The usual behaviours purportedly exhibited by the released children of Tanko Salihu Islamic school, Tegina in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, seem to have generated serious concerns and mixed feelings among parents and other people in the state.

DAILY POST gathered that they now eat very little, having parts of their bodies such as legs swollen, looking malnourished, withdrawn, emotionally unstable as get easily agitated, among others around family members and relatives.

This has ignited different opinions as some opined that they were released way too fast to their parents by the State Government without taking more time to check their health status, while others feel that having been away for three months, allowing their parents to reunite with them was the right thing to do.

The children who were released last Thursday, 26th August, 2021 from the Kidnappers den after a three-month sojourn were officially received by the State Governor, Alh Abubakar Sani Bello on Friday, 27th August and reunited with their parents on Sunday, 29th August.

Before releasing them to their families, the Governor clearly stated that the victims had undergone proper medical checkup and certified fit and healthy by the state medical team.

But, a few days after reuniting with the victims, the parents had raised the alarm, alleging that they are acting strangely by showing some disturbing physiological and psychological mannerism.

The parents are said to have raised the alarm that their kids are not behaving normal as they are eating less food, feet swollen, malnourished and withdrawn.

Disturbed and afraid over the wellbeing of their children, they cried out, especially having heard from some of the kids on what they experienced during their long stay with the bandits.

Expressing concern, Mallam Idris Musa, whose out of his five children kidnapped, one died said the torture on his children were severe as there are signs of health challenges in his four children.

According to him, “ I am not surprised with the strange way my four children are behaving. Now, my kids who were extroverts are more of introverts. Watching their brother helplessly till death when they were in custody of the bandits might have triggered such behaviour.

Rabi Abubakar, another parent explained that her only son is traumatized, physically and psychologically, adding, ” his legs and body are swollen and seeing him suffer like this pains me a lot”.

Confirming the situation, the Head Teacher of the Islamiyya Alhassan, Garba Abubakar said parents of the victims have told him a lot of traumatized stories from their children including wired behavior, being recluse, not being able to eat well among others.

The children after their release last Thursday told journalists that they were badly tortured, tied with chains, suffered hunger, thirsts, beaten among others, while in the forest with the bandits.

However, health Experts in the State who spoke exclusively DAILY POST said such tales were expected from the children who should naturally be traumatized for three months.

They explained that children can be seriously affected by trauma, just like the adults, while listing situations that could lead to trauma to include life-threatening occurrences such the tortures, car accidents, sudden illness, traumatic death in the family or loved ones, crime, abuse or violence in the community among many others.

Alh. Attahiru Ahmed a Psychologist and Head of Department, Niger State College of Education, Minna told DAILY POST that what is happening to the children is not strange, considering what they went through.

He explained that because of the experiences they had, they are automatically psychological traumatized and are currently in a traumatic condition.

In his opinion, he noted the need for them to have been taken for proper rehabilitation before reuniting fully with their families to help them forget what happened to them.

He insisted, “When we say traumatized, we mean a child that can be wild and being wild can mean so many things. The child will look depressed, withdrawn, and not eating. This is because, they saw what they were not supposed to see. With bandits, they heard gun shots which they never heard before right before them.

“They suffered hunger and even stayed for days without food nor water. They were kept in chains like animals and released in the night so they still have a mental picture of what happened to them. And giving them proper counseling would have calmed their minds to make them understand that they are now safe and that what happened to them will never happen again. Because it’s difficult to forget painful and horrible experiences.”

In his contribution, Dr. Fredrick Agbo, Managing Director of Talakawa Pharmacy, Minna, said the environment and the feeding habit the children were exposed to could be partly responsible for their current behaviours.

Agbo who is also a Pharmacist said, ” in the custody of the bandits, they might not have eaten well. The environment where they were kept could be infected and could make a child to be sick. First, lost of appetite too could be a symptom of malaria. One, it’s possible that the child could be having malaria and secondly, he could wake up and still feel he is still in that place of bondage and that could make the child to be agitated.

