The command’s spokesperson, DSP Udeme Edet, told newsmen on Monday in Makurdi that the victim, Ejeh Udeh, was killed in the early hours of Monday in Ondo, Ugboji Community of Otukpo local government area.

Edet said that the assassins attacked and shot the politician at close range, and he died on the spot.

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A source said the assailants who waited for their victim while it was raining rode on motorcycles and opened fire on him when he entered his compound.

The police spokesperson told newsmen that a suspect had been arrested in connection with the assassination.

Edet said the suspect was in their custody, adding that the investigation was ongoing.

Source: NAN

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The State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Udeme Edet, told newsmen in Makurdi that the incident took place in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Edet said that during the invasion, security operatives engaged the attackers in a fierce exchange of gunfire.

She also said that the attackers killed people but did not mention the figure.

“According to our information, it happened in the early hours of Saturday, when suspected bandits invaded Yelwata town.

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“The police and tactical teams posted to the town and reinforcements responded swiftly to the attack and engaged the attackers in a fierce exchange, and some of the attackers were killed in the process.

“But it’s with great sadness that we report that some individuals lost their lives and others sustained injuries.

“The police, however, have not relented and are still in pursuit of the attackers and will continue to keep everyone safe,” she said.

However, a resident of Yelewata town told News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that more than 70 corpses were already recovered, adding that the search for people missing was still on.

“The death toll will rise as the search and rescue mission is on. Many were burnt already in stores.

“I am right here on the ground. More than 85 per cent of the victims are IDPs that ran from Antsa, Dooka, Kadarko, and Giza areas and are taking refuge at various stores in Yelwata Market and residences.

“There is a police station and military checkpoint here in Yelwata town, but they were outnumbered by attackers,” the source said.

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Nigeria has significantly contributed troops and police officers to the United Nations peacekeeping operations worldwide since 1960. That year, the Nigeria Police deployed the first-ever contingent of individual police officers to the UN Mission in the Congo. Assistant Commissioner of Police Louis Edet led the team at the time. In these operations, Nigeria resolutely committed herself to the onerous task of maintaining world peace and security. Some of the country’s gallant officers paid the supreme price, while many were injured and maimed for life. During the military era, particularly during the reign of General Ibrahim Babangida, under the auspices of the African Union and ECOWAS, there was the ECOWAS Monitoring Group, which intervened decisively in Liberia, paving the way for the restoration of civil rule in that country. Rebel leaders had turned Liberia into a theatre of war in their desperate battle for power. Nigeria’s troops were also the military backbone of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) from 2003-2018, restoring security throughout that country.

Since then, Nigeria has been involved in peacekeeping operations in many African countries, including Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, Mali, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi. The government has contributed a lot in finance, logistics and civilian experts to these missions. Beyond Africa, the country’s police force participated in operations in Western Sahara, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, East Timor, Haiti, Kosovo and Afghanistan, to mention but a few.

It is relevant to point out that Nigeria’s engagement is not only in peacekeeping or maintaining law and order across these nations; the country has helped stabilise and strengthen democracy in Africa. For instance, it’s on record that Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo played a leading role in the international effort to restore democratic order in São Tomé and Principle when President Fradique de Menezes was toppled by the military in that country in July 2003 while visiting Nigeria. Obasanjo and other foreign leaders reined in the military junta that ousted Menezes. The former Nigerian president took Menezes in his plane, leading him back to power in the oil-rich island republic.

 In addition, Nigeria’s effort helped ferry former military leader Yahya Jammeh from The Gambia when he became a stumbling block to constitutional order.

After losing the election his regime organised, Jammeh refused to concede defeat to Adama Baro, who won the poll. The private plane of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, now President Bola Tinubu, was deployed to evacuate the once-dreaded Jammeh out of The Gambia.

I can continue enumerating Nigeria’s efforts to help maintain peace and security worldwide.

It is against this backdrop of the country’s considerable efforts in maintaining peace and deepening democracy in Africa and beyond that the recent demand for a permanent seat for Africa in the UN Security Council be considered. No country in Africa has contributed to global peace and security than Nigeria in terms of human and material resources. The request for a well-deserved permanent seat for the continent was the high point of Nigeria’s presentation at the just-ended 79th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA79) in the United States.

Vice President Kashim Shettima led Nigeria’s delegation to that session and presented the country’s national statement on behalf of President Tinubu. The president stayed back at home to attend to pressing domestic issues. That decision, the first by any Nigerian president since 1999, deserves commendation.

