Awards N5m Compensation and Medicare Barely one month after ordering the release and compensation of one Abuja-based business woman, Mrs. Chineze Ozoadibe, the Director General, State Security Services (DSS), Oluwatosin Adeola Ajayi, has ordered the release of one Kenneth Okechukwu Nwafor, arrested in July 2022, for his alleged involvement in the activities of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). The DG also awarded Nwafor, who hails from Isuikwuato LGA of Abia state, N5 million as compensation for the wrongful arrest and free medicare.Credible security sources revealed that detailed investigation conducted by personnel of the Service exonerated Nwafor. The source noted that the release and compensation are in line with the Director General’s directive that all the cases he inherited be reviewed to ensure due process and prompt dispensation of justice.”The DG directed his investigation officers to conduct detailed review of all pending cases and they have been dutifully doing that. Nwafor’s case is one of such cases’,” the source offered. “The gesture, one of the several by the DG, is a testament to his resolve to comply with the rule of law and adherence to the service standard operating procedure,” he stated, adding, three Abia men, Udemba, Onyedikachi and Eze, suspected of belongings to IPOB, were equally released. “Mr Tosin Ajayi acknowledges that as humans, we sometimes make mistakes. He also believes that when such mistakes are made, the right thing is to make amends. That is why he has established a culture of accountability and humanly makes efforts to remedy the mistakes of the Agency,” added the source. “Remember he paid N20 million as compensation to one Jos- based businessman who was erroneously shot on the leg in the course of a security operation in 2016. Even when the court awarded N10 million in damages against the DSS, the agency refused to pay until Ajayi became DG. He doubled the money. “Nwafor isn’t the first Igbo to be released and compensated under similar circumstances. Some months ago, the DG ordered the release of three young men wrongfully detained for belonging to IPOB. “Last month, he paid N10 million as compensation to the Abuja-based Igbo businesswoman arrested by a sister security agency for alleged illegal oil bunkering. The DG added N10 million for five others to share, explained the source, adding, “this has become the trend since the new DSS leadership.”

The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio has formally unveiled Nigeria’s Counter Terrorism Strategic Plan 2025 – 2030.

The Strategic Plan was put together by the National Counter Terrorism Centre in the Office of the National Security Adviser.

In his Keynote address, Akpabio said the occasion was not merely the launch of another policy document but a defining moment in the nation’s journey.

“It is a moment when Nigeria again reaffirms that our people deserve to live without fear, that our children deserve a future of peace, and that our nation must be secured to prosper,” he said.

The Senate President remarked that every generation faced a question that history demanded it must answer.

“For ours, the question is clear: How do we secure our nation, safeguard our people and set Nigeria irreversibly on the path of peace, growth and stability?“ The Strategic Plan 2025 – 2030 answers this question with vision, discipline and ambition.

It offers a framework for transforming our institutions, modernising our security architecture, strengthening national resilience and expanding partnerships across government, industry, civil society and the international community”

“As President of the Senate, I have seen how insecurity weakens the foundations of development. Investors withdraw, schools close, farmers abandon their fields, and hope retreats from the hearts of our young people.

That is why a pragmatic, forward-looking and implementation-driven plan such as this is timely, necessary and welcome.”

(Independent)

• Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, CP Olufemi Abaniwonda

The Delta State Police Command said that the rumoured invasion of Girls’ Secondary School, Utagba-Ogbe, Kwale, today was entirely false and misleading.

In a statement, the Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, CP Olufemi Abaniwonda, clarified that upon receiving the report, the Command immediately ordered a coordinated response and deployed the DCO Kwale Division, SP Udofia Kufre, to lead a patrol team for immediate on-the-ground verification and security assessment.

The Vice Principal of the school and the security man on duty were interviewed, and both confirmed that no attack occurred and that the panic emanated solely from misinformation among students.

As a precautionary measure, adjoining schools within the Kwale axis were visited and all were found to be calm, safe, and in a normal academic session.

Parents who rushed to pick up their children are advised to remain calm, as the earlier rumour has been decisively addressed and normalcy has been fully restored.

CP Olufemi Abaniwonda warns strongly against the spread of unverified rumours capable of causing fear or disrupting academic activities.

The CP reiterated the Command’s unwavering resolve to respond swiftly to any credible threat while ensuring the safety of all educational institutions across the state.

He further urges school authorities to strengthen internal communication, promptly report suspicious observations to the nearest police formation, and maintain close collaboration with local security outfits to enhance monitoring around school environments.