The Continental News

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said the President of Benin Republic, Patrice Talon, had expressed readiness for his country to be part of Nigeria . Onyeama, who stated this shortly after a close door meeting with Beninoise Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Aurélien Agbenonci, said the Beninoise president gave the offer when he visited President Muhammadu Buhari, a few weeks back. “The President of Benin said as far as they are concerned, they want (not just saying it like that) but in reality, Benin should be the 37th state of Nigeria,” he said. “We should really be one. They charged us to come together at ministerial level, to work out a framework for a sustainable relationship". Onyeama said, at the visit, both presidents discussed agreements between the two countries on how to put the issue of smuggling to an end, once and for all, as a follow up to the presidents’ meeting.

NEWS REPORTS OPINION #NIGERIADECIDES POLITICS BUSINESS SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT LIFESTYLE EDUCATION VIDEOS PHOTOS DOCUME The Zamfara State Government has earmarked a total of N200 million for its amnesty programme for 'repentant' bandits in 2021. The figure was contained in the budget details passed by the Zamfara State House of Assembly in December 2020. In  a copy of the budget seen by SaharaReporters, N354 million was also budgeted for projects related to grazing  reserves. The Bello Matawalle-led government had in 2019 entered a peace agreement with bandits. The governor said negotiation with the gunmen is the best option for lasting peace in the state.  Matawalle while hosting Mohammed Adamu, Inspector-General of Police; Yusuf Bichi, Director-General, Department of State  Services (DSS); and other security heads on July 16, 2020 also offered bandits in the state two cows in exchange fir every AK47 rifle surrendered. He explained that he chose to offer cows because t...

  NEWS REPORTS OPINION #NIGERIADECIDES POLITICS BUSINESS SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT LIFESTYLE EDUCATION VIDEOS PHOTOS DOCUME A10-year-old boy, Monday Omoruye, who lives at Ring Road in Edo State has been arrested by security operatives for his involvement in crime activities In a video that has now gone viral, Omoruye confessed that he was introduced to robbery by his brother and that he had carried out four robbery operations so far.  When asked where he got his weapons from, he said during the 2020 #EndSARS protests, he alongside his brother and some of their  friends broke into Oba market police station and stole arms from the station. Speaking further, Omoruye said his brother taught him how to shoot a pistol and so far he had killed two people during the course of robbery. He said, “My name is Monday Omoruye. My father, Odiom, stays at Aro Junction. My mummy stays elsewhere while I stay at Ringroad. “I am here because of the phone matter. One of my friends, someone came to...

The Kano State Police Command has arrested a senior official with the state's Hisbah board after he was allegedly caught with a married woman in a hotel. According to Freedom Radio Kano, the official was arrested in the Sabon Gari area of the city. His name was not immediately mentioned, but he was described only as police chief when the matter featured on Freedom FM’s popular magazine programme “Inda Ranka”. The arrested commander is said to be in charge of arresting beggars and prostitutes in Kano metro area. He was taken into custody after the husband of the woman with whom he allegedly had an affair filed complaints.  According to the station, Kano Hisbah Commander, Muhammed Haruna, while describing the incident as unfortunate, said a two-man committee had been set up to investigate the matter.  Hisbah officers regularly arrest unmarried people caught in hotels, presumably for sexual activities, as part of their enforcement of the Sharia.  Established to enforce Shari...

  Myanmar’s military seized power on Monday in a coup against the democratically elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in early morning raids. T he army said it carried out the detentions in response to “election fraud”, handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and imposing a state of emergency for one year, according to a statement on a military-owned television station. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party published comments it said she wrote in anticipation of a coup, urging people to protest the military takeover. The coup derails years of Western-backed efforts to establish democracy in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where neighbouring China also has a powerful influence. The generals made their move hours before Parliament was to sit for the first time since the NLD’s landslide win in a November 8 election viewed as a referendum on Aung San Suu Kyi’s fledgeling democratic...

  The Sultan of Sokoto, HRH Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, has said seven to eight out of every ten kidnappers arrested in Nigeria are Fulani. According to the Nation, Abubakar disclosed this on Friday in Abuja at a meeting of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association (MACBAN). However, the monarch said that it was wrong to label all Fulani criminals or use ‘Fulanis herdsmen criminal’ to explain developments because of the misdeeds of some of them. He said, “I am a Fulani, and I am not a bad man. I am also not a criminal. Those engaged in one forms of crimes or another are across the country. It is not proper to refer to any tribe to describe individuals' crime. “For example, when they collected N10m, where and how do you spend this amount in the bush? The money is back in the city. I have told the Inspector General of police to check this; we are not saying Fulanis are not part of the kidnappings as mentioned by the Secretary of Miyetti Allah, seven to eight kidnappers arreste...

The factional leader of the Boko Haram insurgents, Sheikh Abubakar Ibn Al-shakawi popularly called Shekau, has said in a new audio message that, the new set of service chiefs will not do more than what their predecessor did in the fight against terrorism in the northeast Nigeria. The Boko Haram spiritual leader, calls on the chief of defence staff, Lt General Lucky Irabor to have sympathy on himself, repent and convert to Islam. Shekau, who spoke in about ten minutes, also called on the Chief of Army staff, Major General Ibrahim Attahiru that his conducts are un-islamic as such he is no longer regarded as a Muslim. According to Shekau, there is going to be more terror attacks in the country, promising that, the high expectation placed on the new service chiefs will not amount to positive yields and soon Nigerians will know that the appointment of the new service chiefs amounts to nothing as to effect any changes in the operations of the insurgents in the northeast region. Both the new ...

The Seriki Fulani of Igangan in the Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo State, Saliu Abdulkadir, has alleged that seven men were killed during the invasion of his house last Friday. He also claimed that property valued at N500 million was lost to the invasion and arson. Speaking with journalists on Thursday, the displaced Seriki denied complicity in the kidnapping incidents in the area, especially the killing of an Harvard University-trained indigene, Dr Fatai Aborode, who was gruesomely murdered by suspected herdsmen. He said the allegations were concocted by Yoruba freedom fighter, Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho), with the sole purpose of getting the Fulani out of Igangan and other parts of Yorubaland. He claimed he had been a peace lover in all the 50 years that he spent at Igangan. He called on Emirs and other traditional rulers in the 19 northern states to come to the rescue of Fulani residents in the South-West. He equally called on the Nigerian government to probe the burning of his ho...

  The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has said that the Federal Government will not tolerate acts that are capable of jeopardising and disrupting peace in any part of the country, especially in Ondo and Oyo states. Aregbesola said this in a statement shared on his social media and sent by the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mohammed Manga, on Tuesday. In the statement titled, ‘A time to put unity and peace above all’, the former Governor of Osun State described Ondo and Oyo situations as traumatic. The PUNCH  reports that Yoruba rights activist , Sunday Ighoho , and Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, had issued quit notices to criminal herdsmen. While Igboho asked the herdsmen to vacate Igangan area of Ibarapa Local Government in Oyo, Akeredolu asked unregisted herdsmen to vacate Ondo forest reserves. Igboho had stormed Igangan with thousands of his supporters after the expiration of his quit notice, a situation that caused tension in the area and...