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How NYCN members disappeared after Rivers conference – Official [PHOTOS]

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4 years ago

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NYCN members disappear after Rivers conference

National Youth Council of Nigeria reports two of its members are missing after they attending an event involving the council at the Ministry of Justice Conference Hall in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, TopNaija understands.

 

Rivers State NYCN Chairman, Chijioke Ihunwo, who disclosed this to our correspondent on Sunday said the youths were missing four days after attending the youth conference in the State capital.

Ihunwo said one of the missing NYCN members is Napoleon Spiff and Chairman of the NYCN in the Rivers East Senatorial District, while the other is Zachariah Levi George, the National President of the National Union of Rivers State Students, just as he appealed to security agencies in the state to launch a manhunt for the missing youths.

He further said families of the youths were in distress over their whereabouts, even as he expressed fears that they may have been kidnapped.

At least five people were killed in a gun and bomb attack by suspected Al-Shabaab fighters on an upscale beachfront hotel in Somalia’s capital on Sunday, officials and witnesses said. Security forces were struggling to regain control of the Elite Hotel in the Lido beach area more than an hour after the assault began, and the assailants appeared to have taken hostages, government security official Ahmed Omar told AFP. “There is still sporadic gunfire and the initial information we have received indicates five people died and more than 10 others were wounded,” he said. “The death toll can increase because the blast was massive and there is a hostage situation involved.” Aamin Ambulance, a Mogadishu-based private service, reported that at least 28 people were wounded. – ‘Chaos and people fleeing’ – Witnesses confirmed that the attack began with a heavy explosion and reported that people were running from the area as gunfire could be heard from the hotel, which is frequented by government officials. “The blast was very heavy and I could see smoke in the area. There is chaos and people are fleeing from nearby buildings,” said witness Ali Sayid Adan. The dead included at least one government official: Abdirasak Abdi, who worked at the information ministry, said his colleague Hussein Ali. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but it was similar to others carried out by the Al-Shabaab jihadist group, which is affiliated to Al-Qaeda. Somalia plunged into chaos after the 1991 overthrow of then-President Siad Barre’s military regime, leading to years of clan warfare followed by the rise of Al-Shabaab which once controlled large parts of the country and Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab was driven out of the capital in 2011, but its militants continue to wage war against the government, carrying out regular attacks. Last week four Shabaab fighters held in Mogadishu’s central prison were killed in an intense shootout with security forces after they somehow managed to get their hands on weapons within the facility.

“I want to use this medium to inform the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, the Director, Department of State Services and other sister security agencies that the Vice Chairman, NYCN, Rivers East Senatorial District and the National President, National Union of Rivers State Students have been missing.

“They were missing after they left the Ministry of Justice conference hall at the end of the International Youth Day on the 12th of August and have not been seen by their family members.

“I call on the Commissioner of Police and all the security agencies to as a matter of urgency look out for these two young men. We have confidence that they can find out what happened and fish out those involved in their arrest or kidnap and bring them to book,” Ihunwo stated.

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