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Tinubu reinforces Kano security as gov plans drone deployment

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Kano State Government has intensified coordinated security operations across vulnerable communities amid renewed efforts to curb banditry and restore peace, with President Bola Tinubu ordering the deployment of a specialised security team to the state.

As part of intensified measures, Governor Abba Yusuf announced plans to acquire drones and additional logistics to strengthen surveillance and rapid-response operations in border communities vulnerable to attacks.

The development was contained in separate statements issued on Tuesday and Wednesday and signed by the governor’s spokesperson, Sunusi Dawakin-Tofa.

According to the statements, the governor disclosed that he had visited the President to brief him on the escalating security situation affecting parts of Kano, particularly the Kano–Katsina border corridor.

Yusuf said, “I briefed President Bola Tinubu on the escalating security situation in our state, and he immediately understood the severity of the threat and ordered the deployment of a specialised security team to Kano to reinforce ongoing operations.”

The governor explained that arrangements were underway to enhance mobility, strengthen logistics and provide additional operational support required by security agencies to confront bandit activities.

He reiterated his administration’s commitment to ensuring that every community in the state enjoyed full government protection.

Speaking during the assessment tour of the Joint Task Force bases in Tsanyawa and Shanono local government areas, the governor announced plans to acquire drones and additional logistics to strengthen surveillance and rapid-response operations in border communities vulnerable to attacks.

The visit followed months of growing insecurity along the Kano–Katsina border, where repeated incursions by armed groups have led to abductions, killings and heightened fear among residents.

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The governor appealed to residents to support security operatives with actionable intelligence, describing community-based intelligence as one of the most reliable tools for identifying threats and preventing attacks.

Yusuf charged the JTF to intensify efforts toward securing the release of kidnapped residents from Tsanyawa and Shanono.

“We are aware that they have been attacking innocent communities, especially here in Tsanyawa and Shanono local government areas. Many innocent lives were taken away, and many innocent people were also sent to the bush.

“I assured you that by God’s grace, those who were kidnapped will be brought back to their families,” he said.

He further assured security personnel of welfare and operational support, emphasising that the administration remained committed to restoring stability.

“This type of insecurity in Kano State is something new; it is something alien that has just been observed in the state, and the government is doing its best to address the situation with the cooperation of security agencies,” he added.

On Tuesday, the governor paid a condolence visit to the family of the late Zahra Allalai, the woman killed during the bandits’ attack on Kamaye village in Tsanyawa Local Government Area. Describing her death as “a painful loss to her family, community, and to the entire state,” he prayed for Allah to grant her eternal rest.

After the visit, the governor met troops at Forward Operating Bases across Shanono and Tsanyawa, where the Commander of 3 Brigade, Brig Gen A.M. Tukur, briefed him on recent encounters, including the November 1 ambush that claimed the lives of two soldiers and a vigilante and resulted in the destruction of two military gun trucks.

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Brig Gen Tukur noted that although the armed groups had shifted deeper into border communities, troops remained fully committed to protecting residents and clearing the area of criminal elements.

The governor described the situation as alarming, stating that the infiltration by armed groups was “widening day by day.”

He added that after briefing President Tinubu, the President directed the Chief of Army Staff to send reinforcements with additional personnel and equipment.

“We will support you in whichever way necessary to neutralise this cancer,” the governor assured the troops.

Addressing residents of Tsanyawa, Yusuf pledged that the government would not relent until all abducted victims were safely reunited with their families.

“These security challenges are new to Kano. But by Allah’s grace, we will do whatever it takes to defeat the bandits,” he said.

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Three bodies recovered, five rescued as bus plunges into Oyo river

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The Oyo State Fire Services Agency has recovered three bodies and rescued five persons after a commercial bus plunged into the Ariyo River along Amunloko Road in Ona-Ara Local Government Area of the state on Wednesday.

The incident was confirmed in a statement issued on Thursday in Ibadan, the state capital, by the Special Adviser to Governor Seyi Makinde on Fire Services and Chairman of the agency, Moroof Akinwande.

Akinwande said the agency received a distress call at about 3:38 pm through a resident, Fadeke Yusuf, reporting that a vehicle had fallen into the river in the area.

According to him, firefighters were immediately deployed to the scene to carry out rescue operations.

He explained that upon arrival, the rescue team discovered that a Suzuki commercial bus with number plate OSUN LEW 484 XA, carrying eight passengers, had lost control and plunged into the river.

Five occupants were rescued alive and rushed to Ona-Ara Private Hospital in the Jegede area for treatment, while three others were recovered dead.

