
News
Ansaru terrorists operate as another govt in Birnin Gwari, collect levies from residents — Kaduna Councillor
The Ansaru terrorist group has established another government within the Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State and now taxes helpless residents, a Senior Councillor of the Birnin Gwari Emirate, Zubair Abdurra’uf has said.
“We have a government within the government,” Abdurra’uf lamented on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday.
“There are some areas within Birnin Gwari, particularly the eastern part, whereby the Ansaru (group) administer this territory because they give directives to the citizens who are there and they decide what to be done,” he said.
According to him, the splinter group of notorious Boko Haram terrorist group came into Birnin Gwari over 12 years ago under the guise of teaching the people Islamic knowledge but later turned to insurgents with abhorrence for western education.
“Most of the schools in the area are deserted because they issued a decree that nobody should go to any school or have any form of formal education,” he said.
Abdurra’uf said Birnin Gwari, which is vast with difficult terrain and mountainous places and adjoining forest to Zamfara and other states, has since been deserted by government institutions as the insurgents sack local chiefs and enthrone their rule.

“At times, the locals have no option but to take some of their issues to these terrorists for adjudication because of the absence of some of the institutions of government that will normally take care of these issues,” the traditional councillor said.
“The ideological conviction of Ansaru is not different from Boko Haram because the Ansaru are a splinter group of Boko Haram and whatever you see Ansaru do is in consonance with whatever Boko Haram are doing but only that the modus operandi of the two groups differ,” he said.
This is not the first time that officials would sound the alarm of terrorist dominance in Birnin-Gwari. In May, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai said Boko Haram and the Ansaru terrorists are taking over the Birnin-Gwari and Giwa local government areas in the state.
The traditional councillor said the infiltration by terrorists in the area is not a question of the Almajiri system but lack of coordination to ensure people are not indoctrinated with the kind of “alien ideology” of the Ansaru people.
Abdurra’uf said the locals now see the Ansaru terrorist sect as a “messiah” that protects them from marauders who rustle their cows and hijack their harvests.
“They have their cattle confiscated, their farms, they have to pay all sorts of levies to the terrorists. They pay for the harvest. For every ten bags, they give two bags to all these bandits while they take eight away.
“So, when the Ansaru offers help to these people, they take it because they don’t have the means to protect themselves. They have seen Ansaru as messiah that will eliminate these people (marauders) who capitalise on their inadequacy and lack of protection which is the primary responsibility of the government,” he said.
He further said the Ansaru group distributes food items to locals during festivities, adding that young people join Ansaru because of poverty and neglect of the government.
Abdurra’uf said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can’t deploy its personnel to the terrorist den in Birnin Gwari, doubting the possibility of the 2023 elections being held in the area.
On Monday, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu visited the Emir of Birnin Gwari, Zubairu Maigwari, and promised to wipe out bandits and terrorists in Kaduna and other parts of the northern region if elected as in 2023.
Also, an APC stalwart, Ahmed Sajo, who was a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast show on Wednesday alongside Abdurra’uf, said Tinubu will eliminate non-state actors in Birnin Gwari if elected.
However, Abdurra’uf warned against the politicisation of the security challenges of the area and other parts of the north.
“Bad governance increases the issue of insecurity,” he stated, noting that politicians should not capitalize on insecurity to get votes during elections but look away after they get elected.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari doesn’t sympathise with residents of the area despite the many attacks by terrorists in the area. The official urged the government to rise up to its primary responsibility of protecting lives and property.
Kaduna, one of the seven states in the North-West geopolitical zone, has recorded increasing bandit and terrorist attacks in the last two years including the infamous infiltration of the Nigerian Defence Academy on August 24, 2021, and the dastard attack on a moving train on March 28, 2022.
The Kaduna State Government said 1,192 persons were killed by bandits and other violent groups in 2021 while over 3,000 residents, students, and travellers were kidnapped. So far, over 800 people have been killed by bandits, and more than 1,200 persons kidnapped in Kaduna between January and September 2022, according to official data. (Channels TV)
News
Security guard kidnaps employer’s two children, demands ransom
A private security guard has escaped with two kids from his employer in Minna, with the police suspecting abduction.
The security guard, named Sani Abdulrahaman, a Fulani by tribe, on Sunday, reportedly took Umaru and Anas, both six years old, on Sallah picnic without the knowledge of their father, Alhaji Danjuma, a businessman, and failed to bring them back home.
The father of the children raised the alarm asking the public and security agencies to help him locate the fleeing security guard and his children.
Danjuma said someone called him on Sunday evening and said he was in Erena forest in Shiroro Local Government Area with the children.
According to him, the caller asked for undisclosed ransom before his children who were in their custody would be released.
When contacted, Niger State Command Police Public Relations Officer, SP Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the incident, which he said occurred about one o’clock on Sunday, May 31.

