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Tag: Abubakar Shekau

  • Kidnapped girls highlight Nigeria’s many security challenges

    Kidnapped girls highlight Nigeria’s many security challenges

    Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls, a day after President Goodluck Jonathan ordered a three day shutdown of the capital Abuja during the World Economic Conference.

    Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau on Monday (05.05.2014) claimed the Islamist militant group was behind the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from northeastern Nigeria. “I am the one that abducted them,” the most wanted man in Nigeria said as part of a recorded message released to numerous media organisations. Shekau also warned that more attacks “will follow soon.”

    “I will sell them in the marketplace,” Shekau said in a video recording. The teenage girls were abducted on April 14 from a boarding school in the rural town of Chibok, near Borno state in northern Nigeria. According to an intermediary, two of the girls have died of snakebite and about 20 of them are ill. He was also quoted by AFP as saying that Christians among the girls have been forced to convert to Islam.

    Mustapha Gana, a father of one of the girls and a retired military officer told DW, parents and a local vigilante group had attempted a search for the girls. “It was not possible for us to get them because the insurgents are well armed,” Gana said adding that they were willing to accompany the military into the bush. “We the parents are ready to go along with them even if we would be killed.”

    Girls’ protest leader arrested

    Nigerian police on Monday detained Naomi Mutu, the woman behind the mass demonstrations dubbed “Bring Back Our Girls.” Human rights activists told dpa news agency Naomi had been arrested in Chibok. The arrest was reportedly ordered by First Lady Patience Jonathan, though as the president’s wife she does not have a constitutional right to give such orders. Her office later denied there were any arrests.

    President Jonathan’s government is increasingly facing criticisms for failing to free the girls. Protests in major Nigerian cities have been held to show frustration with the country’s security services. Nigeria’s police recently admitted more than 300 girls were abducted. Of that number, 276 remain in captivity and 53 were able to escape from their abductors.

    Abuja shut down

    In the face of the security threat, President Jonathan has ordered a complete lock down of the capital Abuja. However, he argued the measure was meant to decongest the city as it plays host to the World Economic Forum which begins on Wednesday (07.05.2014).

    “We plead with Nigerians living in Abuja to understand with government because we believe that instead of keeping you for five six hours and you will not get to your destination better stay back at home,” Jonathan said. However, Tam Breme, a resident of Abuja told DW correspondent Ben Shemang, Jonathan’s move was a result of increasing security challenges. “If Abuja is being shut down for 3 days, I think the government is trying to consider reasonable period of time to look into the issue of protest.” Despite the rising number of attacks in Abuja, the President told the nation in a televised “media chat” he believes the country is winning the war against Boko Haram Islamists. More than 1,500 people have been killed as a result of the insurgency this year alone.

     Culled from  Deutche welle

  • Rising global outrage over abducted Chibok girls

    Rising global outrage over abducted Chibok girls

    It started as a local matter. Now, the abduction of over 200 girls by Boko Haram members in Chibok, Borno State has become an international affair. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau yesterday released a video admitting his group kidnapped the girls. His admission came weeks after the girls’ April 14 kidnapping, with the country not closer to finding them, thus triggering complaints.

    On Twitter, there is a globally trending hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. On Sunday, about 100 demonstrators gathered outside the Nigerian High Commission in London, chanting, “Bring them back!” and “Not for sale!” Crowds from Los Angeles to London rallied Saturday as well.

    “Access to education is a basic right and an unconscionable reason to target innocent girls,” former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote Sunday on Twitter. “We must stand up to terrorism. #BringBackOurGirls.”

    South African President Jacob Zuma said yesterday: “We call on the African Union and the international community to rally behind our sister nation, Nigeria, as it battles a recent spate of terrorism attacks. We condemn terrorism in every shape or form and from whichever quarter it comes from.”

    The United States is sharing intelligence with Nigeria to help in the search, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the situation.

    “We are sharing intelligence that may be relevant to this situation. You are going to see a focus on this in all three channels of government: diplomatic, intelligence and military,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

    The scale of the attack is worrisome because it shows the “brazen” lengths Boko Haram will go to and suggests a planning and logistics capability for a large-scale operation, the official said. It is not the first time the group has attacked defenceless schoolchildren.

    Last week, United States’ Attorney-General Eric Holder asked U.S. intelligence agencies to prepare a report for him on the kidnapping, as well as an assessment of Boko Haram, according to a U.S. law enforcement official. The assessment could help the Department of Justice seek indictments or curtail funding sources for the group. The FBI had several ongoing investigations into Boko Haram leadership.

