Watch Signature TV News Highlights: 279 kidnapped Jangebe schoolgirls freed

279 kidnapped Jangebe schoolgirls freed (PHOTOS)
Majority of the 317 female students abducted from a school in Zamfara State have been
freed.
The schoolgirls were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe,
in Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State last Friday.
Yusuf Idris, the media aide to Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, confirmed the
release of the girls on Tuesday morning.
The official said 279 schoolgirls were released around 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday. He said the
girls are currently at the Zamfara government house waiting to be reunited with their
parents.
He asked for more time to provide details on the remaining 38 girls.
President Muhammadu Buhari had condemned the abductions saying his government
would not succumb to the blackmail of the bandits. Released Zamfara Jangebe Schoolgirls, (PHOTO CREDIT: Zamfara Govt House Press)
On Monday, a leader of the federal government delegation sent to sympathise with the
people and government of Zamfara State over the kidnapped Jangebe schoolgirls, Hadi
Sirika, briefed President Buhari on the outcome of their mission to the state.

Gunmen attack police station in Ebonyi
Some gunmen in the early hours of Monday attacked the Iboko Divisional Police
Station in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
It is unclear, for now, if the attacks on police facilities, which are on the increase lately in
the South-east and South-south regions, are coordinated.
The attackers were said to have set the building ablaze, using fire bombs.
The Ebonyi State Police Commissioner, Aliyu Garba, who confirmed the incident, said
steps were being taken to protect police facilities and personnel in the state.
Details of the Ebonyi attack were unavailable at the time of filing the report.

Kwara’s hijab controversy continues despite govt’s directive
Despite the pronouncement last week by the Kwara State government directing all public
schools in the state to henceforth allow female students to use the hijab, schools with
Christian heritage seems not to be in agreement with such directive.
The government had announced the decision on Thursday to end the conflict between the
two major religious communities in the state.
The conflict is over the use of the hijab by female Muslim students attending schools
taken over long ago from their Christian founders by the government.
The government had temporarily shut 10 grant-aided secondary schools in Ilorin, the
state capital, after Muslim female students insisted on using the head covering in the
schools.
The schools are C&S College, ST. Anthony College, ECWA School, Surulere Baptist
Secondary School, Bishop Smith Secondary School, CAC Secondary School, St.
Barnabas Secondary School, St. John School, St. Williams Secondary School and St.
James Secondary School.
The development took the controversy outside the schools. While Muslim leaders insisted
students should be allowed to use the head covering in accordance with the Constitution,
their Christian counterparts demanded respect for the background of the schools that were
established by churches or Christian missionaries.
The Kwara state government directed the Ministry of Education and Human Capital
Development to come up with a uniform hijab for all public schools, which will be the
accepted mode of head covering in schools.

COVID-19: Buhari, Osinbajo to pick dates to be vaccinated publicly- Official
President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo will pick dates on
which they will be vaccinated publicly, with the first batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca
COVID-19 vaccine, which is about four million doses, expected to arrive in Nigeria on
Tuesday.
The Executive Director, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency
(NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19
briefing on Monday in Abuja.

Shuaib said that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and chairman of the
PTF on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, would liaise with other key strategic persons to fix
the date for the public vaccination aimed at protecting Nigerians against the COVID-19
pandemic.
He assured Nigerians that all necessary safety and quality control measures have been put
in place for the arrival, storage and successful administration of the vaccine in the
country.

NBC jams Radio Biafra signals in Lagos – Official
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) says it has jammed the signals of a
private radio claiming to be Radio Biafra in most parts of Lagos.
Ekanem Antia, the Deputy Director, Public Affairs of NBC, made the disclosure in a
statement by the management of the commission on Monday in Abuja.
Antia said the illegal radio which broadcast incendiary messages was notorious for
spewing fake, inflammatory and inciting content.
According to him, the commission, therefore, warns the public that anybody who
attempts to operate broadcasting in Nigeria without legal authorisation of the NBC will
be prosecuted and the equipment, confiscated according to Law.
He further stated that the State Security Services and the Nigerian Police had been
requested to bring the culprits behind the illegality to book.
Former French president jailed for corruption
A Paris court on Monday convicted French former President, Nicolas Sarkozy, for
corruption and influence peddling, sentencing him to three years in prison.
President from 2007 to 2012, Sarkozy, 66, was convicted of trying to bribe a magistrate
in exchange for information about a legal case in which he was implicated.
Two of the three years is suspended sentence, meaning he will not serve the term if he
does not commit any new offense in the next five years.
He was sentenced over some wiretapped phone conversations that took place in February
2014 which himself and his longtime friend, Thierry Herzog, had with magistrate Gilbert
Azibert retired
Prosecutors believed they promised Azibert a job in Monaco in exchange for leaking
information about another legal case involving Sarkozy.

He is expected to face the Paris court again later this month over alleged suspicious
spending of $50.7 million during his 2012 presidential campaign, which he lost to
Socialist rival Francois Hollande.