Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have opened fire on two commercial buses and abducted scores of the passengers near Ochonyi village, along the Abuja-Lokoja highway. One of the passengers of the buses, who escaped while being led into the bush, Shedrack Jonathan, said he boarded the bus at Jabi in Abuja, travelling to Enugu, and that they ran into the gunmen. He said the incident happened around 7:33pm after Omoko village, last Thursday, while descending a sloppy part of the road, adding that they started hearing gunshots and the bus suddenly veered off the road into the bush. He added…

At least nine worshippers have been reported killed in an attack by suspected terrorists in the Saya-Saya community in Ikara Local Government of Kaduna state. The member representing Ikara local government at the state’s House of Assembly, Alhassan Muhammed, reported that the assailants attacked two communities. “The sad incident happened on Friday after Insha’i prayer, the gunmen invaded the Saya-Saya town on a motorcycle with sophisticated weapons. “They started shooting inside and outside the mosque during the night prayer, killing seven people inside the mosque and two others in the neighbourhood. “The Kaduna State government, the local government councils and…

Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), on Sunday, says the country lost an average of $7.2 million monthly from illegal oil connections. The oil firm disclosed this following the discovery of an illegal connection in Owaza community, Abia state. The illegal connection was discovered on Saturday, by the oil theft situation assessment delegation deployed in the Niger Delta by the federal government. The team was also said to have visited the Trans-Niger Pipeline Right of Way in Owaza, Abia, where an array of dismantled illegal connections were observed. The delegation was led by Muhammed Badaru, minister of defence. Some of…

At least 12 people have been kidnapped in two separate incidents in northern Nigeria, officials and witnesses said on Saturday. In the first incident, unidentified assailants kidnapped four people late on Friday. Those taken included the village head of Nasarawa-Burkullu community in northwestern Zamfara state, local official Muhammad Bukuyum said on Saturday. Bukuyum said the other victims were three local farmers, and that the assailants had demanded a ransom, without giving further details. In a separate incident, Boko Haram militants abducted eight farmers on Saturday in Maiwa village, about three kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of northeastern Borno state. Mohammed…