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Kidnappers invaded the Nigeria Post Army estate in Abuja on Thursday night and kidnapped two people.

The incident, which happened at about 10:00 p.m. in the Phase 2 area of the estate, had kidnappers who came into the estates and took away the wife and one of the in-laws of one Barrister Cyril Adikwu.

According to Austine John, who is a neighbour to the victim, the kidnappers came in and started shooting while they invaded the barrister’s house and took away his wife and in-law while the barrister escaped.

“It all started at about 10:00 We suddenly started hearing gunshots, and immediately we knew something was wrong. I quickly went out to make sure my gate was well locked.

“Then we heard the gunshot in the barrister’s house, and then we alerted the estate’s management, who immediately swung into action. In a short time, army people came around and started shooting too, but before they came, the kidnappers had taken the wife and one of the in-laws of the barrister.

“This is really traumatising because we could not sleep throughout the night due to fear of the kidnappers coming back. President Tinubu should please help Nigerians put an end to this barbaric act by the kidnappers.

There was a heated gunfire exchange, on Thursday, as the police rescued Segun Akinyemi, an Abuja resident, who was kidnapped just as he was driving out of his house.

The kidnappers were taking Akinyemi from Abuja to Kano State when the police swooped on them, according to Police Public Relations Officer in Kaduna, ASP Mansir Hassan.

He said on January 18, 2024, operatives attached to Kawo Divisional Headquarters, Kaduna, received a distress call of a kidnapping incident from Abuja.

He said they were alerted that the culprits and their victim were transiting through Kaduna.

“The Operatives, at about 0010 hours, blocked a grey Toyota Hilux van with registration number Abuja RBC 90 DC, carrying four passengers, the driver inclusive, suspected to be the vehicle conveying the kidnappers and their victim.”

“On sensing danger and in an effort to escape, one of the kidnappers fired at the Policemen, and they responded accordingly. In the resulting gun duel, the victim, a certain Segun Akinyemi of block 10, flat 2 FCDA quarters Area 3 Garki, Abuja, was rescued, and one of the kidnappers, a 28-year-old Chinaza Philip of Life Camp Abuja, was arrested,” he said.

The police said the three other suspects who escaped are being trailed, adding that the vehicle belonging to the victim, two Retay G17 model pistols, one Beretta pistol, ten 9mm P.A.K ammunitions, and five 9mm special ammunitions were recovered from the kidnappers.

He said preliminary inquiries revealed that the victim was abducted on January 17, 2024, by the kidnappers just when he was leaving his home situated at the aforementioned address.

He said the three escaped suspects were; Chidibere Nwodibo of Life Camp, Abuja, one Auwal surname unknown, and the gang leader whose identity is yet to be ascertained.

The kidnappers were transporting their victim to Kano before they were intercepted by the Police.

The Commissioner of Police Kaduna State Command, CP A.D Ali, while commending the Operatives for the brave feat, still tasked them to continuously go after criminal elements in the State.

He called on the members of the public to avail themselves of security agencies’ hotlines for any distress call requiring a prompt response.

The Minister of State for Youth Development, Mr Ayodele Olawande, says most Nigerians youths lack basic skills required to get them gainful employment.

Olawande lamented that most private firms now prefer to employ foreigners because Nigerian youths lack the skills to work in their firms.

In a statement signed by the Head, Press and Public Relations Unit of the Ministry, Maryam Umar Yusuf, the minister expressed his displeasure when the leadership of the National Youth Leaders Forum of all political parties in Nigeria led by its chairman, Muhammed Awwal Musa, paid him a courtesy visit on Wednesday.

He urged the youths to rise up and learn a skill that would qualify them to be marketable and employable.

The minister said it was time to kick start a “One Youth, Two skills” campaign to empower the Nigerian youths.

“This is why the Ministry of youth development is spearheading initiatives to compel every young person in the country to have at least two skills that they can market.

“With the tagline, ‘One Youth, Two Skills,’ we want to emphasize that it is unacceptable and, indeed, an injustice for a youth in this country not to have a skill that he or she can deploy to earn a decent living,” the Minister said.

On his part, Musa, who commended the youth minister on his plans to empower the youths, noted that the forum had agreed to work with the Bola Tinubu administration irrespective of their political differences.

The Director General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Abisoye Coker-Odusote has disclosed that NIMC and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) are currently working with security agencies to use the National Identity Numbers (NIN) and Subscribers Identity Modules (SIM) databases to track down kidnappers and victims of kidnapping.

