₦airaland Forum

Troops on Friday killed 89 bandits near Gidan Jaja village in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Daily Trust gathered yesterday. The operation, according to reliable sources, was jointly carried out by the 35 Battalion and 17 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Katsina, Police Special Operatives, and personnel of the Operation Hadarin Daji.

Sources close to the operation told Daily Trust that many motorcycles and firearms were recovered. It came barely a week after the bandits ambushed and killed four soldiers in a forest near Birane village in Zurmi. Another source told our correspondent that hundreds of rustled cows and dozens of rifles were recovered during the operation. A resident of Gidan Jaja told Daily Trust that they noticed movement of troops with heavy weapons and many bodies were seen after the operation.

A statement signed by the Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, also said in Abuja yesterday that troops of Operation Hadarin Daji supported by the 35 Battalion and Quick Response Group of the 17 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, two helicopter gunships of the Nigerian Air Force, and the police attacked and neutralised bandits in Gidan Jaja, Zamfara State on April 25, and recovered arms and ammunition from them. He said 89 bandits were killed and many of them escaped with gunshot wounds.

Enenche added that the troops rescued five kidnap victims and recovered 322 rustled cows, 77 motorcycles and nine cell phones. He said a formal handover of the kidnapped victims and rustled cows would be carried out after due process. The Secretary to the Katsina State Government, Mustapha Muhammad Inuwa, said yesterday that many bandits were killed as troops rescued kidnap victims in a joint military operation along the Katsina/Zamfara border forest on Friday night.

He said in a statement through his Director of Press, Abdullahi Yar’adua, while receiving the rescued victims that the operation was carried out by ground forces of the 17th Brigade and the Air Force from Katsina and Zamfara axis. He said the operation led to the destruction of the bandits’ camps and inflicted several casualties on them. Some of the bandits he said fled and abandoned their victims who ran to the soldiers. While commending the troops for the gallant operation, Inuwa urged them to sustain the tempo.

Those rescued are Amadu Rufa’i, 45 years; Habibu Yakubu, 25 years both of Mazanya village in Jibia LGA of Katsina State; Hauwa’u Lawali, 13 years; Khadija Rabe, 13 years and Sumayya Rabe, 10 years, all of Karamne village in Madarumfa region of Niger Republic.

Narrating their ordeals, Rufai said they were kidnapped when working on their farms while the girls said they were hawking onions in Gurbi, a neighbouring town in Zamfara State when the bandits seized them.

He said they spent five days in captivity, adding that the bandits had started demanding for N10 million ransom from his family when the military struck.

According to him, the operation caused serious damages on the bandits and their camps as they saw many corpses on their way out of the forest.

While the Kano State government continues to deny the mysterious deaths being recorded within the state capital, residents of the city are living in fear as more and more burials are taken place daily.

After Daily Trust reported that over 150 people were buried in three cemeteries within the capital last weekend, the state government denied the report.

However, residents are still apprehensive over the unprecedented death rates. Some residents who spoke Daily Trust Saturday said though there was a little respite, Janaza prayers are still being conducted for multiples who are thought to have died from severe malaria and typhoid fever. Within Zangon Barebari neighbourhood alone, our correspondent gathered that about 15 people died between Wednesday and Friday.

Similarly, an attendant at Dandolo Cemetery told Daily Trust Saturday in confidence that the number of deaths in Kano is still increasing, adding that “between Wednesday and Thursday we have buried about 67 corpses.” Some bereaved families told Daily Trust Saturday that their relatives were on outpatient visitations to hospitals for various ailments but with the lockdown in force, coupled with the scare for coronavirus at private health facilities, the deceased had some disruptions that kept them from accessing medical care, which might have resulted in their deaths.

Daily Trust Saturday gathered that in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the state, the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital AKTH, the largest tertiary health facility in the state, and many public hospitals, suspended services at its specialty clinics and restricted the number of outpatient visitation to the facility thereby leaving hundreds of patients without medical care. Mustapha Muhammad Zakari, a resident of Gwammaja Quarters in Dala Local Government Area, lost his mother who had been battling diabetes for over a year. He said his mother died in between hospitals after being rejected at Dala Orthopaedic Hospital.

