NEWS
How I killed Sheikh Goni in Yobe, flee with his car – Soldiers
By Funmilayo Olusanya
…Buhari calls for severe punishment of the culprit
Lance Corporal John Gabriel of 241 Recce Battalion, Nguru, Yobe State, on Tuesday described how he killed Sheikh Aisami Goni and stole his car.
When Adamu Gideon and Gabriel were paraded at the State Police Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters in Damaturu, Gabriel confessed to the crime.
The only thing on Lance Corporal Gabriel’s mind when he woke up on Friday morning and headed to a checkpoint with his rifle was to “arrange any vehicle that I see and take it from the owner”.
He said: “When I saw this Honda coming. I stopped the car and asked the owner where he was coming from and where he was going. He said he was coming from Kano and going to his hometown in Gashua. I asked him if he could give me a lift to Jajimaji. He said no problem. We reached our first checkpoint in Dongon Kukar. When he saw soldiers collecting money from drivers, he asked me why. I told him that I didn’t know because it’s not every soldier that collects money from checkpoints. My mission was to collect his car and leave.
“I was not in uniform but the car owner knew I was a soldier because I introduced myself to him before I joined him in his vehicle.
“As we were approaching Jajimaji about five to six kilometres I told him that I was hearing a sound under his car. He parked and went to check. I also came down from the vehicle. He check but he did not see anything.
“It was a ploy to make him come down from the vehicle. As he was checking, I removed my rifle and fixed my magazine. I asked whether he has checked the back tyre. As he was trying to move and check the back tyre, I pointed my rifle at him. He asked, what have I done, what have I done. I said you didn’t do not do anything. He asked again, do you want to kill me. I said I don’t want to kill you.
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“I now fired a warning shot, thinking that it would scare him to run away but he did not run away. When he wanted to run into the vehicle, I fired the second shot. When he ran to the side of the driver, I fired on the body of the car and one of the bullets penetrated the vehicle and killed him. I dragged his body off the main road into the bush.
“I have never done this before.
“On that fateful day, I really don’t know what came over me. I was off duty. I don’t really know what happened.
“I am owing my wife N250,000 but that is not the reason I went out to do this.
“I regret killing the man.”
However, President Muhammadu Buhari urged the military to punish the soldiers who are believed to have slain the sheikh as soon as possible.
The President said in a statement released by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Mallam Garba Shehu that; “this barbaric murder of a compassionate man by a soldier he had assisted has no place in our training as soldiers, and it negates the entire ethos of military life, which is anchored on discipline and respect for the sanctity of innocent lives.
“As the Commander-in- Chief, I am personally outraged by this criminal and wicked act by a law enforcement official trained to protect life.
“Of course, the action of this soldier is an isolated incident involving an individual, but it is capable of staining the collective image of our military.”
“I call on the military authorities to punish the perpetrators of this heinous crime without delay, and flush out other elements with such criminal tendencies.”
He expressed his condolences to the Yobe State government, the residents, and the relatives of the deceased.
In what political watchers perceive as part of efforts to discomfit and scatter the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the feeling that its National Working Committee (NWC) antagonises him, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has revoked the rights to occupy the land on which the party’s national secretariat, Abuja is sited.
Biztelers reports that Wike’s revocation notice was conveyed in a letter released in Abuja on Tuesday, dated March 13, 2025.
The letter was titled, “Notice of right of occupancy with file no: MISC 81346 in respect of plot no: 243 within central area district, Abuja.”
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The letter was signed by the Director, Land Administration (FTC), Chijioke Nwankwoeze.
Wike, it was gathered predicated his action on the PDP’s failure to pay the annual ground rents due on the property for twenty (20) years, from January 1, 2006, to January 1, 2025.
The negligence on the part of the opposition party, the letter claimed was despite many publications in several national dailies and electronic media to pay up every outstanding bill and ground rent on its property.
The letter read, “I have been directed to refer to the above Right of Occupancy granted to PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP), NATIONAL SECRETARIAT and inform you that the Minister of Federal Capital Territory has in the exercise of powers conferred on him under the Land Use Act No. 6 of 1978, Cap. L5, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, revoked your rights, interests and privileges over Plot No. 243 within Central Area, Cadastral Zone A00, Abuja.
“The revocation is in view of your continued contravention of the terms and conditions of grant of the Right of Occupancy by failing to pay the annual ground rents due on the property for twenty (20) years, from Ist of January 2006 to 1st of January 2025. This is despite the many publications made by the FCT Administration since 2023 in several national dailies and on electronic media requesting all allottees of plots in the Federal Capital Territory to pay up every outstanding bill and ground rent on their property.
“You would please note that the said breaches by PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP), NATIONAL SECRETARIAT (MISC 81346) run contrary to the provisions of Section 28, Subsection 5 (a) and (b) of the Land Use Act.”
There are palpable fears that the PDP’s national secretariat might be demolished or vandalised, sooner than later because Wike added that the FCTA administration would take immediate possession of the party secretariat until all bills are settled.
A massive explosion has rocked the Trans-Niger Pipeline at Bodo, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, sending plumes of fire and smoke into the sky.
The incident, which occurred on Monday night, has left a section of the major crude oil transport pipeline in flames, though the exact cause of the explosion remains unknown.
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Authorities have yet to determine whether the explosion was due to sabotage, equipment failure, or other factors.
However, concerns have been raised over possible human interference, particularly in light of recent threats by militant groups to attack oil infrastructure.
The threats were issued as a response to the Federal Government’s decision to withhold Rivers State’s allocation amid the ongoing political crisis in the region.
More to follow………
With the commencement of the rainy season, the Osun State Government has issued modalities for the operations of tractors across farmlands in Osun State.
The state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon Tola Faseru, according to a government house statement on Monday in Osogbo, confirmed the development.
Faseru said interested farmers should reach out to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry or the General Manager of Osun State Agricultural Development Corporation (OSSADEC) through virtual or physical applications.
He noted that the government was subsidizing the operational rate per acre to lower the cost of farm operations, explaining further that the tractors will be domiciled at the OSSADEC farm centre located across the state.
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Faseru pointed out that some of the tractors were already in operation in some farmlands, and noted that the ministry was working to set up technical centres at designated locations for maintenance of the tractors.
He narrated further that tractor drivers are being assembled, trained and retrained for seamless operation even as he explained that the administration adopted a public private partnership approach for the management of the tractors.
“We are happy to inform the public that the tractors are out for the rainy season. We are conscious of the question of sustainability, hence the careful approach to inject private sector practices.
“In 14 or so years, this is the first time Osun is having new fleet of tractors. We have learnt from what caused the failure of the past efforts. We won’t repeat the same mistakes.
“We know we are not there yet. But Governor Adeleke has blazed the trail by procuring the first set of tractors. We innovated also because of ongoing issues at the local government level.
“We don’t want it to be managed in unsustainable manner. Hence, Mr Governor insisted the tractors be managed like a business although with public subsidy”, the Commissioner posited.
He stated that the ministry is reaching out to stakeholders among the farming community to ensure accelerated access for users within the state.
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