• Family of the abducted Zamfara LG Chairman

Aliyu Danjal, Lieutenant Colonel Media Information Officer Joint Task Force (North West) Operation FANSAN YAMMA, disclosed that on hearing gunshots, troops of Operation FANSAN YAMMA responded immediately and swiftly moved to the scene where they engaged in hot pursuit of the terrorists leading to a fierce exchange of fire.

The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, has directed police officers across the country to shoot on sight anyone found carrying illegal firearms, as part of intensified efforts to curb insecurity.

Disu issued the directive on Friday during a stakeholders’ meeting at the Government House in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, saying the move followed President Bola Tinubu’s instruction that the lingering security crisis in the state must be brought to an end.

The police chief maintained that only authorised security personnel are legally permitted to carry firearms, warning that law enforcement agencies would no longer tolerate the unlawful possession of weapons.

” You cannot move around freely carrying arms as if there is no law and order in this country. It will not be tolerated,” he said.

Disu explained that the directive was backed by Force Order 237, which empowers police officers to respond immediately to armed threats without waiting for approval from superior officers.

• PFIPC DG Adeyemi

The Budget Office of the Federation on Friday defended the agency’s role in the controversial budgetary allocation to the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), insisting that despite provisions made in the 2026 Appropriation Act, not a single kobo was released to the fake agency.

The Director-General,Tanimu Yakubu, disclosed this during an appearance before the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee investigating the alleged unlawful establishment and funding of the council.

The DG maintained that the Budget Office neither created the council nor approved its establishment, recruitment or salaries.

He told the lawmakers that the office merely carried out its constitutional responsibility of assessing the fiscal implications of approvals issued by other government institutions.

The DG explained that while the council requested N3.8 billion as personnel cost, the Budget Office rejected the estimate and independently calculated a much lower figure of N802.98 million based on the approved establishment and applicable public service salary structure.

He stressed, however, that the personnel provision never translated into actual spending because the office withheld the mandatory financial clearance.

According to him, financial clearance is the final legal approval required before recruitment, payroll enrolment and salary payments can commence.

“There was therefore no financial clearance. There was no lawful recruitment. There was no payroll enrolment. There was no salary payment,” he said.

The committee chairman, Rep. Yusuf Gagdi, defended the Budget Office’s actions, saying the evidence before lawmakers showed the office acted on approvals issued by the relevant government agencies.He said the investigation had already established that the documents relied upon by those agencies were later discovered to be forged.

“The question is whether the Budget Office allocated budget to this agency without the agency satisfying the requirements. The answer, based on the documents before us, is no. I repeat, no,” he said.