Category: cover

The Defence Headquarters says troops have killed a total of 74 terrorists, apprehended 130 suspects, and rescued 61 kidnapped hostages in various operations conducted between March 5 and 13.

The Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Markus Kangye disclosed this in a weekly report on ongoing military operations across the country on Friday in Abuja.

Kangye said the successful operations were jointly carried out by the land component of the Armed Forces, teams from the Office of the National Security Adviser, security agencies, and hybrid forces.

He stated that the troops recovered 71 assorted weapons, including 32 AK-47 rifles, 15 locally fabricated guns, nine Dane guns, three pump-action guns, two locally made pistols, and 10 other assorted arms.

According to him, troops also recovered 1,202 rounds of ammunition, comprising 1,133 assorted rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and 69 live cartridges.

The Defence Headquarters says troops have killed a total of 74 terrorists, apprehended 130 suspects, and rescued 61 kidnapped hostages in various operations conducted between March 5 and 13.

The Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Markus Kangye disclosed this in a weekly report on ongoing military operations across the country on Friday in Abuja.

Kangye said the successful operations were jointly carried out by the land component of the Armed Forces, teams from the Office of the National Security Adviser, security agencies, and hybrid forces.

He stated that the troops recovered 71 assorted weapons, including 32 AK-47 rifles, 15 locally fabricated guns, nine Dane guns, three pump-action guns, two locally made pistols, and 10 other assorted arms.

Hundreds of HIV doctors and researchers have called on the Trump administration to reverse its sweeping aid funding cuts, saying they are “doing catastrophic harm” to the global fight against AIDS.

The United States has historically been the world’s largest donor of humanitarian assistance, but President Donald Trump has slashed international aid since returning to the White House less than two months ago.

The cuts have had a huge impact on global efforts to combat HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and other health scourges, putting millions of lives at risk, humanitarian organisations have warned.

An open letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed by hundreds of high-profile HIV doctors, researchers and public health experts called on the government to change course.

“Unless reversed, the dismantling of the US-supported AIDS response will cause the deaths of an estimated six million people in the next four years, decades of progress will be reversed, and the world will face growing HIV epidemics across the globe,” said the letter, dated Thursday.

On Monday, Rubio announced that 83 percent of all contracts under the vast US humanitarian agency USAID have been terminated.

This meant an anti-HIV initiative called PEPFAR, which is one of the world’s most successful public health efforts and has saved an estimated 26 million lives over the two decades, has been “virtually eliminated”, the letter said.

The cuts also immediately halted medical trials across the world, “leaving study participants stranded,” the letter said.

Research institutions have been stripped of funding, staff and political independence, it added. The prestigious US university Johns Hopkins announced on Thursday it would lay off more than 2,000 employees because of the USAID cuts.

Even if US courts eventually find these decisions illegal, “the human suffering and loss of lives happening now cannot be reversed,” the letter said.

Among the signatories was French scientist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, who won a 1983 Nobel prize for her work identifying the HIV virus.

The US government has said the funding cuts were aimed at reducing spending, while Trump’s billionaire advisor Elon Musk has boasted of putting USAID “through the woodchipper”.

The letter was published as researchers gathered for the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in San Francisco.

Protests were held across the US last week calling for people to “Stand Up for Science”.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, has urged battalion commanders to demonstrate exemplary leadership in their respective commands to enable troops to tackle emerging threats to national security effectively.

Oluyede made this call while addressing battalion commanders participating in the just-concluded First Commanding Officers’ Workshop 2025, held at the Headquarters of 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Ibadan.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Director of Army Public Relations, Maj.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, on Friday in Abuja.
Oluyede described battalion commanders as a crucial link between the operational and tactical levels of command.

He stated, “They must demonstrate the essential leadership qualities of responsibility, accountability, and moral courage to lead their troops effectively in both battle and peacetime.”