He said, “For us, the enemy we fight are the terrorists. Some may choose to call them different names in the different theatres of operations where they exist. In the North-West and North-East, some will say terrorists; some may prefer to call them bandits.

“I tell you, they are all terrorists, and that is what we see. Troops are making significant progress. As I mentioned earlier, we prioritise eliminating terrorist leadership, and we have been doing just that. In the last three quarters, we have taken out over 300 terrorist commanders, not to mention their foot soldiers.

“Our aim is to diminish their fighting capabilities and damage their military capabilities, which we have been successfully doing. As indicated in the brief you received, you can see how many weapons and ammunition we have recovered.”

Buba said a terrorist kingpin in Jigawa State, known as Mai Hijabi, was killed in an operation conducted during the week.

He noted that a total of 165 terrorists were killed, and 238 suspects were arrested.

Buba said, “Our operations have destroyed a substantial part of the combat capacity of these terror groups and their leadership. For instance, one of the notorious terrorist commanders in Jigawa State, known as Mai Hijabi, was eliminated from the battlefield during the week. Troops are, therefore, increasingly making significant strides across all theatres of operations.

“During the week under review, troops neutralised 165 terrorists, arrested 238 persons, and rescued 188 kidnapped victims.”

Buba added that troops also arrested 35 suspected oil thieves in the South-South region and prevented the theft of an estimated sum of N688,125,150.00.

He said, “Troops in the Niger Delta area discovered and destroyed two dugout pits, 58 boats, and 39 storage tanks. Other items recovered include 13 cooking ovens, 35 drums, one motorcycle, one tricycle, four speed boats, 13 vehicles, and 65 illegal refining sites. Troops recovered 789,200 litres of stolen crude oil and 64,950 litres of illegally refined AGO.”

Buba also noted that troops recovered 153 assorted weapons and 2,182 rounds of assorted ammunition.

The breakdown, according to him, includes 81 AK-47 rifles, 23 fabricated rifles, 27 Dane guns, 13 pump-action guns, five locally-made pistols, three revolver pistols, 30 AK-47 magazines, and one bayonet.

Other items recovered are, “1,561 rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition, 278 rounds of 7.62mm NATO ammunition, 70 rounds of 50mm ammunition, 72 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 87 live cartridges, one Baofeng radio, 19 vehicles, 21 motorcycles, 45 mobile phones, and the sum of N64,100.00, among other items.”

News

Peter Obi Condemns Tinubu’s Saint Lucia Trip

Published

33 minutes ago

June 28, 2025

Editor

Labour Party leader and former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s planned trip to Saint Lucia, describing it as poorly timed and lacking in sensitivity, especially amid Nigeria’s deepening economic and security challenges.

Tinubu is expected to leave Nigeria on Saturday for Saint Lucia and is also scheduled to attend the upcoming BRICS summit in Brazil.

In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Obi expressed dismay over the president’s travel, questioning the state of governance in the country.

Obi argued that Tinubu’s trip highlights a pattern of misplaced priorities by the administration, particularly at a time when citizens are grappling with widespread hunger and insecurity.

“What I have seen and witnessed in the last two years has left me in shock about poor governance delivery and apparent channelling of energy into politics and satisfaction of the elites, while the masses in our midst are languishing in want,” Obi stated.

He lamented the toll of rising insecurity across Nigeria, pointing out the country’s deteriorating safety situation.

“In the past two years, Nigeria has lost more people to all sorts of criminality than a country that is officially at war.

“Without any twilight, Nigeria ranks among the most insecure places in the world. Nigerians are hungrier, and most people do not know where their next meal will come from,” he wrote.

Obi said he was stunned when he learned of the President’s travel plans, especially following what he described as a recent holiday in Lagos.

“With such a gory picture of one’s country, you can imagine my bewilderment when I saw a news release from the Presidency announcing that President Bola Tinubu is departing Nigeria today for a visit to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean,” he said.

Quoting Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister, Philip J. Pierre, Obi noted that the visit comprises both official and personal segments.

“According to the Prime Minister’s announcement, ‘two of these days, June 30 and July 1, will be dedicated to an official visit, with the remainder of the trip set aside as a personal vacation,” he said.

