Tag: attacks

Suspected Boko Haram members yesterday killed eight people in an attack on Sabon Gari village in Hambagda Jaji Ward of Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.

The attack occurred barely four days after gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram sect members burnt a church and the country home of a House of Representatives member, Peter Biye, in Gwoza town.

Several residents were said to have sustained gunshot injuries in the attack.

Biye told reporters in Maiduguri, that the sect had burnt over 200 churches in the state since it launched its attacks in the local government.

The lawmaker said only eight churches were available to worshippers.

On January 8, eight gunmen stormed the lawmaker’s village – a Christian-dominated community – at 8pm and carried away over 70 domestic animals and set the buildings ablaze.

The gunmen also burnt a consignment of sorghum, which was meant for distribution to the people to reduce their hardship.

The attackers also burnt 30,000 pieces of exercise books, 30,000 packets of biro, sewing machines, water pumping machines, 30,000 packets of chalk, among others. The cost of the items was estimated at over N38 million.

Biye, the only Christian House of Representatives member from Borno State, regretted that since he was elected, there had been a series/daily attacks targeted at the Christian communities in Gwoza, Chibok and Damboa local government areas.

He said this had forced him to almost stop visiting his people, including his family, in the last two years.

Biye said though nobody died in the attack on his house but the attitude of security agencies on the matter was “nonchalant”.

The lawmaker recalled that prior to last week’s attack on his home by the insurgents, he had alerted/intimated security agencies.

President Goodluck Jonathan was in his element again yesterday. He lashed out at politicians “who think they own Nigeria, doing what we ought not to do, making statements we ought not to make and writing letters we ought not to write.”

Jonathan mentioned no names, but it was clear he was referring to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who rattled him with an 18-page letter.

He accused the former president of not acting like a statesman, saying Nigeria does not belong to any politician or a group of politicians.

The President spoke at the Anglican Diocese of Abuja, The Cathedral Church of the Advent in Lifecamp, where he attended the Christmas Day service with his family members and some senior government officials.

Obasanjo, in a December 2 letter made available to the media almost two weeks later, hurled some weighty allegations at the President, who was accused of training snipers and putting over 1,000 on a political watch list ahead of the 2015 elections.

Obasanjo said Jonathan would be “fatally flawed”, should he contest in 2015 because, according to the former president, he committed himself to a single term in office when he was seeking his party’s nomination.

But Jonathan, in his reply to Obasanjo’s letter, denied all the allegations.

He has referred the Obasanjo letter to security agents and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), who are to probe the allegations.

The President said yesterday: “For us at this time, especially we the politicians that we think we own this country, begin to think about next election and doing what we ought not to do, making statements we ought not to make, writing letters we are not supposed to write.

“I call on clergymen and statesmen who really own this country because this country belongs to our statesmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders, our men, our women and our youth. Nigeria does not belong to any politician or group of politicians. So we continue to urge you to pray for this country.”

On terrorism, he said: “The primate mentioned a number of issues that deal with a number of nations that deal with crises. For those who know about terrorism, countries that are infested with terror will hardly get out of it.

“If you look at a country like Pakistan – we even go to Pakistan to train our soldiers – in some parts of Pakistan, as we are talking now, there appears to be no government. So this country could have been worse.

“Look at the incidents in Abuja. The Police Headquarters was bombed, the United Nations (UN) building right here in the seat of government (was bombed). May be the next target would have been State House. So we have to thank God that we have been able to bring it to a reasonable level, though we are far from getting over. There are lots of challenges but we have to thank God.”

Speaking further on terrorism, Jonathan said: “Primate said if it were to be like Syria, what would we have done? Look at South Sudan. They were part of Sudan and they felt that they were being dominated. They have resources; there is oil in parts of South Sudan. They carried arms against the state. The entire world through the UN liberated them. This week, we will be going for the Security Council meeting under the African Union. My envoy just came back on Sunday from where he had conversation with them on how we could stop this madness.

“So we have to thank God, even though we still have this security challenges in our country, at least we are reasonably better.

“In terms of Nigeria having crisis, the Primate was saying: ‘can Ghana accommodate us? Can Sierra Leone accommodate us?’ I was just laughing because even now, there are so many Nigerians in these countries; the people are not even comfortable. From Cameroon to Senegal, Nigerians are everywhere. If not for political and diplomatic reasons they would have even asked some of them to leave. Then, assuming we have crisis, what would be the state (of things)? Where will you go? Is it the Atlantic Ocean? So, I urge you to continue to pray.

“I also thank the religious leaders in this country. They have been praying and I believe God has been hearing our prayers. We will do our best within the period that God has asked us to occupy the positions we are occupying.”

Delivering the Sermon titled “Peace and joy”, the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh noted that the first coming of Jesus Christ brought peace and joy, which will only be full at His second coming.

According to him, no part of the world is enjoying total peace. He urged Nigerians to continue to thank God for not making Nigeria’s situation worse like other countries.

