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The Church of England is poised to consider the baptism of animals for the first time, it was announced today.

The ruling General Synod, which is next scheduled to meet in July, will consider an advisory report compiled by a panel of bishops and others entitled
All of God's Creation.

Synod members will be asked to consider the
implications of introducing a liturgy for pets 'in the
light of an emerging consensus about the value of the environment and an increasing consciousness of animal sentience and awareness', the report says.

Charles Deluvio/Unsplash
Could the Church of England baptise animals?

Speaking at a press conference to highlight the report's main findings, Rt Revd James Graham, the committee chair, said: 'The kingdom of God is
about renewing all of creation, including the created order. It would be possible, therefore, to envisage a situation where dogs and cats and other
pets could be ceremonially sprinkled with water to symbolise their full inclusion in the renewal of all
things.'

Pressed on whether this could be described as 'animal baptism', the Bishop said: 'In a manner of speaking, it might be seen that way by some.'


He added: 'In the past we have seen humankind as
in some way distinctive, special and set apart. Now science advises us that many characteristics we once believed to be limited to men and women are
shared with other species, including kindness and empathy. The Christian god is surely one who will welcome any created being with these characteristics fully into his kingdom.'

'After all, look at what I have in common with monkeys and chimpanzees – we're all primates,' the bishop joked, as an unamused press corps sat
stony-faced in front of him.

Asked how animals would be able to make
baptismal vows, Bishop James said: 'It's amazing what animals can do. I've trained my dog to play Widor's Toccata at weddings, and if you weren't
looking, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference in quality from that of many regular human organists. It's just a bit tricky cleaning between the
pedals afterwards.'

The report was attached by conservative Anglicans
as being 'Anglicanism at its most wishy-washy'.

A spokesman for a group which claims to be more conservative than anyone else said: 'What is it again? Whatever it is, we're against it. We're always against. Now look, I've got to go as this probably means I am out of communion with you.'


But a spokesperson for a liberal group said: 'How lovely! What a nice idea. Actually, between you and me, we've been doing this in our parish for years.

We use milk for cats though, otherwise they tend to scratch. And we had terrible trouble when someone's pet spider escaped down the font overflow hole.'

Nigeria will be worse than Somalia soon -
Danjuma re-echoes Nnamdi Kanu's prophecy.

Defend yourselves or you’ll all die
Nigerian Army is complicit in Fulani terrorism and facilitating their operation

"If you depend on the armed forces to
protect you, you will all die- one by one"

 —TY Danjuma
Former Nigerian Chief of Army Staff and Minister of Defence, Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, has broken ranks
with his Fulani cohorts to warn Nigerians that war is imminent.

Danjuma, who assassinated the first Nigerian Head of State, Aguiyi Ironsi, yesterday, spat fire by calling on Nigerians to rise and defend themselves against attacks by marauding herdsmen in some parts of the country, or continue to suffer casualties.

Danjuma wh re-echoed a
prophecy of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, warned that Somalia will be better than
Nigeria if the ongoing ethnic cleansing is not stopped.

“You must rise to protect yourselves from these people; if you depend on the armed forces to protect you, you will all
die.

“I ask all of you to be on the alert and defend your country,
defend your state,” he admonished.

He said the unnecessary killings, which is akin to an act of ethnic cleansing being perpetuated against the people of
Taraba, specifically, and Nigeria, at large, must stop.

An obviously and visibly angry Danjuma also lampooned the
military authorities by slapping the institution with the
accusation that it is complicit in the violent incidents by providing protection for the killers.

“This ethnic cleansing must stop in Taraba, and it must stop in Nigeria. These killers have been protected by the
military; they cover them and you must be watchful to guide and protect yourselves because you have no other place to
go”.


Speaking at the maiden convocation ceremony of Taraba State University in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, Danjuma, who received the award of honorary Doctor of Science from the University, lamented that in spite of the cultural diversity in the state, which was supposed to be used as a tool to bring unity among the people, there were armed bandits who come into the state to connive with the military to kill people and cause ethnic cleansing.


Danjuma said when he arrived at the arena of the convocation, he saw a diverse cultural display organised by
Taraba State cultural groups. This, he said, was proof- positive that the state represents Nigeria in all aspects, stressing that there was no need for the killings. The former
Chief of Army Staff then warned that “the ethnic cleansing must stop now otherwise Somalia will be a child’s play”.

General Danjuma’s outburst is coming against the backdrop
of recent violent attacks by killer herdsmen. In the first 10 weeks of 2018 alone, over 1351 people lost their lives ,
largely, as a result of violent killer herdsmen attacks.


