The Nation Newspaper

Tag: attack

  • US marshal’s syringe attack

    It is difficult to ignore the widely publicized story on the alleged attack on a United States of America (US) federal air marshal at the Murtala Muhammed International airport Lagos. Not with the dangerous insinuations that have come with it especially in the foreign media.

    Reports had it that a US federal air marshal was screened and quarantined for Ebola virus in Houston, Texas US after he was injected with a syringe full of unknown substance in an insecure area of the airport. Though the assailant could not be apprehended as he was said to have vanished into the thin air, but other air marshals traveling with the victim were able to secure the needle and bring it on the flight for testing in the US.

    US law enforcement officers were said to have been alarmed by the bizarre and unprovoked attack because the assailant was able to inject the unknown substance into the back of one of the air marshals who was traveling under cover.

    The US federal air marshal service is a law enforcement agency under the supervision of the Transportation Security Administration.

    Sequel to the incident, the US Embassy in Lagos, at its request, met with the airport joint security team and viewed footages of the movements of the said marshal captured in the airports CCTV cameras.

    “Preliminary observation from the CCTV footages did not show evidence of such occurrence. Relevant security agencies have since commenced investigations into the matter”, the Federal Airport Authority said in a statement denying the alleged attack. The statement further reassured all travelers of the commitment of the authorities of the airport to their safety and security.

    The alleged attack, as worrisome as it is, raises many questions that hinge on its credibility. Good enough, the airport authorities that viewed footages of the movements of the said air marshal in the presence of the US officials have come out to say no such a thing was evident from the recordings of the CCTV. They have however promised further investigations just as the US authorities are investigating and testing the needle said to have been secured by other air marshals on the traveling team.

    Without prejudice to whatever may turn out as the final outcome of the inquiry, it is rather curious that such an attack could take place within the vicinity of the airport without the victim or any of his colleagues raising serious alarm. The overall impression that comes to mind from the way the matter has been presented, is that all the air marshals did was to secure the needle only to board their flight and report the matter on arrival at their home country.

    That does not seem to tally with the high efficiency for which US security operatives are well known. There is also no evidence that the matter was reported either to the airports’ array of security personnel or the police. Matters are not helped by the revelation of the airport police command that the duty officer in charge on the day of the alleged incident did not record any such report.

    This casts a very big slur on the entire story. This is more so with the expert knowledge, skills and training of the marshals in security matters. The least expectation from such a very knowledgeable group is that they would have raised alarm to alert the airport security and all those within that vicinity. Had they done that, there could have ensured some hot pursuit for the assailant not only from the law enforcement agencies but other sympathizers within that vicinity. Nigerians are good at showing sympathy in such circumstances.

    Beyond that, the scramble that would have ensued would have left no one in doubt in the CCTV footage that such an attack took place. It takes some time to administer an injection with a syringe. For, apart from piercing the tissue, the liquid substance will have to be administered into the body. How possible is it to accomplish these without being caught?

    Again, the information we got was that the other marshals were able to secure the needle. So what happened to the syringe? Or was the assailant also able to unlock the syringe before fleeing?  If that was the case, then he must have spent some time with his victim such that the chances of his arrest were quite high.

    The point being raised by these posers is that there is more to the story than ordinarily meets the eyes. These are the issues to ponder as investigations into the matter progress. The way they are resolved will take us closer to untying the riddle presented by the incident.

    But we must get out of stereotyping and profiling if we are to get at the veracity or lack of it of the alleged attack. Two speculated motives that have featured in the matter are terrorism and the intent to spread the deadly Ebola virus. The US law enforcement officers feared the injection could contain the Ebola virus. For Jon Adler, national president of the federation law enforcement officers association, it is a “reminder that international cowards will attempt to take sneaky lethal shots at our honorable men and women abroad”.

    Even as no evidence has been adduced to show that the attack was real, such profiling will do the investigations no good because it gives the miserable impression of a people working from a predetermined end. But for the Boko Haram insurgency which is a relatively new development within the Nigerian shores, it would have been an exercise in hasty generalization to feature terrorism as a prime motive for the alleged attack.

    Perhaps, with the exception of the bomb attack at the United Nations building in Abuja, insurgency targets in the country have largely been confined to our local people. Records of attacks on foreigners especially US citizens have been rare if not completely non-existent.

    Moreover, since the air marshals were traveling under cover, it would have been nigh impossible to detect their citizenship. It would have been safer to suspect that the alleged attack was based on skin pigment. The theory that the attack was targeted at US citizens seems a remote possibility unless the assailant has a working knowledge of the activities and movements of the air marshals.

