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Governor panics as Boko Haram takes another town Insurgents rename Gwoza Darul Hikma (House of wisdom)
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NOTHER town has fallen to Boko Haram, a governor said yesterday. Adamawa State Governor Bala Ngilari was at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where he painted a gory picture of the sect’s attacks in his state and the accompanying humanitarian crisis. The sect, whose men stole lorry loads of dynamites from Ashaka Cement Factory in Gombe State on Tuesday, ostensibly for explosives, has renamed Borno State town Gwoza Darul Hikma (house of wisdom), according to resi-
16 arrested men ‘found dead with bullet wounds’
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Mubi Senatorial District. Five local governments have been overrun; Gombi and I just got a report, perhaps the outskirts of Shanli. There is a semblance of movement in that area. Real-
IXTEEN men who were arrested by soldiers in Potiskum, Yobe State have been found dead just hours later with bullet wounds, community leaders said yesterday, demanding an inquiry. Troops rounded up 17 people, including an imam, from Dogo Tebo in the city as they left a mosque after morning prayers on Wednesday. Residents and hospital staff said the bodies of all but the imam were later found in the morgue at the Potiskum General Hospital. “All the bodies have gunshot wounds on them,” said
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From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja
dents. Adamawa town Mubi, also under Boko Haram’s control, had earlier been renamed Madinatul Islam (City of Islam). All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant Atiku Abubakar on Monday said the sect controls 16 local government in the Northeast. He listed them as two in Yobe State, five in Adamawa State and nine in Borno State. “Can you imagine that a country like Nigeria with one of the best armed forces cannot recover one single territory from these terrorists,” Atiku lamented.
Voter cards: Lagos demands exercise in all local govts
•Towns controlled by Boko Haram in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states
Ngilari said after a meeting of the power sector apprenticeship scheme at the Aso Villa: “The security situation in Adamawa is very dicey right now and we are only trying to do our best to manage
it. We are praying that it will improve, but it is really something to worry about.” On how many towns have been overrun by the insurgents, he said: “I can talk of my entire senatorial district,
CHILDREN OF WAR
By Tajudeen Adebanjo
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AGOSIANS yesterday threatened to boycott the collection of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) billed to hold between today and Sunday — unless the distribution is done in all the 20 Electoral Constituencies. In a unanimous agreement at the LTV Blue Roof Multipurpose Hall venue of a Voters Advocacy Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the State Government, the people also demanded a fair treatment from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). They wanted answers to how over 1.4 million names of registered voters disappeared from the register. INEC said it gave out 4.8 million cards. In an overwhelming voice vote during the session after Governor Babatunde Fashola’s speech, Lagosians wondered why INEC said it was only ready for distribution of the cards in 11 electoral constituencies; WHEN WILL THE others quoted the ComCHIBOK GIRLS mission as saying that it KIDNAPPED ON was ready for 10 or nine of APRIL 15 BE
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FREED?
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•Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs’) children queue for enrolment into primary school at Damare camp in Yola, Adamawa State…yesterday. PHOTO: NAN
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