Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has selected a Nigerian
general to lead a U.N. Board of Inquiry to investigate a series of
attacks on hospitals in Syria’s last opposition stronghold in the
northwest.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced Friday that the
three-member board, which will start work on September 30, will be
led by Lt. Gen. Chikadibia Obiakor and include Janet Lim of
Singapore and Maria Santos Pais of Portugal.
Dujarric said the board will ascertain the facts of the attacks
and not assess blame. Its findings will not be made public, he
said.
Guterres announced the establishment of the board on August 1,
following a series of attacks on hospitals in the Idlib in
northwest Syria.
In January 2018, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping
Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, had also appointed Obiakor to lead
a special investigation into the killing of some Burundian refugees
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
According to his Wiki citation, 68-year-old Obiakor was born on
February 18, 1951.
He started his military career with the Nigerian Army in 1973,
and had served variously as the Commander of the Economic Community
of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) Artillery Brigade
in Liberia from 1996 to 1997; the ECOMOG Chief Coordinator of the
Liberian elections in July 1997, and as the General Officer
Commanding, Second Mechanized Division of the Nigerian Army.
He also held the position of Chief of Administration of the
Nigerian Army, in charge of the welfare, discipline and medical
services for all Nigerian military personnel.
Obiakor is a graduate of the National War College in Abuja,
having obtained a Master of Science degree in strategic studies
from the University of Ibadan; and had participated in numerous
international military courses.
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Bello Audu Abuja Kaduna
Kidnapper
I’ve killed 10 People, rustled 100,000 cows,
Abuja-Kaduna kidnapper confesses
A notorious kidnapper, who specializes in abducting innocent
travellers along the dangerous Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, Bello Audu,
has confessed to have so far killed about 10 people since he began
his illicit kidnapping business, last year.
He also disclosed that he and other bandits have rustled about
100,000 cattle in various communities since he relocated to Niger
State from Kajuru, a popular town in Kaduna State.
Audu, 42, made the revelations while been quizzed by a detective
of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
In the video footage exclusively obtained by PRNigeria[1], the 42-year old
criminal said he and others, have participated in about 50
kidnapping operations, using AK-47 riffle, among other dangerous
ammunition.
Audu, who added that they collected N3 million each for six of
their abducted victims, said: “We once collected N10, N16, N17, N19
and N20 million, among other amounts for other victims too.”
He further disclosed that their ammunition supplier sells an
AK-47 riffle to them for either N600,000, or N650,000, and
sometimes even N700,000.
“I don’t buy magazines in pieces. I usually order for a
container of magazines, which contains about 900 rounds. And a
round of magazine is sold to us for just N1000,” he said.
The middle-aged kidnapper, who said he has two wives and five
children, noted that he always resort to killing some of his
victims if their relatives refuse to cooperate and quickly pay
ransom for them.
“I may be forced to just eliminate or shot persons I kidnapped
if their relatives speak to me rudely while negotiating for their
ransom,” he said.
The notorious bandit, while revealing that his fellow kidnappers
have several hideouts in Rijana community, along Abuja-Kaduna
highway, said he regretted adopting kidnapping as a source of
livelihood.
Audu, promised to cooperate with the Police to mop up his
weapons, and also fish out other kidnappers and bandits in the two
affected States.