By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Waidi Shuaibu, on Monday, disclosed that the Nigerian Army has established new brigades, battalions and operational units across six states as part of efforts to strengthen security operations and improve rapid response to emerging threats nationwide.

Shuaibu said the new formations were created to enhance the Army’s operational posture, expand military presence in volatile areas and improve responses to security challenges across the country.

The COAS made this known during the opening ceremony of the Chief of Army Staff First Bi-Annual Conference 2026 held in Abuja.

According to him, the Army has continued to sustain an enhanced operational posture through troop deployments, restructuring of formations and the establishment of additional Joint Task Force units in strategic locations.

He said, “The Nigerian Army has maintained an enhanced operational posture through continuous troop deployments, reconfiguration of formations and the establishment of additional Joint Task Force formations and units in critical locations.

“For instance, the 15 Brigade and its affiliated units in Anambra and Imo states, the 12 Battalion in Anyigba, the 226 Battalion in Ganye, Adamawa State, the 247 Reconnaissance Battalion in Mubi, Army Headquarters Logistics Base 4 in Gusau, Army Logistics Base 5 in Ilorin, and Operation Savannah Shield in the North Central have all been established to enhance operational presence and improve responses to emerging security challenges.”

He noted that the measures were aimed at improving operational effectiveness and strengthening the Army’s capacity to respond swiftly to security threats across different regions of the country.

The Army Chief further disclosed that the establishment of the Depot Nigerian Army in Amasiri, Edda, is aimed at supporting the implementation of the Commander-in-Chief’s directive for the recruitment of an additional 28,000 personnel to strengthen manpower levels.

“Additionally, the establishment of the Depot Nigerian Army Amasiri, Edda (Ebonyi), is geared towards achieving the mandate of the Commander-in-Chief’s directive of recruiting an additional 28,000 troops under the expansion programme.

“These measures have strengthened our operational reach, improved response time and facilitated effective intelligence-led operations. Consequently, we have continued to disrupt criminal networks, degrade adversary capabilities and restore relative calm in several previously volatile areas,” he said.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Kano Zonal Directorate, on Monday, May 18, 2026 officially handed over recovered monetary exhibits totaling ₦837,485,389.00 to the Katsina State Government.

The handover followed separate investigations into two major cases involving stolen public funds belonging to the state.

In the first case, the Commission recovered ₦547,015,389.00 ( Five Hundred and Forty Seven Million, Fifteen Thousand, Three Hundred and Eighty Nine Naira) following a petition from the Katsina State Government regarding the criminal diversion of nearly ₦1.3 billion in statutory tax remittances.

The funds, which originated from international organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and ALIMA, were systematically diverted into a private bank account by six Board of Internal Revenue Service (BOIRS) personnel and three bank employees. Following the investigation, 12 suspects were charged to court. Six of the suspects have already been convicted after pleading guilty, while the remaining six are currently standing trial at the Katsina State High Court.

In the second case, the Commission recovered ₦290,470,000.00 ( Two Hundred and Ninety Million, Four Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira) traced to a systemic fraud uncovered by a 2021 intelligence report. The investigation revealed that former Sub-Treasurer, Sani Lawal BK and former Deputy Sub-Treasurer Saadu Maiwada in the office of the Accountant General of Katsina State colluded and diverted the sum to their personal companies through unauthorized, substantial cash withdrawals from the Katsina State Sub-Treasury Expenditure Account. Investigation also revealed that no services were rendered, nor any contracts awarded to warrant the withdrawals.

The suspects had since been charged to court and arraigned on July 11, 2023 on offences bordering on money laundering and misappropriation of funds in both Federal and State High Courts. Trials have commenced and witnesses are testifying before the courts.

The handover ceremony took place at the Kano Zonal Directorate, where the Zonal Director, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE1Friday S. Ebelo, presented the recovered funds to Dr. Kabir Abdullahi Yantumaki, Executive Director of Standard and Compliance, Katsina State Internal Revenue Service.