Odusote who declined to give details of the collaboration said some gaps have been identified and all stakeholders are working to close up such gaps to address the security problems plaguing the country.

The NIMC boss spoke with reporters in Abuja on Thursday, January 18, shortly after declaring open stakeholder engagement in Nigeria Identification for Development Project (ID4D) in Abuja.

She said loopholes that have been identified are being plugged while NIMC and NCC are collaborating with security agencies to ensure infrastructures and other necessary information are harnessed to address the challenges.

Odusote who spoke through her technical assistant, Mrs Ayobami Abiola, also said that the essence of National Identity Numbers (NIN) for citizens is to reduce incidences of corruption and implement strategic development plans.

According to her, countries that have completed their national identity databases have been able to deploy them for development and implement social security programmes successfully.

Addressing participants at the engagement, Mrs Odusote said NIMC would strengthen relationships with key stakeholders to ensure that established functional structures across states, local government, ward, and community levels can make enrolment for NIN more accessible to the people.

She said following the ongoing reforms in NIMC, more vulnerable persons, especially persons with disabilities, would be captured in the national identity database as well as people who are in various Internally Displaced Persons camps in the country.

She said President Bola Tinubu has expressed concerns about fragmented identity and the need for Nigeria to have a unified system, saying the administration is committed to changing the narratives of national identity for all Nigerians.

She noted: “The President has expressed worry over our fragmented identity system which is causing the country huge losses in expenditure and has given us marching orders to ensure we integrate and unify our identity system.

“To match words with action, the President on assumption of office as Commander-in-Chief signed the Nigeria Data Protection Bill now Nigeria Data Protection Act. This was to provide the needed legal framework for the protection and privacy of the data of Nigerians and legal residents.”

“The NIN is free and for everyone. At the NIMC, we frown at all forms of extortion and will ensure anyone found culpable of extorting any potential enrollee is made to bear the full weight of the law.

“Since my assumption of office as the DG of the NIMC, I have led several sting operations to enrolment and regional coordination centres across the country where some of our staff found extorting enrollees were handed over to law enforcement agents for prosecution.

“Aside from working to remove all impediments and barriers to enrolment for a national ID, we are working closely with the Nigeria Digital Identification for Development Project (NDID4) with support from the World Bank, French Development Agency (AFD), and European Investment Bank (EIB) in implementing series of sustainable and innovative reforms.

“The goal is to remove all current challenges and difficulties that people face in enrolling for IDs, fostering a robust, seamless, and more inclusive enrolment system where ID is provided for everyone, and no one is left behind.

“Aside from working to remove all impediments and barriers to enrolment for a national ID, we are working closely with the Nigeria Digital Identification for Development Project (NDID4) with support from the World Bank, French Development Agency (AFD), and European Investment Bank (EIB) in implementing series of sustainable and innovative reforms.

“The goal is to remove all current challenges and difficulties that people face in enrolling for IDs, fostering a robust, seamless, and more inclusive enrolment system where ID is provided for everyone, and no one is left behind.

She further stated: “The NIMC is fashioning ways to clear the backlog of enrolment fees owed to enrolment partners and has also developed a robust business model to incentivise all partners particularly those who will be conducting enrolment in remote and hard-to-reach communities and locations.

“As we speak, over 300 representatives of the revalidated enrolment agents drawn from every part of Nigeria, are undergoing training on several aspects of the enrolment process including device management, reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities, effective communication, best practices in customer service and grievance management.

“This is to equip them with all necessary skills and information needed to help them interact well with applicants and integrate into communities they are commissioned to carry out enrolment.

“We will be working on amending the NIMC Act to ensure it is in consonance with the current digital realities to ease integration with other foundational ID agencies like the National Population Commission. We are also working tirelessly on upgrading the enrolment software and ensuring the training and retraining of all licensed enrolment partners. “

The federal government has relocated the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to Lagos.

This was revealed in a memo signed by the Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku.

The memo read:

”The Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development has directed that the Headquarters of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) should be relocated from Abuja to Lagos.

”Consequent upon the above, you are requested to provide the implication of the relocation to the management.”

The memo was dated 15th of January, 2024.

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, yesterday cautioned the public against the practice of paying ransom to bandits and kidnappers, warning that such actions will encourage the scourge.

