News
Putin orders massive recruitment into Russian Army *Targets 160,000 in three months
An estimated 160,000 men aged 18-30 are expected to be drafted into the Russian Army in the next three months, to raise its strength to a record high of 2.3 million desired by President Vladimir Putin.
The massive drafting, expected to run between April and July and reportedly the highest in the country since 2011, is said to be part of an ongoing expansion of Russia’s armed forces, against the ongoing war in Ukraine which has been on since February 2022.
Russia had invaded the neighbouring country three years ago, based on some prevailing issues including the bid to stop Kyiv from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisations (NATO), a development, which earned it wide condemnations across the world and isolation in most of the Europe countries including heavy sanctions.
But in the face of heavy resistance from Ukraine amid support from other countries particularly the United States under former President, Joe Biden in Ukraine leading to reported heavy losses in men and material, Moscow is said to be making the move to replenish its fighting forces.
Reports, which claim that the present recruitment surpassed that of 2024, which saw about 10,000 joining the army, indicate that it aimed at aligning with Putin’s goal of increasing Russia’s overall military strength to nearly 2.39 million personnel, including raising the number of active servicemen to 1.5 million, with estimated addition of 180,000 over three years.
Vice Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky stated that the new conscripts would not be deployed to Ukraine. However, reports suggest that some have been killed in combat, particularly in Russia’s border regions. In the early months of the full-scale war, conscripts were also sent to Ukraine despite official assurances to the contrary.
Moscow’s recruitment drive has intensified, not only through mandatory drafts but also by hiring contract soldiers and allegedly enlisting thousands of troops from North Korea. Since last year, the age limit for conscription has been raised from 27 to 30, significantly expanding the draft pool.
Call-up notices are being sent via mail and Russia’s state services website, Gosuslugi, ensuring broad and systematic enlistment.
Despite efforts by the U.S. to broker a ceasefire, fighting in Ukraine remains intense. On Tuesday, a Russian attack on a power station in the southern city of Kherson left 45,000 people without electricity. Meanwhile, Moscow claimed to have captured the village of Rozlyiv in the eastern Donetsk region.
Russia’s military buildup is widely seen as a response to its heavy battlefield losses. Independent reports from the BBC and Russian investigative outlet Mediazona have verified over 100,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, with estimates suggesting the true number could be twice as high.
Russia’s growing military force comes amid NATO’s continued expansion, which Moscow views as a direct security threat. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Finland and Sweden have joined the alliance, with Finland now sharing a 1,343 km (834-mile) border with Russia.
In response to perceived Russian aggression, Finland announced on Tuesday that it would withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which bans anti-personnel mines. The country joins Poland and the Baltic states in resuming the use of such weapons as a defensive measure. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo reassured citizens that the decision was based on military advice and that there was no immediate threat to Finland.
Additionally, Helsinki has pledged to increase defense spending to 3% of its GDP, up from 2.4% last year, reflecting a broader regional trend of military fortification.
Putin has expanded Russia’s military three times since the Ukraine invasion, linking the latest increase to “growing threats” from both NATO’s expansion and the prolonged conflict in Ukraine. Moscow’s defense ministry has emphasized that bolstering troop numbers is essential to national security.
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has given assignment to Nigerians to put all those aspiring to take up political positions in the country through the grill to ascertain their level of integrity, saying it was required as a sine qua non for the job they seek.
Obi, who has been a subject of discussion in the polity since the allegation of corruption was levied against him by Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman of his campaign in 2023, over the conduct of the party’s primaries to choose candidates for the 2027 general elections, said the grilling must start with his own person.
A guest in an interview on a podcast with Rufai Oseni, a popular television anchor, the former Governor of Anambra State, stated that it was actually for this reason that he had now sworn to see the litigation he instituted against Okonkwo through.
His take is that the Nollywood actor should use the courtrooms to give all the details of bad behaviour, following his threat to expose him fully, after alleging that he was collecting money from aspirants in the said election for electoral favours.
Hear him: “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So, I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any criminal allegations against me, they should bring them to court.
“Not just Kenneth, everybody should now say those things they know that is bad about me or I did that is wrong because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” Obi said.
“So, if you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating or didn’t go to the primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, didn’t do, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it up.”
For the umpteenth time, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned about the dangerous implication of using state institutions, particularly the judiciary to destroy Nigeria’s democracy, saying it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), speaking on the heels of Tuesday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal, halting the de-registration order by the Federal High Court, insisted that judicial officers must not lend themselves to any act capable of undermining the nation’s democratic process.
The appellate court had ordered a stay of execution on the order made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja, for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC alongside four other political parties).
A totally scandalised Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had taken umbrage, sparing no hard words in upbraiding the lower court judge, stating that his likes were unfit to sit on the bench.
In a unanimous ruling by a three-man panel, the court held that Lifu’s action was “the highest form of judicial impertinence”, stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner.
Describing his conduct as the height of judicial rascality, the upper court, stated: “Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. This Court has supervisory authority over the trial court.
“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.
This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for a stay of execution is here yet granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed.”
Atiku, who hailed the position of the higher court, which restored his hope to be on the ballot as presidential candidate in the 2027 election, also noted the role of INEC as “significant.”
He said: “I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgement seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties. It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.
“The development reflects growing public concern over judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings within the judiciary. “Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice.
Outside ADC, Lifu’s order, also included: Action Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), similarly slammed for allegedly failing to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and participation in elections.
“He is running in contempt of the court. Justice Lifu should be arrested because he is acting in contempt of the court which is a criminal act,” were the exact words with which the African Democratic Congress (ADC), demonstrated its angst over the court ruling on Monday, ordering its de-registration as a political party in Nigeria.
A furious Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the party, told his host while appearing as a guest on Monday’s edition of Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television that the judge of the Abuja Federal High Court who gave the order was actually playing with fire because of the consequences.
Directly accusing him of playing the script of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to ensure that President Bola Tinubu emerged the sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election, the party spokesman, was emphatic that the plan would not work, as head or tail, ADC must be on the ballot in all the elections.
Hear him: “There is a Court of Appeal order saying don’t hear this case until October 27. So, on what basis? You can’t place something on nothing. The Court of Appeal said don’t act on this until I hear it on October 27. So, on what basis did he deliver the judgement
“So, for us in the African Democratic Congress, what we’re convinced and they know is what they have done has no leg to stand on legally. What they want to do is to create doubts in the minds of the people that this ADC has too many legal cases, can we actually run on this? And to distract us. But we’re not distracted.
“We’re very clear. It was in spite of all they have done since ADC came on board that we ran one of the best and one of the most comprehensive direct primaries in the history of democracy in Nigeria. So, we are strong enough to withstand this. And that’s why I’m saying that we are going to contest in 2027. We’re ADC. We don’t buckle before dictatorship.”
Stressing on the implication of the judgement, which also affected Accord Party (AP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for allegedly failing to meet constitutional and electoral performance requirements, following a suit by the National Forum of Former Legislators, he said it portended grave danger.
He added: “We are not surprised. We know that the Nigerian people believe that there is a problem with the judiciary, but what we did not expect is the level of judicial rascality that was demonstrated today.
“What we are saying is that we reject it in its totality, and we are saying that the people behind this are playing with fire. Hundreds, if not thousands, have obtained nomination forms and contested elections and emerged as candidates on the platform of the ADC.”
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