    The other scaring dimension is the suspicion that the substance injected on the air marshal contained the Ebola virus. It is true that Nigeria has in the last two months been battling to contain the spread of the Ebola virus. Before then, little or nothing was known of the scourge in the country. Could we have progressed from coming to terms with the reality of the Ebola virus to perfecting the lethal technology for exporting it to other countries through unwholesome means? Or has this profiling got to do with the recurring references to Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer as the sole source of all identified cases of the virus in Nigeria? These are the issues to ponder.

  • Chile condemns bomb attack

    Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has condemned a bomb attack on a shopping centre in a busy metro station in the capital Santiago on Monday.

    The attack, in which 14 people were injured, is one of the worst since democracy was restored in 1990.

    Ms Bachelet called it a “terrorist act, one of the most cowardly we have seen”.

    There have been around 200 bomb attacks in Santiago in the past decade, with anarchist groups claiming responsibility for many of them.

    No-one has so far admitted carrying out this latest bombing.There have been about 200 blasts in Santiago over the past decade, but this is the most serious so far

    The president said she would convene a meeting of her security committee on Tuesday to decide how to proceed.

    “What’s happened is horrible, an abominable act, but Chile is and will continue to be a safe country,” Ms Bachelet said.

    The explosive device went off at lunchtime at a fast-food restaurant in an underground shopping centre at the Escuela Militar metro station.

    About 150,000 people pass through the station daily.

    Joanna Magneti, who works in the centre, described the scene: “I was having lunch when I felt the bang. When I went to see what had happened, I saw lots of smoke, people running and shouting, a youngster who was badly injured and a woman with an injured hand.”

    Workers said the corridors of the shopping centre were filled with smoke following the blast

    Three people were badly wounded in the blast, and another 11 are also being treated. Ms Bachelet said it was “one of the most cowardly acts we’ve seen because it had as its objective to maim, spread fear and even kill innocent people”.

    Chile’s Interior Minister said Ms Bachelet mother, Angela Jeria, had been in the area at the time the bomb went off.

    He said she had been shopping in the centre, but had not been injured. However, he did not indicate whether she may have been the target of the attack.

  • NAPS condemns attack on Kano Poly

    The National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) has expressed worries over the increasing rate of Boko Haram attacks in the country.

    The students’ group condemned the sect’s attack on Kano State Polytechnic on July 30.  It urged security operatives to adapt other means of fighting the group.

    In a statement in Abuja, the NAPS President, Comrade Ogbonnaya commiserated with the families of the deceased students, the school and the Kano State government.

    He said: “Only recently, we were greeted with the sad news of the death of scores of students of the Kano State Polytechnic who met their untimely death in the hands of persons now believed to be from the Boko Haram sect.

    “The leadership of NAPS strongly condemn the activities this blood tasty, reckless and wicked group called the Boko Haram.  We therefore call on the security outfit in the country to fasten their belt in the fight against insurgency.

    “To this end, we express our heartfelt condolence to the family of the deceased, the management of the institution and the government of Kano State on this great and irreplaceable loss of great Nigerians who represent the future of this country.”

    The student also praised President Goodluck Jonathan for raising funds for victims of Boko Haram.

    “We also wish to use this medium to commend the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for his commendable initiative in coming up with a fund raising program to ameliorate the sufferings of the victims of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. It is our belief that the resources realised will be used in the best interest of a peaceful and better Nigeria.

     

  • Who is afraid of General Muhammadu Buhari?

    Who is afraid of General Muhammadu Buhari?

    The attempt to snuff life out of one of Nigeria’s most revered former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, in a fiendish operation which would have passed for a routine Boko Haram attack, would have thrown Nigeria in turmoil of unimaginable proportions as President Jonathan submitted days ago.

    The failed “assassination attempt” as Buhari tagged it, may not be unconnected with the grand plot to silence the opposition. This is coming on the heels of the impeachment of Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state and the tightening of impeachment noose around Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa state before he was cleared of charges against him yesterday.

    Clearly, the shades of the varying scope of operation to hunt down those who pose a threat to the present government as enshrined in the alleged sniper’s list former President Olusegun Obasanjo divulged in his missive is being made manifest.

    Surely, the mere knowledge of an alleged sniper’s list should be instructive to the opposition party leaders.Impeaching opposition Governors one after the other, it now appears, is part of the grand scheme.

