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President Mohamadu Buhari has on Thursday tasked the new appointed Service Chiefs to synergize with other nation’s security apparatus and hunt down Boko Haram insurgents within the next three months. The president said that that would be the only way the new military helmsmen would justify the confidence resposed in them by his government. In a brief swearing in ceremony of the new service chiefs performed at the Villa, “I want to reiterate that your appointments and subsequent elevation to these ranks are based on your pedigree as first class senior officers who identify sterling leadership qualities. Therefore I have no doubt in my mind that all of you are equal to the task ahead of you. You must acquaint yourselves and justify the honour done to you.

There was an attack on the JTF facility at about 11.30pm    at the Nembe waterway, Bayelsa state. Though the motive for the attack could not be immediately ascertained, a security source told our correspondent that the hoodlums might have embarked on the mission with a view to stealing arms to perpetrate their nefarious activities on the waterways. The incident, the latest in the series of attacks in the state’s troubled creeks, again brought to the fore the dangers faced by travellers plying the waterways. Boat drivers and their passengers plying the waterways have repeatedly come under attacks with some losing their valuables and lives. Sunday Vanguard learnt that the soldiers were taken unawares by the gunmen who stormed the base in four speedboats and opened fire from two flanks (land and water). The (hoodlums) took advantage of the dark night to launch the vicious attack and stole rifles of the slain operatives as well as two HP Guns and other arms from the base b...

12 people including five Malian soldiers -- died as a result of a hostage situation and ensuing battle between the attackers and soldiers at a Mali hotel, Malian state-run broadcaster ORTM reported Saturday. Five foreigners have been evacuated from the hotel in Sevare, in central Mali, the broadcaster said. Earlier, a spokesman for Mali's President told CNN that officials believed the dead included five soldiers, four attackers and three civilians, but that the toll had yet to be confirmed. Army spokesman Col. Souleymane Maiga said at least one foreigner had been killed, among other casualties, but did not specify the foreigner's nationality. The soldiers stormed the hotel to end a daylong siege that started Friday when gunmen raided the hotel after attacking a military site nearby, witnesses said. "The land operation was solely operated by the Malian forces," Radhia Achour, a spokeswoman for MINUSMA, said after the siege ended. The freed hostages, who hid from the...

Dr. Ibe Kachikwu appointed as New NNPC Boss, after a long expectation President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Dr Ibe Kachikwu as Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The appointment was made public by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina. The statement noted that Kachikwu, who was the Executive Vice Chairman and General Counsel of Exxon-Mobil (Africa), was to take over from Dr Joseph Dawha. Kachikwu hails from Onicha-Ugbo in Delta State. The statement also quoted the credentials of Kachikwu as being a First Class Graduate of Law from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the Nigerian Law School. “The new NNPC Chief Executive also has Masters and Doctorate Degrees in Law from Harvard Law School.’’ It stated that the new NNPC boss started his working career with the Nigerian/American Merchant Bank before moving on to Texaco Nigeria Limited, from where he joined Exxon-Mobil.