“They need a lot of counseling They need to be talked to. They need what we call Psycho-therapy and gradually they will withdraw from that trauma. When someone is kidnapped and kept for long, it gives that person a social trauma.”

Similarly, the Head of Department Home Economics, EOE, Minna, Dr. Grace Fabisuyi stated that the kids are anaemic because they were tortured by hunger and forcefully denied the necessary body building nutrients required for their age.

She explained that as growing children, they require good food such proteins, carbohydrates and minerals that can help build strong bones, especially the boys who are usually very active, energetic and dispense a lot of energy.

“Well, as the case is, the parents should give them nourishing foods to help them quickly regain what their bodies lost. Feeding them with food containing high proteins such as milk, eggs, meat, and fish is very important. They should be given a lot of vegetables and carbohydrates.

“Though, we all know that economically, times are hard and to get these food items may be difficult for some parents. What they need to do is incorporate Suya beans into their meals to get the required proteins. The parents can also add beans to all their meals such as adding it to their soups. Whatever meal is given to them, beans must be part of it to enable them recover their health faster, ” Dr. Fabisuyi added.

Furthermore, Hajiya Fatima Musa, a lecturer at the Niger State College of Health Technology stated that the children are suffering from what she described in medical terms as Anorexia Nervosa( an eating disorder).
Hajiya Musa, who is also the Baby Friendly Initiative Coordinator in the state explained that with time, their stomachs will adjust and they will begin to take the quantity of food they were used to eating before.

“You know for some, they were not eating well. Normally, they eat three square meals a day, but for some time, they were not eating like that. The portion they were used to eating was reduced, so by the time they returned, their systems now have been wired to eating less.

” Even in terms of dieting, if someone disciplined his or herself by eating less and now wants to change back to eating more, it will take time because the body was before wired to eat less,” the College of Health Lecturer maintained.

It would be recalled that DAILY POST had reported that during a visit to the school where the victims were kept before they were received by the Niger State Governor, his wife, Dr. Amina Abubakar Sani Bello had described what the pupils went through as inhumane.

She counseled them to be courageous enough to embrace and get their normal life back and continue their studies.

But experts urged both the local, state and federal governments to rise up by bringing to an end the unfolding security challenges dragging the nation backwards, so that the traumatic experiences of victims in the hands of bandits and criminals would not have negative effects on them and their children in the future.

 A Brazilian court has sentenced Francoise de Souza Oliveira to 31 years in prison for murdering her husband, Greek ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis, authorities said Sunday.

The bandit terrorists that invaded the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna on Tuesday gained access to the military facility through a loose fence, the Defence Headquarters has said.

In a leaked memo on Wednesday, the DHQ said the gunmen also broke into five residential flats in the military facility and escaped before the arrival of the troops.

The memo, sighted by Daily Trust, added that the bandit escaped through the bushy areas around the officers’ quarters close to the loose fence.

“The response time of troops to the crime scene on that day was slow as the bandits successfully broke into five different flats in the same block and swiftly withdraw before the intervention of troops,” the memo read.

Assessing the sad incident in the memo, the DHQ stated that the bandit’s escape route leads across the airport road to a bush area near Gidan Gado village in Afaka.

The memo also revealed that the bandits reportedly escaped either to Buruku and Maguzawa axis or the Riyawa axis in Igabi which is known as notorious bandits’ hideouts.

Following the invasion of the NDA, the DHQ immediately called for a robust clearance operation along listed areas.

“Further assessment revealed that the bandit’s escape route leads across the airport road to an open farm/bush area near Gidan Gado village in Afaka. The bandits are believed to have escaped either to Buruku and Maguzawa axis or the Riyawa axis in Igabi which is known as notorious bandits’ hideouts.

“Consequently, there is need for a robust clearance operation along those areas. Although there is a frantic joint effort by troops and other security forces in the state with a view to rescuing the kidnapped officer.

“It is strongly suggested that the security arrangements in NDA need total overhauling, this is with a view to averting future recurrence as monitoring continues,” the memo reads in parts.