Abiodun explained that the security man pretended that he was taking the children for Sallah celebration in the town, but did not return.
He said the police suspected abduction but disclosed that “investigation has commenced and efforts to locate the children are ongoing.”
News
Police arrest suspect behind AI-generated Tinubu voice note
The Nigerian Police Force has arrested Ifechukwu Dennis, the man identified as the originator of an AI-generated voice note that was widely circulated online as a leaked recording of President Bola Tinubu.
Presidential Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, announced the arrest on Thursday in a post on his official X account.
“The IGP crack team has arrested Ifechukwu Dennis who originated the fake voice that he passed on to his gullible targets as President Tinubu’s voice,” he said.
The arrest closes a week-long controversy that began on May 27, 2026, when a video of social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, went viral.
In the clip, an AI-generated voice resembling Tinubu’s was heard making inflammatory statements — including that insecurity in the South-East was deliberate, that he had pressured Peter Obi to step down ahead of the 2023 election, and that he was indifferent to Nigerians’ suffering.
Investigations by multiple news organisations, however, established that VDM had not posted the doctored audio.

An unidentified individual had extracted footage from VDM’s original Instagram video and superimposed the AI-generated voice notes before recirculating the manipulated version online.
Despite this, the Presidency had initially called for VDM’s prosecution.
Onanuga had described the incident as “a clear case of egregious abuse of the social media platform,” drawing criticism after fact-checkers confirmed VDM’s original video contained none of the fabricated audio.
Further details on the circumstances of Dennis’s arrest and the charges he may face were not immediately available at the time of filing this report.
News
Five abducted Kwara worshippers killed, one escapes, others still held
Terrorists have killed five out of the eight worshippers abducted at ECWA Church Omugo in Ifelodun local government area of Kwara state, says one escaped abductees.
Rev Sunday Omole had urged federal government to expedite action on the release of the abductees from the captivity of the terrorists.
The clergyman said government intervention had become necessary after the community paid the terrorists N20 million and provided additional items worth more than N300,000, yet the abductors refused to release the worshippers and instead demanded an additional N300 million ransom.
He added that from the action of the terrorists it was clear that they just wanted to be exploiting the community.
Recall that eight of the worshippers including the Pastor’s wife were kidnapped in the morning of March 22,2026 during a Sunday service.
The death of the five worshippers including the Pastor’s wife was disclosed in a statement issued by the Pastor of the church, Rev Sunday Omole, Wednesday evening.

The statement reads:
“It is with deep pain in my heart that I inform the church, families and individual concerned in regard to the 8 people that were abducted from ECWA OMUGO on 22nd of March, 2026.
“We received one of our son’s, Mr Sunday Bakare also abducted over a month ago, he escaped and brought the following news that only 3 out of 8 of our people are remaining with the kidnappers. The remaining 5 have gone to be with the Lord.
“They are; Elder Chief David Omopariola,
Chief Joseph Ibitoye Afariogun,
Mrs Iyabo Aniyi,
Elder Joshua Akanbi Adeyemi and
Mrs. Rachel Oluwaremilekun Omole(his wife).
“Brethren, let’s know that God knows why He allows this to happen. The great comforter will comfort us in Jesus name, amen.
“The prayers of the saints in the beginning of the church also worked and answered still they had martyrs. John 16:33 says (NIV) “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace . In this world you will have trouble . But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Heaven is our home and Gain. Let’s reason as child of God as we navigate this moment. God bless you, and comfort you all in Jesus name, amen.”concluded the statement.
It was also gathered that the three remaining worshipers are in terrible health condition, while a member of church who escaped from the terrorists captivity is currently receiving an urgent medical attention in a private hospital in OmuAran.
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