Breaking: Boko Haram militants kill 17 Nigerian soldiers

At least 17 Nigerian soldiers were killed in a fresh Boko Haram attack on a military base in the country’s northeast, military sources said Thursday, the third assault on three different bases in less than a month.

On Wednesday evening, heavily armed jihadists riding in trucks stormed and looted weapons and vehicles from a military base in Garunda village in Borno State, the epicentre of the Islamist insurgency that has been raging for nine years.

 The attack is the latest of a series of bloody Boko Haram assaults on military bases in Nigeria, underscoring the continued threat the Islamists pose to the region and putting the spotlight on the Nigerian government’s claim that Boko Haram is “decimated”.

 “Our troops came under attack from Boko Haram terrorists in Garunda last night,” a military officer said.

“Unfortunately we lost 17 troops, 14 others were injured while an unspecified number is still unaccounted for,” said the military source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak on the incident.

The source added that the militants looted weapons and vehicles before fleeing. In the past month, Boko Haram jihadists have launched two other major assaults on military bases in the remote northeast region.

On July 14, jihadists suspected to be loyal to Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi, who is affiliated with the Islamic State group, attacked a base in Jilli village, in neighbouring Yobe state.

 Dozens of troops were killed, wounded or missing, according to several security sources.

 The army conceded the base was attacked but did not give a death toll, saying that the “troops reorganised and successfully repelled the attack and normalcy has since returned to the area”.

 On July 26, the Islamists stormed a base on the outskirts of Maiduguri, the state capital of Borno state.

 The base attacked yesterday in Garunda village of Borno state had just been set up for troops from the 81 brigade who had been stationed in Jilli village and forced to move after the July 14 assault.

 “The truth of the matter is that the troops in Jilli were relocated to Garunda where a new base was established,” said the second military source, who gave a similar death toll. “

Troops were just setting up and the excavator operator was working to fortify the base with trenches against attack from the terrorists when the attack happened,” said the officer.

 The Nigerian army did not respond to to requests for comment. Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Thursday confirmed in a statement that a staff member, an excavator operator attached to the military, “was killed by Boko Haram yesterday in Damasak, Borno state”.

Boko Haram no longer controls swathes of territory in northeast Nigeria as it did at the height of its insurgency in 2014, yet the Islamist militants still pose a threat to the impoverished region. N

igerian President Muhammadu Buhari has insisted that the Islamists are a spent force as he gears up for elections next year.

 In an interview with Nigerian press published on Thursday, Buhari’s information minister Lai Mohammed said “we promised to fight insecurity…despite what anybody says, we have decimated Boko Haram”.

Six months away from presidential polls, Buhari is under pressure to defend his track record as he battles insecurity across Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.

Breaking: Presidency orders probe of Daura, Oke, Ekpenyong over 2015 campaign cash.

Abuja – The Presidency has ordered proper investigation into how the huge cash said to have been released to security agencies in the country in relation to the 2015 Presidential election, was managed.

As a result, three former security heads, who were held strategic positions in the country, are to face serious questioning by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to determine their involvement or otherwise in the expenditure of the cash.

Among those slated for unrestricted probe are: the immediate past Director General of the Department of State Security, Lawal Daura, his predecessor, Ita Ekpenyong and the former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Ayo Oke. 

The order to subject the former security heads to scrutiny followed two days of extensive meeting between Nigeria’s acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, and the acting director general of the DSS, Matthew Seiyefa and that of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.

More details soon

Breaking: Yemi Osinbajo presides over weekly FEC meeting.

Yemi Osinbajo, the acting president and other members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) are currently meeting inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

 We gathered that Osinbajo on Wednesday, August 8, is presiding over the meeting in the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari who is away on vacation in the United Kingdom. Opening prayers were said by the minister of state for environment, Ibrahim Jibrin and the minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu.

 Recall that Acting President Osinbajo on Tuesday, August 7, sacked the director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura. A statement by Laolu Akande, his spokesperson, said: “The acting president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has directed the termination of the appointment of the director general, State Security Service, Lawal Musa Daura, with immediate effect."

“Mr. Daura has been directed to hand over to the most senior officer of the State Security Service until further notice.” We previously reported the sacking of Lawan Daura, the director general of the Department of State Service (DSS), by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo was reportedly done with the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The decision to sack Daura was taken at about 4am on Tuesday, August 7, and Osinbajo secured Buhari’s approval before making the decision public. Anonymous sources confirmed that Daura ordered Tuesday’s DSS siege to the National Assembly in order to whip up public sentiments for Senate president Bukola Saraki.

