By Salim Yunusa
A family of four, among others, were reportedly abducted by unknown kidnappers in Low-cost area of Kofar Gayan, Zaria City, a place less than 10minutes drive to the Emir’s Palace.
SAHELIAN TIMES gathered that the kidnappers came in large numbers around 10pm, shooting sporadically in the air and operated for about 3hrs, before the combined efforts of vigilantes and security personnel chased them away, capturing two of the kidnappers.
More details later
This is coming as the telecom regulator as part of its routine enforcement activities to sanitise the industry of criminal elements, arrested no fewer than five suspected individuals for allegedly engaging in fraudulently registering and selling Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards.
The arrest was carried out by the Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Department of the Commission, in company with the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the Wuse area of Abuja.
While disclosing the arrest to newsmen, NCC’s Head of Enforcement, Salisu Abdu warned those engaged in unlawful registration of SIM cards to desist from the illegal act, noting that the Commission will continue to collaborate with relevant law enforcement agencies to rid the industry of individuals, who have resolved to contravene SIM registration regulations.
“It is criminal and fraudulent to pre-register a SIM card in Nigeria and it is an offense punishable under the law. Though the Federal Government recently lifted the ban on sale of new SIM cards, it should be noted that proper registration of SIM cards and linking them to National Identity Number (NIN) before activation has now become a prerequisite,” he said.
The arrested suspects were subsequently handed over to the NSCDC Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command, Wuse, Abuja for further investigation with respect to the allegations leveled against them.
By Ismail Auwal
Boko Haram Insurgents on Sunday attack Mainok town, which is 30 to 40 kilometers away from Maiduguri, Borno State.
The attack reportedly involves travellers along the route.
Details later
By Abba Gwale
Hamisu Ahmed, a 20 year-old man, has lost his life after he drowned in an open water well at Samegu quarters, Kumbotso Local Government Area, Kano State.
In a statement issued to newsmen in Kano by the Public Relations Officer of Kano State Fire Service, Alhaji Saminu Abdullahi, said the victim, who was a mechanic, went to take a bath after repaired a car when he drowned.
“We received a distress call at about 07:31 a.m. from one Muhammad Abdulmalik. On receiving the information, we quickly sent our rescue team to the scene at about 07:43 a.m,” Saminu Abdullahi said.
He said the deceased was brought out from the water dead and his corpse was handed over to his father, Alhaji Yahaya Usman of Dorayi Chiranci Quarters.
By Abba Gwale
Kaduna State Police command has arrested two suspected ritualists with human skulls at a Muslim cemetery.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalige, disclosed in a statement in Kaduna, where he said the suspected ritualists were arrested with a hoe at Kudenden village, Kakuri Local Government Area in the state.
“On April 23, 2021, at about 2130hrs, the command received a distress call through DPO Kakuri, Kaduna, that some people were sighted at a Muslim graveyard at Kudenden and suspected to be carrying out a heinous act,” Jalige said.
He added that, “On getting the report, operatives were immediately dispatched to the area where they succeeded in apprehending the following persons; (1) Abdulaziz Jimoh ‘M’ 68yrs of Zaki Close, Kabala West Kaduna, and Mohammed Isa ‘M’ 30yrs of the same address. Recovered in possession of the said persons were a hoe and some human skulls.
He however said investigation into the incident is ongoing and the suspects will be charged to court after the completion of the investigation.
He said the command is still soliciting prompt
information on any suspicious person or group to enable it to tackle the activities of criminals.
By Ismail Auwal
In a colourful ceremony organized by Business Day newspaper in collaboration with the Nigeria Stock Exchange, The Chairman, Dantata Conglomerate, Alhaji Tajuddeen Aminu Dantata has received a national recognition award as the Industrialist of the year 2021.
The event titled; “Nigeria Investor Value Award (NIVA) 2021”, held this Saturday 24th April, 2021 at Lagos Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island and attracted captains of industries, financial institutions and business moguls from within and outside the country.
