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Who Is Major General Farouk Yahaya? Nigeria’s Latest COAS

Following the death of Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed his replacement, Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, who would take over as the country’s new chief of army staff.

The former Chief of Army Staff died in an air crash on Friday, May 21, 2021, while on his way to Kaduna where he was billed to attend the passing out parade of army recruits. He died alongside ten other army officers a list which included three brigadier generals.

As the nation comes to terms with the tragic death, the acting Director of Defence Information, Onyema Nwachukwu, announced the appointment of a new COAS yesterday, Thursday, May 27, 2021, in a statement.

According to the Nigerian Army website, the new Chief of Army Staff, Major General Farouk Yahaya was born on 5 January 1966 in Sifawa, Bodinga Local Government Area of Sokoto state.

He is a member of the 37 Regular Course of the prestigious Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), and started his cadet training on 27 September 1985 and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps on 22 September 1990.

Before his recent appointment as the country’s new Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya was the Theatre Commander Operation HADIN KAI, responsible for Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency operations in North East Nigeria.

Major General Farouk Yahaya is happily married and blessed with children and is also the proud holder of several honors and awards, some of which include:

  • Command Medal
  • Forces Service Star
  • Grand Service Star
  • Silver Jubilee Medal
  • Golden Jubilee Medal
  • Field Command Medal
  • Meritorious Service Star
  • General Operations Medal
  • Distinguished Service Star
  • Passed staff course (Dagger)
  • National DefenceCourse (Chile)
  • Economic Community of West Africa State Monitoring Group Medal

Meanwhile, the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai has congratulated Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya on his appointment.

The governor said he is excited about the appointment since the Major General is someone he has worked closely with when the latter served as General Officer Commanding, 1 Division Nigerian Army, Kaduna covering Kaduna, Niger, Kano, and Jigawa States.

He also added that he believes the incoming COAS will succeed in areas where his predecessors encountered brick walls and do his part in ensuring a secured nation.

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Gov Otti’s govt declares free education in Abia State

In a major policy shift, Abia State led by Governor Alex Otti has announced free and compulsory education for all children from primary to junior secondary levels, effective from January 2025

The Abia State Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, unveiled the new initiative following a State Executive Council meeting.

Kanu highlighted the government’s commitment to improving educational access and quality for young Abians.

“Education is free in Abia State up to the end of Junior Secondary School,” Kanu stated. “There is no reason whatsoever why parents will not send their children to school.”

He emphasized that, under the Abia State Child’s Rights Law 2006, parents and guardians who fail to comply with the enrolment mandate will face legal action.

The policy applies to all children residing in Abia, irrespective of their state of origin.

“In line with the Abia State Child’s Rights Law, it will now be an offence for parents not to send their children and wards to school in Abia State,” Kanu added

The state government aims to foster educational inclusivity and strengthen its academic infrastructure, aligning with Gov Otti’s early declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector.

Alongside this education policy, the government has also announced the rehabilitation of nine additional roads across the state.

The details of these road projects will be disclosed later, as part of the administration’s broader agenda for infrastructural development.

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Lakurawa: All You Need To Know About ‘new’ terror group In Northern Nigeria

In 2017, local leaders in Sokoto State’s Gudu and Tangaza LGAs initially invited the Lakurawa group to address the growing threats from bandits from Zamfara State.

Nigerian military called them a relatively new terror group that infiltrated Sokoto and Kebbi states through the Niger Republic following the coup in Nigeria’s neighbor. Still, findings reveal that they had been active even before last year’s coup in Niger.

Last Thursday, the Nigerian Defence Headquarters described Lakurawa as a new terror group exacerbating insecurity in the North-west region.

“Troops are confronted with a new terrorist sect in the North-west,” Edward Buba, a military spokesperson said during a press conference. “This sect is known as Lukawaras, the Lukawaras are affiliated to terrorists in the Sahel, particularly from Mali and Niger Republic.”

Mr Buba, a major general, also claimed that the Lakurawas emerged from Mali and the Republic of Niger after last year’s coup in Niger led to the breakdown of military cooperation between the country and Nigeria.

Lakurawa Is Linked With al-Qaeda Terrorists

Since the military declared Lakurawa as a new terror group, there have been a lot of narratives about the group on social media as seen here and here. One narrative linked them to the Islamic State in the Greater Sahel (ISGS), but research published a few years ago counters that.

As explained in a 2022 study conducted by Murtala Rufa’i, James Barnett, and Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, the Lakurawa militants rejected the Boko Haram label and preferred to be called Mujahideen or Ansaru, the franchise of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Nigeria.

Like Lakurawa, the Ansaru terror group promises to protect locals in its strongholds. The group mainly targets military formations, although it also targets civilians who it considers spies or infidels. Ansaru terrorists, who could have the same ideology as Lakurawa, are believed to be present in parts of Kaduna, especially Birnin Gwari. This shows that jihadis are trying to penetrate the banditry-ravaged North-west

Lakurawa Is Not New, Started As A Group Of Mercenaries

According to a 2021 study by Mr Rufa’i, a historian with expertise in regional terrorism, the Lakurawa group was initially invited by local leaders in Gudu and Tangaza LGAs of Sokoto State in 2017 to address the growing threats by bandits from Zamfara State.

