Page 20 - Michael Olugbode News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

•Zulum visits location for on-the-spot assessment Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja and Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri Multiple attacks by insurgents in Dikwa and Marte towns in Dikwa and Marte local government areas of Borno State forced over 100 troops to desert the Nigerian Army, THISDAY checks have revealed. The insurgents have attacked Dikwa four times since the beginning of the year, on January 30, February 20, March 1, and March 2. The attacks had also trapped 25 United Nations workers in a bunker, prompting troop reinforcement and deployment of air strikes to repel the terrorists. The Nigeria...

By Michael Olugbode Pastor Bulus Yikura, who was kidnapped by Boko Haram on Christmas Eve was last night released by his abductors, THISDAY learnt. The clergy had in a viral video released by suspected Boko Haram fighters, pleaded for his life after an ultimatum for his execution was given. The House of Representatives had on Tuesday called on the federal government to secure his release from the terrorists. A security source who spoke to THISDAY last night, said the pastor was dropped off in the evening at the outskirts of Maiduguri, the birthplace and epicentre of Boko Haram. Another source...

By Michael Olugbode The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched a new activity designed to empower as many as two million young Nigerians with life skills and resources to realize their ambition. A statement by USAID on Monday said the five-year, $15 million Youth-powered Ecosystem to Advance Urban Adolescent Health Project (Adolescent Health) will help teens access reproductive health services within a holistic context of youth empowerment. It will be coupled with a deeper understanding of the challenges that adolescents face and implemented in Nigeria’s two largest ...

Michael Olugbode in Abuja A trans-border drug trafficker, Mr. Nkem Timothy, 36, has been arrested in Sokoto by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) with suspected cocaine valued at a billion naira on the street. Timothy, also known as Auwalu Audu, was nabbed while trying to cross to Algeria through the Niger Republic with 62 wraps of substance suspected to be cocaine weighing 1.550 kilogrammes. A statement issued yesterday by the Director of Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi, said the acting state Commander of NDLEA in Sokoto, Bamidele Segun, revealed that...

Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri Several travellers were abducted yesterday on Maiduguri-Damaturu highway as suspected Boko Haram fighters laid siege to travellers on the major highway from Yobe State to troubled Borno State. THISDAY gathered in Maiduguri that the insurgents ambushed commercial vehicles plying the highway yesterday afternoon and abducted many passengers. One of the travellers, who was fortunate not to be among those abducted, told THISDAY that vehicles were stopped by the insurgents, with the passengers dragged out and taken away along the bush path. He said the heavy armed insu...