    The U.S. military is not planning to send troops but will assist with intelligence-sharing and perhaps could help Nigerian forces plan a rescue mission, under existing military cooperation agreements, a second U.S. official with knowledge of the situation said.

    The United States could offer satellite imagery and electronic intelligence such as communications intercepts. U.S. Africa Command has long been helping Nigerian forces improve their training and operations to counter Boko Haram militants.

    President Barack Obama is being briefed on the attack, and pressure is mounting worldwide for the government to act. Speaking during a visit to Africa, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States “will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice.”

    Frida Ghitis, a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review, in a piece for the CNN, said the global community has not done enough to help find the girls.

    Ghitis’s piece reads: “ If i t had happened anywhere else, this would be the world’s biggest story.

    “More than 230 girls disappeared, captured by members of a brutal terrorist group in the dead of night. Their parents are desperate and anguished, angry that their government is not doing enough. The rest of the world is paying little attention.

    “The tragedy is unfolding in Nigeria, where members of the ultra-radical Islamist group Boko Haram grabbed the girls, most believed to be between 16 and 18, from their dormitories in the middle of the night in mid-April and took them deep into the jungle. A few dozen of the students managed to escape and tell their story. The others have vanished. (Roughly 200 girls remain missing.)

    “The latest reports from people living in the forest say Boko Haram fighters are sharing the girls, conducting mass marriages, selling them each for $12. One community elder explained the practice as “a medieval kind of slavery.”

    “While much of the world has been consumed with other stories, notably the missing Malaysian plane, the relatives of the kidnapped girls in the small town of Chibok in northeastern Nigeria have struggled for weeks with no resources to help them. The Nigerian government allayed international concerns when it reported — incorrectly — that it had rescued most of the girls. But the girls were still in captivity. Their parents raised money to arrange private expeditions into the jungle. They found villagers who had seen the hostages with heavily armed men.

    “Relatives are holding street protests to demand more help from the government. With a social media push, including a Twitter #BringBackOurGirls campaign, they are seeking help anywhere they can find it.

    “Nigerians demand government do more to save abducted girls

    It’s hard to imagine a more compelling, dramatic, heartbreaking story. And this is not a one-off event. This tragedy is driven by forces that will grow stronger and deadlier if the captors manage to succeed.

    “I think of these girls as trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building. Their mothers and fathers try to dig them out with their bare hands, while the men who brought down the building vow to blow up others. Everyone else walks by, with barely a second glance.

    “Perhaps this story sounds remote. But at its heart it is a version of the same conflict that drives the fighting in other parts of the world. These young girls, eager for an education, are caught in the crossfire of the war between Islamic radicalism and modernity. It’s the Nigerian version of the same dispute that brought 9/11.”

    to the United States.”

     

    ; that brought killings to European, Asian and Middle Eastern cities; the same ideological battle that destroyed the lives of millions of people in Afghanistan; that drives many of the fighters in Syria and elsewhere.

    “In Nigeria, the dispute includes uniquely local factors, but the objectives of Boko Haram sound eerily familiar.

    “Boko Haram wants to impose its strict interpretation of Sharia — Islamic law. It operates mostly in the northern part of Nigeria, a country divided between a Muslim-majority north and a Christian-majority south. Islamic rule is its larger objective, but its top priority, judging from the group’s name, explains why it has gone after girls going to school.

    “Boko Haram, in the local Hausa language, means roughly “Western education is sin.”

    “But women are just the beginning, and Boko Haram goes about its goals not only by kidnapping, but also by slaughtering men and women of all ages and of any religion.

    “These militants view a modern education as an affront, no matter who receives it. In February, they burst into a student dormitory in the northern state of Yobe, where teenage boys were sleeping after a day of classes. They killed about 30 boys, shooting some, hacking others in their beds, slitting the throats of the ones trying to flee. In July, also in Yobe state, they shot 20 students and their teacher.

    “The gruesome attacks are not restricted to remote areas. A few weeks ago, a bus bombing in the capital of Abuja killed more than 75 people. Boko Haram took responsibility. It was the deadliest terrorist act in the city’s history.

    “Boko Haram has killed thousands of people since 2009 and has caused a humanitarian crisis with a “devastating impact,” causing nearly 300,000 to flee their homes, according to Human Rights Watch.

    “Nigeria is a resource-rich nation whose people live in grinding poverty. It is also plagued with endemic corruption. That triple combination — poverty, corruption and resource-wealth — creates fertile ground for strife and extremism. And the instability in Nigeria sends tremors through a fragile region. Boko Haram keeps hideouts and bases along the border with neighboring countries Cameroon and Chad.

    “This is an international crisis that requires international help. Is there anything anyone can do? Most definitely.