To say that Vice President Shettima ably represented the country is to state the obvious, particularly for those who watched the presentation live or on television. Resplendent in the country’s traditional white flowing babariga with a matching Borno cap, VP Shettima did an excellent job.

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Making a case for this all-important seat on the UN’s exalted podium, the vice president said: “Reform of the Security Council is critical if the UN is to strengthen its relevance and credibility in our rapidly changing world. Some permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have offered encouraging, if tentative, indications of support on the issue of reform of the Council. We welcome the change in tone and urge acceleration in momentum to the process.

“The Security Council should be expanded, in the permanent and non-permanent member categories, to reflect the diversity and plurality of the world. We fully support the efforts of Secretary-General Guterres in this regard. Africa must be accorded the respect that it deserves in the Security Council. Our continent deserves a place in the permanent members category of the Security Council, with the same rights and responsibilities as other Permanent Members.”

With a population of over 1.3 billion people and home to the most critical mineral resources that will power the global economy, a permanent seat for Africa in the UN Security Council will ensure inclusivity and a spirit of brotherhood. Given its strategic importance, Africa should join the council’s five permanent members. And more than any other country on the African continent, Nigeria truly merits this seat. It is an entitlement and a matter of right.

First, the seat will serve as due compensation for Nigeria’s labour of service to the world. The country’s active participation in peacekeeping missions helped save countless lives and restore peace and stability to many countries. The UN has acknowledged this important work. In a publication of the world body in February 2019, the UN singled out Nigeria for praise for her service and sacrifice. However, the UN should do more than commendation. The world body should offer Nigeria this much-desired permanent seat to appreciate the country’s contribution.

Second, as indicated earlier, Nigeria contributed the most troops and police to UN missions among African nations. The Nigeria Police Force committed more men and materials to keep the peace in Africa and elsewhere. According to the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, Nigeria contributed to 41 peacekeeping missions globally and deployed over 200,000 troops to UN operations since her first deployment in the Congo. He spoke in New York at the summit of the Future Interactive Dialogue on the theme: “Enhancing Multilateralism for International Peace and Security.”

The attendant cost to Nigeria’s engagement in these peacekeeping operations is enormous. For instance, official sources revealed that ECOMOG, a regional mediation force put together to end the protracted Liberian civil war, was operated at an estimated cost of $8 billion to the Nigerian government.

Third, and more importantly, with its large population of young, energetic, and creative people and enormous resources, Nigeria can provide the required leadership for Africa at the UN Security Council.

This is a role the country has been performing for many decades. It has the potential to perform this work even better. Nigeria will be the real giant of Africa if it rises to this eminent status.

African President, the highly revered Dr Nelson Mandela, was once reported to have said that the Black Race would not achieve its status until Nigeria sorted out itself.

When President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s reform agenda fully manifests, Nigeria will sort itself out sooner, not later. Then, the country will take its rightful place as the true leader of Africa in the community of nations.

*Rahman is a senior presidential aide.

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Lagos State government had arraigned Emmanuel before the court on a lone-count charge of defilement to which he pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution told the court that Emmanuel allegedly defiled the pastor’s daughter between April and July 2021 at Ajangbadi area of Badagry.

Prosecution counsel said the offence contravened the Criminal Laws of Lagos State.

Following his not guilty plea, state counsel, Ms Abimbola Abolade, invited the pastor to testify before the court.

The witness told the court that Emmanuel was his tenant, whom he knew through an estate agent.

He said he had known Emmanuel for three to four years and that his daughter identified the defendant as the person responsible for her pregnancy since he had been sleeping with her.

“Godwin defiled my daughter and impregnated her at the age of 16 years.

“I reported the case at Area K Police Station in Badagry where my daughter confirmed that he had been sleeping with her for a long time.

“My daughter kept the pregnancy and gave birth to a female child,’’ he said.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr Victor Edet, the pastor told the court that he could not recollect the precise date that he reported the case to the police.

He said, however, that he later reported the case at the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency and at a medical centre when the police did nothing about his complaint.

He said he was convinced that it was the defendant that impregnated his daughter.

He said Emmanuel’s wife, a nurse, gave drugs to his daughter to abort the pregnancy.

The pastor also told the court that his daughter told him that during one of the sex romps, the condom in use broke.

Emmanuel, however, told her to shift responsibility to a third person whom he introduced to her, the pastor added.

Presiding Justice Abiola Soladoye adjourned further hearing in the case to December 11.

Source: NAN

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