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Thugs suspected to be loyal to the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State on Tuesday beat up witnesses who testified for the All Progressives Congress before the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal. The tribunal is hearing a petition filed by the APC senatorial candidate for Ekiti Central, Gbenga Olofin, against the return of Senator Fatimat Rasaki of the PDP. Olofin on Tuesday closed his case at the tribunal after calling eight witnesses while his opponent, Rasaki, opened her defence by being the first witness to testify in support of her election. The Tribunal Chairman, Justice A. N. Erabor, admitted the voter register in evidence after listening to a counter-argument between the petitioner’s counsel, Yemi George; and respondent’s lawyer, Jude Ogodi. But the hoodlums, who had waited outside the courtroom during proceedings, unleashed terror on the petitioner’s witnesses and supporters as they came out of the courtroom. The thugs also laid ambush at the ...

The Head of the Countering Violent Extremism Department in the Office of the National Security Adviser, Dr. Fatima Akilu, told President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday that no fewer than 22 women and girls recruited as suicide bombers by members of the Boko Haram sect are now undergoing rehabilitation under the programme. She said the female trained as suicide bombers by the sect were being rehabilitated after voluntarily embracing the agency’s de-radicalisation programme. A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, quoted Akilu as speaking during a meeting she had with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to brief him of the department’s activities. One of the objectives of the CVE is to reform terrorists and prevent others from joining terrorist organisations and violent sects. Akilu told the President that the programme’s non-military approach was running concurrently with the armed onslaught against insurgents in ...

No fewer than 113 people died on Tuesday after an Indonesian air force C-130 plane crashed into a building in city of Medan, on the northern island of Sumatra. Twelve crew members and 101 passengers, comprising military personnel and their relatives, were reportedly on board of the aircraft. No sooner than the plane took off from an air force base in neighbourhood when it lost control, crashed on the buildings and went up in flames. The plane was said to be heading for Tanjung Pinang in Sumatra. The military spokesman, Fuad Basya, told Al Jazeera that the plane took off at around midday local time from an air force base carrying military equipment and crashed in the city about two minutes later, about 5 kilometres from the base. Police chief of Medan city, Mardiaz Dwihananto, said several bodies had been recovered from the wreckage, noting that the evacuation was still on.   “The bodies were in [the] debris of the plane and buildings… We are taking the bodies on...

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State says the Nigerian Navy, like other stakeholders, should be part of the efforts to rid the state of crime. The governor, according to a statement on Tuesday, spoke during a courtesy visit to the Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Usman Jibrin, at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja. Ambode stated that the call became imperative due to the spate of robbery attacks in Lagos State, which started a week into his administration. The governor added that the need for the full involvement of the navy in the fight against crime informed his audience with the Chief of Naval Staff. He said, “Lagos State is the commercial hub of the country. The state is therefore strategic and cannot be allowed to become a breeding ground for criminals.” The governor recalled that some robbers struck at two different banks in the Ikorodu area of the state last Wednesday and carted away undisclosed amount of money before fleeing via the waterways. “My administra...