Police in the German city of Munich have asked members of the public to submit any videos, photos or audio recordings from Friday’s mass shooting.
Nine people were killed and 16 wounded, three of them critically, at a shopping mall by a lone gunman who later shot himself dead nearby.
No motive has yet been established for the attack.
The attack is the third on civilians in western Europe in eight days, following the violence in Nice and Wuerzburg.
Police will give an update on their investigation later today.
Special forces have reportedly searched the killer’s home in the Munich district of Maxvorstadt.
Interior Minister, Thomas de Maiziere has given orders for flags to be flown at half-mast across Germany in mourning for the dead.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has delayed a holiday in the Alps to chair a meeting of the national security council later on Saturday.
The authorities say Munich is returning to normal as public transport services, which were closed down during the huge manhunt following the attack, resumed overnight.
People could be seen laying flowers and lighting candles outside the Olympia shopping mall on Saturday.
The Nigerian Army has deployed another batch of 700 officers and soldiers to Liberia on a peacekeeping mission after a 4-week special training in preparation for their induction into the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission.
During the passing out ceremony for troops at the Nigerian Army Peacekeeping Centre, Jaji, Kaduna State, the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, urged them to avoid any act capable of tarnishing the image of the nation.
The army chief who was represented by the Chief of Training and Operations, Hamza Umaru, also reminded the soldiers that the Nigerian Army would not tolerate any act of cowardice or professional negligence while carrying out their operations in Liberia.
He urged them to abide by the Rules of Engagement, exhibit braveness as professionals and to also respect the cultural sensitivity of the people of Liberia, while also reminding them of the United Nations’ zero tolerance for drug trafficking.
Acting Commandant of Nigerian Army Peacekeeping Centre, Adamu Dauda, said he was confident that the high level of enthusiasm and cohesion exhibited by the soldiers would reflect on their operational conduct.
The army authorities say the training exercise is in line with the Nigerian Army Headquarters’ desire to ensure that troops receive the needed robust and theatre-specific pre-deployment training prior to their induction into peacekeeping missions.
The contingents are expected to depart to Liberia in a couple of days.
Maj. Gen. Leo Irabor (centre) during the press conference
Commander of the counter-insurgency operations in the North-East, also called Operation Lafiya Dole, Leo Irabor, has revealed that a first cousin to the Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Olonisakin was killed in a recent operation against the Boko Haram insurgency.
Irabor made the revelation during a press conference on recent operations of his command in Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital, saying that nobody is left out in the sacrifice to rid the nation of terrorism.
He said that some soldiers and volunteer youth vigilante group, civilian JTF were still missing in the recent operations against the insurgents.
“I wish to use this medium to indicate that high prices are being paid by officers and soldiers of Operation Lafiya Dole. Our hearts go out to all the families of our colleagues who have paid the supreme price,” he said.
He pledged that the troops would liberate the entire Northeast from the claws of terrorism and insurgency “as our respect to the heroic efforts of these departed colleagues.”
Irabor commiserated with the Chief of Defence Staff over the loss of his cousin in the last operation in Kargarwa, insisting that in the ongoing war against terrorism, every soldier and officer are involved and willing to sacrifice for peace to return to the country.
The army commander narrated that on July 12, “our troops at Kargarwa came under Boko Haram terrorist attack as they consolidate their hold on the location,
“The troops fought gallantly killing 25 Boko Haram terrorists and capturing two RPG tubes, a 60mm mortal tube, two MGs, twelve AK47 riffles, a LMG.”
“The following day, additional three bodies of Boko Haram terrorists were discovered along with other Boko Haram terrorist equipment. Sadly, however, we lost an officer (the CDS’s cousin) and a soldier while 11 others were wounded,
All the wounded have been stabilized with five of them already returned to the front lines after treatment,” he said.
Former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu, has returned to the All Progressives Congress.
The former EFCC boss was one of the founding leaders of the ruling party but defected to the PDP in 2014, few months to the 2015 general elections.
In a statement posted on his social media handle, the former EFCC boss said that he had “finally heeded the calls on me to return to the All Progressives Congress, a party of which I was a founding member”.
“I re-registered as a member of the APC on Thursday through the party’s online portal. After that, the leadership of the party in my Bako ward of Yola South Local Government Area visited me in my Yola residence to welcome me back to their fold,” the former ACN presidential aspirant said.
Ribadu stated further that his decision to return to the APC was informed by “my belief that all politics are local. Almost everyone around me, and with whom we started my political journey believed the time had come for us to make sacrifices and make concessions.”
Gunshots rang out Friday evening at a shopping mall in Munich, the capital of Germany in what police has described as a suspected terror attack.
