Police Rescue Soldiers Kidnapped By Boko Haram

Two soldiers kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents along Auno road in Borno state have been rescued by policemen.

PR Nigeria which cited a security situation report, said some soldiers who were on patrol suffered an attack by Boko Haram terrorists on Monday July 13.

The insurgents who allegedly killed two soldiers in the attack abducted others and also went away with their gun trucks.

However after a gun battle with the Counter-Terrorism unit of the Nigeria police, two soldiers were rescued and one gun-truck and rifles were recovered.

The report read;

“At 14.30 hrs of July 13, 20120, an army patrol team was attacked by Boko Haram along Auno road and killed two soldiers and kidnapped others while carting away two of the military’s gun trucks, AK 47Rifles and unspecified numbers of ammunition.

“Counter-Terrorism unit of the Nigeria police on pin down point (operation), at the area went after the terrorists. After a gun battle recovered one gun-truck, rifles and rescued two soldiers alive.

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Nigeria Loses First Female Combat Helicopter Pilot

Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot, Tolulope Arotile, has passed away.

Arotile died at the age of 23 after sustaining head injuries from a road traffic accident at the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Base in Kaduna.

She died less than a year after she was decorated as the first female combatant helicopter pilot.

Confirming the news, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, said the flight officer died on Tuesday.

He described Arotile’s death as an “irreparable loss”.

He said,

“It is with great sorrow that the Nigerian Air Force regretfully announces the unfortunate demise of Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, who died today (Tuesday), 14 July 2020, as a result of head injuries sustained from a road traffic accident at NAF Base Kaduna.

“Until her death, ‪Flying Officer Arotile, who was commissioned into the NAF in September 2017 as a member of Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Course 64, was the first-ever female combat helicopter pilot in the Service.‬

“During her short but impactful stay in the Service, the late Arotile contributed significantly to the efforts to rid the North Central States of armed bandits and other criminal elements by flying several combat missions under Operation GAMA AIKI in Minna, Niger State.

“We pray that the Almighty God grants her soul eternal rest.”

Arotile, who hailed from Iffe in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, recently completed a program at the Starlite International Training Academy, South Africa.

Arotile also graduated as the best flight student from the Nigerian Air Force in 2017.

Meanwhile, many Nigerians took to social media to mourn the flight officer’s death.

Senator Shehu Sani said:

“It’s sad to learn that few minutes after I passed the NAF Airforce Base Kaduna, a tragic accident happened which took away the life of one of Nigeria’s finest and first female combat Helicopter Pilot, Tolulope Arotile. A great loss to our country. May her soul Rest In Peace.

“Tolulope Arotile was a shining star who broke barriers & defied conventions. She raced through an uncharted & dreaded path & braced d tape in victory. She refused to be hindered by neither d ceiling nor d sky. She was a woman who conquered d impossible & the http://unimaginable.RIP”

@abdul_dodomix said,

“This is a great loss to the nation, I commiserate with @CAS_AMSadique.”

@lekanpaul, said,

“Her death came barely a year after she was winged as a combat helicopter pilot in the Air Force following the completion of her course in South Africa.”

Zahra Musa said Arotile’s death was a great loss for Nigeria.

“Oh! She was so young! That’s a great loss for her family and Nigeria! Her achievements at such a young age are remarkable indeed. Rest In Peace gallant one,” Musa said.

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Gokada CEO Fahim Saleh Murdered In New York

Fahim Saleh, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Founder of ride-hailing company, Gokada is dead.

He was said to have been dismembered with his decapitated remains found in his apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, New York on Tuesday afternoon.

However, his dog, Laila, was found alive in the house at 265, East Houston Street near Suffolk Street.

The company confirmed his death in a series of tweets on its handle on Wednesday morning, describing the late Saleh as an inspirational leader.

“We are deeply saddened to inform you about the sudden and tragic loss of our founder and CEO, Fahim Saleh. Fahim was a great leader, inspiration and positive light for all of us,” the tweet read.

“Our hearts go out to his friends, family and all those feeling the pain and heartbreak we are currently experiencing, here at Gokada.

“Fahim’s vision and belief in us will be with us forever, and we will miss him dearly. Thank you for understanding as we get through this.”

It added that further updates about his death will be revealed as events unfold.

“Forever in our hearts,” the company added.

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California To Release Another 8,000 Prisoners Over COVID-19 Fears

California will release up to 8,000 more prisoners to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in its crowded jails, according to authorities in the US state, one of the hardest hit by the pandemic.

The inmates could be eligible for early release by the end of August — joining 10,000 prisoners already freed in similar initiatives since the start of the virus crisis, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.

“These actions are taken to provide for the health and safety of the incarcerated population and staff,” the department’s secretary Ralph Diaz said in a statement Friday.

The announcement, welcomed by prison reform advocates, follows a surge in COVID-19 cases in one of California’s oldest prisons, San Quentin.

State Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday said the outbreak there was a “deep area of focus and concern” after more than 1,000 inmates tested positive.

The San Quentin facility this week made up half of the active coronavirus cases in jails throughout the state, which has a total prison population of about 113,000.

Friday’s statement said the prisoners to be freed, who include inmates from San Quentin, would be tested for COVID-19 within a week of their release.

California, the most populated US state with a population of around 40 million, has confirmed more than 300,000 coronavirus cases and over 6,800 deaths from the disease.

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Newly Elected Malawi President Under Fire For Family Appointments To Cabinet

Malawians on Thursday voiced anger after newly-appointed President Lazarus Chakwera unveiled a cabinet that they said was tainted by family ties.

Chakwera, 65, comfortably beat Peter Mutharika with 58.5 percent of the vote last month, marking the first time in African history that an election re-run led to the defeat of an incumbent.

On Wednesday night the new president announced a 31-member cabinet that included six figures who are related to each other, although not to the president.

The new labour and health ministers are brother and sister, while the incoming information minister is the sister-in-law of the new deputy agriculture minister.

Chakwera’s former running mate in the 2019 elections, Sidik Mia, will serve as the transport minister while his wife will be the deputy minister for lands.

The Human Rights Defenders Coalition, which led sustained countrywide protests against the disputed 2019 elections, said there were “widespread concerns.”

“First is the issue of family members in the cabinet, such as husband and wife and brother and sister,” the coalition’s national coordinator, Luke Tembo, 

The second was regionalism, he said.

“We have noted that 70 percent of the ministers are from the central region and that Lilongwe alone has nine ministers, and we know that the president comes from Lilongwe,” he said.

Social activist Mkotama Katenga-Kaunda said the move was disappointing as the incumbent had vowed “that this new Malawi will get rid of nepotism and cronyism”.

“Malawians feel that these cabinet posts were not awarded to some individuals based on merit, but based on what monetary support they gave to the alliance during the campaign,” he said.

Chakwera, a former evangelical preacher, vowed to tackle corruption on his election ticket.

His victory had brought hope for change in landlocked Malawi, where around half of its 18 million people live below the poverty line.

Danwood Chirwa, a professor of law at the University of Cape Town described the nominations as “political patronage”, saying the president has “quickly transformed himself into a good salesman of words and rhetoric while serving the same stale dishes Malawians have fed on in the last 26 years.”

Chirwa said Malawians should raise their voices and reject the cabinet.

“On Monday, he promised heaven, yesterday he unleashed hell,” he said.

“He has reduced the electoral victory to the actions of a few individuals whose main interest is to profit from the state, not through the ordinary remuneration and other trappings ministerial positions offer, but through corruption and looting,” Chirwa added.

Chakwera’s spokesman Sean Kampondeni said that “President Chakwera will himself address those concerns soon”.

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