    “First, it is urgent that the plight of these girls and their families gain the prominence it so clearly deserves.

    “Global attention will lead to offers for help, to press for action. Just as the intense focus on the missing Malaysian plane and the lost South Korean ferry prompted other nations to extend a hand, a focus on this ongoing tragedy would have the same effect.

    “Nigeria’s government, with a decidedly mixed record on its response to Boko Haram, will find it difficult to look away if world leaders offer assistance in finding and rescuing the kidnapped girls from Chibok, and another 25 girls also kidnapped by Boko Haram in the town of Konduga a few weeks earlier.

    “This is an important story, a wrenching human drama, even if it happened in a part of the world where news coverage is very difficult compared with places such as Malaysia, South Korea or Australia.

    “The plight of the Nigerian girls should remain in our thoughts, at the forefront of news coverage and on the agenda of world leaders.”

  • When terror strikes

    When terror strikes

    As had been feared, Boko Haram was behind last week terror attack at Nyanya Motor Park in Abuja killing no fewer than 75 with many more wounded. The terror group confirmed this in a 25 minutes video message at the weekend by its leader Abubakar Shekau with a further threat of more attacks in the nation’s capital.

    The readiness or lack of it of our security agencies to confront the growing trend of insurgency and most importantly, terrorism in the country and the tardy nature of the political response to this threat to Nigeria’s unity and her territorial integrity are beginning to cause concern among the rest of the populace.

    While the bereaved in the Nyanya attack bury their dead and scores of school girls abducted in Borno State by the terrorists are being held captives, most probably as sex slaves in the forest, our political leaders have been busy passing the buck with the leadership of the two main parties engaged in blame game. What a shame!

    Meanwhile the security agencies have been trying without success to convince us that they are doing their best to contain the terrible situation. We wish them luck.

    In the last couple of weeks the politicians have behaved most irresponsibly in their response to the Boko Haram attacks. Playing politics with the lives and security of Nigerians is a betrayal of trust and utterly condemnable. I do not know what the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) stand to gain from the verbal assault on each other’s position on this national crisis.

    Most irresponsible was the claim by Olisa Metuh, spokesman for PDP that the opposition, meaning APC knows a thing or two about what Boko Haram is doing and most probably in support. Equally annoying is the seeming grandstanding of the APC on the matter at hand. Both parties seem not to understand the enormity of the security challenge facing the nation and are looking for avenues to make cheap political gains from the deplorable security situation in the cautery, particularly in the north east region, all in readiness for the 2015 elections.

    Yes, it is in the nature of political parties to try to maximize every opportunity to their political advantage but as it is done elsewhere in well established democracies, when national interest is at stake, all the parties rally round and queue behind the Commander-In-Chief. It is in the light of this that the decision of the leadership of the APC to postpone its states’ congress to enable its governors attend a meeting called by President Goodluck Jonathan on the security situation in the country is commendable. But the party must do more than this. It must not only proffer or suggest credible solutions to the crisis, it must show its commitment to it and also rally its governors, especially in the north to bond together and fight this terror.

    To whom much is given, much is expected. The Commander-In-Chief to borrow the words of former Information Minister Professor Jerry Gana must also chiefly command well. If everybody is behind you then you must lead from the front, lead well and responsibly too. Dancing ‘Owambe’ in Ibadan and cutting birthday cake (no matter whose birthday it was) while the Nyanya attack was still fresh (following day) and frolicking away while our girls are still held captive by terrorists in the forest is to say the least irresponsible of President Jonathan. No apologies here. It would also be good if some of our state governors and also presidential spokesmen guard their utterances in the course of this crisis because we are in a delicate period that calls for sober reflection and all hands being put on deck.

    Now that all our political leaders from both sides seem to have come to their senses, it is hoped that the President’s meeting with the state governors would be fruitful and chart a way out of this Boko Haram problem and restore peace and security to the north east and all other trouble spots in the country. One meeting certainly cannot achieve this but a good beginning will send the right signal to the terrorists that our leaders are ready and serious to confront them. There have been instances of the federal government hampering the efforts of some states to combat insecurity in the area, just for political gains, especially in states not controlled by the PDP. And not surprisingly, most of the states in the north east are not. The president must behave and act presidential in the interest of Nigeria, no room for sentiments. As the Yoruba would say, the name of the king during whose reign the town was peaceful would never be forgotten or erased, same for the king under whose reign there was chaos. A word is enough for the wise.