How Traditional Chief Priest Dr. Ogunamen Died Four Days After Returning To Benin From Germany

The news of the death of a popular Nigerian Mr. Nosa Edeghene, also known as Dr. Ogunamen who is from Benin City and based in Germany came as a rude shock to many especially with the mysterious way he died in Benin City.

This has become a major discussion on social media, while the family, friends, associates and entire Edo state are mourning, a very reliable source have given ChrisOsaMedia the true story of what really happened to late Dr Ogunamen.

It is generally believed that the deceased passed on while carrying out his usual traditional dance which in Benin is used to communicate with the spirits of the land, many have wondered why he died in the process of carrying out this traditional dance ritual, did something go wrong during the process? Or was it wrong for him to carry out the dance that particular period?

A source which is very close to the deceased narrated to ChrisOsaMedia that Dr Ogunamen who left Germany on Saturday 14th of August to Nigeria did not pass on coincidentally.

He went further to say that Dr Ogunamen is a great “Ohen” Chief Priest, and he knew that his time to join his ancestors was very near, that was why he left Germany to Edo State.

“ It is important people know that he knew he will he will be joining his ancestors soon and that was the reason he left Germany for Nigeria because he didn’t want to pass on in a foreign land “

He explained that Dr Ogunamen whose flight was canceled countless times, knew he will be joining his ancestors travelled to Benin, home town where he wanted to be laid to rest.

The deceased according to this source also knew he was going to pass on while performing his usual traditional dance ritual

Dr Ogunamen passed on four days after he returned from Germany in Benin .

Outgoing and controversial Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Willie Obiano, looted over N3billion from Security Vote Account in one day, according to 2017 financial documents of the state exclusively obtained by Pointblanknews.com.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has been grappling with the prosecution of Governors hiding under security challenges to convert security votes to personal use. Only recently, the Nigerian Governors Forum went to court to stop the EFCC from prosecuting Governors over security vote looting. But Governor Obiano would have no one stop him from digging into the Security votes account and helping himself with as much as he wants.

On January 26, 2017, the Anambra Governor went to the security votes account with number 5110032568 at Fidelity Bank and took N500million in one shot. Barely a month after, on February 23, 2017, he took additional N500million from same account.

On March 29, 2017, Obiano’s insatiable quest to loot, took him back to the same account. This time, he smiled home with over N3.5billion withdrawing N509.2million, N504.9million and N500million withdrawn five times in one day, according to the documents in possession by Pointblanknews.com.

The Governor went back on March 31, 2017 just two days after swallowing N3.5 billion and took additional N283.6million. He took a little break and on July 4, 2017, and July 7, 2017, he went back and took N30million and 19million respectively from the same Fidelity account number 5110032568 housing the Security Votes of the State.

On August 4 of 2016, according to the documents still being scrutinized by Pointblanknews.com, Obiano took N500million and about two weeks after on August 22, 2016, he took another N500million.

Sources told Pointblanknews.com that Obiano’s lifestyle is largely fueled by his looting of security votes and padding of contracts.

On April 22, 2020, during the peak period of the coronavirus pandemic  in Nigeria and global lockdown, his Chief of Staff, Chief Primus Odili, purchased a palatial home at 1804 Terrabrooke Private Court, Brentwood, Tennessee for the exact price of $1,818,718. He purchased the palatial home from Partners in Building of TN LLC through Chuddy Nnodu of Hodges and Fooshee Realty Inc.

The palatial home seats on a 1.1 Arce of compound and has six bathrooms, six bedrooms. The house has an area of 5,575sq ft.

Prior to becoming a staff of the Obiano administration, Primus Odili worked as an administrative assistant for a private clinic in Nashville – where he was discharged shortly before his return to serve the Obiano administration – initially at the capacity of Special Assistant on Special Duties. After the successful reelection of Governor Obiano, he was appointed the Chief of Staff. He is considered Man-Friday to the Governor. He is the closest man to the Governor.

The former acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu, had alleged that some state governors deliberately fueled insecurity in their states just to collect more money as security vote. He noted that some of the governors “now covertly promote insecurity as justification to inflate their security vote.”