Some of these activities have been described as pure criminality. Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari has
been very consistent in his call for peaceful co-existence in the country,m promising to resolve the crisis.

He made a pledge of N100 million to the appeal fund of the university.
While speaking, the visitor, Taraba State University and governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku, appreciated the
past governors of the state for initiating the state university.


He said his administration would continue to give priority to
education and the university for a better Taraba.

“The institution has made it possible for many Taraba residents to access tertiary education,” he said, and pledged
government’s support toward making it a model.

Earlier, Prof. Vincent Tenebe, the Vice Chancellor, had commended the state government for its continued support
which had ensured the growth of the university. Tenebe said that 5,900 students from five sets were graduating, and urged them to be good ambassadors of the institution.

If They Fail To Give Us Biafra, Somalia Will Look Like A
Paradise - Nnamdi Kanu (2014)

Jihad has been launched in Nigeria.
Fulani herdsmen must be stopped
before they cause Nigeria to implode.
Avert another war - Danjuma,
Dogonyaro, Lekwot, others warn
Nigerian government

MILLIONS of Christians across the world had their faith shaken to its foundations after reports the Pope admitted

HELL DOES NOT EXIST and that bad people simply cease to be.

The devil is REAL: Pope says Satan
MORE INTELLIGENT than mortals
Furious Pope Francis hits out at Vatican
in scathing Christmas message
Pope Francis likens modern migrants to
Saint Joseph and Mary
Popular In the Community
In a jaw-dropping Good Friday ‘revelation’ Pope Francis
reportedly told an Italian journalist that at the moment of death the souls of “sinners” would “disappear”.


Furious Catholics have suggested the claim sounds more akin to atheism than Christianity.

Eugenio Scalfari, 93, said Pope Francis told him: “Hell doesn’t exist, the disappearance of the souls of sinners exists.”

The quotes appeared in Italian newspaper La Republica, a
newspaper co-founded by Mr Scalfari.
Polish priest wishes
Pope early death over
Muslim speech
Pope tells priests not
to preach holy laws at
adulterers

The shock revelation from the spiritual leader of the Roman
Catholic faith overturns more than 2,000 years of orthodoxy.


Conservative Roman Catholics have raged at the Pope for
changing fundamental aspects of the faith set out in the
Bible.


Antonio Socci, a Catholic author, accused the Pope of
heresy and called for his abdication.
Another Vatican spoke on the condition of anonymity: “He’s
a very strange theologian, assuming Scalfari properly
understood what he was saying.


Pope Francis says there's no hell
“He increases confusion among ordinary Catholics, who no
longer know what to believe.”

The expert believes Mr Scalfari over the Vatican because “if
someone traduces your thoughts, you don’t keep inviting
him back.

Mr Scalfari said that the Pope made the explosive remarks in response to a question asking what happened to wicked
souls after death.


The Pope claimed that unrepentant sinners are not punished after death - instead, they just disappear.

Francis and Mr Scalfari, an atheist philosopher, have met
four times before.



On other occasions too, the Vatican has had to issue
clarifications after meetings with Mr Scalfari - who
reportedly reconstructs dialogue from memory without
taking notes or using a recorder.


The Vatican has confirmed that the meeting took place this
time, but insisted it was not an interview.
It said: “No words in quotation marks should be considered
as a faithful transcription of the Holy Father’s words.”


The Times welcomed the Pope’s alleged comments, however: “The Pope’s clarification that there is no such
thing as eternal fire and brimstone even for those who eschew faith should be a reassurance to everyone.”


Pope Francis has previously been criticised for replying,
“Who am I to judge?” - when asked what he thought of
homosexual Christians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin won re-election with more
than 75 percent of the vote Sunday, according to exit poll
data.


The Russian strongman's election win keeps him as
Russia's leader for another six years and allows him to
claim the mantle of the vast country's longest-serving ruler
other than Joseph Stalin.


Speaking to a crowd who attended a pop concert near the
Kremlin marking his victory, Putin hailed those who voted
for him as a "big national team," adding that "we are bound
for success." He said that the nation needed unity to move
forward and urged the audience to "think about the future of
our great motherland." He then led the enthusiastic crowd to
chant "Russia!"

Results from more than half of precincts showed Putin
winning over 75 percent of the vote, with Communist
candidate Pavel Grudinin and ultranationalist Vladimir
Zhirinovsky trailing far behind with about 13 and 6 percent,
respectively.


The eight presidential candidates were barred from
campaigning Saturday, but the message to voters was clear
from billboards celebrating Russian greatness — a big
theme of Putin's leadership — and Kremlin- friendly media
coverage.

