News
Fresh Plateau Attack Claims 40 Lives
The spate of attacks in Plateau has continued despite reassurances from government authorities. This time, forty persons were killed in a fresh assault on the Zike community, Kimakpa, Kwall district of Bassa Local Government Area of the state.
According to a Kwall community leader, Wakili Tongwe, the attackers invaded the village in the early hours of Monday and shot sporadically at residents who were scampering for safety after hearing gunshots.
The community leader told Channels Television on the phone that a team of vigilantes, including himself and some security personnel, were on patrol in another community when the attackers invaded the village and started shooting.
Though the security personnel engaged the invaders and succeeded in repelling the attackers, the damage had been done, with about thirty-six persons shot dead and four others dying later.
Some other residents sustained gunshot wounds and are receiving medical attention at the hospital.
Security agencies in the state are yet to comment on the attack, which is coming less than two weeks after fifty-two persons were killed in some communities of the Bokkos Local Government Area of the North-Central state.
Sponsored, Genocidal
Plateau State has, for several decades, been a hotbed of killings, with gunmen sacking entire communities. About 200 people were killed at Christmas 2023 celebrations during a bloody attack on a majority Christian community. In May last year, around 40 people were killed and homes torched in the town of Wase.
Experts blame the fight for resources between farmers and herders as a major cause of the attacks.
But the governor of the state, Caleb Muftwang, says there is more to the attacks.
“I can tell you in all honesty that I cannot find any explanation other than genocide sponsored by terrorists. The question is, who are the persons behind the organisers of this terrorism? This is what the security agencies must help us to unravel,” the governor said on a recent edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
He said bandits have taken over 64 communities in the state.
“As I am talking to you, there are not less than 64 communities that have been taken over by bandits on the Plateau between Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, and Riyom local governments,” Muftwang said. “They have been taken over, renamed, and people are living there conveniently on lands they pushed people away to occupy.”
The Federal Government has been talking tough following the recent wave of attacks, vowing to flush out the assailants. The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, “ordered the immediate and comprehensive deployment of police tactical assets to the affected areas of the state”.
Health workers under the Joint Health Sector Unions and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations are protesting at the Unity Fountain in Abuja.
The protest is against the proposed health sector regulatory bill, which is before the National Assembly.
The protesting health workers are against the bill, claiming that if allowed to pass, it would subject every medical profession to the regulation of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.
They maintain that all health professions have their regulatory bodies, and that the new bill was seeking to make other health professionals second-class to medical doctors.
The protesters plan to also go to the National Assembly, where they hope to present their case to lawmakers.
Hundreds of British teenagers will trial social media bans and time limits on apps as part of consultations over new measures to keep children safe online, the government announced Wednesday.
The pilot comes as the government seeks views from parents on whether to follow Australia and issue a blanket ban on social media for children under 16.
Three hundred youngsters aged 13 to 17 will try out different restrictions on social media use over six weeks to gauge the impact on their schoolwork, sleep and family life.
Some will have their social media apps disabled entirely, while others will have no access to them overnight, said the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
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A young student uses her mobile phone at a public school in Planaltina
A third group will have a one-hour-per-day cap on the most popular apps for teenagers, including Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
The results will be compared to a fourth set of children who will continue to receive unlimited access.
“We are determined to give young people the childhood they deserve and to prepare them for the future,” said technology minister Liz Kendall.
“These pilots will give us the evidence we need to take the next steps, informed by the experiences of families themselves.”
Australia in December became the first nation to prohibit people under the age of 16 from using immensely popular and profitable social media platforms.
Several other countries are considering similar bans, including France where lawmakers in January passed a bill that would prohibit use by under-15s, which still needs final approval.
The British government has launched a consultation on a potential Australia-style ban, which will also look at measures including age restrictions and banning addictive features like scrolling.
Earlier this month, British MPs struck down proposals by the upper House of Lords chamber to ban social media for under-16s while it awaits the outcome of the consultation, due to close on May 26.
British public figures including actor Hugh Grant have urged the government to back a prohibition, saying parents alone cannot counter social media harms.
But some experts warn restrictions could be easily circumvented and would rather that tech platforms focus on making their sites safer.
Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer has not ruled out a ban.
Defence Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday that an Israeli airstrike had killed Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ navy.
“Last night, in a precise and lethal operation, the IDF eliminated the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ navy, Tangsiri, along with senior officers of the naval command,” Katz said in a video statement.
“The man who was directly responsible for the terrorist operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz to shipping was blown up and eliminated.”
Since the start of the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28, Israel has announced the killing of several top Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the Islamic republic’s powerful security chief, Ali Larijani.
In recent days, Israeli forces have carried out several strikes targeting the naval assets of Iran.
Last week, Israeli airstrikes hit several Iranian naval ships in the Caspian Sea, including ones equipped with missile systems, support vessels and patrol craft.
AFP
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