Quoting Luke 2: 10, Isaiah 9: n6, Galassian 3: 28, 2nd Corinthians 5: 18, John 14: 27 and Mattew 5: 9, he urged Nigerians to continue to be a source of joy to themselves, their neighbours and the world.

Rev. Okoh said: “But we have challenges; how can you be talking of peace and joy to people in Syria, DRC, Southern Sudan, Middle East, Egypt, Indonesia and Ukraine? Will they understand? How do you explain joy to somebody who is bed-ridden? These are the issues.”

Blaming the western world for these crises, he said: “The western world sells these arms to other parts of the globe and are still talking about peace. The money that people steal, they take it outside and they receive it and turn back to say these people are bad.

“Only God can give us peace and joy because man has so much complicated himself. If you have three good stories that give you joy, you are likely to have six stories that will upset you.”

He also urged Nigerians to pray against agents of darkness who are thirsty for blood.

Nigerians, Rev. Okoh urged, should continue praying for peace as they have no other place to go.

“Nigerians ought to be grateful to God and live responsibly. Do not join anybody to cause trouble. If we follow life diligently, Nigeria will blossom, your lives will blossom. Refugees are not the happiest of people; don’t make yourself a refugee,” he pleaded.

First Lady Dame Patience read the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah 9: 2, 6 and 7.Dr. Jonathan read the Epistle from Hebrew 1: 1 to 12.

Minister of State (FCT) Olajumoke Akinjide, Minister of Information Labaran Maku, Minister of Police Affairs Caleb Olubolade, among others, attended the service.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman Bamanga Tukur hit back yesterday at governors who are pushing for his removal.

He has accused some of the governors of nursing private agenda to make President Goodluck Jonathan vulnerable on his 2015 re-election bid.

Dr. Jonathan has not said he plans to seek reelection, although his aides have always said he is interested.

Tukur also alleged that some of the governors were nursing presidential ambition.

Tukur’s position was made known by his Special Adviser on Political Affairs, Senator Abubakar Umar Gada.

Tukur’s response was against the backdrop of PDP governors’ call for his removal.

The governors advised the President to give Tukur a choice ambassadorial appointment as his exit package.

Gada, who spoke apparently after consulting Tukur, said: “As far as the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, is concerned, the PDP governors are loyal to the President and the national leadership of the party, except for a few with hidden agenda who are nursing the plot to remove Tukur because of their personal presidential ambition.

“These few governors that are clamouring for the removal of Tukur are doing so with a hidden agenda to make President Jonathan vulnerable.

“These governors that are clamouring for the removal of the national chairman are known with hidden presidential ambition.

“The plot is to remove Tukur and make Jonathan vulnerable, because the national chairman is blocking their political ambition,” he said.

Gada challenged the governors to list Tukur’s sins, if they are sincere.

He added: “The National Chairman of PDP has kept quiet for some time with the feeling that these governors will see reason and stop their negative campaign against him.

“What is the offence of the national chairman that the governors will be asking for his removal?

“Which of these governors has asked or made a legitimate request that the national chairman did not grant? What wrong has the national chairman done that a few of these governors would be asking for his head?

“The only crime that Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has committed is because he is loyal to President Jonathan. Do the few PDP governors clamouring for Tukur’s removal as national chairman want a national chairman that would be disobedient to the President?

“By setting the gimmick for the removal of Tukur as national chairman, they are going to make the president vulnerable and open for attacks.

“But we are happy that the President is wiser and completely aware of the plot of these few governors, who see Tukur as blocking their discreet presidential ambition.”

Although Gada did not mention any name, it was gathered that Tukur is suspecting two governors – one from the South and another from the North – of having presidential ambition.

That really did the Prof. Ben Nwabueze’s Patriots discuss with President Goodluck Jonathan last Thursday?

This has been an issue of contention as the Southsouth Peoples Assembly (SSPA) at the weekend accused Prof. Nwabueze of deliberately lying to reporters on the issues discussed.

Nwabueze, shortly after meeting the President at the Presidential Villa on Thursday, told reporters that President Jonathan should not run. The eminent lawyer said this was his personal opinion.

But the Chief Edwin Clark-led South South Peoples Assembly said the issue of 2015 was never part of the issues discussed.

Addressing reporters in Abuja at the weekend, the Acting National Chairman of SSPA, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga, queried the professor’s moral ground to advise the President, citing what he described as his penchant for denigrating President Jonathan’s administration at every given opportunity.

A pan-Yoruba socio-political and self-determination group, the Oodua Solidarity Forum (OSF), has urged those attacking former Minister of Aviation Chief Femi Fani-Kayode to stop.

The group was reacting to the attacks by Igbo elements following the articles Fani-Kayode wrote in defence of the Lagos State Government and the Yoruba race.

OSF described the attacks as a ploy by the Igbo to drag the nation into another meaningless war.

It wondered why the Igbo were berating the former minister over an issue that did not concern them.

In a statement by its National Coordinator, Mr Julius Olajide, OSF said it would no longer tolerate further attacks on Fani-Kayode and any other Yoruba man or woman.

It urged Igbo leaders to call their people to order before they incur the anger of their accommodating hosts.