The last time Putin faced voters was in 2012, when he was
up against a serious opposition movement. But since then
he has boosted his popularity thanks to Russian actions in
Ukraine and Syria.


Yevgeny Roizman, the mayor of Yekaterinburg, Russia's
fourth-largest city, says local officials and state employees
have all received orders "from higher up" to make sure the
presidential vote turnout is more than 60 percent.


"They are using everything: schools, kindergartens, hospitals
— the battle for the turnout is unprecedented," said
Roizman, one of the rare opposition politicians to hold a
significant elected office.


A doctor at one of the city's hospitals told The Associated
Press how one kind of voting pressure works.


The doctor, who gave her name only as Yekaterina because
of fears about repercussions, said she and her co- workers
were told to fill out forms detailing not only where they
would cast their ballots, but also told to give the names and
details of two "allies" whom they promise to persuade to go
vote.


"It's not something you can argue about," she said at a cafe
Saturday. "People were indignant at first, said 'They're
violating our rights' ... but what can you do?"
Yekaterina said she isn't sure what she'll do with her ballot,
musing that "maybe I'll just write 'Putin is a moron.'" But
she clearly understands that not showing up at the polling
place Sunday will not only endanger her job, but will reflect
badly on her boss, whom she likes.
The Russian doctor said she wouldn't go to vote if she
wasn't forced to.


"What's the point? We already know the outcome. This is
just a circus show," she said.
More than 1,500 international observers joined thousands of
Russian observers to watch the vote. A Russian election
monitoring group said Saturday it registered an "alarming"
rise in recent days in complaints that employers were
forcing or pressuring workers to vote.


As U.S. authorities investigate alleged Russian interference
in President Trump's 2016 election, Moscow has warned of
possible meddling in the Russian vote.
Election observers and local media have reported threats
and coercion of voters to re-register at their place of work
and report later that they have voted.


Ella Pamfilova, chairwoman of the Central Election
Commission who was appointed to clean up Russia's
electoral system, vowed to respond to complaints about
being coerced to vote.


"No manager has the right to tell them where to vote," she
said recently.


Putin has pledged to raise wages, pour more funds into the
country's crumbling health care and education and
modernize dilapidated infrastructure.


Putin's main foe, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was
barred from the race because of a criminal conviction widely
seen as politically motivated. Navalny has called for a
boycott of the vote.

The news that a Colombian farmer finds $600,000,000 in
drug money buried on his farm has created a modern day
“Gold Rush” as people are now flocking to the Colombian
countryside with echo sounders and all kinds of scanning
equipment, searching for more of Pablo Escobar’s hidden
money pits.


Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1, 1949 –
December 2, 1993) was a notorious Colombian drug lord
who at the height of his career, supplied about 80% of the
cocaine smuggled into the US.


Known as “The King of Cocaine”, he was the wealthiest
criminal in history, with an estimated known net worth of US
$30 billion by the early 1990s, and approximately US$50
billion when including money that was buried in different
areas of Colombia.


At the height of its power, Pablo Escobar’s drug cartel was
smuggling fifteen tons of cocaine (worth more than half a
billion dollars) into the United States every single day.

He made so much money that he had to spend $1000 per
week purchasing rubber bands to wrap the stacks of cash.

Pablo had so much money that he could not possibly spend
it all. He had over 800 luxury mansions all over Colombia,
owned football teams, he gave away billions of dollars to
help build hospital’s, schools, work programs and even
rebuilt entire ghettos for the poverty stricken people of
Colombia.

Even with all that going on, he still had too much cash to
hide. So he started to bury it all over Colombia. The location
of each money pit was known by only Pablo and his three
closest associates.


When Pablo was finally killed, the location of many of these
money pits died with him. The CIA estimates there to be
about 100 of these money pits that have yet to be
discovered, each containing between five hundred million to
one billion dollars.


Fast forward to today. Meet Jose Mariena Cartolos, a 65
year old farmer who recently received a $3000 grant from
the Colombian government to help him start a palm oil
plantation on land that has been in his family for over 200
years.


While digging the irrigation trench for the plantation, Jose
discovered something big beneath his feet. After further
excavation, Jose discovered several large blue containers
with something incredible inside.
Money, not just a few hundred dollars, not even a million
dollars, heck not even 100 million dollars.


This 65 year old
farmer with nothing but the shirt on his back had managed
to find one of Pablo Escobar’s money pit’s containing a
whopping $600,000,000. Yup thats right, six hundred million
dollars.

