The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Edward Buba, made this known while giving update on the operations of the armed forces, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
Buba said the ongoing counter terrorism and counter insurgency operations had prevented terrorist elements from accomplishing their strategic objectives.
According to him, the armed forces will continue to degrade the ability of the criminals to carry out small scale attacks which are intended to create panic in localities across operational theatres in the country.
“During the week under review, troops neutralised 254 and arrested 264 of them including 104 perpetrators of oil theft and rescued 73 kidnapped hostages.
“Troops also recovered 378 assorted weapons and 4,705 assorted ammunition comorising 131 AK47 rifles, two FN rifles, two G3 rifle, three SMGs, 69 locally fabricated guns and 57 pump action guns.
“They also include seven pistols, 14 locally fabricated pistols, five revolver rifles, four revolver pistols, 45 dane guns, four locally made single barrel, and two hand grenades, seven RPG Launchers, one RPG bomb, one locally made double barrel gun, 17 dane gun double barrel and IEDs.
“Others are: 2,444 rounds of 7.62mm special ammo, 1,712 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 80 rounds of 9mm ammo, 61 rounds of 5.45 x 39mm ammo, 6 rounds of 0.44 inch ammo, 415 live cartridges, 10 empty cases of cartridges, 11 magazines, 18 vehicles, 40 motorcycles, 74 mobile phones, four baofeng radios and the sum of N748,430 amongst other items,” he said.
In the North East, Buba said the troops of Operation Hadin Kai neutralised 63 Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, arrested 13 and recovered 47 AK47 rifles, among large cache of arms and ammunition.
He added that a total of 81 terrorists fighters and their family members comprising 28 adult males, 78 adult female and 147 children surrendered to troops in Bama and Damboa Local Government Areas of Borno during the week.
In the North Central, he said the troops of Operations Safe Haven and Whirl Stroke eliminated 35 insurgents, arrested 72 others and rescued five kidnapped hostage across Benue, Plateau and Taraba States within the week.
In the North West, Buba said the troops of Operation Hadarin Daji neutralised 128 insurgents, arrested 27 and rescued 65 kidnapped hostages in different encounters in Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto States.
He said the troops also recovered 124 AK47 rifles, 30 locally fabricated guns, six pump action guns, 1,233 rounds of 7.62mm special, 986 rounds of 7.62mm NATO, 54 rounds of 9mm ammo, 99 live cartridges amongst other items.
Buba said the troops of Operation Whirl Punch arrested 42 suspected illegal miners and insurgents from a mining site in Kwali Area Council of FCT Abuja during the week.
He said the troops also neutralised 14 insurgents and arrested 54 others in parts of Kaduna State and the FCT.
In the Niger Delta area, Buba said the troops of Operation Delta Safe discovered and destroyed 67 illegal refining sites with 131 dugout pits, 70 boats, 125 storage tanks and 12 vehicles.
“Other items recovered include 43 cooking ovens, 12 pump machines, six speed boats and one outboard engine.
“Troops also recovered 3.28 million litres of stolen crude oil, 224,050 litres of illegally refined AGO and 5,925 litres of DPK,” he said.
In the South East, Buba said the troops of Operation UDO KA, neutralised 28 insurgents, arrested two violent extremists and rescued one kidnapped hostage as well as recovered arms and ammunition.
In the South West, he said the troops of Operation AWATSE, successfully conducted cordon and search operation and apprehended nine suspected terrorists and rescued four kidnapped hostages in Badagry and Ikorodu areas of Lagos State.
The disturbing claims have been made by influencer and former OnlyFans star Lauren Pisciotta, who has already sued West once before.
In June, the social media star alleged that he sexually harassed and stalked her while she worked for him from 2021 until 2022.
West, 47, denied the previous claims and branded them ‘baseless’. While yet to file a defence, he accused Pisciotta, 36, of ‘blackmail and extortion’.