Governors of the 36 states in Nigeria under the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) had engaged the services of lawyers to challenge the probe of states’ security votes by the EFCC.

The amount allocated to security votes for both Governors and the Presidency in Nigeria has always been top level secret. The EFCC and other anti-graft agencies have had troubles probing present and past Governors’ expenditures of Security Votes.

Transparency International says Nigeria allocates an estimated N241.2billion, about $670million on Security Votes annually.

Since 2012, the US has spent over $68.6million in Security assistance to Nigeria, while the UK has spent over $53.5million in counterterrorism support to Nigeria between 2016-2020. Yet, despite these humungous expenditures, insecurity is still high in Nigeria and has now spread from the north to all parts of the country.

Security Votes By States (Wikipedia Source)

SOUTHEAST

Imo State: N333.333M Monthly (N4B Annually)

Enugu State: N600M Monthly (N7.2B Annually)

Anambra State: N850M Monthly (N10B Annually)

Abia State: N700M Monthly (N8.4B Annually)

Ebonyi State: No Record Available

SOUTH SOUTH:

Cross River State: N500M Monthly (N6B Annually)

Rivers State: N1.5B Monthly (N18B Annually)

Akwa Ibom State: N1.8B Monthly (N21.6B Annually)

Edo State: N900M Monthly (N10.8B Annually)

Delta State: N2B Monthly (N24B Annually) [3]

Bayelsa State: No Record Available

SOUTHWEST

Lagos State: N1.429B Monthly [N1.297B (Public order and safety) + N132.5M (Social Protection)] (N17.149B Annually [N15.559B + N1.59B])

Ondo State: N600M Monthly (N7.2B Annually)

Osun State: N400M Monthly (N4.8B Annually)

Ogun State: N80-N100M Monthly (N960M-N1.2B Annually)

Ekiti State: N100M Monthly (N1.2B annually)

NORTH EAST

Borno State: N806.25M Monthly (N9.675B Annually)

Yobe State: N316.667M Monthly (N3.8B Annually)

Taraba State: N200M Monthly (N2.4B Annually)

Bauchi State: N1.417B Monthly (N17B Annually)

NORTHWEST

Kano State: N0.00

Kaduna State: N400M Monthly [N175M (Security vote) + N225M (Security Vote (Preventive and Supportive) for the SSG’s office)] N4.8B Annually [N2.1B + N2.7B]

Katsina State: N17.583M Monthly (N211M Annually)

Zamfara State: N600M Monthly (N7.2B Annually)

NORTH CENTRAL

Benue State: N3.092B allocation to personnel and overhead costs monthly which covers security vote, among others. (N37.1B Annually) [8]

Niger State: N1.308B Monthly (N15.7B Annually) [9]

Plateau State: N216.667M Monthly (N2.6B Annually) [10]

Kogi State: N400M Monthly (N4.8B Annually)

Nasarawa State: N100M Monthly (N1.2B annually)

Kwara State: No Record Available

On Monday 16 August 2021, the sight on CNN of an American military aircraft C-17 taxing on the tarmac of Kabul Airport with several Afghans, some hanging, clinging and running alongside for a possible boarding out of the country, is one that will linger for years to come.

Of course, examples abound of such historic and memorable sights on television; the killing of 12 US soldiers and dragging of their bodies through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia in October 1993 and the toppling down of Saddam Hussein’s effigy in Firdos Square in Baghdad after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 drew global attention and remains indelible in our memory.

Not a few watchers of events in Afghanistan were surprised at the turn of events that led to the fall of Kabul, Afghanistan’s political capital back into the hands of the Taliban. The blitzkrieg fashion with which the Taliban seized every important town around the capital was no doubt exacerbated by the actions and inactions of some of the global powers, particularly the US.

Observers would recall that in his remarks on the drawdown plans on 8 July 2021, President Joe Biden was emphatic that the US mission in Afghanistan will conclude on 31 August 2021. On that occasion, Biden stated clearly that ‘we did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build, ….it is the right and responsibility of the Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country’.