Breaking: We’ve not frozen any Akwa Ibom account – EFCC

…challenges state to specify account details and holding banks Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor Abuja: The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has said that it has not frozen any account belonging to Akwa Ibom State Government in any bank anywhere.

Udom Emmanuel 

 The commission cleared the air on the matter following claims by the state Information Commissioner, Charles Udoh, on Wednesday night that the accounts of the state had been frozen by the anti-graft agency.

“The state government will speak on the account freezing soon,” Mr. Udoh said, without giving further details.

But a top official of the EFCC told Vanguard on Thursday that the agency had not frozen any account belonging to the state in any bank either in or outside Nigeria.

 The top officer challenged the purveyors of the information to name the details of the accounts reportedly frozen, the banks in which the are domiciled and the amount standing in those accounts.

The officer said that there was no reason to freeze the accounts since Akwa Ibom state government and the commission were already in court over the movements of state funds.

 “The case is already at the Appeal Court since they challenged our powers to investigate the accounts of the state and the matter has not yet been determined and we cannot embark on self help.

 “So, we challenge the state government to name the banks in which the accounts were reportedly frozen, the account numbers and the amount standing in the accounts to prove to the world that indeed what they are saying is true,” the top official said.

•  “We believe strongly that some elements are deliberately trying to blackmail the EFCC by boldly lying against the commission all in a veiled bid to drag it into politics. This is quite unfortunate and a disservice to this country,” the official said.

Michelle and Barack Obama on Martha’s Vineyard

Unlike Alan Dershowitz, it appears Barack Obama shouldn’t be worried about getting the cold shoulder on Martha’s Vineyard. The former president stopped by The Cardboard Box on Monday night, drawing huge crowds outside of the Oak Bluffs restaurant.

According to The Martha’s Vineyard Times, Obama arrived on the island Saturday for a vacation that could last for much of August. The former first family frequented Martha’s Vineyard during summers of Obama’s presidency, and visited again the first summer after Obama left office in 2017. Cardboard Box owner Ben DeForest said Obama was joined for dinner Monday by former first lady Michelle Obama and 12 of the couple’s friends. DeForest said that the couple has previously dined at his other restaurant, the Red Cat Kitchen, three times, so he appreciated them deciding to try out his new spot, which opened in May. “They could’ve gone to the Red Cat, where they know the experience, where they know what to expect,” DeForest said. “It’s a very private experience over there. It’s quiet. It’s contained.” According to DeForest, because of The Cardboard Box’s larger space and its location on the main drag of Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs, the Obama’s dinner was anything but private. Photos and videos taken outside of The Cardboard Box show swarms of people lining the sidewalks, with some chanting, “Obama! Obama!’’ moments before the former president and former first lady Michelle Obama left the restaurant amid cheers and screams. “It shut the town down,” DeForest said. “It was really special. It was a testament to the power and the reverence in which people hold them. It was like The Beatles were in here in the early ’60s.”

RAPPER C Struggs dies at 32

RAPPER C Struggs has died at the age of 32 after a battle with cancer.  

Struggs shot to fame after performing with Rick Ross on the hit Do It before releasing his own successful tracks Work , How Ya Come and Give 2 Fuccs . The Dallas-born star had been given just eight weeks to live by doctors but the disease “ripped through his body” in his final few days, The Sun reports. He was the father to three sons — Corey Jr, Cortez and Torey, who sadly died in an accident in 2014 aged just seven. Rapper C Struggs with his two young sons. The star had a troubled upbringing, surrounded by drug addiction and dealers. A promising footballer in high school, he ended up selling drugs before turning his life around. “I wake up every day trying to be better, small step or big step. I love being a father. I grew up without one and I am so lucky to have the chance to be one,” he told the Dallas Observer in 2016. The death of his son Torey, he said, made him push even harder. “That’s what really drives me to keep going,” Struggs said. “My son, he’s my gas. He really loved my music. He could rap most of my lyrics. I’m not going to stop doing this.” In April he told fans he wanted to have surgery on his neck and head to recover for his kids. “FB Fam im having surgery on my necc n head April 3rd please pray for me frfr I’ve never had surgery or been to sleep before but in order for me to have a chance to live n raise Corey n Cortez I gotta do this,” he wrote on Facebook on March 29 Tributes are flowing from music figures after the shock death of the star, whose real name was Corey Struggs.