Its not clear what will happen to the
money now, but many speculate that Jose
Mariena Cartolos will not be allowed to
keep the money, but it will most likely
remain in Colombia and be used to fund
social and economical programs that help
those in poverty.

An identity card belonging to the Deputy
Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders
Association of Nigeria in Bassa Local
Government Area of Plateau State , Zakariya
Ya ’ u Idris , is now a subject of controversy .

The Police authorities said they had
commenced investigation into the matter.
While the Irigwe Development Association
alleged that the document was recovered at a
scene where some persons were recently
killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen , MACBAN
said the ID card was stolen by Irigwe youths
who attacked the house of Idris while he was
worshiping in the mosque .

The President of IDA and former member ,
Plateau State House of Assembly , Sunday
Abdu , said , “ The identity card was seen at the
scene of an attack where people were killed.

“ The issue of identity cards is a small matter.

We also recovered telephone handsets .
“ We have reported the matter to the Police
and the items have been taken for
investigation . ”
But when contacted by our correspondent, the
chairman of MACBAN in Plateau State ,
Muhammad Nuru Abdullahi , insisted that the
ID card was stolen along with other personal
documents.

He said, “ The owner of the ID card is the
deputy chairman of MACBAN in Bassa LGA .
He was chased out of his own house .

“ He left this document inside his own house ,
and they entered and picked it and then went
away with it . The man was running for his
life.

“ The incident happened on Wednesday
morning . You know , they were attacked very
early in the morning before 6 : 00 am . He was
in the mosque when they were attacked and
he was unable to return to his house.

“ That was how they picked the documents,
including the certificates of his children ,
indigene ’ s certificates of his wife and
children , his ( MACBAN) identity card , vehicle
documents and other personal items .


“ He has reported to the Police and the report
has been documented . ”
When contacted to find out whether any
report was lodged by either parties , the
spokesperson of Plateau State Police
Command , Matthias Tyopev , an Assistant
Superintendent of Police said , “ It is a sensitive
matter; no comment for now , until after
diligent investigation . ”


But the Police later said the owner of the ID
card , had reported a case of armed invasion at
his home at the Bassa Divisional Headquarters
on Sunday .

“ The man whose face appeared on the ID card
has reported at the Bassa Division today that
his ID card was missing after his house was
broken into during an attack .


“ But we have not found the ID card since
nobody has brought it to the police ” ,

Donald Tusk says negotiations on other
issues will not progress until the Ireland
question has been dealt with



The EU has thrown down an ultimatum to Theresa
May in Brexit talks, warning that it will not open
discussions about trade or other issues until the
Irish border question is solved.


Speaking in Dublin alongside the Irish Prime
Minister Leo Varadkar, European Council President
Donald Tusk said talks would be a case of “Ireland
first” and that “the risk of destabilising the fragile
peace process must be avoided at all costs”.

“We know today that the UK Government rejects a
customs and regulatory border down the Irish Sea,
the EU single market, and the customs union,” the
Mr Tusk said.

“While we must respect this position, we also
expect the UK to propose a specific and realistic
solution to avoid a hard border.

“As long as the UK doesn’t present such a solution,
it is very difficult to imagine substantive progress in
Brexit negotiations.

“If in London someone assumes that the
negotiations will deal with other issues first before
the Irish issue, my response would be: Ireland first.”

British negotiators have long been keen to move to
discussions about trade and had hoped to do so
after the March meeting of the European Council in
two weeks, but Mr Tusk’s latest ultimatum
suggests further delays could be in store.

The EU
says a withdrawal agreement must be negotiated
by October to give it time to ratify the deal before
the UK falls out of the bloc in March 2019.

Mr Tusk recalled that the Good Friday Agreement,
whose 20th anniversary is next month, had been
“ratified by huge majorities north and south of the
border”.


“We must recognise the democratic decision taken
by Britain to leave the EU in 2016 – just as we must
recognise the democratic decision made on the
island of Ireland in 1998 with all its consequences,”
he said, in a play on the rhetoric used by Brexiteers
regarding the 2016 EU referendum.

The EU27 nations granted the UK “sufficient
progress” to move to the rest of Brexit talks in the
December meeting of the European Council after
the UK made a commitment to avoid a hard border
on the island of Ireland at all costs.

The joint report agreed by both sides stated that
the UK would maintain regulatory alignment with
the EU to prevent a hard border – unless another
solution could be found, either specifically for
Ireland, or as part of the wider trade deal.


Since that agreement, however, the UK has ruled
out a trade deal solution by reiterating its
commitment to leave the customs union and single
market, has ruled out a customs border between
the province and Great Britain, and has not
produced detailed specific proposals for avoiding a
hard border.

 Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has
also poured cold water on the issue, downplaying
the UK’s commitment to avoiding a hard border in a
letter to the PM.

25-year-old Jonathan Rivera from Hartford
who was in
court to face a charge of stealing a car stormed the
courthouse with another stolen car.


According to the Hartford Courant, the man appeared at
the Superior Court to face a charge of first-degree larceny
and tampering with a motor vehicle involving an alleged
car thief in Hartford on the 17th of February.





The website reported that while Rivera was inside the
courthouse, police outside were scanning license plates
for violations and discovered a Subaru that had been
reported stolen on Feb. 28.


According to the Hartford police, officers watched the car
and when Rivera returned and attempted to drive away,
they arrested him.


Rivera is now being charged with second-degree larceny,
tampering with a motor vehicle and operation a motor
vehicle without a license. He is being held on $25,000
bond.

The Nigeria Customs Service on Tuesday, March 6, 2018,
handed over the sum of 375,000 USD (Three Hundred and
Seventy Five Thousand United States Dollar) and one
Adamu Rabiu Muhammad with passport number
A50280997 to the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, Kaduna Zonal office.




The suspect, a business man from Kano was intercepted
at the international wing of the Kaduna International
airport, traveling on board ET941 Ethiopian Airline to
Dubai on a business trip.





A team of Custom officers on patrol, led by CSC Medugu
Y.D. apprehended the suspect on Saturday, March 3, 2018
at about 12:22hrs.
While commending the Nigerian Customs Service for its
vigilance, EFCC Kaduna Zonal Head of Operations,
Ibrahim Bappa, enjoined other Law enforcement agencies
to work with the EFCC for a corrupt free Nigeria.

Jihadist strikes on Burkina Faso have shed light on West
Africa’s Achilles’ heel, experts say.

They point to a country whose security apparatus has
been battered by the ouster of a dictator with military
roots, and where poverty and unemployment provide
jihadists with fertile ground for recruitment.


Audacious twin attacks on Friday in the capital
Ouagadougou targeting the military headquarters and the
embassy of former colonial ruler France, sent
shockwaves through the region.






The strike on the military HQ appears to have been aimed
at a scheduled meeting of the so-called G5 Sahel — a
French-backed group of five countries fighting jihadism in
the volatile Saharan region.

Burkina Faso is the “soft underbelly” of the region, Paul
Koalaga, a professor of geopolitics and security expert
said.

“Burkina Faso has been fighting terrorists since 2015 — a
commitment that has been strengthened by the G5 Sahel
— and a riposte was just waiting to happen,” he said.

The country has been the target of jihadist attacks since
2015.






On August 13 last year, two assailants opened fire on a
restaurant on the capital’s main avenue, killing 19 people
and wounding 21. No one has so far claimed
responsibility.

On January 15, 2016, 30 people — including six
Canadians and five Europeans — were killed in a jihadist
attack on a hotel and restaurant in the city centre.






A February 21 attack near the border with Niger left two
French soldiers dead and a third injured in an area which
is believed to shelter jihadists.

Koalaga said Burkinabe authorities had failed to address
the threat, and now are trying “to deflect attention by
accusing officials from the old regime” — a reference to
Blaise Compaore, ousted in 2014 in a popular uprising
after 27 years of iron-fisted rule.

– Soldiers involved? –
“There are jihadist sleeper cells in African capitals and
the radicalisation of youths is spreading, especially in the
poor suburbs of Ouagadougou which have very high
unemployment rates,” he said.

Sources in Ougagadougou said that the attackers were
almost all from Burkina Faso.
Eight assailants and eight soldiers were killed and 85
people were injured, according to an updated government
toll issued on Tuesday.

Sixty-one of the injured were soldiers and 24 were
civilians — the first time that civilian casualties have been
mentioned..






“Burkina Faso’s intelligence system fell apart after the
fall of Blaise Compaore”, Koalaga said.
“In Burkina Faso, the intelligence system did not rest on
an institution but on the shoulders of one man, General
Gilbert Diendere,” said Rinaldo Depagne, a West Africa
expert from the International Crisis Group.

Diendere, Compaore’s right-hand man, is currently being
held and tried for a failed coup in 2015 aimed at bringing
his boss back to power.
Depagne said he did not rule out the possibility of some
soldiers being involved in the latest attack, an accusation
levelled by some Burkinabe authorities.

“We know that some of the 566 soldiers sacked after the
(anti-Compaore) riots of 2011 have joined jihadist
groups,” he said, adding that the dissolution of an ultra-
loyalist presidential praetorian guard had fuelled “lots of
frustration among soldiers.”