This statement was obviously not lost on the Taliban as events after that would reveal. By the second week of August, Taliban fighters have surrounded Kabul and claimed key towns of Aybak, Kunduz, Taluqan, Faizabad, Maidan and Jalalabad, the fifth largest city in Afghanistan just about 130 km from the capital Kabul.

Suddenly, all the foreign intervention has come to nought, and truly Afghanistan has been left in the hands of not the legitimate government but the Taliban who have fought for nearly 20 years since it was ousted in 2001. As at now, there is great uncertainty in the country and no one is sure of the future.

One question that keeps begging for answer is, what has been the impact of all the assistance offered to the Afghan government by the US and its NATO Allies for the past two decades? From account, the US and NATO Allies including their partners have trained and equipped over 300,000 current serving members of the Afghan National Security Force, not including hundreds of thousands trained in the past two decades who are no longer serving. Apart from this, the Afghan security forces have had the opportunity of training and operating with the US and its Allies providing them with intelligence and many of their military officers trained in some of the best military institutions in the US and UK.

There is no doubt that the Taliban takeover will have some global implications. Firstly, it will present some human rights problem going by its antecedents while it held sway from 1996-2001. In the past, the Taliban has been known for carrying out public executions of its perceived opponents, denying education to women and persecution of minorities. There is also the issue of Afghanistan becoming a safe haven for extremists and a likely astronomical increase in the growth and trade of illicit and hard drugs. Afghanistan currently stands as the third largest producer of opium in the world. Worst of these fears is the likely domino effect on other extremist groups in Asia, Middle East and Africa and the spill over of weapons through illegal means to countries with extremist networks such as the Al Qaeda, ISIS and ISWAP.

What lessons therefore are there for Nigeria to learn putting into context the activities of ISWAP and the Boko Haram Terrorists in the North East and also the incessant calls for government to seek international assistance in the counter insurgency operations and other threats across the country?

Events in Afghanistan have zoomed home to all Nigerians that as a nation, our destiny is in our own hands. Now and then, Nigerians are quick to call on government to seek international assistance anytime there is a little setback in the military’s campaign. Of course, government has never shied away from seeking assistance but the divergent point remains the extent of such assistance. Since 2015, there has been a renewed synergy among countries around the Lake Chad basin. The Armed Forces of Nigeria has continued to operate with forces from Chad, Niger and Cameroon, all Nigeria’s neighbours along the North East under the Multi National Joint Task Force. Outside the region, it continues to receive assistance from countries such as the US, UK, France and Germany in areas of training, provision of equipment, logistics support and intelligence sharing. The notion of having international forces coming to operate in Nigeria is an illusion that would be inimical to Nigeria’s national security and the events in Afghanistan should discourage it now and in future.

The collapse of the Afghan’s security forces like a pack of card in the face of the advancing Taliban fighters reflects a serious lack of popular support. Many Afghans have always perceived the foreign backed Afghan security forces as appendage of the invading western forces. In spite of the foreign support in training, operational vehicles, equipment, logistics and intelligence assets, the foreign backed Afghan security forces could still not sustain the legitimate government of Ashraf Ghani in place as they do not enjoy the popular support of the people. Securing and gaining local support is a critical success factor in counter insurgency operations such as we have in Nigeria’s North East. This factor underscores the efforts placed by the Armed Forces of Nigeria at winning the hearts and minds of the people. It thus beholds on the populace to reciprocate the efforts of the military by providing useful information to security forces and shun any assistance of any means to insurgents. The act of using the social media to denigrate and disparage the military only serves to emboldened the insurgents. The Armed Forces of Nigeria deserves all the support it could get. It has shown courage and resilience and has never failed in its constitutional role of ensuring the territorial integrity of the country.