    Much has been said and written on this page about what the security agencies have done or failed to do in arresting the security situation in the country that it might be pointless repeating them again. But the point has to be made that Nigerians are not happy with them and they should rise up to expectation. Whatever has to be done must be done to defeat terror, defeat Boko Haram, drive the terrorists out of our country and restore peace and security to the north east and other areas under threat of terrorism and, most importantly, restore the trust Nigerians have in one another to leave anywhere in the country peacefully.

    But then security is not the business of the security agencies alone, we are all involved. It would be foolish of a man to leave his doors or gates open and go to sleep just because there is a police patrol around. Security of lives and properties starts from the home. Not just locking the gates and doors but also being security conscious and instilling the right security consciousness in our kids. At work, school, play and anywhere there is or going to be a large gathering, security measures must be put in place by those concerned to protect lives and properties.

    In the aftermath of the Nyanya bombing, I had a lengthy telephone discussion with someone who claim to be a member of one of the security agencies and he was quite disturbed at the amount of criticism directed at the security agents for their inability to bring Boko Haram and similar organisations to their knees. He claimed that they are doing a lot to arrest the situation and urged Nigerians to be patient both with the government and the security agencies. There is no debating the fact that they are doing a lot, but whether they are doing enough is where the debate is. Be that as it may, suffice to say that you cannot fight a 21st century problem using a 20th century method, it won’t work.  To defeat terror in Nigeria, we must outgun, outspend, outsmart, outmaneuver, (out whatever) and overwhelm Boko Haram and their sponsors with all our military might. No amount spent would be too much if at the end of the day Boko Haram is routed and Nigeria gets back to business.

    The guy from the security service said operators of Motor Parks, including the leadership of the various transport workers unions should share in the blame of this seeming lack of security at the bus stations.

    “What are those union leaders doing at the Parks”, he queried. “ They just sit there collecting money, drinking beer and ‘carrying’ women without any consideration for the security of not just their members but also the traveling populace. Instead of organising themselves and providing security at the Parks, all they do is to ‘enjoy’ themselves. Not even basic security measures are put in place. You find all manner of people at the Motor Parks. Can anybody just go to the airport anyhow?”

    He went on and on and on and I could see he was very angry. I share some of his sentiments and concerns and believe that these transport sector unions, the likes of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) et al need to organise themselves better, they need to be security conscious and re-orientate their members accordingly. The traveling public and indeed the general public need to key in to this project as well.

    The business of security is everybody’s business. Nobody is immune to terror strike. When the terrorists strike, all of us are touched one way or another. May GOD safe Nigeria and deliver us from BOKO HARAM.

    Did I hear someone shout Allelujah there?

     

  • Abuja bomb blasts: Boko Haram claims responsibility, threatens Jonathan

    Abuja bomb blasts: Boko Haram claims responsibility, threatens Jonathan

    AbubakaR Shekau, leader of the militant Boko Haram Islamist group, yesterday claimed responsibility for last week’s bombing of a crowded bus station in Nyanya Motor Park, Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    The twin bomb blasts killed at least 75 people and left hundreds seriously wounded.

    The outlawed insurgent commander made the claims in a 28-minute video message posted online on yesterday. He also took time out to threaten more attacks, telling President Goodluck Jonathan that his men are already stationed in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its environs.

    Shekau who spoke in Arabic and Hausa in the video boasted, “We are the ones that carried out the attack in Abuja.” The deadliest attack ever in the federal capital targeted a bus station in the Nyanya area of the capital city where early morning commuters and other people were caught in the explosion.

    Dressed in military uniform and seated with a Kalashnikov resting on his left shoulder, Shekau addressed President Jonathan directly saying, “We are in your city.”

    The video, which comes nearly a week after the dastardly act, confirms initial speculations by military and government authorities that the bombing was carried out by insurgents loyal to the Abubakar Shekau-led Boko Haram Islamist group.

    Shekau’s latest video was released just as the search continued for 85 schoolgirls still missing after a mass abduction of students in a boarding school by the Islamists also suspected to be Boko Haram fighters.

    Hours after the Abuja bombing, gunmen stormed a girls’ school in the northeast and kidnapped 129 students, an attack also blamed on Boko Haram that has sparked global outrage. Forty-four of the girls have escaped so far, according to officials of the school and Military authorities.

    Parents have been scouring the bush for days looking for the kidnapped girls. “We have been contributing money to buy fuel for motorcycles and vehicles to help in the search of our innocent daughters.”

    Shekau and his men, blamed for killing thousands since 2009, claim they are fighting perceived imbalance in the system and they want to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

    Boko Haram, which means “Western education is forbidden”, has been attacking schools, homes, church, mosques and government buildings since it started the five-year uprising.