Obi noted that he initially found the report hard to believe.

“I told the person who drew my attention to the Caribbean story that it cannot be true and that the President is just coming back from a holiday in Lagos.

“I didn’t want to believe that anybody in the position of authority, more so the President… would contemplate a leisure trip at this time,” Obi said.

He condemned Tinubu’s failure to visit disaster-stricken areas like Minna in Niger State, where over 200 people reportedly died and hundreds remain missing due to flooding.

“This is a President going for leisure when he couldn’t visit Minna, Niger State where over two hundred lives were lost and over 700 persons still missing in a flood natural disaster,” he said.

Obi also took issue with Tinubu’s recent trip to Benue State, claiming it was politically motivated rather than compassionate.

“The other state in crisis where over two hundred lives were murdered, the President yielded to public pressure and visited Makurdi… for what turned out to be a political jamboree than condolence as public holiday was declared and children made to line up to receive the President who couldn’t even reach the village, the scene of the brutal attack,” he said.

Drawing comparisons between Nigeria and Saint Lucia, Obi questioned the logic of prioritising a visit to the Caribbean nation over addressing pressing domestic issues.

“Makurdi is 937.4 Km², which is over 59% bigger than St Lucia, which is 617 km², and Minna is 6789 square kilometres, which is ten times bigger than St Lucia. St Lucia, with a population of 180,000, is less than half of Makurdi’s 489,839 and Minna, with 532,000 is almost three times the population of St Lucia,” the former Anambra governor said.

He concluded his post by stressing the urgent need for leadership that is grounded in empathy and focused on addressing the suffering of ordinary Nigerians.

He said, “I don’t think the situation in this country today calls for leisure for anybody in a position of authority, more so the President, on whose desk the buck stops.

“This regime has repeatedly shown its insensitivity and lack of passion for the populace…”

Obi added, “This very obvious indifference of the federal government to the suffering of the Nigerian poor should urgently be reversed.

“One had expected the President to be asking God for extra hours in a day for the challenges, but what we see is a concentration of efforts in the 2027 election and on satisfying the wealthy while the mass poor continues to multiply in number.”

News

World Bank Lists Nigeria Among 39 Nations Facing Rising Poverty, Hunger

Published

47 minutes ago

June 28, 2025

Editor

The World Bank has listed Nigeria among 39 countries where poverty and hunger are deepening as a result of conflict and instability.

In a report released on Friday, the bank said the economies, a mix of low- and middle-income countries, span all global regions. Among them are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe.

The report, which assesses the economic impact of conflict and fragility in the post-COVID-19 era, revealed that 21 of the 39 countries are experiencing active conflict.

According to the findings, extreme poverty is rising more rapidly in these countries, taking a severe toll on economic development, worsening hunger, and derailing progress toward key development goals.

Since 2020, the report noted, the average per capita GDP of these economies has declined by 1.8 per cent annually, in contrast to a 2.9 per cent growth rate recorded in other developing countries.

The report partly reads: “This year, 421 million people are struggling on less than $3 a day in economies afflicted by conflict or instability—more than in the rest of the world combined.

“That number is projected to rise to 435 million, or nearly 60% of the world’s extreme poor, by 2030.”

News

Nigeria’s Public Debt Rises To N149trn

Published

50 minutes ago

June 28, 2025

Editor

Nigeria’s total public debt rose to N149.39 trillion as of March 31, 2025, according to the latest data released by the Debt Management Office (DMO).

The nation’s public debt represents the indebtedness of the federal and state governments, as well as the Federal Capital Territory.

The Federal Government owes N74.89 trillion, while the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) owe the balance of N3.87 trillion.

The figure represents about 4. 72 trillion or 3.3 percent increase over the preceding quarter, with a debt stock figure of N144.67 trillion.

The data showed that external debt rose minimally by 0.5 percent between the end of 2024 and the end of March 2025 (N344 billion).

Although the nation’s external borrowing has been quite low since the last quarter of 2024, the Naira depreciation has had a very negative effect on the stock.

Domestic debt stood at N78.76 trillion as of the end of the first quarter compared to N65.65 trillion in March 2024.