Author: CKN

 

No fewer than 744 former terrorists and victims of violent extremism on Thursday graduated from the Federal Government’s De-radicalisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Camp under Operation Safe Corridor.

A breakdown of the 744 clients shows that two are from Abia State, 10 from Adamawa State, one from Akwa Ibom State, two from Anambra State, 12 from Bauchi State, 597 from Borno State, three from Ebonyi State, one from Enugu State, 15 from Kano State, three from Katsina State, one from Kebbi State, five from Kogi State, four from Nasarawa State, two from Niger State, two from Plateau State, two from Sokoto State, and 58 from Yobe State.

In addition, there are foreign nationals, comprising one from Burkina Faso, one from Cameroon, two from Chad, and four from the Niger Republic.

Speaking at the event in Gombe, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, stated that the initiative is “not a reward” for violence but a strategic tool to curb extremism.

Represented by the Director, Special Operations Forces at Defence Headquarters, Rear Admiral Kabiru Tanimu, he said the programme was designed to address the human dimensions of insurgency and promote lasting peace.

“This moment is not just a ceremony; it is a statement of progress, a demonstration of national resolve and a testimony to the power of strategic thinking in addressing human dimensions of conflict,” he said.

Oluyede stressed that while military force remains necessary, long-term stability depends on rehabilitation and reintegration.

“Operation Safe Corridor represents Nigeria’s firm belief that while kinetic operations are necessary to neutralise threats, lasting peace can only be achieved when we address the underlying drivers of de-radicalisation, disengagement and reintegration,” he said.

He added, “This is not a reward but a deliberate strategy to reduce violence, weaken extremist recruitment and promote long-term stability.”

Addressing the graduates, the CDS urged them to embrace a new path, warning against a return to violence.

“Nigeria is giving you a second chance; do not waste it. You are returning not just to your communities but to a responsibility to live peacefully, to contribute meaningfully and to reject all forms of violence and extremism,” he said.

Oluyede also clarified that the initiative should not be mistaken for amnesty. “Operation Safe Corridor is not an amnesty programme, and it is not a sign of weakness. It complements military operations by addressing the human threats of conflict, reducing recidivism and weakening the ideological foundations of violent extremism,” he noted.

He called on state governments and communities to support the reintegration process, saying, “Reception, monitoring and community acceptance remain critical to sustaining the gains achieved today. This must be a collective effort.”

Earlier, the Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, Brig. Gen. Yusuf Ali said the programme was established as a deliberate strategic response to insurgency, combining security efforts with rehabilitation.

“While military operations continue to degrade and neutralise threats, it became evident that lasting peace requires a structured pathway for disengagement, rehabilitation and reintegration of those willing to renounce violence,” Ali said.

He explained that the beneficiaries underwent extensive training, including “psychosocial support, vocational training, religious reorientation, educational reform, civic education and behavioural transformation.”

“This process is not merely about disengagement; it is about rebuilding identity, restoring values and preparing individuals to return to society as responsible citizens,” he added.

Ali noted that many of the participants were victims of coercion and manipulation. “Some were abducted, others were forced, and many were drawn into the conflict due to circumstances beyond their control. But today marks a turning point,” he said.

“From this moment, they have the opportunity to reclaim their identity, rebuild their lives and pursue a future defined not by conflict but by purpose, responsibility and national development,” he added.

The coordinator emphasised that reintegration remains a shared responsibility.

“State governments, community leaders, families and institutions all have critical roles to play in ensuring that these individuals are accepted, monitored and supported,” he said.

The Governor of Gombe State, Muhammad Yahaya, represented by his SSA on Security Matters and Intergovernmental affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Musa, charged the graduating clients to embrace the opportunity as a new beginning.

He said the programme reflects the federal government under the Leadership of President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to peace building and the De-radicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of repentant persons into society.

“You’ve been given a second chance, do not take it for granted. Go forward and become responsible, law-abiding, and productive citizens who will contribute positively to your community and the nation at large. Do not betray the trust that Nigeria has placed in you.”

