Daily Watch – Ex-Jonathan aide Gulak killed in Imo, Greenfield parents sort ₦180m for their kids

One of the parents of the abducted students of Greenfield University, Kaduna says ₦180 million was paid to bandits before their children were released. On Saturday, fourteen of the abducted students regained their freedom. The students were abducted on April 20 when bandits attacked the institution. The bandits subsequently killed five of the students and threatened to kill the others if a ransom was not paid, while one of the students was later released. Shortly after the release of the 14 students, a video shared by Television Continental (TVC) on social media showed two parents lamenting the neglect of the government as they struggled to raise the ransom. They said “it is unfair” that the government did not help them to pay the ransom demanded by their abductors. “That is what they (referring to bandits). That is what we paid. ₦180 million, that is what they collected from us, from our parents, without the help of the government,” a father lamented. “None of the government officials came to our aid, since the 20th of April that they took these children.” Three of the abducted students are still being held, Mohammad Jalige, spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, told The Cable.

A former presidential aide, Ahmed Gulak, was shot dead in Imo State on Sunday. State police spokesperson, Bala Elkana, in a statement said the All Progressives Congress Chieftain was killed by armed men on his way to Sam Mbakwe airport to catch a flight after leaving his hotel. His motorcade was attacked at Umueze Obiangwu in Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area, close to the airport. Elkana said Gulak was killed on Sunday morning around 0700 hours and he neither informed the police nor sister security agents about his movement. The statement added that “he left without any security escorts and while the cab driver took an irregular route to the airport, six-armed bandits who rode in a Toyota Sienna intercepted, identified, and shot at Ahmed Gulak.” The police said state Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro has ordered an investigation into the incident and special forces have been deployed to cordone the area and arrest perpetrators.

There was confusion on Saturday at the border town of Idiroko, Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State when some Yoruba nation agitators forcefully opened the land border post. They were, however, swiftly repelled by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service who were manning the border checkpoint between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. The land border had been closed by the FG since 2019 when it directed that all forms of importation be done through the seaports. A video circulated on social media showed a gun being snatched away from an Immigration officer. In the video clip, a man in a yellow T-shirt can be seen shooting the gun into the air to the admiration of others at the scene. During the incident, a young man, who was accused of trying to record the incident with his mobile phone, was attacked and beaten to a pulp. When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, Ogun 1 Area Command, Hammed Oloyede, confirmed the incident. He, however, said the agitators were repelled. Denying attacks on any Customs officer, Oloyede said the situation was under control. “There was no attack on our patrol bases or checkpoints. Those guys were just doing their own thing. They tried to attack one patrol point, but it was repelled. The situation is under control. There is no problem,” he said. Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Yoruba nation agitation, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, in a video commended the actions of the agitators. He accused the Federal Government of shutting down the land borders in the South-West while those in the North were open.

President Emmanuel Macron warned in comments published Sunday that France will pull its troops out of Mali if it lurches towards radical Islamism following the second coup in nine months. France has around 5,100 troops in the region under its so-called Barkhane operation which spans five countries in the Sahel — Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. The mission, headquartered in Chad, was launched after France intervened to fend off a jihadist advance in Mali in 2013. On Tuesday, France and the European Union denounced an “unacceptable coup d’etat” after Mali’s interim president Bah Ndaw and prime minister Moctar Ouane were detained and stripped of their powers in what is being seen as the country’s second coup in less than a year. Macron said he had told Ndaw that France will withdraw its troops if Mali turns towards radical Islamism. “Radical Islamism in Mali with our soldiers there? Never,” he told the weekly newspaper Journal du Dimanche. “There is this temptation today in Mali. But if it goes in that direction, I will withdraw,” he warned in comments made during a trip to Rwanda and South Africa. Macron flew home to Paris on Saturday. The French president added that he had given a message to West African leaders that they could not back a country “where there is no longer democratic legitimacy or transition.” Macron, in his comments published Sunday, warned that if Africa’s development fails then Europe “will pay dearly in terms of migration”. He stressed the need to “invest massively” adding that the international community must also erase some of the continent’s debt burden “to help Africans build their future.”