According to a statement signed by Sanusi Bature, the General Manager, Corporate Services at Dantata Conglomerate, Nigeria Alhaji Tajuddeen Dantata was awarded along his most popular company Dantata Foods and Allied Products Company Limited, which also won the 2021 Next Bulls Award. The Company was selected among 135 top companies in Nigeria by the Business Day Research and Intelligence Unit (BRIU)
The Industrialist of the Year award is instituted to recognize a visionary business leader who has transformed a market, industry, company, product or service by pioneering the introduction and wide-spread adoption of special innovations in technology, management, production and operations which has led to massive job creation, technology transfer, conservation of national foreign reserves, and the success of government policies.
“The winner of this year’s Award is Alhaji Tajuddeen Aminu Dantata, a businessman and financier of global repute. He was the Group Managing Director of Dantata Organization, a position he has occupied since 1994. A third-generation magnate from the illustrious Dantata dynasty of Kano, he entered the senior management cadre in 1988 as Group Director of the Dantata Organization” quoted, as announced by the MC.
As one of the finest young CEOs in Nigeria, Alhaji Tajuddeen left the family business and acquired Bebeji Oil, which is now called as Dantata Foods and Allied Products Company Limited in 2005, The parent company has since then transformed into a conglomerate with presence across the West African Sub-Region with interests spanning Financial Services, Building & Construction, Distribution, Agribusiness, Foods Processing, Manufacturing, Media and Communications and Import & Export Businesses.
Companies under the conglomerate include Dantata Foods, Tamidan Nigeria Limited, SNiger Drilling and Construction, D’Afric Global Resources Ltd, Dantata RegenAg Ltd, Dantata Media and Communications, Thumos Dantata Agriculture, Gulfstream Logistics Ltd, Titan Aviation Services Company, Damachem Integrated Marketing Limited. Together, the conglomerates report annual revenues of several hundred million dollars.
The Dantata conglomerate traces its roots back more than a century to 1910 when Alhassan Dantata, the family patriarch established himself as a major dealer in kola nuts and groundnuts; serving markets as far afield as Lagos and Accra from his base in Kano. Today, both Dantata Organization and Dantata conglomerate provide employment, directly and indirectly, to over 120,000 Nigerians.
Alhaji Tajuddeen Dantata serves on the Board of several companies. He served as Chairman of Kano State Housing Corporation and Kano State Tourism Board. He is currently serving as the Chairman of the Board of Kano Electricity Distribution Company Plc (KEDCO).
Alhaji Tajuddeen is on the Boards of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, Ja’iz Bank Plc, First Bank and MTN Nigeria.
He is also the Chairman/CEO of the Dantata Foods and Allied Products Limited (DFAP), a leading food and beverages producing company. The company pioneered regenerative agriculture in Nigeria, a system of farming principles and practices that aim to rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm by placing a heavy premium on soil health, water management, intelligent use of soil regenerator, and more. Rather than depleting the resources it uses, regenerative farming to improve them.
The company is an established market leader in many verticals. It is the largest producer of edible oil in West Africa, and the largest exporter of cotton seeds cake to several West African countries.
The 56-year-old Dantata is happily married with many children and grandchildren. An avid horseman and polo player of International repute; he serves as the Chairman of the Kano State Turf club and is also the patron of Titan Polo Team and Captain of the Kano Polo club.
Alhaji Tajuddeen Dantata attended Saint Thomas Secondary School Kano, Victoria College in Alexandria Egypt and Manaret College in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He earned a degree in Business Studies from the West London University.
In his acceptance speech, the Chairman Dantata Foods and Allied Products Limited, Alhaji Tajuddeen Aminu Dantata, said “Business Day Newspaper has built a reputation of being the most authoritative and reliable provider of business and financial news not only in Nigeria but across the globe while the Nigerian Stock Exchange over the years has become one of the prime movers and shakers of the Nigerian financial sector and has been doing a great job in this direction.
“It is therefore, a great pleasure for these two giant institutions to come together, under the auspices of the Nigeria Investor Value Awards (NIVA) 2021, and without any prior knowledge to assess and nominate Dantata Foods and Allied Products Company Limited for such an award and my conferment as the industrialist of the year award 2021,“ he said.
