News
Bandits invade Niger community, kill one, kidnap nine
Garam, a border town between Niger State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was again attacked by bandits on Tuesday night.
It was gathered that the Hoodlums killed one person and abducted nine others.
Tuesday’s attack was the fourth in a series of raids carried out by bandits in the community within a month.
Multiple sources disclosed that on Monday afternoon, bandits in their numbers invaded the town on more than 40 motorcycles, asking the residents the road to Jere, a community along Abuja-Kaduna expressway.
An eyewitness said the bandits, who wore military camouflage and brandished AK 47, swords and arrows, spent several minutes in the community.
Several residents took to their heels in fear, according to the sources.
Another eyewitness said she saw people running when the bandits came with their bikes.
“I saw people running when the bandits arrived. I also peeped where I was hiding and I saw some of them using scarves to cover their faces, while some used masks. Some of them wore combat trousers.”
It was further gathered that about an hour after the bandits left, soldiers of 102 Battalion came and later left.
However, on Tuesday night, the bandits moved from house to house to kidnap people.
Another eyewitness said: “The bandits started attacking around 10:30 pm. They started burgling shops, especially the shops where those Hausa boys were sleeping. They later entered a house close to ours, forced the gate open, broke the windows and removed the burglary, but none of the occupants slept at home.
“Since the last attack on January 2, most people have stopped sleeping at home. They come in the morning, and leave at night. But after two weeks of relative peace, some people decided to return the same day the bandits strike again.”
It was gathered that the bandits, who were said to be speaking Fulfulde, were shooting sporadically during the operation.
Another resident said, “In the morning, my neighbours who are Fulani interpreted what the bandits said in Fulfulde to me when they came at night. According to them, the bandits said, “we must not allow these animals (kidnapped victims) to escape”.
“One Nupe woman, whose husband is a driver, was kidnapped alongside her two children. But because the woman has chronic ulcer and she had been sick for some time now, she was later abandoned by the bandits on the way. They tied the woman and the two children to the tree. It was herders that saw them in the bush that set them free and also alerted the soldiers who brought them back.”
Another resident who pleaded anonymity said while the bandits were unleashing terror, the soldiers of 102 Battalion, whose duty was to secure the area, despite receiving the distress call as early as 11:00 pm, arrived at 1:45 am.
“They only flashed light and went back without making nay attempt to engage the bandits,” he said.
“The soldiers arrived at 1:45 am, drove around and went back. They came back at 3:45 am and left again when the bandits had successfully kidnapped and left. The residents were just left to face the horror with no help from the military.”
News
Stop using repressive laws to intimidate journalists – SERAP, NGE tell FG
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, and Nigeria Guild of Editors, NGE, have called on Nigerian authorities at all levels of government to stop using repressive and anti-media laws to target, intimidate and harass journalists, critics and media houses.
The groups made the demand after an interactive session on ‘the state of press freedom in Nigeria’ held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Ikeja.
In a joint statement, SERAP and NGE said that, “the government of President Bola Tinubu, the country’s 36 governors and FCT minister must now genuinely uphold press freedom, ensure access to information to all Nigerians, obey court judgments, and respect the rule of law”.
They expressed concerns about the escalating crackdown on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom and the flagrant disregard for the rule of law by authorities at all levels of government.
The groups note that the suppression of the press in recent times takes various forms ranging from extrajudicial to unlawful detentions, disappearances, malicious prosecutions and wrongful use of both legislation and law enforcement.
The statement read in part: “We would continue to speak truth to power and to hold authorities to account for their constitutional and international obligations including on freedom of expression and media freedom.
“Nigeria as a country has a long and unpleasant history of press gagging and clampdown on media freedom, which is evidence of extensive state censorship of media and in some cases, the utter control of state-owned media houses.
“This position has not changed considerably despite almost 25 years of unbroken democratic rule in the Fourth Republic.”
News
FG adds 625MW to national grid – Minister
News
Tax: Court orders FCT-IRS agency to seal off defaulting coys
A Magistrate Court sitting in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, on Friday, ordered the Federal Capital Territory Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) to seal off a company, Ifedi A.K. Nigeria Ltd, over allegations bordering on non-filing of annual returns.
The Magistrate, Janada Balami, gave the order after lawyer to FCT-IRS, Michael Towolawi, moved the application to the effect.
Towolawi told the court that the company had failed to file its annual returns from 2019 to 2023 in breach of Section 81 of the Personal Income Tax Act, LFN, 2004, and amended in 2011.
He said all efforts to make the company comply with the law proved abortive.
The lawyer, therefore, applied that the company be compel to appear before the court to explain why it acted in breach of the law.
Balami, who held that the application by the agency against the company had merit, accordingly granted same to seal the No 6, Rudolph Close, Off Katsina-Ala Street, Maitama, Abuja.
She, consequently, ordered the company, the sole defendant in the matter, to appear before the court on May 16.
The Director, Legal Services of the FCT-IRS, Festus Tsavar, told journalists after the proceeding that the service would move against companies that do not file their annual returns as provided by law.
“You know that we have a new minister in FCT that is doing a lot of projects and that hinges on money.
“And of course, you are aware that FCT has come out of TSA.
“So it is the internally generated revenue that will make the government of FCT to be able to do those projects completely within required time,” he said.
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