Friday

The Bayelsa State Chapter of Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) has suspended the industrial action embarked upon by its members on Feburary 12.

The students abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, in Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State, are still with their captors, the state government has said.

The federal government has urged state governments to domesticate the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) to enhance prudence and eliminate wastes and corruption in public finance management.

An #EndSARS campaigner and a member of Citizens’ Rally against Oppression, Mr. Dele Farotimi, has alleged that some powerful personalities in Lagos State had threatened his life over his agitation against the reopening of Lekki Toll Plaza.

Gunmen in Nigeria on Saturday released 27 teenage boys who were kidnapped from their school last week in the north-central state of Niger, while security forces continued to search for more than 300 schoolgirls abducted in a nearby state.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday called on the African Union and other international partners to help address a deepening crisis in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region as he condemned alleged atrocities in fighting there.

Respite may have come the way of the 317 kidnapped schoolgirls of Government Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State following the news filtering in this afternoon that they have been released by the bandits.

Following the Friday abduction of over 300 school children in Jangebe in Zamfara State, Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Saturday warned Nigerians against accepting kidnapping of school children in parts of the north as a way of life.

Suspected bandits have raided some communities in the eastern part of Sokoto state, killing four persons and rustled several livestock.

Global rights group, Amnesty International, has condemned the arrest of Salihu Tanko Yakasai, who was arrested hours after criticising President Muhammadu Buhari, over the rise in school kidnappings.

More than 850 cows that have spent months on a ship in the Mediterranean are no longer fit for transport and should be killed, Spain’s Agriculure Ministry said on Saturday, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

The Zamfara State’s chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has lamented that governor Matawalle’s peace accord and reconciliation process with bandits in the state has been the cause of rampant cases of banditry in the state.

A federal judge on Friday gave final approval to a $650 million Facebook class action privacy settlement and ordered the 1.6 million members of the class in Illinois who submitted claims to be paid “as expeditiously as possible.”

UNICEF representative in Nigeria, Mr Peter Hawkins has described the release of 27 students abducted by gunmen in a government school at Kagara, Niger State over a week ago as a relief.

Some of the students who managed to escape when gunmen raided the Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe in Zamfara state, said there were women in combat gear among the gunmen that abducted the over 317 schoolgirls last Friday.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has said securing the freedom of Pastor Bulus Yakuru, and other Boko Haram captives will be a litmus test for the new Service Chiefs, saying the world is watching to see whether they will live up to expectations or not.

Bangladesh is under “no obligation” to shelter 81 Rohingya Muslim refugees adrift for almost two weeks on the Andaman Sea and being assisted by neighbouring India, said Bangladesh foreign minister A.K. Abdul Momen.

Kano State governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has directed the closure of some Tertiary Institutions in the State with immediate effect.

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has condemned the abduction of 317 school children in Zamfara state, regretting that in spite of assurances from the federal government that it will end banditry and kidnappings, the lives of Nigerians are becoming more endangered everyday.

The 13 Brigade Nigerian Army Calabar has handed over two suspected drug dealers to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for further investigation and prosecution.

The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) condemns the attempted arrest of Yoruba activist, Mr Sunday Igboho in Ibadan on Friday by a combined team of security forces.

The defence headquarters has warned individuals who obstruct the movement of goods from one part of the country to the other to desist from such acts or face the wrath of the law.