The graduation of 744 clients under Operation Safe Corridor underscores Nigeria’s sustained shift towards combining military efforts with non-kinetic strategies in addressing insurgency, particularly in the North-East.

Established as a structured response to the Boko Haram conflict, the programme reflects growing recognition by security authorities that durable peace cannot be achieved solely through force, but also through de-radicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals willing to renounce violence.

Over the years, Operation Safe Corridor has evolved into a multi-agency initiative supported by both local institutions and international partners, focusing on psychosocial support, vocational training, and ideological reorientation.

Punch

The latest graduation highlights the scale and continuity of the effort, as well as the Federal Government’s commitment to reducing recidivism, weakening extremist recruitment, and promoting community-based reintegration as part of a broader national stabilisation strategy.

Kidnappers holding John Arum, a student of the University of Jos, have released a second disturbing video, intensifying fears over his safety.

In the footage, the victim is seen kneeling while an armed man points a rifle at him, as he reveals that they are currently in Zamfara State. The kidnappers also issued a direct death threat, warning that failure to meet their demands could lead to his execution.

Arum was reportedly abducted alongside six others along the Jos–Kaduna highway, a route frequently linked to kidnapping incidents.

Sources indicate that the ransom demand, initially set at ₦30 million, has now been reduced to ₦4 million, though there has been no official response from authorities or confirmation of ongoing rescue efforts.

The development has sparked renewed concerns over insecurity and kidnapping across Nigerian highways, especially in the North-West and North-Central regions.

 

Nigerian troops have arrested the second-in-command to a notorious bandit kingpin, Kachalla Auta, alongside his wife in Gombe State following an intelligence-led tracking operation across multiple locations.

Military sources said the suspects, identified as Bala, popularly known as “Pakapaka,” and his wife, Zulaha Bala, were intercepted after fleeing from Dajin Madam Forest in Plateau State.

According to the sources, the arrests were the result of sustained intelligence surveillance and coordinated ground tracking by security operatives targeting fleeing members of the criminal network.

The suspects are currently in custody and undergoing interrogation to determine their level of involvement in the group’s activities and possible connections with other cells operating within and outside the region.

In a related development, troops conducted follow-up patrols around Bayar village in the Duguri axis after intelligence indicated that the main bandit kingpin had fled into the area.

He was credited with the killing of many people running into hundreds

However, no contact was made during the search operation.

Troops have continued to dominate the general area with sustained patrols aimed at denying criminal elements freedom of movement and disrupting their operational networks across Plateau, Taraba, and adjoining states.

The Kano State Government has said that the newly established Media Information Policy Drafting Committee was not an effort toward gagging the media, neither a move to stop the press from carrying out their job.

Speaking while inaugurating the 18-member committee at the SSG office, the Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Waiya, said, “This Policy Committee has nothing to do with stopping the media from doing its jobs, but rather to cement the already existing relationship between the government and the journalists.”

He said, “For the first time in 50 years, history is being made, and we are witnessing one of the greatest engagements that we are getting all the time, ready to have in the state, that is having a policy that we are guiding the information, media engagement in the state.”

Waiya noted that the essence of this is to be guided by the professional ethics in government, as contained in journalism practice, and that the state government is not here only to send messages to the media, but rather to have a direction.

“We are taking up the space where the boundaries of the state government are, and where the boundaries of journalism practice are; that is the essence of the policy framework.”

The Commissioner hinted that there are many policies in the state which the state government, in an effort to enhance the practices of accountability and transparency, has already put in place.

“And we feel also that the information and media space is very critical and important, especially in this era of digital media. We feel obliged that we have a responsibility to have these policies in place that can help cement and strengthen the relationship between the government and media practitioners in the state.”

He explained that that is why the composition of the committee drafted to develop these policies approaches all points of policy, covering three different phases of media practice: academia, practitioners, and others.

“We want to have a holistic policy that will really help to give you a place in the state and to guide our relationship, as I said, and also to guide the practice of journalism.”