Since it fled Kabul in 2001, the Taliban regime’s use of vast mass of ungoverned areas across Afghanistan provided it with the enabling conditions to sustain its military activities. It continued to expand its control such that by July 2021, the Taliban controlled an estimated 54 percent of Afghan districts. The lesson for Nigeria on this is the need for government to spread development and dominate barren and ‘uninhabited areas’ across the country similar to ungoverned areas. Thankfully enough, the military has identified the importance of this given the recent decision of the Nigerian Army to conduct exercises in Falgore Forest, a game reserve located about 150 km from Kano city. Similar uninhabited areas exist in some parts of North West which provides safe haven for bandits. We also have the wide space between Shaki and Nigeria’s border with Republic of Benin running up North through West of Kwara and Niger States, as well as several others within the states which could offer abode for bandits. Leveraging the efforts of the military, government may need to design a comprehensive strategy to integrate all the relevant MDAs responsible for border security and forest/game reserves, the military, police and other security and para military agencies for the sole task of ensuring presence and monitoring of all remote uninhabited spaces across Nigeria.

– This piece was contributed by Johnson Olawumi, a retired officer of the Nigerian Army, Abuja.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has revealed how Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi, acquired a Richard Mille wristwatch which he wore in a picture he shared on Instagram where he’s seen as a celebrity.

Hushpuppi recently pleaded guilty to fraud charges a year after he was arrested in the United Arab Emirates and extradited to the United States of America.

His operations were revealed in an affidavit issued by the United States Attorney’s Office, Central District of California.

The affidavit showed that Hushpuppi and his co-conspirators engaged in Business Email Compromise schemes with which they defrauded a Qatari businessman of more than $1.1m.

The affidavit stated that Hushpuppi used $230,000 gotten from the victim to purchase a Richard Mille wristwatch “which was hand delivered to Abbas in Dubai and subsequently appeared in Hushpuppi’s social media posts.”

According to the affidavit, “After Abbas joined the conspiracy that month, Juma and Abbas received and laundered additional funds in a variety of ways with the assistance of other co-conspirators. Agbabiaka and Fashola were among the co-conspirators who assisted Abbas in receiving and laundering funds.

“Among those payments, Abbas convinced the Victim Businessperson to make wire transfers of $230,000 to a Wells Fargo bank account of a luxury watch-seller and $100,000 to a Capital One bank account of Agbabiaka in late December 2019.

“Abbas used the wire transfer of $230,000 to purchase a luxury Richard Mille RM11-03 watch. Abbas arranged for the watch seller in Florida (the “Florida Watch Seller”) to ship the watch to the New York metropolitan area, where Agbabiaka and Fashola picked it up and ultimately delivered it to a coconspirator, who was a relative of Fashola.

“Abbas then directed that person to transport the watch on a flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport (“JFK”) in New York to the U.A.E., where that person hand-delivered the watch to Abbas on about January 4, 2020. Abbas posted a photograph of himself on Instagram wearing the watch, with the hashtag “#Rm1103,” on January 13, 2020.”

A look at Hushuppi’s Instagram page with 2.5 million followers shows him wearing the wristwatch in a photo posted on January 13, 2020.

“One of the best things I learnt that keeps me going is to “Never take criticism from people I’d never go to for advice” #Gucci #RichardMille #Versace #Rm1103,” he captioned the photo.

Armed men suspected to be bandits have attacked the Kurar Mota community in Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara State, killing at least 13 police officers

DAILY POST gathered that the incident occured on Sunday when the assailants invaded a police formation and gunned down officers on duty.

A residents who identified himself as Kabir Dansada, told Daily Trust that the armed men had earlier attempted to invade Magami, a community located 50km south of Gusau, the state capital, but were repelled by soldiers.

“They withdrew after they were overpowered by the soldiers there. They then rode to a community along Magami – Dankurmi – Dangulbi road and killed one person and torched four shops.”

“Thereafter, they moved to Kurar Mota community and attacked the police formation near the township clinic. The criminals then dashed into the forest”

“The slain officers and the injured ones were conveyed to Gusau in a convoy of police vehicles this afternoon. I saw several police vehicles move towards the area,” he said.

When contacted by DAILY POST correspondent, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, SP Muhammad Shehu said he would inquire and revert.