The warning against ransom payment followed reports that Nigerians had raised over N50 million through crowdfunding to pay the ransom for the release of five daughters of Abuja resident Mansoor Al-Kadriya.

Six siblings had been abducted from their father’s house in Bwari Council, Abuja, on December 26, 2023, alongside their father.

Although their father was later released to go and raise the ransom, the kidnappers killed one of his daughters, Nabeeha, last Friday for failing to raise the said ransom, leaving five in captivity.

Wike made the plea yesterday at a town hall meeting on insecurity held at Bwari Area Council.

The meeting was attended by heads of security agencies in the territory, led by FCT Commissioner of Police, Garba Haruna; the Sarkin-Bwari, Alhaji Awwal Musa Ijakoro; and Chairman of Bwari Area Council, John Gabaya.

Gabaya said the council was planning to mobilise 50 hunters and 50 vigilantes into a joint security task force and support them with logistics to complement the efforts of the security agencies in protecting the 90 villages and 16 districts that constitute Bwari Council.

Wike said: “We have to stop this idea of going to the radio to say we are ready to raise money. When you do that, those criminals are happy. They are happy when the people that are concerned, you people, want to raise money.

“No. I know it is painful that your wife, your children, and your husband have been kidnapped. All we want is to stop it, not to encourage it.

“Journalists should also help us. We need the support of everybody. The kind of news you write also will encourage them.”

He promised to go on hot pursuit of bandits, constituting a nuisance for the residents of FCT and making life miserable for them.

He stated, “It is no longer going to be business as usual. Everything has to be done to protect lives and property. Without protection of lives and property, then we have no business in government.

“My coming here today is to assure you that we are very serious. All those criminals, bandits, enough is enough! We will do everything in our power to make sure that we will not allow this to happen again.”

The minister said he got the president’s approval yesterday morning to provide all the logistics required to support the security agencies.

He said the security agencies would no longer give any excuse of being underequipped, as they would be provided with all necessary logistics.

The minister also condemned the activities of terrorists and kidnappers wreaking havoc across the country and noted that kidnapping in the FCT was high within the area councils.

He said, “We are aware that Mr. President called us and all the service chiefs to discuss this issue. So, concerted efforts are being made by security agencies to stop it immediately.

“These kidnappings happen around the suburbs, around locations that are bordering Kaduna and Niger. And this is as a result of the current operations going on in the North-west and some parts of North-central.

“The bandits are fleeing, and they are getting shelters around these areas, and the security agencies are working very hard to push them out, block the movement and finish this thing once and for all.

“The president has given us the marching order and all the support that we need and what the security agencies need to end this thing.”

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, sitting at Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday, varied the bail condition granted to the immediate past Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele.

The court had in November granted Emefiele bail in the sum of N300 million with two sureties in like sum.

Justice Hamza Muazu had ordered that each of the sureties must possess landed property worth N300 million within the court’s jurisdiction, with Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), which must be deposited with the court registrar, who will have to verify the property.

Emefiele was ordered to deposit his travel documents with the court and remain in Abuja during the period of the trial.

However, at Thursday’s proceedings, counsel to Emefiele, Matthew Burkaa, SAN, informed the Court that the defendant filed a motion dated January 10 seeking variation of the bail condition to enable him travel within the country.

He urged the court to vary the condition for his client.

Prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, did not object to the application but rather urged the court to ensure that the defendant remains within the country while his trial lasts.

He further asked that the defence team write an undertaking that their client will remain in the country.

In a ruling on the application, Justice Muazu granted the request and ordered that Emefiele should remain within Nigeria for the period of his trial.

Meanwhile, Oyedepo informed the court that the prosecution, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had on Wednesday filed an amended charge against Emefiele and urged that the defendant be allowed to take his plea for the new charge.

Burkaa, however, told the court that the defence was served the new charge on Wednesday and needed time to study it.

Based on the development, the court adjourned sitting till January 19 for the new charge to be taken.

Emefiele was arraigned before the court on November 17, 2023, on a six-count charge bordering on conferring advantage on a female staff member of CBN, contrary to the provision of Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

In the charge marked CR/577/2023, Emefiele was accused of using his position as CBN governor to award six different contracts to one Sa’adatu Ramalan Yero, a CBN staff member, between 2018 and 2020 to the tune of N1,210,600,000.

The procurement contracts were awarded to a company in which the said Sa’adatu Ramalan Yero is a director.