The State Secretary to the Government, Umar Faruk Ibrahim, noted that the development goes way back to the year 2023 because of the transition programme put in place by the then elected government, such that there is a conscious approach to governance.

He said the transition committee recommended that key sectors of society and government should be looked into where there are no policies, and that policies should also be adopted so that they will guide the administration. “Already, policies in the electricity sector, solid minerals, women and economic empowerment, and climate change have been put in place, and they have been approved by the State Executive Council, and they are now being guided.”

He said the Committee is to examine the transition quality document, the national policy, any national policy, and other relevant documents to develop the state policy framework on international media communication. Number two, we are expected to convene a stakeholders’ meeting to discuss the proposal and draft the policy framework.

“Number three, we are to engage relevant government agencies, media practitioners, and civil society organisations in the policy development process. Number four, we are to undertake necessary steps to achieve the said outcomes. This is the mandate, and of course, there is an omnibus—any other thing we consider relevant should be incorporated into the policy, and we are also briefed to co-opt any other person we think would add value to the exercise.”

Kano govt creates committee to regulate media

Suspected bandits reportedly launched coordinated attacks on three rural communities across two local government areas of Kwara State.

They abducted several residents, injured others, and rustled cattle in another attack that has left locals in fear.

The attack, late Wednesday, targeted Iwo Odo-Ore in Isin Local Government Area, as well as Gaa-Idera and Gaa Dembo-Agunjin communities in Ifelodun Local Government Area of the State.

According to Sahara Reporters, the assailants shot at two people in Gaa-Odera, and kidnapped two people.

In Iwo Odo-Ore, at least five residents were reportedly abducted, including one Alhaji Yusuf Yunusa, alongside four Hausa residents.

“Alhaji Yusuf is a well-known politician in that axis and the proprietor of a nursery and primary school located at Oke-Onigbin and also in Lagos State,” the report quoted a source to have said.

The source also disclosed that Yusuf had been preparing for a family event prior to the attack: “Alhaji Yusuf had already planned an Islamic graduation ceremony ‘Walimoh’ for his child in Lagos on Saturday.”

In a separate account, another source explained the extent of the attacks in Ifelodun Local Government Area, where the bandits reportedly abducted six persons in Gaa Dembo-Agunjin and two persons in Gaa-Idera.

Quoting the source, “In Gaa-Agunjin, six people were kidnapped, and in Gaa-Idera, two persons were kidnapped while they were planning a wedding scheduled for today (Thursday). They kidnapped the bride’s mother and one other person, and also rustled cattle during the attack.”

Bandits Attack Kwara Community, Abduct Residents is first published on The Whistler Newspaper

Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court Abuja on Thursday, April 16, 2026 issued a warrant of arrest against a former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Faruoq and a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Bashir Nura Alkali.

Farouq and Alkali are scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday before the court but failed to appear. Only the third defendant, Sani Nafiu Mohammed was present in court. 

The trio are to be arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on a twenty-one count charge bordering on breach of trust, abuse of office, fraudulent award of contract and conversion of public funds of about $1,300,000( One Million, Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars, and N746,574,303( Seven Hundred and Forty Six Million, Five Hundred and Seventy Four Naira, Three Hundred and Three Naira)

Count one of the charge reads: “That you Sadiya Umar Farouq, While being Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, and Bashir Nura Alkali while being the permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, between 8 May 2021 and 22 September 2022, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, and in such capacity entrusted with certain property to wit, an aggregate sum of $1,300,000.00(One Million, Three Hundred Thousand Dollars), committed criminal breach of trust in respect of the said property when you fraudulently converted the said sum to your personal benefit and which sum was meant to be refunded to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development by Visual ICT Limited, being excess funds paid by the Ministry under National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO) for the validation of Rapid Response Register beneficiaries and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 315 of the Penal Code and Punishable under the same Section.”

Prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, informed the court that the charge had been filed since December 15, 2025, but the first and second defendants could not be served.