  • 63 Boko Haram men killed in raid, says military

    63 Boko Haram men killed in raid, says military

    •Shekau boasts in video

    The Defence Headquarters said yesterday that 63 Boko Haram members were killed last weekend during ground and air operations on their bases in Bama, Borno State and Lake Chad.

    Two soldiers were wounded in encounters with the insurgents.

    Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau boasted in a new video that the sect will wreak more havoc on Nigerians.

    He also derided the $7million bounty on his head by the United States.

    The military claimed that the first clash occurred at Alafa Forest, where 56 insurgents were killed. The Nation could not verify the facts independently.

    The remaining seven fell to the repelling attacks of the Multi-National Joint Task Force on an island in Lake Chad

    There was no reaction yet as at last night by the leadership of Boko Haram on the crossfire with government troops.

    The latest Defence Headquarters figures brought the casualty figures on the side of the sect to about 113 within two weeks.

    The DHQ had last week said 50 Boko Haram insurgents and 15 soldiers were killed in a pre-dawn attack on Mohammed Kuru Barracks in Bama last Friday.

    It also said five civilians died during the attack on the barracks by the insurgents.

    A statement in Abuja by the Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said the operations were part of steps at tracking fleeing insurgents who attacked Mohammed Kuru Barracks in Bama about two weeks ago.

    The statement said: “Nigerian security forces have launched ground and air operations on terrorists locations in the Forest at Alafa, about 21km from Bama, Borno State. Over 56 terrorists died in the ensuing intensive fight over the weekend.

    “Two soldiers were wounded in the operation which is meant to track fleeing terrorists.

    “Acting on intelligence reports which indicated renewed efforts by the terrorists to establish a new camp in the forests locations, the land and air operations have inflicted heavy casualty on the insurgents as indicated by the high level of their loss of men and materials.

    “Air and land bombardments are continuing in different locations where terrorists have been reportedly sighted.

    “In another development, troops of the Multi-National Joint Task Force have foiled an attempt by terrorists who were massing up on an island on Lake Chad with a view to carrying out an attack on some Nigerian communities.

    “Seven of the terrorists died while others fleeing in different direction towards Niger and Chad Republic are being trailed by troops.

    “Intelligence reports have confirmed that some of the wounded terrorists were seen in a canoe paddling towards Tumbun Telkandam in Chad Republic.”

    Shekau, in a new video, promised to “decapitate and mutilate” more people in the name of Allah. Ridiculing the United States for putting a bounty on his head, he said: “You can’t in any way harm me.”

    Shekau, who has been dubbed a “global terrorist” by the US and twice been declared killed by the military, claimed responsibility for a December 20 attack on a tank battalion barracks in Bama, north eastern Borno State.

    “Brothers pulverised 21 armoured tanks. People were killed in their multitudes; bodies scattered all over,” he said, adding that his forces “blew out the brains” of soldiers who tried to hide under their blankets.

    “Had Allah allowed us to eat them we would have eaten them but we are not cannibals,” he added, according to a news agency reports. “This is a victory from Allah.”

    The video showed the terrorist leader seated on a mat, surrounded by masked fighters. It included footage of the attack, with burning buildings and fighter jets and armed, masked men walking around them.

    The insurgents stormed the barracks by arriving in a convoy of trucks shortly before sunrise, opening fire on soldiers inside before torching the compound. Witnesses said they kidnapped soldiers along with women and children.

    Shekau threatened more mayhem in the video sent to AFP on Saturday whose authenticity has not been verified, although it is one in a series sent to the news agency in which he features.

    “As for killing, we will kill because Allah says we should decapitate, we should amputate limbs, we should mutilate,” he said.

    Thousands of people have been killed since Boko Haram launched its uprising against the state in 2009.

    Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden” and the militia, which has links to al Qaeda, has attacked schools, universities and colleges, killing at least 40 children in one attack in September.

    “They try to brainwash the people that we are fighting an ethnic war,” Shekau said in his latest video. “No, we are fighting a religious war, we are fighting (Nigerian President Goodluck) Jonathan, we are fighting Christians.”

    He also shrugged off the bounties put on his head – $7 million by the United States and $312,500 by the Nigerian government. “We do not worship money,” he says. “You can’t in any way harm me.

  • Shekau died of gunshot wounds – JTF

    Shekau died of gunshot wounds – JTF

    The joint task force in Maiduguri, Borno State, on Monday claimed the leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, has died as result of gunshot wounds he sustained during clash with federal troops in June this year.

    A statement issued on Monday by the JTF spokesman in the state, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, said, “Abubakar Shekau, the most dreaded and wanted leader of the Boko Haram sect may have died of gunshots wound received in an encounter with JTF troops in one of their camps at Sambisa Game Reserve Forests on June 30, 2013.”