Speaking during the ceremony, Ebelo reiterated the Commission’s unwavering commitment to ensuring that public funds are protected and that individuals entrusted with their management are held accountable. He noted that the recovery was a result of painstaking investigative work by the hardworking officers of the Commission. He also urged the Katsina State Government to utilize the recovered funds judiciously for the benefit of Katsina State citizens.

“This money belongs to the people of Katsina State, and I will urge that same be used for the betterment of the people of Katsina State,” he said. He urged public officials to adhere to due process and warned that the EFCC would continue to track all forms of financial malfeasance.

Receiving the drafts, Yantumaki expressed gratitude to the EFCC for its diligence and professionalism. He assured that the recovered funds would be properly channeled into the state’s consolidated revenue account for the benefit of citizens.

By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

The family of former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, on Monday, raised the alarm after the Department of State Services, DSS, officials allegedly took him into custody following a court sitting at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

According to the family, the action was in apparent breach of existing court orders directing that he remain in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ICPC.

El-Rufai’s second wife, Hasiat, who addressed journalists outside the DSS facility, said the family was traumatized by the development and lived daily under the shadow of threats and surveillance.

“We now live in constant fear. Every day we get a threat — DSS is coming to raid your house, ICPC is coming to raid your house, police are coming to raid your house. You are being followed. Our phones are tapped,” she said.

She narrated that earlier in the day, el-Rufai had appeared before Justice Joyce AbdulMalik of the Federal High Court, who granted bail and stood the matter down until 1pm.

During the break, she said, he was briefly taken to the DSS facility — a move he resisted, insisting that two subsisting court orders from a Kaduna court directed that he be remanded with the ICPC.

“He said to them, I am not going to step down because there are two court orders that the Kaduna court gave that I should be remanded in ICPC. Why are you bringing me here? He said, I am not a furniture to be moved,” she recounted.

She said he was subsequently returned to the ICPC, but that after the afternoon session — during which the prosecution sought an adjournment and the judge fixed a resumption for the following day — he was again brought to the DSS instead of being returned to ICPC custody.

As of the time she spoke, she said el-Rufai had refused to step out of the vehicle.

“He told them that if you want to take me inside DSS custody, you will have to physically force me into doing this, because you had an agreement.

“When Justice AbdulMalik said I should go to DSS in the first instance, we told her that there are subsisting orders. And she said, let DSS and ICPC go and decide who will keep him — and you people decided they are keeping him with ICPC.

“What has changed?” she queried.

Hasiat also disclosed that el-Rufai, who has been in custody for 91 days, had been denied access to his personal physicians in violation of a court order by Justice Aikawa of the Kaduna State High Court granting him unfettered access to his lawyers and doctors.

She explained that the ICPC’s own in-house doctor had recommended that el-Rufai run medical tests, after which it was agreed that the doctors would return to discuss the results with him.

That agreement, she said, was subsequently disregarded.

“When you see a doctor and you run tests, you are expected to see the doctor back so that he explains what the problem is. He was denied access to the doctor because in their own explanation, they said Malam was not aware that the doctor was coming. I asked Malam — Malam said nobody told him,” she said.

The family’s demands were clear: el-Rufai’s immediate return to ICPC custody in line with the existing court orders, restoration of his access to personal physicians, and an end to what they described as psychological torment of both the former governor and his family.

El-Rufai’s son and member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Bello el-Rufai, was unequivocal that the entire affair was politically motivated, questioning the stringency of bail conditions that he said were deliberately designed to be impossible to meet.

“Who keeps a person for 91 days? Why were the terms of the bail so stringent that it is practically impossible for anybody to meet? Why do you have to say that Kaduna State Council of Chiefs will have to give an attestation? Why are we saying that it has to be a government staff of level 17, with a house in Asokoro or Maitama? Which civil servant has N100 million?

“What are we trying to do — are we trying to make people come out so that they can be targeted too?” he asked.