“We could not arraign them on 15 December, because we could not produce them but their lawyers in court promised that they would produce the defendants but we didn’t see them until your lordship made an order for the state service. The defendants have now been served, my lord, only the third defendant has reported to the Commission when his surety was contacted. The third defendant’s surety is also in court”, he said. 

Rotimi further informed the court the first defendant wrote to the Commission that she was going for a medical check-up in Saudi Arabia in 2024 and her passport was released to her for the medical check-up.

 “My lord, since that passport was released to her, she has not returned the passport to the Commission . We do not have the medical report in Saudi Arabia till date. Only this morning, my friend served me with an affidavit of fact, the learned senior counsel for the first defendant, wherein the deponent claimed that the first defendant took ill, my lord, all the medical reports which my friend attached to the affidavit of facts were issued after the charge had been filed. No medical report was issued or shown to us for the approved journey and the release of her passport”, he said

 Counsel to the first defendant, Abdul Ibrahim, SAN, informed the court that the reason for her absence was ill health. He also prayed the court to accept an affidavit of fact he sought to tender, but the court rejected the application.

 Also, Jacobs informed the court that the EFCC wanted to amend an ex-parte motion filed on February 16, 2026, which sought to limit the application to only the first and second defendants. He further prayed the court to order a warrant of arrest against the first and second defendants.

“We are praying your lordship to order or issue a warrant of arrest or bench warrant against the first and second defendants. It is also supported by an affidavit by one Celeb Peter on April 15, 2026 showing that the first and second defendants were granted bail but failed to report back and that the charge had been filed and served on them but they have failed to appear before the court today. It is imperative therefore for this honourable court to permit the Commission to arrest the first and second defendants so that they can be compelled to appear before the court”, he said.

  The defence counsel, on the other hand, prayed the court to allow him produce the first defendant in court in a period of six weeks

Delivering a ruling on the applications, Justice Onwuegbuzie issued a warrant of arrest against the first and second defendants and adjourned the matter till May 18, 2026 for arraignment and trial.

Omawumi Boma Magbele, popularly known as Omawumi, has shared her perspective on how relationships have changed….

Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has called on the federal government to adopt a private sector-driven agricultural initiative of

The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, on Thursday, commissioned the Institute of Maritime Studies (IMS) Multipurpose Building at the University of Lagos, reaffirming the Federal Government’s commitment to advancing Nigeria’s marine and blue economy through sustained investment in human capital and infrastructure. The facility, donated by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety […]

A faction of the Labour Party led by the Nenadi Usman Caretaker Committee has announced the suspension of members loyal to the Julius Abure led faction.

The Nenadi-led faction, which is recognized by the Supreme Court, posted the names of the 26 suspended party members on its X handle.

According to the post, the National Executive Council of the faction approved the suspension.

Recall that the Supreme Court, April 4, 2025, sacked Julius Abure as the national chairperson of the party.

SEE FULL LIST

1. Eneyi G. Zidougha,
2. Hilda Doukubo,
3. Lincolin Charles,
4. Muhammed Sabitu Aliyu,
5. Ogar Osim,
6. Vincent Okwuokei,
7. Casmir Agbo Uchenna,
8. Simon Zubairu Bamga,
9. Abduljamid Sa’ad Suleiman,
10. Emmanuel Agida,
11. Auwala Ahmed,
12. Ularama Jubrila,
13. Grace Zafara Posat,
14. Suleiman Abdurahman Abdul,
15. Ajibade Adekunle Samson,
16. Alexander Emmanuel Ombugu,
17. Elizabeth Ativie,
18. Godwin Jioke,
19. Airen Igbinedion,
20. Osas Frank,
21. Kennedy Ahanotu,
22 Dr. Ayo Olurunfemi,
23. Abayomi Arabambi,
24. Umar Faruk Ibrahim,
25. Auwal Tafoki, and
26. Obiora Ifoh.

Court recognized LP faction suspends 26 top members [FULL LIST]