The latest attack shows that the militants are changing
tack and now targeting troops instead of civilians, said
Nicolas Desgrais from the University of Kent in
southeastern England, who is an expert on security issues
in West Africa.

Depagne said extremist violence in the region had flared
since France and Mali launched a crackdown on the
jihadist Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) in
Mali’s vast lawless desert north.
Koalaga said the GSIM, which claimed Friday’s attacks in
ouagadougou, staged a revenge strike in Burkina Faso
because it was vulnerable.

GSIM said it was a response to the deaths of some of its
leaders in a French army raid in northern Mali in February
in which 20 jihadists were either killed or captured,
according to French military sources.
Depagne, for his part, suggested Ouagadougou would
have to negotiate with jihadist groups or risk an
“interminable war, as in Somalia which has lasted for 27
years.”

MAIDUGURI— One of the midwives abducted by Boko
Haram in the wake of the attack on the Internally
Displaced Persons, IDPs camp at Rann, Borno State,
Thursday night, Hauwa Mohammed, said in a message
via Whatsapp that her parents be informed of her kidnap
by the insurgents.

“We are under attack in
Rann. They are shooting
everywhere, please pray
for me; please go and tell
my parents that I am in
trouble.”

In a video message composed in Hausa in the heat of
sporadic shooting by the insurgents at the military base
they fled amid the shooting, Hauwa, 25, asked her friend
to tell her parents that she was being taken away by her
abductors.

Running and panting, the victim said: “We are under
attack in Rann. They are shooting everywhere, please
pray for me; please go and tell my parents that I am in
trouble.

Please, look for Fatima and tell her they are
taking us away.






They have entered here now…”
It was learned that at that point, a male voice ordered her
to keep quiet and not to move an inch.

“That was the last
that was heard from Hauwa,” the friend, Fatima said.






Boko Haram fighters had invaded Rann, a town in Kala
Balge Local Government Area of Borno State, on
Thursday.


It was gathered that the International Committee of Red
Cross, ICRC, contracted the nurse to work in Rann for a
period of three months.
Another friend of the victim, Abdulhameed Algarzali, who
is the editor-in-chief of a local newspaper in Maiduguri,
said the nurse assumed work two weeks ago.
Hauwa Mohammed

From Gamboru-Ngala to Rann
Algarzali said Hauwa Mohammed told him she was going
to spend two weeks in Gamboru-Ngala, headquarters of
Ngala Local Government Area of Borno when she visited
him the night before the incident.






He said family members and friends of Hauwa thought
she was working at Gamboru Ngala, and not Rann, where
she was abducted by Boko Haram.
He said: “It seems she did not disclose that she was
posted to Rann… why she refused to do so is not clear.

“I did not believe the story at first because the Hauwa
Mohammed I met a day to her journey told me she was
going to Gamboru Ngala for just two weeks.

It is
surprising, therefore, that this happened to her in Rann.






I
mean, how did she get there?
“It’s possible she did it deliberately to avoid causing
unnecessary panic, considering the situation in Rann, or
to avoid being stopped by her family. But another
possibility is that her employer, the International
Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, providing medical
assistance to over 40,000 displaced persons,
misinformed her of the true posting.”


The ICRC actually confirmed that two of its midwives were
missing, indicating they may have been abducted by the
Boko Haram gunmen.
But friends and family members of Mohammed also
confirmed that after getting her new job, the midwife was
flown to Rann in Kala-Balge Local Government Area of
Borno State on February 19.


“We celebrated her new job and even joked about her
coming back so that we could help her spend her first
salary in Maiduguri”, said a close friend who identified
herself as Fatima Saeed whom the missing midwife also
referred to in her WhatsApp message.

Some of her friends said she loved keeping in touch with
family and friends, adding that they were worried how she
would cope working in a cut-off locality, such as Rann,
where there is zero access to telecommunication.


They said it was her first major job since graduation,
following a stint with Fhi 360 in 2017, a North Carolina,
USA-based NGO working in Borno State.
“But two days after she left, I received a WhatsApp
message from her and I was surprised because I knew
there was no network in Rann.


“Then she told me that they have an internet Wi-Fi to
which they connect in order to chat or send emails,’’ Mrs.
Saeed said.