Police say the perpetrators of the attack are still on the run, and they advise people to avoid public places.
There are reports of at least six people killed, but police have not confirmed that figure.
A big security operation is under way at the Olympia Mall in the North-western Moosach district.
Shop workers have been unable to leave the building and there is no information yet about a possible motive for the attack.
The police quoted eyewitnesses as saying they had seen three attackers carrying guns.
Security forces have been on the alert after a teenage migrant stabbed and injured five people on a train in Bavaria on Monday in an attack that was later claimed by the Islamic State.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Niger Delta University, NDU, chapter has accused Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State of establishing a private university named African International University, AIU.
The academic body regretted that the government was thinking of establishing a private university with state resources despite several months of unpaid salaries of lecturers, and underfunding of NDU.
ASUU alleged that Dickson plans to strangulate the state-owned university because of the new private university.
The NDU chapter of ASUU expressed these concerns on Friday during a press conference at the NDU’s Faculty of Law Campus in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.
The Chairman, ASUU, NDU chapter, Stanley Ogoun, who addressed newsmen, said the passage of the bill to establish AIU, a public-private partnership arrangement, to be sited at Toru Orua, Dickson’s hometown, was an attempt to destroy the state-owned university.
Ogoun wondered why a government that was unable to adequately fund the NDU could be tinkering with the idea of establishing a new university under a partnership arrangement via counterpart funding with a promise to make it better than NDU.
He said, “The first concern is the issue of timing. Is this an auspicious time for a policy like this, considering the state government’s failure to pay salaries spanning into several months?
“Who truly owns this African International University, who are the private promoters?
Why is the Governor of Bayelsa State, the Visitor to a supposed private-sector driven university?
Why are the supposed ‘investors’ faceless?
“What is the percentage of equity holding by the Bayelsa State Government and that of the supposed ‘investors’ in the private public arrangement?
“We know that all universities are established by a single law, and therefore, if the African International University is private sector driven which implies a private sector majority shareholding, why should it be the responsibility of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly to pass the law setting up the university?
“Why must a private sector led company be established by a Bayelsa State Government law?”
The ASUU Chairman sought to know why the supposed faceless “investors” involved in the PPP arrangement could not obtain a licence from the National University Commission.
Ogoun also wondered why the state Assembly passed the bill with within 24 hours, without a public hearing as required of bills of such nature.
He said that a glance at the bill indicated clearly that it is simply prototype of the NDU law 2000 as amended in 2004, noting that the NDU Law 2000 was plagiarised.
He, therefore, called on all Bayelsa people, the Ijaw nation and the general public to be vigilant and stand up against any fraudulent intent that would enslave the masses.
But the government in a reaction denied that Dickson owns the private university and kept sealed lips on the owners and promoters.
The government said the allegation that Dickson was planning to establish his private university under the pretence of a PPP arrangement was untrue.
The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Jonathan Obuebite, said the new university was an idea conceived by private investors who wanted the state partnership.
Obuebite said, “We announced the intention of the State Government to engage the private sector to float a new university to be named the African International University.
“Shortly after the announcement, as expected, the social media was awash with different tales of the idea behind the University and the real intention.
“Some accused us of going to open a new University when we have said we cannot continue to fund the Niger Delta University.
“This wrong notion and interpretation of our move is sad but we thank them for displaying their folly and mischief and commend them also for giving their paymaster a reason to believe they are working.”
250 former members of the youth vigilante, civilian-joint task force, who had been supporting the Nigerian military in the fight against Boko Haram, have been fully inducted into the Nigerian army after concluding their military training.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, the newly-recruited troopers were at the Maiduguri Government House in Maiduguri on Friday to thank the state Governor, Kashim Shettima for the role he played in helping them to join the army.
Benjamin Solomon, the leader of the team and commander of the parade, was full of eulogies for the governor as well as the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, while pleading that others, who are currently in the CJTF, be given the opportunity to serve in the military.
“We are here to say thank for making us become soldiers of our great country. We thank the president and we thank our father, the Chief of Army Staff, who ensured that we are soldiers today,” Solomon said.
“We are very many in the state and we are pleading that others too be given the same opportunity to become soldiers as well. We also have graduates among us who could also be given an opportunity to serve as officers of various military and paramilitary services. To us, it is now time to serve our country by laying down our lives to protect its territorial integrity”
Governor Shettima, in his remarks, said “The emergence of the Civilian-JTF is a game changer in the fight against Boko Haram.”
“One major issue that needs to be reported is the once strained relationship that existed between the people of our state and the military. But with the emergence of the Civilian-JTF the relationship became cordial. When the historical epoch of the Boko Haram insurgency is being written, the Civilian-JTF will have a chunk place of recognition,” he said.