    To underscore the gruesome motive of the perpetrators, eyewitness accounts said the bomb-laden car single-mindedly targeted the vehicle conveying the APC chieftain to Daura, his ancestral home from Kaduna. It hit target but the bulletproof construction of the SUV ensured the General escaped death by the whiskers. To the ‘terrorists’, they came agonisingly close.

    How can we forget retired General Muhammadu Mamman Shuwa? In November 2012, the civil war veteran was killed in cold blood by unknown gunmen in his Maiduguri home yards away from soldiers idling away in enforcement of law and order. Boko Haram, the usual suspects were fingered. Had Buhari suffered a similar fate, the perpetrators would use the sect to divert attention from the perpetrators.

    The PDP have sold a dummy to Nigerians for too long that the sponsors of terror were members of the opposition, All Progressive Congress (APC), but this attack have vindicated the much maligned progressives. Buhari has openly challenged those who accuse him of religious fundamentalism to come out and show proof. No one till this day has any clue.

    Forirredentists, who think the attack on Buhari’s life was stage-managed, let them continue to stew in their bitterness and wallow in their chutzpah. Same people who peddle such falsehood of a self-masterminded attack won’t roam within a metre radius of a spot of a bomb scare. Any reasonable Nigerian will acknowledge the risk in masterminding such an attack as the probability that it could spiral out of control is higher than its success.

    The political elite in the ruling party must truly be frightened by Buhari’s growing popularity ahead of the 2015 elections even though the media coverage on the General is frequently negative with unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations. It has rather won him more support from discerning Nigerians who cannot be misinformed or misled by needless propaganda.

    For his loyalists across the country, they can boldly say of him, “All I need from Buhari is his word I can take it to the bank.”Such is the cult-like following that Gen. Buhari wields that he need not rent a crowd, or share rice to garner support.

    This is because of his glowing and incorruptible antecedents.Very few people in this country will occupy the number one position to live a modest and Spartan life afterwards like him. He occupied lofty positions like the Governor of the defunct North-Eastern State of Nigeria, Head of State, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources and Chairman of NNPC, Chairman of Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF).

    He could easily be one of Nigeria’s wealthiest politicians with oil blocs to boot because he birthed and supervised the establishment of our existing refineries. Today, we import 70 per cent of the fuel we use because those after him have literally crippled the refineries. He could have retired into stupendous opulence like the Danjumas, Obasanjos, and Abachas of this world. But Buhari bucked the trend and chose the honourable path.

    His detractors and traducers are uncomfortable with him around the political scene. Maybe he scares them with his incorruptible, uncompromising, sober, painstaking personae he exudes; his intolerance of impropriety – a major fault of the privileged political elite – scares them. He is everything they are not.

    There have been various attempts to erode the electoral value of a man who has validated his cast iron reputation for accountability and transparency coming out unscathed from probes regarding his tenure as Chairman of PTF. And as Buhari’s staunch loyalist in Mallam Nasir el-Rufai posited that his antagonists “have changed our politics into that of ethnicity and religion to divert attention from their incompetence, lack of capacity and looting of the treasury… PDP is scared of Buhari’s integrity and his track record of doing the right thing and ensuring that people are brought to justice when they break the law. They are afraid of that day when he will become President.”

    With the failed attempt to take General Buhari’s life, the burgeoning army of opposition against the General of impeccable integrity would now sit back, maybe have a rethink, recall their foot soldiers masked in the toga of Jihadists cutting short the lives of “infidels” they see as living corpses.

    In the 2011 presidential elections, the man they hate to see even in their dreams, got over 12 million votes with a party that was formed barely 10 months to the election without the support structure and votes a state Governor or even a Local Government chairman would have brought into the party. He had no war chest or federal might to manipulate voters and electoral officers, a trick the PDP has perfected over the years. But Buhari’s enormous star power earned him a couple of senators and a state governor after the elections. It won’t take a political scientist, a Nostradamus or some prophetic unction to work the numbers in votes the General will pull in 2015 with the 15 Governors in the APC fold!

    Those who plotted the dastardly act are enemies of Nigeria, they neither seek its prosperity nor tranquilitybut thrive and profit from the chaos, bloodshed and colossal sleaze. They are afraid of the intimidating profile of the former Head of State and his acolytes in the opposition party.

    Whoever wanted Buhari dead has made a super hero of him. Of all the reasons why Buhari was wanted dead, the 2015 general elections keep popping out of every possibility and conspiracy theory. Inadvertently, they only succeeded in raising his popularity meter. With the overwhelming outpouring of emotion and support, the retired General has reaffirmed his status as a political heavyweight and gladiator who remains a top contender for next year’s general elections.

     

    Please follow the writer on twitter, @tilevbare.

