On August 24, 2013, two men suspected to be members of Boko Haram were killed after they were arrested by Civilian Joint Task Force volunteers in Maiduguri for allegedly disguising as women in an attempt to escape arrest.
Eyewitness accounts disclosed that the suspects were apprehended by volunteer youths in one of the city’s neighborhoods after residents raised alarm over suspicious movement.
According to local security sources, the men reportedly dressed in female clothing in what the youths described as an effort to evade the ongoing crackdown by the Civilian JTF, also known as vigilante groups.
The volunteer youths detained the suspects and subsequently handed them over to the Joint Military Task Force, JTF, operating in the state at the time.
Sources further revealed that the two men were killed shortly, instead of being prosecuted after the handover.
Residents who discovered the bodies in Hausari Ward, a residential area in Maiduguri, alerted authorities about the sad development.
August 24 in Nigerian History: Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was born
On August 24, 1937, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, the businessman, philanthropist was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Abiola, who rose from humble beginnings as a newspaper vendor, scaled to become one of Africa’s most prominent businessmen.
He was born to a poor family as the 23rd child of his father. Despite the odds, he earned a degree in Accounting from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and returned home to build both business and public service. He built the Concord Group of Newspapers and held interests in banking, oil, agriculture and aviation.
In 1993, he contested and won what observers described as Nigeria’s freest and fairest presidential election. The results were later annulled by the military government, a decision that triggered years of protests and civil unrest.
Following his declaration to reclaim the mandate, Abiola was arrested in 1994 and detained for four years. He died in custody on July 7, 1998, on the day he was scheduled to meet with UN and US officials.
In 2018, the Federal Government under the leadership of late President Muhammadu Buhari posthumously conferred on him the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, GCFR, and declared June 12 as Democracy Day in his honor.