“For over a year, my mother had been battling diabetes and she used to access care at a private hospital. But with the current reality on ground, the COVID-19, coupled with the lockdown in force, the hospital is not operating, as a result when her condition deteriorated last week we took her to Dala Hospital but she was rejected there and on our way to locate another hospital she died,” he said.

Malam Aminu Ibrahim, a bereaved who spoke to our correspondent, said his father was diagnosed with malaria and typhoid fever before he died at a private clinic at Yankaba.

Aminu, like Muhammad, said his father was rejected at Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital before he was moved to the private clinic.

“My father died from severe malaria and typhoid fever. It was a brief fever and when it started, we took him to a private laboratory within the neighbourhood where they took his blood samples and diagnosed him with malaria and typhoid,” he said.

“After he had been diagnosed, we took him to Nassarawa Hospital but he could not be admitted on the pretext that there was no doctor. From there we moved to a private clinic at Yankaba where he eventually died the following day.”

The Federal Government has said that it will not borrow from the contributory pension fund to provide palliatives to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown in the country. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, said this on Friday in Abuja at the 19th joint national briefing of the committee.

The Contributory Pension Scheme, which came into existence in 2004, has grown to over N10trn. Apparently reacting to an earlier comment by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, who opposed the reported move, the SGF said that although the government had toyed with the idea of borrowing from the fund, it concluded that it was too early for government to dip its hands into the fund. Mustapha said, “We had looked at the issue of pension funds.

As a matter of fact, we even got the minister of state for education to do us a position paper and our conclusion was that the time is not even right for us to go there because the entire world order in terms of our economy and in terms of our health system has been disrupted by COVID -19 and the consequences nobody can imagine until probably the dust is settled.” Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment has promised to intervene and resolve the industrial dispute between the Plateau State Government and some state health workers who were allegedly sacked.

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo, at the briefing said that while the National Industrial Court (NIC) had closed, due to the COIVID-19 lockdown, for workers to seek immediate judicial relief, the ministry would be ready to act as conciliator in the matter between the health workers and the state government. According to him, the ministry will only intervene in industrial cases that involve health workers because of the nature of the services they are providing during this pandemic.

“Our duty in the ministry of labour is to act as conciliators in such a circumstance. For now, because we are very much aware of the impediments, if any such thing occurs now in respect to health workers who suffer any kind of injustice from their employers, the impediments are that the courts are not opened especially the National Industrial Court (NIC), they can’t rush to court and get a relief.

“Even the ministries are closed for now. But perhaps, they can try and get in touch with us through the ministry’s emails or even my personal social media handle. If they send me a direct message, because these are unusual times, to act as conciliators at this time. We understand the primacy of the work of health workers now so we can make exception only for health workers; to come out of our confinement to act as consolidators in such cases,” Keyamo said.

Following the rise in cases of the COVID-19 in Kano State, the Federal Government has said it would assist the state manage the situation to stop further spread. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 , Boss Mustapha, said this on Friday in Abuja at the 14th joint national briefing of the PTF on COVID-19.

The Kano State government had in response to the development imposed a lockdown and curfew in the state. “Recent data released by the NCDC has shown a rise in the number of cases in Kano. The PTF will visit the state to evaluate the state of readiness and to guide the authorities in the management of the situation,” Mustapha said

He also announced that the Federal Government has developed the protocols on points of entry for Nigerians clamouring to return from abroad and that arrangements have been finalised to bring them home. He said: “As you are aware, so many Nigerians are clamouring to return home.

While we are finalising arrangements for their evacuation, isolation and testing, I am pleased to inform you that the PTF has developed the protocol on points of entry that will address this development going forward. Details will be unveiled subsequently.” He also warned all purveyors of fake news capable of misleading the public and causing distraction in the nation’s collective effort to fight the COVID-19 war. He said, “The objective of the restriction orders is to save the lives of Nigerians from the pandemic and not to cause pains.

The Police and other services have launched investigations into the various reports and the Presidential Task Force shall update you when it is concluded.” He also said that returning the nation to normalcy is depended on the success it will achieve in the fight to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

“This virus has no vaccine. Success will mean a return to normalcy and we can only claim victory when: Cases are no longer increasing; we have no unknown sources for cases; deaths are no longer increasing; more admissions are discharged. The only path to these is your full collaboration and compliance,” he added.