President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday charged service chiefs and heads of other security agencies, to go after the terrorists and bandits harassing Nigerians, especially on the highways. He said this during a national security meeting with the service chiefs at the Presidential villa in Abuja on Thursday. Mr. President said security operatives will not rest until Nigerians are at peace. He also ordered security agencies to intensify surveillance and patrol activities along the Abuja-Kaduna Road. Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, while briefing State House correspondents after the meeting said the President expressed happiness over the free and fair gubernatorial election held in Anambra State, which saw the emergence of the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Charles Soludo, as governor-elect and the roles played by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In the last week, the media space was awash with the controversial leaked report on a purported Lekki Tollgate massacre. The Federal government yesterday made its position clear concerning the report where it described it as “Triumph of fake News” as the judicial Panel of Investigation on police brutality submitted their report to the Lagos State Government.

The Economy Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Commission has said terrorism in West Africa is caused by weak governance, poverty, youth unemployment and human rights abuses. The Commission also disclosed that Boko Haram attacks in the Lake Chad Basin alone in the last 10 years have led to more than 30,000 deaths, with terrorism displacing over three million people in the region. The Vice President of the commission Ms. Finda Koroma noted that the only successful way to fight terrorism within the region is to attack its root causes. Koroma said this at the inauguration of the Early Warning Study on the Spillover of Violent Extremism to ECOWAS Coastal Member States, in Abuja on Monday. ”The ECOWAS Commission understands that, it would be illusionary to fight against terrorism without attacking its root causes, such as bad or in some cases, weak governance, poverty, youth unemployment and human rights abuses.

Militants in the Niger Delta region under the aegis of Bayan-Men have blown up an oil facility operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, (NAOC) in Ogba-Egbema-Andoni Local Government Area, Rivers State. The angry militants, who destroyed oil well, OB5, (Obiavu-5) in the area, accused the oil firm of failing to deal directly with the host communities insisting that they were fighting for justice for their people. The Commander of the Bayan-Men said the company refused to allow the people to benefit from their operations in the area, adding that the firm was neck-deep in divide and rule.

Security forces have rescued no fewer than 544 abducted persons in the last two months in the state. Among those rescued were women, children, the aged, two students of Federal Government College Birnin Yauri in Kebbi, 18 students of College of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Bakura and 75 students of Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in Maradum LGA.

There was wide jubilation in Damboa LGA in Borno state this morning when the Nigeria security forces dealt with the Boko haram insurgents in an early-hours shootout today. According to the report, the insurgents storm the Damboa town in the early morning hours about 6:35 am shooting sporadically into the air from all directions throwing people into panic for safety. However, in a swift response, the security forces engaged them in a shootout that lasted for nearly an hour forcing the insurgents into retreat.