The Continental News

  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...

  P resident Muhammadu Buhari has finally sacked the service chiefs in the country with immediate effect after months of pressure exerted on him by Nigerians over worsening insecurity in the country. The president also appointed new hands to take over the security architecture of the country at a time when terrorism and banditry are ravaging the country. Special Adviser On Media and Publicity To President, Femi Adesina, made this known in a tweet on Tuesday. Adesina wrote,  “PMB appoints new Service Chiefs. Maj Gen LEO Irabor, CDS, Maj Gen I Attahiru, Army, Rear Adm AZ Gambo, Navy, AVM IO Alao, Air Force". “He congratulates outgoing Service Chiefs on efforts to bring enduring peace to the country.”

Fulani leader and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Dr Walid Jibrin, has disagreed with the statement made by the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore that all of Nigeria's lands belong to the Fulani. The PDP BoT Chairman said he is against any popular motion that Fulani are the owners of the Nigerian territories, as being peddled by some Fulani leaders. Senator Walid Jibrin PT Jibrin disclosed this in a statement he personally signed and made available to SaharaReporters, on Tuesday, while calling on the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, to, however, reverse the notice to quit issued to herdsmen. Senator Jibrin, however, called on Nigerians, especially the people of Ondo and Oyo states as well as the Fulani communities in the places, to embrace dialogue and reconciliation in solving their disagreements. The PDP chieftain erroneously thought Akeredolu had ordered Fulani herdsmen to leave Ondo but the seven-day ultimatum given by the governor in a ...

  Sunday Igboho’s house in Ibadan is on fire. And allegations are on the streets that the Fulanis are behind the act, as a repraisal attack. Chief Sunday Adeyemo Igboho’s Old House is allegedly set on Fire by Fulani at Soka area in Ibadan, Oyo State. Eye Witnesses said the house was set on fire some minutes after electricity was switched off around the whole area. This medium learnt that he was living in the house, till he moved to a new house he built still in Ibadan. It will be recalled that, several houses belonging to the Seriki Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, were allegedly set on fire by aggrieved youths in Igangan community of Ibarapa zone of Oyo State, on Friday night after the visit of Sunday Adeyemo (aka Sunday Igboho) to enforce his seven-day quit notice to the Fulani herdsmen in the area.

  T he Katsina State Police Command has arrested a father, Haruna Yusuf, and two of his sons for their alleged involvement in banditry and sale of sophisticated dangerous weapons in the Kaita Local Government Area of the state. Yusuf confessed to the police that he and his sons had sold over “10,000 arms and ammunition to bandits in the forest”. Yusuf and his two sons; Shuaibu Haruna and Murtala Haruna, were among 16 suspects paraded by the police on Monday at the Katsina command headquarters for alleged banditry and supply of weapons to bandits. The police recovered two General Purpose Machine Guns, one LAR rifle, and 200 pieces of anti-aircraft ammunition from the suspects. Yusuf, 47, with his sons; 18-year-old Shuaibu and Murtala; 20, lived and allegedly perpetrated their criminal activities in Sawarya village of the Kaita LGA. Those paraded also included two Nigeriens: Ibrahim Dabo, 19, and Umar Bello, 28. The Katsina State Commissioner of Police, Sanusi Buba, who briefed the p...

  Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, has declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew in all the local councils in Orlu area of the state. At least five residents of Okporo, a town in Orlu zone have been reportedly shot dead by officers of the Nigerian Army following a clash between the security agency and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) security outfit, Eastern Security Network (ESN). Hope Uzodinma The community was said to be the operational base of the ESN. The clash between the two groups led to sporadic gunshots, as residents scampered for safety. Five persons, including a middle-aged woman, were said to have been killed by stray bullets from guns of the Nigerian Army while some properties were burnt. SEE ALSO Soldiers Invade IPOB Eastern Security Network’s Operational Base, Kill Five, Burn Church, Others 17 Comments 3 Hours Ago In a statement released after an emergency security council meeting of the state executive council on Monday, Governor Uzodinma said “those behind this callo...

  Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has released a list of 62 prominent Nigerians to be blamed for the current state of the nation. H e made the claim in a post on his Facebook page. “Let us not forget former US President Barrack Obama and former UK Prime Minister David Cameron and all members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God,” Kanu’s Facebook post read. According to him, those people take the full responsibility of what Nigeria has turned into today, owing to the roles they played in kicking out former President Goodluck Jonathan and installing President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. Top on Kanu’s 62-man list are: Former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili; former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; Publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore; Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka of the Adoration Ministries, Enugu, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The IPOB leader said that those whose villages, cities, or town are currently under siege by Ful...

  T he Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore herdsmen group has said President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to do anything to improve the conditions of the herdsmen other than create enemies for them. The National Secretary of the group, Saleh Alhassan, said this in an interview with The PUNCH, adding that herdsmen were being marginalised in the country under the leadership of President Buhari. He noted that it was wrong to link herders to President Buhari, saying herders had been more marginalised under the administration of President Buhari. He said, “We don’t support crime. So, I’m not saying there are no Fulani that are criminals, there are, like other tribes, but don’t destroy their profession. It’s not good for the country. If everything bursts, it’s to the advantage of the herders because we are not even enjoying the federation. “We are even bidding for the restructuring of the country; let every part go, so we can say this is where we are. As it is now, there is no form of...

  T he Seriki Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, on Saturday said none of his children was killed in the alleged attack by youths on his Igangan settlement. SaharaReporters also learnt on Saturday evening that the attack on the Seriki's house happened shortly after a pro-Oodua Republic agitator, Sunday Igboho, and his men left Igangan. The Seriki however told SaharaReporters that his children and first wife sustained gunshot injuries and were responding to treatment at an undisclosed hospital. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the state chapter of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders of Nigeria, Alhaji Ibrahim Jiji, on Saturday urged the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, to work his talk by ensuring that Igboho is arrested. The Fulani leader said Makinde should consider Fulani people as his children, saying Yoruba people are doing well in other part of the country and are not being intimidated.  According to him, many Fulani people in the North are now afraid to visit the sout...