The “Zamfarawa bandits crossed from their strongholds in Zamfara to attack locals in Jina-Jini, Wassaniya, Tabaringa, Mulawa in Tangaza and Gudu LGAs. The bandits also terrorized eastern Sokoto communities in Isa, Sabon Birni, Rabah, Goronyo, and Illela LGAs,” Mr Rufa’i noted, adding: “The Islamic sect [Lakurawa] started with less than 50 indigenous youth in 2017, but this number has since increased to over 200, mainly young boys between the ages of 18–35.”

The Lakurawas, according to a traditional ruler in Balle, a village in Gudu LGA, are Malians who speak Arabic and Fulfulde languages. “They were invited to provide security to our communities,” the traditional ruler told Mr Ruf’ai in an interview in 2021.

“The District Head of Balle in Gudu Local Government together with the District Head of Gongono in Tangaza Local Government met with Alhaji Bello Wamakko, the then Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), and discussed how to tackle Zamfarawa (Bandits). They finally decided to hire Lakurawa from Mali to deal with Zamfarawa bandits. This was the first effort,” the traditional ruler had said, adding that he warned the then-Governor Aliyu Wamakko about the invitation of the Lakurawas.

When the media first reported the infiltration of armed Lakurawa in 2018, the police debunked the news, saying they were non-violent herders who “came to the area largely owing to availability of water for their animals.”

Cordelia Nwawe, the then-police spokesperson in Sokoto State, explained that the Malian group was sighted around Marake forest in Gudu LGA and Wassaniya, Tunigara, Mulawa, Jina-Jini villages in Tangaza LGA.

Lakurawa became violent when its members killed the district head of Tangaza, one of the traditional rulers who invited them. According to Mr Rufa’i, the group accused Mr Muktar, the district head’s son, of having N63 million in his custody. The Lakurawas made this claim after Mr Muktar died in a fire accident.

The group later killed the district head in his palace after the traditional ruler disputed their claim.

Before this, the group had been preaching its ideology to locals, collecting “Zakat” of livestock from herders, Bashiru Tagimba, a youth leader in Tagimba village told Mr. Rufa’i.

“They check people’s phones and break the memory cards that contain music,” Mr Tagimba said, adding that the group also flogged people who played or danced to music.

Wanton attacks on military formations in border towns by the Lakurawas propelled the Nigerian and Nigerien militaries to join forces, conducting a joint operation in late 2018, Messrs Rufa’i, Barnett and Abdulaziz stated in their study.

According to them, the joint operation checked the activities of the Lakurawas, but some locals still reported that they saw them in the area. This suggests that the terrorists only stopped attacking military targets.

Traditional and religious leaders who initially supported the Lakurawa terrorists later turned against them when the group’s actions deviated from the original purpose of their invitation

The Nigerian authorities’ failure to address the Lakurawa threat allowed the group to re-emerge in 2021. This time, it aligned with bandits and Fulani communities against the outlawed Yan Sakai vigilante group.

The coup in Niger and the collapsed joint military operations of Nigerian and Nigerien forces appear to have further emboldened the terror group.

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Donald Trump Wins US Presidential Elections, defeats Kamala Harris

Donald Trump has won the US presidential election after securing the over 270 Electoral College (EC) votes required to emerge victorious.

As of this report, Trump has secured 279 EC votes, while his main challenger, incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris, has secured 223 votes.

Mr Trump is also ahead in the popular vote count, securing over 71 million votes to Mrs Harris’s over 66 million.

This election is the first since 2004 in which a Republican presidential candidate will secure more popular votes than a Democratic Party candidate, indicating Mr Trump’s solid performance and Mrs Harris’s sub-par performance.

“America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Mr Trump told a jubilant crowd in Florida Wednesday morning.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Mr Trump had already won in four of the seven crucial Swing states – North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – and was ahead in the remaining three – Michigan, Nevada, and Arizona – BBC reports.

Apart from winning the presidential election, the Republican Party also took control of the US Senate for the first time in four years and maintained its hold of the House.

Several world leaders, including Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, have congratulated Mr Trump on his victory.

According to President Tinubu, Mr Trump’s victory reflects the trust and confidence the American people have placed in his leadership, the president’s spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, wrote in a statement.

President Tinubu believes that, given President Trump’s experience as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, his return to the White House as the 47th president will usher in an era of earnest, beneficial, and reciprocal economic and development partnerships between Africa and the United States, he added.

“Together, we can foster economic cooperation, promote peace, and address global challenges that affect our citizens,” the Nigerian leader was quoted as saying.

Many other leaders posted their congratulatory messages on X, the social media platform whose owner, Elon Musk, was one of the main campaigners for Mr Trump.

“Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine, with respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X.

“For a long time, Germany and the U.S. have been working together successfully promoting prosperity and freedom on both sides of the Atlantic,” wrote German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on X. “We will continue to do so for the wellbeing of our citizens.”

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