Now, her latest bombshell lawsuit makes a string of unsettling accusations, including West having sick sexual obsessions and fantasising about wanting to sleep with his targets’ mothers, including the family of his wife Bianca Censori.
Former Yeezy employee Pisciotta has said she first met the Gold Digger hitmaker when he invited her and a client to a studio session and party co-hosted by himself and Combs.
According to legal documents obtained by DailyMail, she was handed a drink by West himself, after which she ‘started to feel disorientated’ before she slipped into ‘a highly impaired state’.
‘She felt less in control of her body and speech, and that is where [her] memories of the night escape [her],’ it has been claimed.
The next day, Pisciotta felt ‘ashamed and embarrassed’ that she couldn’t recall the evening’s events while her musician client, who attended with her, refused to discuss what happened.
Pisciotta has said she only discovered the truth years later in West’s final weeks as her boss, understanding why her client felt ‘too traumatised’ to speak out until then.
After originally believing she had been drugged by a studio assistant but managing to get home without being attacked, Pisciotta learnt the extent of the night’s events from West himself.
West’s ex-wife – not named in the lawsuit but believed to be Kim Kardashian, who is his only former spouse – allegedly commented on him and Pisciotta having an affair in November 2022, to which Pisciotta said she wanted to contact her to set the record straight.
Pisciotta believed Kardashian, 43, who married West in 2014, was ‘under the wrong impression’ about their working relationship.
However, she has claimed West told her she couldn’t send a message to clear the air, because of what happened at the Santa Monica party.
‘We did, kind of, hook up a little one time,’ the lawsuit claimed West told Pisciotta.
‘[West] then immediately proceeded to reminisce about the time he was referring to… where he “hooked up” with [Pisciotta] after she had been drugged,’ the lawsuit added.
Pisciotta claimed West had told Kardashian they ‘hooked up’ but ‘left out the true nature and severity of what he did to [her]’.
Had Kardashian ‘been told the truth and known [Pisciotta] was, in fact, drugged and sexually assaulted by Kanye West’ she would never have made the comment, the lawsuit states.
Pisciotta allegedly told West that she did not remember anything from the party, to which he laughed in response.
He is said to have told her: ‘Women love to say they don’t remember’, before changing the subject.
He has been labelled a ‘premeditative and sadistic groomer’ who has taken advantage of his superstardom to fuel his ‘insatiable sexual gratification’ and ‘animalistic desires’ with ‘little boundaries’.
West married Censori, 29, two years ago. The Australian architectural designer met him when she began working at Yeezy in November 2020.
Their relationship has been a hot topic ever since they were first spotted together, with Censori frequently seen in public wearing extremely revealing outfits while her spouse is fully clothed.
In her lawsuit, Piscotta claims West sent her a screenshot on September 28, 2022, of a text chain between him and his wife, talking about having sex with her mother.
‘I want to f**k your mom. Before she leaves,’ he wrote, as per the suit.
He asked Pisciotta: ‘Should I add I meant I want you to watch me f**k your mom?’
‘Is [young A-list fashion model] better for me than [different A-list fashion model]? How do I tell her I need to f**k her mom baaad’.
While shooting for the campaign, West headed for breaks, during which he instructed wife Censori and other female guests to perform oral sex on him and fellow men in the changing rooms.
He later boasted about this to Pisciotta, as well as the time in June 2022 when he allegedly drank a bottle of wine with a model before inserting it into her vagina.
‘I feel like you could be a spectator… I just feel like she needs an audience. A beautiful audience lol,’ he wrote, the lawsuit claimed.
Other disconcerting texts sent from West to Piscotta include the time she was delayed with travel due to work visas.
Saying he wanted to go back to Los Angeles, he wrote: ‘Aaaaaaaaand there’s soooo much p***y in LA I may rent a room, take the honey pack, drink some tequila and just take appointments…
‘I’m a great guy and dad. But I love bad b***hes and I love the f*k the s**t outa bad b***hes and make them fall in love too.’