Fani-Kayode, in response to former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu’s diatribe that Lagos is a “no man’s land”, wrote a series of articles: The bitter truth about the Igbo.

It was in defence of the Yoruba race and a counter-claim to Kalu’s assertion that 55 per cent of the revenue generated in Lagos State belonged to the Igbo.

OSF expressed sadness that despite the former minister’s explanation that his intentions were not to ridicule or malign the Igbo, the attacks had continued with some Igbo groups threatening Fani-Kayode’s wife and children.

The group said while many may view the attacks as being focussed on the former minister, discerning people have noted that the attacks were targeted at the Yoruba race.

The statement said: “It is funny how these people, who have found it a game to attack Fani-Kayode, remained silent when an Igbo man, former Abia State Governor Orji Kalu described Lagos as ‘no man’s land’ and that 55 per cent of the state’s resources belongs to the Igbo.”

It said the former minister did not only make the comments as his personal opinion as a Nigerian but also as someone who decided to rise in defence of “his fatherland, which is being disparaged by an Igbo man”.

The OSF noted that although Yoruba accounts for ownership of between 20 to 30 per cent of buildings and businesses in Abuja, it has never lost sight of the fact that the place is not only the federal capital but also the land of the Gwari.

The group described the statement credited to the Ohaneze in the Daily Sun of August 6 as an insult and an affront on the Yoruba.

It added that the Igbo umbrella group, in the statement, claimed they constitute 46 per cent of the state’s population with a veiled threat to destroy it, if they don’t have their way.

The Rivers state commissioner of Police (CP), Mbu Joseph Mbu yesterday accused Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi of being dictatorial in the way he runs the state.

Mbu spoke in Port Harcourt yesterday while reacting to allegations by Amaechi on the failing security situation in the state since the deployment of the Mbu.

The CP said Amaechi wanted to cow him and reduce him to a rubber stamp, but insisted that he would not concede to that.

Throwing light on some of the issues between him and Amaechi, he urged residents to ignore the statement by the governor that the security situation had deteriorated.

Amaechi, while receiving former Minister of Petroleum Prof. Tam David-West on Tuesday, accused Mbu of engaging in activities that are negatively affecting the fragile security of the state.

But the CP said: “Your governor, our governor is very tyrannical. He is a dictator and he wants everybody here to say yes sir to him, and I said I will not say yes sir to him, I will not because I must be a professional and I will stand tall.

“Crime wave in this state has drastically come down since I came here, because people who were not always on their seats before are now at alert. I call them by 2:00am they are awake, they are on patrol. On my own, I have refurbished 12 Hilux patrol vehicles, how can you tell me that the crime wave has gone up.

“I have respect for the governor; I have respect to the office of the governor, but let him also have respect for the Police.

“The office of the governor is a revered office, it is an office that has respect.

“Sometimes silence is golden but sometimes it could be mistaken or misconstrued for acceptance.

“I have very high regard for the Excellency the Executive governor of this state, Rotimi Amaechi, but his attacks on me are going beyond bounds and there is need for me to clarify some of the issues.”

He denied relaying decisions of security meetings to Abuja as alleged by the governor saying security meetings were not formally held. He added: “I told him that my loyalty to the IGP is total.”

Mbu said his disagreement with the governor also had to do with who chairs the internal security meetings in the state.

He said a letter from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) directed the commissioner of police to chair the meeting, but that Amaechi insisted that it should be rotated.

“One issue I have had with the governor is who chairs internal security meetings in the state.

“He, (governor) said we should rotate it but I said no, there is a letter from the NSA on this.

“It is the commissioner of police that does. I told him if my predecessors did not do what was right I won’t follow them.

“The commissioner of police is to chair the forum and assume responsibility to brief the governor.

“I told him the Inspector-General of police has so many sources of information. I told the governor that my loyalty to the governor is total,’’ he said.

Mbu also said no formal security meeting had been held since he came to the state, noting that he had not received letter any convening security meeting.

“I am not here for any agenda. I have respect for the office of the governor and the governor of the state, but let him (governor) also have respect for the police and me,’’ Mbu said.

The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, described Mbu’s comments on Amaechi as “most unfortunate’’.

“Mbu’s comments are most unfortunate, but we will prefer to address the matters raised administratively,’’ she said.

Mbu also vowed to arrest Tony Okocha, the Chief of Staff to Governor Amaechi over a matter involving him and the President of the Port Harcourt Club. He said Okocha is seeking court protection in vain.

The governor had alleged that Mbu gave more security cover to the Port Harcourt club chair Sylvester Wiyioma and the club premises than other important places in the state.

But Mlbu said he did that following attempts on the life of the club president and the club property.

He noted that Okocha was linked to that and had been invited by the police to make statement in that regard.

Mbu said “the chief of staff has gone to court asking the court to restrain me from arresting him; I am not yet ready for him.

“There is no court in this world that can grant such a prayer. Which means everybody will go to court after he/she had committed a crime to get an injunction to avoid arrest.

“It is based on this that more policemen were drafted to Port Harcourt club,” he said.