The remains of the deceased were handed over to a team of policemen from the Ogbere Divisional Headquarters led by ASP Aishat Ibrahim.

Akinwande attributed the accident to reckless driving.

He added that officials of the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Authority from the Ona-Ara Division and the Chairman of Ona-Ara Local Government, Glorious Temitope, were present during the rescue operation.

The fire service boss urged motorists to drive with caution and adhere strictly to road safety rules to prevent avoidable accidents.

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UN urges stronger action to end violence against women, girls

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UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, has warned that violence against women and girls continues to be fuelled by war, militarisation and entrenched inequality, urging governments to move beyond condemnation and take decisive action.

Speaking at a high-level meeting marking five years of the UN Group of Friends for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, she said conflicts around the world are exposing women and girls to severe and lasting harm.

The UN deputy chief spoke on the sidelines of the ongoing 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday.

CSW is the United Nations’ principal global body dedicated to promoting gender equality and the rights and empowerment of women.

Established in 1946 by the UN Economic and Social Council, the Commission plays a central role in setting global standards on women’s rights and reviewing progress on gender equality

According to the UN, more than 4,500 cases of conflict-related sexual violence were verified in 2024, although the true number is likely far higher due to stigma, fear and collapsed reporting systems.

The deputy secretary-general pointed to alarming patterns in several crises. In Sudan, UN experts have reported widespread sexual violence and attacks on women human rights defenders.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a child has been reported raped every half hour, while in Haiti, sexual violence against children surged dramatically in recent years.

Mohammed stressed that women must be central to peace processes and political decision-making, warning that lasting peace cannot be achieved while women and girls remain excluded and unprotected.

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In a related development, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said he was appalled by the devastating impact on civilians of increasing drone attacks in Sudan, amid reports that more than 200 civilians have been killed by drones since March 4 alone, in the Kordofan region and White Nile state.

“It is deeply troubling that despite multiple reminders, warnings and appeals, parties to the conflict continue to use increasingly powerful drones to deploy explosive weapons with wide-area impacts in populated areas,”  the High Commissioner said.

He renewed his call for both sides in the brutal civil conflict between rival militaries to fully abide by international law, “particularly the clear prohibition on directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects and infrastructure, and against any form of indiscriminate attacks.”

In West Kordofan, at least 152 civilians have reportedly been killed by Sudanese army drone strikes, including at least 50 when a market and a hospital were hit.

Attacks on two separate markets in Abu Zabad and Wad Banda on  March 7 left at least 40 civilians dead, and a lorry carrying civilians was struck allegedly by a SAF drone on 10 March, reportedly killing at least 50 civilians.

In South Kordofan, at least 39 civilians were reportedly killed, including 14 in the state capital Dilling, in heavy artillery shelling by the Rapid Support Forces and allied SPLM-North between 4 and 5 March.

Many homes, schools, markets and health facilities were damaged or destroyed in the attacks, compounding the impacts on civilians and local communities.

The High Commissioner also expressed alarm at the recent expansion of the conflict to White Nile state, which has come under heavy attack by RSF militia drone strikes since 4 March. A secondary school and a health clinic in Shukeiri village were hit on 11 March, reportedly killing at least 17 civilians, one of them a health worker.

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“It will soon be three full years since the senseless conflict in Sudan began, devastating millions of lives and livelihoods. Yet the violence, fueled by these new technologies of war, simply keeps spreading,” Türk said.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which opens on Monday, will end on March 19.

Representatives of Member States,  UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organisations from all regions of the world, including Nigeria, are attending the session.

The priority theme of the session will be ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices, and addressing structural barriers.

NAN

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Trump says Iran’s new supreme leader alive but ‘damaged’

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President Donald Trump said that he thinks new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whose father, the former supreme leader, was killed ​on the first day of the US and Israel’s war on Iran, is alive but “damaged.”

Khamenei has not been seen ⁠by Iranians since his selection on Sunday by a clerical ​assembly, and his first comments were read out by a television ​presenter on Thursday.

“I think he probably is (alive). I ​think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, ‌you ⁠know,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Brian Kilmeade Show.”

His remarks were published by Fox News late on Thursday.

In Khamenei’s first comments, he vowed to keep the Strait of ​Hormuz shut and ​called on ⁠neighboring countries to close US bases on their territory or risk Iran targeting them.

The US and ​Israel began attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. ​

Iran ⁠has responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf countries with US bases.

As the war approached the two-week mark, having ⁠killed thousands ​and shaken financial markets, the leaders ​of Iran, Israel and the United States all voiced defiance and have vowed to ​fight on.

Reuters/NAN

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