Pisciotta makes several other claims about West abusing his connections at high-profile brands, such as Adidas and Gap, to get women into the US on work visas so he could sleep with them.
They were given ‘obscure job titles’ at his companies and made to sign non-disclosure agreements.
However, he is believed to have been ‘brazenly open’ with Pisciotta and other staff about what happened, divulging ‘grotesque details’, including telling them that he filmed his sexual encounters to ‘get the full picture’.
The lawsuit also claims West often ‘offered up’ his sexual partners, employees, and women he trafficked as ‘gifts’ to his friends and colleagues.
Pisciotta claimed he tried to ‘gift’ her too, but was unsuccessful.
•’EFCC’s silence on Ganduje despite monumental corruption allegations no longer golden’
A Coalition of 30 Anti-corruption Civil Society Organizations have called for the resignation of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, over his alleged failure to prosecute a former Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, despite multiple petitions against him on multi-billion naira fraud and bribery allegations.
The CSOs, under the umbrella, “Global Initiative for Corruption Eradication”, also called for the immediate arrest of Ganduje, who they said had no immunity, but was allegedly enjoying the cover of the Federal Government through the EFCC.
The spokesperson for GICE, Comrade Anthony Onoja, who addressed a press conference in Abuja on Friday, said, “N50billion diverted LGA funds, dollar video and N1billion naira probe seem to have all been swept under the carpet. It’s been over 2,200 days since the dollar video scandal broke and yet EFCC is silent.”
The activists urged well meaning Nigerians and relevant international organizations to join in stopping the EFCC from further insulting the sensibilities of Nigerians by calling for the immediate arrest and prosecution of Ganduje.
“The chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) must resign from his position if he fails to arrest and prosecute Governor Ganduje in line with our extant laws.
“The continued silence of the EFCC despite the monumental corruption allegations against Ganduje, despite the many petitions, the avalanche of evidence(s) available and protest from various groups and the Kano state government to probe and bring Ganduje to book is no longer golden. It also negates its constant rebuttal of keeping sacred cows.
“The general perception of Nigerians now is that the EFCC, as it is, has abandoned its original mandate by becoming a political tool in the hands of the government of the day for eliminating political rivals and perceived enemies,” Onoja said.
He added that the EFCC was now seen by Nigerians as a major conduit of misappropriation of public funds and a tool for political persecution.
“While these perceptions have become increasingly prevalent, the agency has further justified and vindicated the majority of Nigerians that hold this view with its recent selective prosecution of alleged corrupt public officers; and allowing very corrupt ones to walk free after suppressing the wheel of justice from taking its full effect against them.
“An example of these sacred cows that have continued to walk free despite the monumental corruption allegations against him is the former governor of Kano and current National chairman of the ruling party, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje,” the activists said.
They stated: “It would be recalled that the Kano High Court was to arraign the former Kano Governor, Umaru Ganduje and his wife on April 17, 2024, over allegations of bribery and misappropriation of funds by the state government. Neither he nor his wife went to court. They also disrespected the court so much that they didn’t send a legal representation.
“The case was adjourned to 29th April but was stalled again. No representation, no appearance. Ganduje was not present. The case was again adjourned to May 16, and on that day, arraignment was rescheduled to June 5. Still, the former governor, who no longer has immunity under our extant laws and is not above the laws of Nigeria by virtue of being the Chairman of the ruling party, did not show up. No representation still.
“The last arraignment was supposed to be July 11. At the resumed proceedings on July 11, Ganduje and his co-defendants were again absent. The judge declined a prayer by the prosecution counsel for a warrant of arrest but ruled that the defendants could be tried in absentia.”
According to them, while the creation of the EFCC by the Obasanjo administration was greeted with commendations, EFCC has derailed.
“Finally, our group is of the considered view that perhaps if the EFCC in its current form is disbanded because of its constitutional illegality as pointed out by the states in the current case against the EFCC at the Apex Court, it would be able to perform its real functions of stamping out corruption when its law is properly enacted,” the CSOs added.