Emefiele, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Traditional ruler of Orodo and former head of the Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers, His Royal Highness Samuel Ohiri, has been freed from the clutches of kidnappers.

The traditional ruler, who was kidnapped by gunmen from his home in Orodo community, Mbaitoli Local Government Area, Imo State, some weeks ago, was reportedly rescued unharmed by members of the Imo State Police Command’s Anti-Kidnapping unit following a heated battle with the kidnappers in the forest.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Henry Okoye, made the disclosure on Thursday in Owerri, via a WhatsApp message on the force platform.

He said the Command had been putting up a lot of effort, cooperating with other security services to make sure the traditional ruler was freed.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, have asked the Supreme Court to ignore the appeal brought before it by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its governorship candidate, Mohammed Ashiru Isa.

INEC and APC in separate preliminary objections against hearing of the appeal insisted that the petition by the PDP and Isa is incompetent and worthless to be considered for adjudication.

At Thursday’s proceedings, the two respondents drew the attention of the apex court to the findings by the Kaduna State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal to the effect that the petition was not filed in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

Among others, the electoral body and the APC maintained that records established that the petitioners acted in breach of Paragraph 18(1) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, 2022, when they prematurely applied to the tribunal for the issuance of a pre-hearing notice.

They explained that the law provided that such an application must be filed seven days after the close of pleadings by the parties.

According to them, the law is that a case must be initiated by due process of the law.

They subsequently asked the Supreme Court to turn down any request to attach probative value to the appeal and to either strike out the appeal or dismiss it in its entirety.

INEC and APC were represented by Abdullahi Aliyu, SAN, and Mohammed Sani Katu, SAN, respectively.

In the main appeal, governor Uba Sani represented by Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, asked the apex court to dismiss the appeal for want of merit and substance.

Ojo, a former Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice canvassed that the totality of the case of the PDP and its governorship candidate did not establish any of their allegations.

The senior lawyer argued that most of the appellants’ witness statements were invalid because they were not filed alongside the petition.

Besides, the former AGF informed the apex court that the witnesses brought by the appellants gave hearsay evidence against the March 18, 2023 election of governor Uba Sani.

He thereafter asked that the appeal be dismissed and that the concurrent findings of the Court of Appeal and the Tribunal which had earlier upheld the election of his client be upheld.

Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, who led a panel of five Justices, after taking arguments from lawyers, announced that judgment has been reserved till a date that would be communicated to parties.

The court of appeal in Abuja had on November 24 last year in a unanimous judgment affirmed the election of Uba Sani as Kaduna State governor.

The PDP and Ashiru challenged the outcome of the governorship election held in the state on March 18.

They alleged that Uba was not duly elected by a majority of valid votes cast in the election, adding that the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices and non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

They further alleged that some polling unit results were wrongfully cancelled, insisting that there were inconsistencies in accreditation records from the INEC.

However, in a judgment delivered on September 28, two of the three Tribunal judges dismissed the petition on technical grounds.

Victor Oviawie, who led the panel, said that the petition was deemed abandoned because the PDP and its candidate did not file their pre-hearing application within the time prescribed by law.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should devise methods of reorienting arrested, educated online fraudsters, better known as Yahoo Boys, to become information technology specialists.

This is according to a cyber-security specialist, Mr. Chidiebere Ihediwa, who believes this strategy is better than allowing them to languish in detention or undergo destructive dissolution.

Ihedinwa, also a renowned software developer, made the call on Wednesday during an award ceremony in his honour at the Police Officers Mess, GRA Ikeja, Lagos.

Ihediwa was honoured with a Star Award in Cyber-Security Development and Data Analysis in Nigeria by an online publication, Cornerstone.ng.

According to Ihediwa, knowledge can be categorised into two: positive and negative.

He explained that even though there were many educated young men among the cyber fraudsters, their inherent knowledge was at variance with the ideal positive knowledge needed for societal development.

The cybersecurity specialist pointed out that redirecting the knowledge of the “yahoo boys” to meaningful ventures would be of great advantage to the nation.

He thanked the management of Cornerstone.ng for bringing him into the limelight through the award.

In his welcome address, the representative of Cornerstone.ng, Mr. Chris Oji, said Ihediwa, who was among the nominees for the award late last year, was unavoidably absent at the occasion. Therefore, management chose to bestow the honour on him in the new year.

Oji said Ihediwa deserved the award rightfully, in view of his outstanding contributions to software development and information technology in Nigeria.