Shettima thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chief of Army Staff, “for helping us to absorb our gallant youth into the Nigerian Army,
“We are not going to stop at this; we are not going to get tired in going after all the service chiefs as we are going to keep knocking on their doors until all our Civilian-JTF members are into various military and paramilitary outfits.”
Shettima also advised the new recruits to be good ambassadors of the state and be loyal to the army hierarchy, urging them “to go to wherever you are posted and deal with all enemies of the country the way you dealt with Boko Haram terrorists.”
Kaka Lawan, the state attorney general and commissioner of justice, had earlier said that other batches of the Civilian-JTF would soon be absorbed into the Nigeria Police and other agencies.
He said 30 of the JTF had already joined the Department of State Security, DSS, as junior personnel.
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo-Udoma
The Federal Government has commenced collation of data towards addressing infrastructure imbalance in all the zones of the country, with a view to stemming the tide of restiveness, corruption and poverty.
According to a press release by Akpandem James, Media Adviser to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo-Udoma, this was made known by the acting chairman of the Federal Character Commission, FCC, Shettima Abba, during a courtesy visit on the Minister in Abuja on Friday.
The statement quoted Abba as saying that the FCC is already looking into data banks and soliciting information from appropriate quarters in a bid to properly establish the spread of basic infrastructural facilities as well as identify and confirm areas of real and perceived lopsidedness.
The FCC chairman explained that the commission intends to draw government’s attention to areas where there are genuine lapses as well as suggest measures to address them, so as to give every segment of the country a genuine sense of belonging.
Abba told the Minister that his team would require the assistance of the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in the course of its assignment, and advised Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to ensure equitable distribution of amenities across states and zones of the country.
Senator Udoma reaffirmed government’s resolve to ensure fairness to all the zones of the federation in the provision of infrastructural facilities.
He pointed out that in drafting the 2016 Budget, conscious effort was made to spread critical infrastructure across the six political zones.
Udoma informed the FCC team that the Federal Government already has in place an infrastructure master plan backed up with a strategic implementation plan to ensure that every state and zone is adequately catered for; pointing out that the thrust of the 2016 budget was on the provision of road and rail infrastructure.
The intention is that in the not too distant future, Nigerians should be able to easily chose on whether to travel across the country by road, rail or air.
Udoma said the initiative will also provide backbone infrastructure for agriculture and solid mineral development in line with the economic diversification agenda of the federal government.
He assured that the two establishments will work together in partnership towards an integration process that will usher in peace, progress and prosperity.
Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday lambasted the Department of State Security, DSS, for fragrant disregard for a court order that an accused person be remanded in prison.
Justice Dimgba had on Thursday ruled that Umar Mohammed, a retired Air Commodore, who was arraigned before him, be remanded in Kuje Prison pending the hearing of his bail application.
But according to the Counsel to the accused person, Hassan Liman, the DSS whisked his client away to their headquarters immediately after the court proceedings ended on Thursday.
When hearing resumed on Friday, the DSS did not produce the suspect in court as his counsel argued his bail application.
But the prosecuting counsel explained that the defendant was taken to the DSS office for some documentation.
Dimgba was visibly angry with the action of the DSS, describing it as an embarrassment to democracy.
“I take a strong exception to this type of behaviour; when the court orders that someone be kept in prison custody, the person ought to be kept in prison and not in the office,” the Judge said.
“If the people at the DSS want to become judges and do their job as well, I am ready to vacate my office for them, but as long as I am still here, I take an exception to them flouting the orders of the court.
“Once processes have been filed in court, it is no longer in their hands and the order of the court must be obeyed,’’ Dimgba warned.
He asked the prosecuting counsel, E.A Orji, to inform the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the development.
The accused person, a member of the presidential team investigating the arms deal in the country, was charged with money laundering, possession of fire arms and violation of provision of Official Secret Act.
Another incidence of a missing plane is playing out in India where the country’s Air Force has confirmed to the BBC that a military plane with more than 20 people on board has gone missing over the Bay of Bengal.
The Antonov-32 transporter aircraft took off from Chennai at 08:30 local time, heading to Port Blair in the eastern archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar and was scheduled to land at 11:30 local time.
The missing aircraft was carrying service personnel to strategic islands near the Malacca Straits, where India has a military base.
The ministry of defence said four aircraft, 12 ships and a submarine have been deployed to search for the plane.
The Indian Air Force operates more than 100 Antonov-32 aircraft.
The BBC reports that the IAF has a relatively poor safety record and the Russian-made aircraft which form the backbone of the Indian fleet have been the most accident-prone.
