Headline

Why Only 300 Of 50,000 Hardcore Terrorists Arrested By Military Were Prosecuted – DG, NARC

Published

1 year ago

June 23, 2024

Editor

Against the backdrop that statistics and records from intelligence agencies show that out of the over 50,000 hardened and hardcore Boko Haram terrorists arrested by the Nigerian Army and other security agencies, only about a paltry 300 of them have been prosecuted, the Director General of the Nigeria Army Resource Centre, Major General Garba Wahab (rtd) has said that the judiciary arm of the government needs to do more if insecurity is to be eradicated in Nigeria.

Hundreds of thousands of innocent Nigerians have been killed, abducted, raped and forcefully enslaved while houses, properties and government facilities were destroyed by these terrorists leading to millions displaced and in IDP camps but when the terrorists are arrested, little or nothing happens to them.

But speaking during a two-day round table discussion in Abuja at the weekend with the theme “Asymmetrical National Security Challenges, the Army, and National Development”, Gen Wahab disclosed that the judiciary must up its ante and perform its sacred role of dishing out deserved purnishment to terrorists to deter impunity.

His words, “One of the ways to curb insecurity is that the judiciary must be alive to its responsibilities and the local government authorities should be allowed to function.

“It is regrettable that in a Nigerian court, it will take 20 years for a case to be adjudicated upon and persons who have commited clear and glaring offences to be get just purnishment. That’s what is happening. A former president mentioned it saying It takes 10 years for a simple case of stealing to be decided in Nigeria.”

Wahab insisted that the local governments administration should be allowed to function well in the country pointing out that the localization of security in the country would also help in curbing some crimes.

“What we are asking those in government to do is to find a way of ensuring that the judiciary and local government are allowed to function well. When you allow local government to function, then you can localize the security architecture.

“In so doing, insecurity issues will be addressed at the battalion level We should go to the battalion level because these battalions serve the state and so they relate with the state and local government. We shouldn’t wait till we get to divisional headquarters whenever there is a problem. Divisional headquarters in most cases are busy attending to five or six States.”

Gen Wahab also called on the political class to avoid a situation where security agencies will feel that criminal elements receive protection even in instances where personnel are killed or injured through ambushes and other attacks thereby demoralizing the commitments of personnel in operations.

In his remarks, the Executive Director, Defence Space Agency, Prof. Okey Ikechukwu, said the round table seeks to drive a new narrative by getting various segments of Nigeria’s public to see and understand their roles in the wider national ecosystem of synchronized security.

He said, “We will use the round table to re-emphasise the specific and general roles of the military, particularly the Nigerian army, in the cocktail of structures, activities, and processes that constitute the national security architecture”.

He recalled that in April 2024, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, directed field commanders and troops to be adaptive and embrace innovation to ensure adversaries of the country are brought to their knees.

Lagbaja had noted that that the nation was in a more volatile and complex period than before and tasked Commanders to be innovative.

He also charged them to restore peace and stability in areas experiencing security challenges across the nation

The round table brought together, senior serving and retired military personnel, the media, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations among other stakeholders in the country?
VANGUARD

Headline

NGO Says Starving Gaza Children Too Weak To Cry

Published

3 hours ago

August 27, 2025

Editor

The head of Save the Children described in horrific detail on Wednesday the slow agony of starving children in Gaza, saying they are so weak they do not even cry.

Addressing a Security Council meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the president of the international charity, Inger Ashing, said famine — declared by the UN last week to be happening in Gaza — is not just a dry technical term.

“When there is not enough food, children become acutely malnourished, and then they die slowly and painfully. This, in simple terms, is what famine is,” said Ashing.

She went on to describe what happens when children die of hunger over the course of several weeks, as the body first consumes its own fat to survive, and when that is gone, literally consumes itself as it eats muscles and vital organs.

“Yet our clinics are almost silent. Now, children do not have the strength to speak or even cry out in agony. They lie there, emaciated, quite literally wasting away,” said Ashing.

She insisted that aid groups have been warning loudly that famine was coming as Israel prevented food and other essentials from entering Gaza over the course of two years of war triggered by the Hamas attack of October 2023.

“Everyone in this room has a legal and moral responsibility to act to stop this atrocity,” said Ashing.

The United Nations officially declared famine in Gaza on Friday, blaming what it called the systematic obstruction of aid by Israel during more than 22 months of war.

A UN-backed hunger monitor called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative said famine was affecting 500,000 people in the Gaza governorate, which covers about a fifth of the Palestinian territory, including Gaza City.

The IPC projected that the famine would expand by the end of September to cover around two-thirds of Gaza.
AFP

Headline

Again, Russia Claims Another Village In Ukraine’s Region

Published

2 days ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The Russian army Monday claimed to have captured another village in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, moving deeper into Ukrainian territory as peace efforts stall.

Russian forces are slowly but steadily gaining ground in costly battles for largely devastated areas in eastern and central Ukraine, normally with few inhabitants or intact buildings left.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had seized the settlement of Zaporizke in the region, which Russian troops recently advanced into for the first time in the three-and-a-half-year offensive.

Kyiv denies that Russian troops have gained a foothold in the Dnipropetrovsk region, an important industrial hub.

After another push by US President Donald Trump to broker a Ukraine-Russia summit, hopes for peace dimmed when Russia last week ruled out any immediate meeting between presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

The central region of Dnipropetrovsk has previously been largely spared from fighting that has ravaged swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, until Russia said its forces broke through in July.

Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea — that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.

Ukraine said Russia had launched over 100 drones Monday, killing a 37-year old civilian driver and wounding two people in the northeastern Sumy region.

Moscow said Kyiv had launched about two dozen drones targeting western Russia

Headline

US Comedian Reggie Carroll Shot Dead In Mississippi

Published

2 days ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

A United States comedian, Reginald “Reggie” Carroll, has been shot dead in Southaven, Mississippi.

The 52-year-old Carroll, widely known as the Knockout King of Comedy, was reportedly killed on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds.

The Southaven Police Department confirmed the incident in a Facebook statement on Saturday.

“Southaven officers located one male victim suffering from gunshot wounds.

“The officers and medical personnel provided life saving techniques but the individual succumbed to his injuries,” the statement partly read.

The victim was later identified as Carroll, a Baltimore native.

Police said one suspect was arrested and charged with his murder.

“One male is in custody and has been charged with the murder of Reginald Carroll.

“Our thoughts are with the family of Mr. Carroll.

“Thank you to the community for their patience and understanding,” the department added.

The police further assured that there was no ongoing threat to residents, describing the case as “an isolated shooting.”

Carroll, who built his career in stand-up comedy, gained national recognition touring with Katt Williams and headlining his own showcase, Knockout Kings of Comedy.

He also featured in the 2000 edition of Showtime at the Apollo, appeared on the UPN sitcom The Parkers alongside Mo’Nique and Countess Vaughn, and starred in the 2022 television film Rent & Go.

In 2023, he produced the stand-up special Knockout Kings of Comedy.

The Southaven Police Department disclosed that an investigation into his death is ongoing.