  • SDP candidate attacks parties

    SDP candidate attacks parties

    The Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) candidate, Mr. Olusegun Akinwusi, has called on the electorate to reject the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the August 9 poll.

    Akinwusi, who is the state’s former Head of Service (HOS),spoke while addressing members of SDP in Ibokun at the weekend after the party’s campaign tour of some communities in the areas.

    He decried the killing of  Tola Adeosun in Ilesa last Friday during a bloody fracas between APC and PDP supporters.

    He accused the two parties for allegedly “rearing thugs” ahead of the August election.

  • Attack on Buhari: Military arrests suspected ‘mastermind’

    Attack on Buhari: Military arrests suspected ‘mastermind’

    •IG sets up panel to investigate  blasts

    The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) yesterday announced the capture of a man it described as the mastermind of Wednesday’s  botched suicide attack on  former Head of State, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

    The suspect was arrested at the scene  of the blast in Kaduna  dressed like a woman.

    His true sex was established  only after  his arrest.

    He is already being interrogated, the Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said in a statement.

    Inspector-General of Police   Mohammed Abubakar   yesterday  ordered a probe into the  bomb blasts in Kaduna  which has so far claimed over 100 lives.

    The ‘mastermind’ according to Gen.Olukolade  was apprehended by  the military patrol team that swooped on the area immediately after the explosion.

    He said the suspect  ”had disguised as a woman clad in female garb to exude femininity with a brazier affixed to his chest.

    “The suspect was arrested while trying to fizzle into a crowd of onlookers when the patrol team arrived the scene.

    “Youths in the area attempted to mob him while he was being arrested, but were restrained by troops who quickly whisked him away in an armoured personnel carrier.

    He is currently being interrogated by security agencies in a bid to ascertain his links.”

    The Nation gathered   the State Security Service (SSS) is  handling the investigation of the suspect  in Kaduna.

    “One bend of the ongoing probe is that the man is suspected to have remotely controlled the IEDs used to attack Buhari’s convoy,”  one source  said.

    The source said he might   be transferred to Abuja for further questionning  .

    Police anti-bomb and forensic experts    are already analyzing the remains of IEDs  recovered from the scenes of the twin explosions.

    The second blast was apparently targeted at the popular Islamic preacher,Sheick Dahiru Bauchi.

    Another source said: “The police are handling the comprehensive investigation into the incident based on orders from President Goodluck Jonathan who personally assured Buhari that security agencies will get to the root of the explosion.

    “Some of the recovered items are going through forensic examination in order to verify some suspected links.”

    The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar  yesterday  instituted a probe into the  bomb blasts .

    The  panel, headed by  the Commissioner of Police in charge of Legal Department, Mr. Nwodibo Ekechukwu, is  expected to work in close collaboration with other security agencies.

    The Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba,  named the other members of the committee as DCP Chris Ezike of the Federal SARS; DCP Dan Mallam of the Monitoring Unit ;and DCP Adeyemi Ogunjemilusi of the Interpol Unit.

    The IGP also ordered that security be beefed up across the states, especially  states perceived to be more vulnerable to terror attacks.

    The IGP appealed to Nigerians, particularly Kaduna residents to remain calm and enjoined the citizenry to cooperate with the security agencies by providing them with relevant information.

    Also yesterday, the Kano State police command  promised to put in place adequate security ahead of the Eid-Fitr festival.

    The  arrangement includes stop and search of vehicles,police spokesman , ASP Magaji Musa Majiya said.

    He advised worshippers attending Eid grounds to  avoid “taking unnecessary objects other than their praying mats.”

    He said: “People attending recreation centre and places of gatherings during the Sallah celebration  should be extra careful by taking cognizance of people and objects around, with a view to report any suspicious move to security agencies .

    “Parents and guardians should accompany their children with adult to guide them throughout the festivities . This will checkmate the rampant cases of missing children.”

    The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC)  is deploying 50,000 troops and counterterrorism units, including special forces, a nuclear, biological chemical and radioactive squad and “sniffer dogs” across the country ahead of the Sallah.

    Emmanuel Okeh,  spokesman for  the organisation  said personnel  will patrol gathering spots, highways and other “strategic places.”

  • Two Cameroon soldiers killed in cross-border Boko Haram attack

    Two Cameroon soldiers killed in cross-border Boko Haram attack

    Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members killed  two  Cameroonian soldiers in a cross-border raid overnight, a Cameroonian security official said yesterday on condition of anonymity.

