Terrorists group falling victims of its evil plans against the troops - Director Army Public Relations

This followed an earlier incident in which suspected Boko Haram terrorists ambushed fighting patrol elements of 25 Task Force Brigade. After clearing the ambush, the troops exploited further off Damboa road from Kumala.

During the pursuit, the troops traced the axis of withdrawal of the terrorists and discovered that the terrorist vehicle mounted with an Anti-Aircraft Gun tasted a bit of the Boko Haram terrorists’ evil intents as it ran into an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) buried by them.

The vehicle was shredded into pieces by the IED while 2 of the Boko Haram terrorists died in the process. The troops recovered 1 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), 2 AK-47 Assault Rifles as well as one Boko Haram terrorists’ flag, 6 primed IEDs, Anti-Aircraft Gun links and rounds of ammunition. Other recoveries include 43 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition and a mobile telephone handset.

This incident of the terrorists group falling victims of its evil plans against the troops, the wrath of God has been aroused by the retributive justice against the devilish Boko Haram terrorists.
Thank you for your kind and usual cooperation.

National Human Rights Commission reaffirmed it’s commitment to work with INEC

Ahead of the court ordered re-run elections in Rivers State, the National Human Rights Commission has reaffirmed it’s commitment to work with the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC and other Security Agencies to ensure that perpetrators of violence and electoral offenses are prosecuted and punished.

In a statement signed by the Executive Secretary of the commission, Professor Bem Angwe, the commission warns political actors to play by the rules and avoid infringement of people’s right to freely elect leaders of their choice.

The statement adds that the commission will monitor the conduct of the elections on Saturday as part of efforts to ensure that the rights of voters in the state are respected.

Minister wants the sponsor of the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill to represent it to the Senate

Minister for Women Affairs and Social Development, Sen. Aisha Al-Hassan, on Thursday urged the sponsor of the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill to represent it to the Senate.

It was recalls that the Bill, sponsored by Senate Minority Whip, Biodun Olujimi, was thrown out by the Senate on Tuesday.

Al-Hassan spoke on the sidelines of the 60th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN headquarters in New York.

"I received with mixed feelings, news of the rejection of the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill by the Nigerian Senate.

"The Bill would have addressed discriminatory practices against women, access to education, female entrepreneurship development, participation in governance, decision making and protection against violence.

"We had hoped that with its passage Nigeria would have made a significant leap in the advancement of women, in conformity with UN Conventions, and other related instruments on the rights and development of women.

"However, with due respect to religious and cultural sensitivities, we believe that the bill will be re-presented to the Senate, as soon as all contentious areas are addressed'', she said.

The minister assured Nigerians that the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development will always do its best to promote the protection of Nigerian women against violence and all forms of abuses.

She said Nigeria cannot afford to neglect women who constituted half of its population, and that there would be no meaningful development without the involvement of women.

"We will continue to urge the Nigerian Senate to reconsider its position to ensure a speedy passage of the Bill,'' she said.

She said in Nigeria, women represented 49 per cent of the population, yet they occupied less than six per cent of parliamentary seats at the national level.

These indicators, she said, negated International, regional and national benchmarks of at least 30 per cent representation for affirmative action.

Al-Hassan said with seven women out of 109 Senators and 14 out of the 360 Representatives; women in Nigerian 8th Parliament were clearly outnumbered by their male counterparts.

Nationwide, she said, in both Federal and State Legislatures, ``there are less than 100 women out of the over one thousand four hundred men in parliament.

"Nigeria is yet to be part of the African revolution although it is the largest economy and the most populous black nation.

"The low representation of women in parliament has been attributed to cultural, traditional, religious, and financial factors because politics is capital intensive.

Others are violence and inhibiting gender roles and capacity in internal party democracies.

The minister also said there was urgent need to fast track modalities for increased representation of women in parliament and other decision-making organs. 

(NAN)