High dignitaries who attended the occasion include The DG Nigeria Stock Exchange, The former President Nigeria Union of Journalists, Comrade Muhammad Garba, who represented the Kano state Governor, The CEO Silk Clean Road Technologies, UK Maurice Frosch and numerous captains of the industries within and outside Nigeria.
By Abba Gwale
For the 12th consecutive day, Nigeria recorded zero death from COVID-19 as the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 51 new cases of COVID-19 infections on Saturday on its official Twitter handle.
Saturday became the 12th consecutive day the nation recorded no fatality from the virus that has caused and over 2,000 deaths in the country and 3 million deaths globally since the pandemic began.
The agency stated that the new cases were registered in five states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“Yobe took the lead with 19 cases, Lagos 17, Rivers 8, FCT 4, Akwa-Ibom 2 and Bayelsa 1,” it said.
However, according to NCDC, 44 people had recovered from the virus and discharged from isolation centres across the country which resulted the country’s active cases were about 9000, as of April 24th.
In another development, Nigeria’s public health agency said it had conducted 1,870,915 COVID-19 tests since the beginning of COVID-19 on Feb. 27, 2020.
The NCDC said a multi-sectoral National Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, had continued to coordinate the national response activities in the country.
By Abba Gwale
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the killing of three students Greenfield University, Kaduna State, who were abducted last week.
In a statement released by his Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, Buhari described the students as bright youngsters who their lives were cut down by the evils at their young age.
“My thoughts are with their families in this time of grief. May their souls rest in peace,” Buhari said.
He also described the incidents of kidnappings and killings in Kaduna State in particular as barbaric terror attacks.
The President said, “The tenor of some political and religious leaders that seem to further incite and stoke the pain and anguish of mourning families who are forced to confront these atrocities,”
He said, “Addressing this scourge, requires a great show of empathy and coming together as a society to squarely confront these elements and the danger it poses to our democracy and peaceful life in the country.”
He added that those that think profits can be made, either from money paid as ransom or in politics will realise sooner than later that they are bound by the same fate as their victims.
“Banditry, kidnapping and the politics of murders will be fought with all the resources available to our country,” he concluded.
By Abba Gwale
Residents of Geidam town in Yobe State are currently experiencing network problem on their phones after Boko Haram terrorists razed the masts of Airtel and MTN in the town.
Recall that yesterday, Boko Haram terrorists stormed Geidam, the home town of the Acting Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba and the immediate former Governor of the state, Ibrahim Geidam in the evening and opened fire sporadically few minutes before Iftar.
The attack yesterday was foiled by Nigerian Air Force but the terrorists took cover out side the town.
A resident said after the Air Force jet which hovered around the town left, the insurgents returned.
The Police Public Relations Officer of Yobe command, Dungus Abdulkarim, has confirmed the attack.
He however said letters with mixture of both Arabic and Hausa inscriptions, advocating the establishment of Islamic State, were dropped all over the town by the insurgents.
Earlier this year, the insurgents had attacked the town and abducted three officers of the Nigerian Custom service.
By Abba Gwale
A Zimbabwean military helicopter crashed into a house outside the capital, Harare, killing a child and all three crew members, the air force said.
The accident took place on Friday in the village of Arcturus, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) east of Harare.
“The helicopter crashed into a house and sadly claimed the lives of two pilots and a technician as well as a child on the ground,” the Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) said in a statement.
The child’s mother and another young girl were taken to hospital with burn injuries, the statement added.
Contact with the helicopter was lost after it took off from Zimbabwe’s Manyame Air Base in Harare.
Search and rescue teams sent to locate the aircraft eventually found the wreckage.
The AFZ said the cause of the accident would be investigated and that funeral arrangements would be made.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of lives,” Air Marshal Elson Moyo said in the statement.
“Our hearts and prayers are with the families of the deceased and those injured.”
Zimbabwe’s air force has been unable to renew its fleet in recent years due to sanctions imposed by Western countries for alleged rights violations.
AFP
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