Gunmen invade during chat
On the day of the attack, it was learned that Ms.
Mohammed did not chat with Mrs. Saeed but was,
however, having a chat with another friend when the Boko
Haram gunmen invaded their camp.
Under such an extremely dangerous situation, the terrified
Mohammed was still able to use the WhatsApp handle on
her phone to alert her friends about the attack on Rann,
using the voice message application to send out patches
of information while she was hiding at a location she said
was within the soldiers’ barracks.
Piecing the different patches of voice messages she
managed to send out before Boko Haram gunmen finally
spotted her in her hideout, one could conjecture how the
attack occurred.


In the messages, she informed her friend in Maiduguri
that they were under attack and that they had to run to
the military base for protection. But her last voice chat
indicated that the attackers had stormed the military base
where they were taking refuge and she was about to be
harmed.

The first voice message with gun shots in the background
said “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajium (meaning from God
we come and unto Him shall we all return), Boko Haram
have invaded our camp, they are coming to take us
away.”


The second Whatsapp message came in a more panicked
voice, saying “Please don’t tell anybody yet, I beg you in
the name of God don’t let it out yet, don’t tell Fatima too
for now. I am scared (voice broken with tears)…if my
parents hear about this now, they will not be happy.

Oh
God, here they are, are you hearing the gunshots?”
The third voice message seemed to be answering a
question from the recipient as she said “no, they are still
here and they will go with us.”
Go, tell my parents…

It also suggests that the gunmen may have been repelled
earlier before they regrouped and returned for a second
phase of the attack; and that Hauwa and other aid
workers had to leave their camp and flee into the military
base for refuge.


‘’Please go and tell my parents they don’t know the
situation that their daughter is in now. For God’s sake, go
and tell them. Call Fatima to go and meet my parents, but
she shouldn’t tell them now.

“We are now in the barracks and the gunmen have come
back again. Oh inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun…”






The fourth voice message was the most disturbing, as
voices of men were heard alongside heavy gunshots, and
clanking of metal sheets as Hauwa Mohammed
announced in hushed voice that “they (Boko Haram) have
entered where I am now; please don’t tell anyone yet, I
beg you in the name of God.”

It was learned that the fifth voice message was only for
about a second as it ended with Hauwa Mohammed
screaming and calling on the name of God. “ Inna lillahi wa
inna… ”

Following the attack, the ICRC had since announced the
withdrawal all its aid workers from Rann, vowing not to
send them unless the Federal Government provided
adequate security for them.
Aside from the two midwives taken away by the
insurgents, no fewer than four soldiers, four policemen
and three humanitarian aid workers were killed in the
attack.

New York – The International Organisation for Migration
(IOM) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have
deplored Boko Haram attack on Rann in Borno.


IOM said: “a large number of Boko Haram members
armed with automatic weapons, rocket propelled
grenades and gun trucks attacked the military base in
Rann’’.













The UN migration agency said some 55,000 people
displaced by the conflict lived in a camp near the base.


“IOM staff reported that during the incident, four soldiers,
four mobile police and three humanitarian workers were
killed and another three humanitarian workers were
injured.
“Two of those killed were IOM field colleagues,’’
Mohammed Abdiker, IOM Director of Operations and
Emergencies said.


“We are outraged and saddened at the killings of two of
our colleagues in an attack by Boko Haram in North East
Nigeria last evening.
“They represented the best in us in assisting displaced
civilians. We will miss them,’’ Abdiker said.
UNICEF, in a statement by Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF
Regional Director for West and Central Africa, also
expressed shock on the attack against humanitarian
workers in Rann.













Poirier said: “UNICEF is shocked by the attack on March
1, in Rann, Borno State, in which three aid workers lost
their lives, three were injured and one is reportedly
missing.


“One of these brave workers who lost their lives, and the
nurse who is missing, were on the frontline providing
critical services supported by UNICEF.
“The two others who were killed were working for the
International Organisation for Migration (IOM).












“We strongly condemn this attack on selfless aid
professionals, who were working in the most difficult
humanitarian conditions.
“Alarmingly, the number of attacks on aid workers is
increasing around the world, and we must stand together
to reaffirm our commitment to protect them.
Humanitarian workers should never be a target.














“UNICEF offers its deepest condolences to the families of
the victims and to all IOM staff members. We will
continue to work with the Government to ensure safe
return of those missing.”
The UN statement, issued by its Humanitarian
Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, had also strongly
condemned the killing of the three aid workers in Rann
town.












“Three aid workers were also injured, and a female nurse
is missing and feared to have been abducted,’’ Kallon
said.
He said the UN was also concerned about other civilians
who may have been injured or killed in the attack.
“Two of the deceased aid workers were contractors with
the International Organisation for Migration (IOM),
working as coordinators in a camp in Rann for 55,000
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
“The other aid worker was a medical doctor employed as
a third-party consultant with the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF),’’ Kallon said. (NAN)

Mogadishu – Somalia militant group, Al-Shabaab, on
Friday captured the strategic Balad town, about 30 km
north of Mogadishu, the Somali capital, in the latest mid-
morning attack, officials said.


