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Military kills 156 terrorists, nabs 146 suspects in one week – DHQ
The Defence Headquarters says troops have in the last one week, neutralised 156 terrorists, apprehended 464 suspects and rescued 181 kidnapped hostages in different operations across the country.
The Director, Defence Media Operation, Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba, made this known while briefing newsmen on the operations of the armed forces on Thursday in Abuja.
Buba said the troops also apprehended 29 perpetrators of oil theft and denied the oil thieves an estimated sum of N623.4m within the week.
He said the troops recovered 219 assorted weapons and 2,871 ammunition, comprising one GPMG, 68 AK47 rifles, one AK56 rifle, 12 fabricated rifles, four FN rifles, and four dane guns.
Recovered arms also include seven pump action guns, one foreign double barrel gun, nine fabricated IEDs, 18 FN grenades, six RPG bombs, 27 magazines, four IEDs and making materials.
He added that 1,618 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 676 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 16 rounds of 7.62 x 51mm ammo, 68 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ammo and 317 rounds of 7.62 x 54mm ammo were also recovered.
According to him, others are 73 rounds of 12.7mm ammo, 175 rounds of PKT ammo, one box of 12.7mm ammo, 25 live cartridges, one baofeng radio, 10 vehicles, 42 motorcycles, 29 mobile phones amongst other items.
In the North East, Buba said the troops of Operation Hadin Kai eliminated 76 terrorists, arrested 72 suspects and rescued eight kidnappers’ hostages during the week.
He said the air component on Jan. 6, conducted air interdiction on BH/ISWAP terrorists at Wulade in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno, killing several terrorists.
In the North West, Buba said the troops of Operation Fansan Yamma, neutralised 64 terrorists, arrested 69 persons and rescued 62 kidnapped hostages.
He added that the air component killed scores of terrorists within Alawa Forest in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger as well as Maikaho and Mashigin areas of Kebbi.
In the Niger Delta area, Buba said the troops of Operation Delta Safe, discovered and destroyed 48 crude oil cooking ovens, 10 dugout pits, 56 storage tanks and 46 illegal refining sites.
According to him, troops also recovered 705,294 litres of stolen crude oil, 6,865 litres of illegally refined AGO, 1,500 litres of DPK and 800 litres of PMS during the week.
“Other items recovered include 28 boats, eight pumping machines and six speedboats, three outboard engines, six drums, eight motorcycles, one mobile phone and eight vehicles among others.
“Overall, the military is profoundly conscious of its role and responsibility in ending insurgency and terrorism in the nation.
“Overall, citizens are urged to embrace that security is everybody’s business and not that of the military,’’ he said.
Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.