    The attack occurred late Thursday in the border village of Balgaram in northern Cameroon. Eight soldiers on duty  fought back, and “in the clash we lost two men,” the official said.

    Military reinforcements were sent to the area and several troops “entered Nigerian territory with the aim of finding the assailants,” the official said.

    Boko Haram  has been blamed for several clashes, abductions and killings targeting troops in northern Cameroon deployed to counter them.

    More than 3,000 Nigerians fleeing Boko Haram attacks have taken refuge in the Cameroonian town of Fotokol, a municipal official said.

    “We are worried about infiltrations by the Islamists among the refugees, “ a police officer in the town said.

  • Presidency: Don’t politicise attack on Buhari

    Presidency: Don’t politicise attack on Buhari

    The Presidency yesterday urged caution  by the political class  in appraising Wednesday’s bomb attack targeted at former Head of State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Mohammadu Buhari.

    Speaking in Abuja on Friday, the Political Adviser to the President, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali said resorting to blame game could be counter productive to the war against terrorism.

    Alkali sympathised with Buhari over the attack, saying it was by providence that the nation was saved the trauma of having the former Head of State and Sheik Dahiru Bauchi come to harm.

    Alkali said: “I want to also state that in a season like this, the usual thing is what has become the popular culture of blame game. I don’t think anybody in this country would be associated with such thing in any way or form.

    “Therefore, those who want to trivialise or personalise these issues by attributing it to this government or the leadership of this government in any form, directly or indirectly, should desist from that.

    “This government is committed to the security of this nation, it is committed to lasting peace in this country and Mr. President is deeply committed to bringing stability in our political environment.

    “We should not over dramatise these issues. All of us must come together, we have a collective responsibility to protect and defend our country. This is not a time for politicising issues.

    “Security matters are not for politicians. There are people who have been trained and who are responsible for security. We cannot do their job for them; they should be allowed to do their job.”

  • Ondo lawmaker, contractor trade words over attack

    Ondo lawmaker, contractor trade words over attack

    Confusion reigned at the Ondo State House of Assembly complex, Igbatoro Road, Akure, the Ondo State capital, at the weekend when a contractor handling projects at the complex, Mr Obayoriju Abass, was assaulted by some youths suspected to be political thugs loyal to one of the lawmakers.

    The youths were said to have stormed an office in the complex during a meeting summoned by the Assembly Tenders Committee chaired by the lawmaker representing Owo Constituency 1, Ayo Arowele.

    Sources said the contractor’s offence was that he argued with members of the committee during the meeting.

    Arowele’s clothes were torn to shreds after he was pushed out of the meeting.

    It was gathered that Obayoriju’s attack may not be unconnected with his interest in contesting in 2015 the position Arowele is occupying.

    Obayoriju, who spoke with reporters, alleged that he was assaulted by Arowele at the meeting.

    He said|: “I went to a meeting summoned by the tender’s committee but I was surprised that despite the fact that I answered the questions the committee asked me correctly, I was asked to shut up by Arowele and in the process of trying to defend myself, he slapped me.

    “He later instructed his thugs to walk me out of the meeting. One of his thugs tore my clothes and slapped me repeatedly.

    “I think what Arowele and his boys did to me is something that should not be allowed to go without reporting to the appropriate quarters. Such attack is barbaric and uncalled for.”

    Obayoriju, who has reported the matter to the police, threatened to sue the lawmaker, saying: “I will not hesitate to drag Arowele to court because what he did to me is primitive.”

    He also called on the police to investigate the matter.

    Arowele denied the allegation, describing it as a cooked-up story designed to dent his image. He added that there was no truth in the allegation levelled against him.

    He said: “We asked him some questions pertaining to the jobs he had handled in the Assembly and instead of addressing the issue, he insulted committee members at the meeting. I never assaulted him in any form.”

  • Group decries attack on members

    Group decries attack on members

    A group campaigning for the re-election of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, De Raufs Volunteer Group, has warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Omisore Campaign Organisation that it will not condone further attacks on its members.

    The group condemned the attack on its Director of Mobilisation, Comrade Bello Lukman, in front of the group’s secretariat, describing the act as “unwarranted and criminal.”

    The group’s Director-General, Comrade Amitolu Shittu, in a statement, said the incident occurred when a private car owner was harassed at the entrance of De Raufs office in Osogbo by persons suspected to be PDP’s thugs.

    According to Shittu, a member of the group who was recharging his phone nearby was accused of taking the picture of the thugs.

    The thugs later descended on Lukman, broke his Android phone and took away his Blackberry phone as well as N250,000 cash meant for the local units of the group.