Al-Shabaab
A regional member of State Parliament Abdukadir Osman
Abdisalan confirmed the attack at Balad town by the
militants who also attacked the police station with
explosions.












“The fighting is going on at the moment between
government troops and al-Shabaab fighters.
“We will update you later,” Abdisalan told Xinhua.













The Horn of Africa country has been at war since 1991,
when clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Siad Barre
and then turned against each other.
For a decade, the weak UN-backed government has been
fighting alongside African Union troops against al
Shabaab, which aims to impose its own strict
interpretation of Islam. (Xinhua/NAN)

Specifically, these firms have allegedly enabled Kim Jong Un’s regime to evade previous sanctions by helping it trade illicitly with other countries while at sea, as opposed to on land, where such verboten commerce would be more easily detected.








The move represents an escalation of the White House’s latest strategy for combating the North Korean nuclear program: Pursue direct talks with Pyongyang — while imposing maximum economic pain on the regime — in hopes of forcing Kim Jong Un to denuclearize without unleashing “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
There are a couple of flaws with this gambit. First, it does little to prevent the Chinese from continuing to keep their eccentric allies afloat; and second, it does nothing to stop the irrational actor in the Oval Office from poisoning the prospects of a diplomatic agreement with homicidal bluster.
The latter liability became abundantly clear Friday afternoon, when a reporter asked the president about his North Korea policy. “If the sanctions don’t work, we’ll have to go to Phase 2,” Trump replied. “Phase 2 may be a very rough thing. May be very, very unfortunate for the world.” In other words: If North Korea does not meet my demands, I will deliberately inflict something “very, very unfortunate” on the entire world.
This might sound like a maniacal threat fit for a Bond villain. But if launching a globally devastating war is the only way to preempt the possibility of a globally devastating war, then what choice do we really have? How could we possibly trust that crackpot dictator with the nuclear weapon? I mean, have you heard the things he says?

Britain has warned of possible attacks by the Islamic State (IS) on foreigners in South Africa, following the kidnap of two British nationals in a small town there.


 Britain’s Foreign Office (FCO) disclosed on its website that the main threat was from ISIS.











In an email to Reuters, the FCO said: “We have updated our travel advice to include this recent incident”, referring to the kidnapping. “Our travel advice already states that terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in South Africa. This remains our assessment.”










A spokesman for the Hawks, Lloyd Ramovha, said two suspects had been arrested in connection with the kidnap of the British couple. Police have not identified the couple, who lives in Cape Town. They were kidnapped in the small town of Vryheid in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, Ramovha said.














Police were still investigating why they had travelled there. “The couple are still missing at this stage. No ransom has been demanded. Our investigation so far has not revealed any links to terrorists, let alone ISIL,” Ramovha said, using an acronym for Islamic State. “Besides that, South Africa has measures to counter terrorist threats. We are more than ready to deal with such.”


















“The car the couple was driving in was found yesterday (Wednesday), and is now undergoing forensic tests,” he said. The couple, a 74-year-old man who moved from Britain to South Africa in the 1970s and his South African-born wife, 63, both have British and South African nationalities.










Jasmine Opperman, director of Southern Africa Operations at the Terrorism, Research and Analysis Consortium think tank, said the British alert was “alarmist”.











 “South Africa’s vulnerability for attack is there, but are there solid indications of attacks now as we sit here? There are none,” she said in an interview with eNCA television.

By Ifreke Inyang
Forty-nine passengers on Tuesday escaped death after a Dana Air plane overshot the runway of the Port Harcourt Airport. Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) confirmed the incident in a statement issued in Lagos.
Houses & Apartments for Sale in Lagos Find your new property from trusted landlords a estate agents. Yakubu said: “A Dana aircraft flight 9J0363, flying from Abuja to Port Harcourt airport, overshot the Port Harcourt runway. “The incident was suspected to have been caused by a heavy rain, which was accompanied by strong wind and storm in Port Harcourt. “No casualty was recorded, as all passengers on board were safely evacuated.” Mr Sam Adurogboye, General Manager, Public Relations, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), also confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria. He said the aircraft was partially damaged after it overshot the runway.
“I learnt the runway has been closed but it will be reopened before the next 30 minutes after inspection has been carried out on it. “Forty-nine passengers were on board and safely evacuated. The aircraft came in from Abuja to Port Harcourt, “he said. NAN