The Nation Newspaper

Tag: boko haram

  • New ministry for Boko Haram victims in Borno

    New ministry for Boko Haram victims in Borno

    Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima has announced the creation of a new ministry that would take care of Boko Haram victims in the state.

    The governor announced the new ministry in Maiduguri on Wednesday at the swearing in of 21 new commissioners and Local Government care taker committee chairmen in the state and the swearing in of members of some boards.

    Named the ministry for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, the new ministry is saddled with the burden of all internally displaced people in the state and the reconstruction of the affected communities.

    The establishment of the ministry marks a significant step in the post insurgency plan of the Borno State government.

    The new ministry is to be manned by Dr. Babagana Zulum who until his appointment was the Rector of the State owned Ramat Polytechnic in Maiduguri.

    According to the governor, the choice of Dr. Zulum for the ministry was “because of the manner he prudently initiated and supervised many buildings within Ramat Polytechnic out of passion for development of Borno State.”adding that,

    Dr Zulum had also successfully supervised the execution of some public buildings donated to the University of Maiduguri by Borno State Government, all of which were not only delivered in good time but also of very high quality despite use of less resources through direct labour”.

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    Meanwhile, the Secretary to Borno Government, Alhaji Usman Jidda Shuwa has announced portfolios for the 20 commissioners sworn alongside Dr Zulum.

    The posting shows that Dr Mohammed Bulama retained his office as Commissioner for Home Affairs, Information and Culture; Adamu Alhaji Lawan takes on ministry of works and transport as commissioner, Hajiya Inna Galadima, Poverty Alleviation and Youth Empowerment, Yerima Lawan Kareto Trade, Investment and Tourism, Usman Ali Zanna Local Government and Emirate Affairs, Mohammed Aliyu Dilli Agriculture and Natural Resources, Zainab Gimba Water Resources, Dr. Haruna Mshelia Health and Human Services, Sugum Mai Mile Land and Survey and Babagana Tijjani Banking Housing and Rural Electrification.
    Others include Ahmed Usman Jaha as Commissioner Higher Education, Abubakar Ibrahim Babale Sport Development, Mohammed Kauji Finance Budget and Planning, Hon. Fanta Baba Shehu Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Musa Inuwa Kubo Education, Waziri Imam Environment, Hon. Kaka She hu Lawan Justice, and Magaji Wandeo Animal Fisheries and Develoment. The posting also has Hon. Ali Abatcha incharge of Inter- Governmental and Special Duties and Mustapha Fannarambe is Commissioner for Religious Affairs.
    Shettima had also sworn in caretaker chairmen of 27 local government areas whose names were released last week. The Governor also swore in Hassan Aminami as a permanent secretary.

  • FG may consider amnesty for Boko Haram prisoners – Buhari

    FG may consider amnesty for Boko Haram prisoners – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday that Nigerian authorities were talking to Boko Haram prisoners in their custody and could offer them amnesty if the sect hands over more than 200 schoolgirls abducted last year.

    Buhari added that he was confident “conventional” attacks by the insurgents would be rooted out by November — but cautioned that deadly suicide attacks, some of them waged by children, were likely to continue.

    “The few (prisoners) we are holding, we are trying to see whether we can negotiate with them for the release of the Chibok girls,” Buhari told AFP in an interview in Paris during a three-day visit to France.

    “If the Boko Haram leadership eventually agrees to turn over the Chibok girls to us, the complete number, then we may decide to give them (the prisoners) amnesty.”

    Boko Haram fighters stormed a school in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14 last year, seizing 276 girls who were preparing for end-of-year exams in an abduction that shocked the world.

    57 girls later escaped, but nothing has been heard of the 219 others since May last year, when about 100 of them appeared in a Boko Haram video, dressed in Muslim attire and reciting the Koran.

    Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has since said they have all converted to Islam and been “married off.”

    Buhari, who has promised to stamp out the group’s bloody six-year insurgency, said the government would not release any prisoners unless it was convinced it could “get the girls in reasonably healthy condition.”

    But he cautioned that negotiating with Boko Haram militants was fraught with difficulties.

    “We are trying to establish if they are bona fide, how useful they are in Boko Haram, have they reached a position of leadership where their absence is of relevance to the operation of Boko Haram,” he said.

     

     

  • AU rakes in $70m for counter- insurgency operations

    The African Union has raked in $70 million to fight insurgency on the continent.

    AU also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for redeeming Nigeria’s pledge of $21million to the union.

    The AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Amb. Smail Chergui, spoke on Wednesday at a press briefing to mark the end of a three-day retreat for AU and regional bodies held in Abuja.

    The contributions, he said were necessary for the takeoff of the multinational force.

    Chergui, who also reacted to recent attacks in the Northeast, noted that dealing with the attacks on innocent citizens was a priority to the continental body.

    He said: “This issue is not for Nigeria alone but for African continent. When it comes to Nigeria and I think since the election of President Buhari, this is as a witness, and as a person who is working on a daily basis with the government of Nigeria on the issue this is now the first priority for the government.

    “I mean dealing with unspeakable terrorist attacks and their effects on the population is really a priority here in Nigeria. And we are coordinating and helping also so that not only that the insurgency can be stopped.

    “As we speak, we have almost 9, 000 persons from Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin engaged. So now we are really working on improving that force, not only through the contribution of Nigeria which is effective. “

  • ‘What Boko Haram leaders told CCC on Chibok girls’

    ‘What Boko Haram leaders told CCC on Chibok girls’

    The Executive Secretary of the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC), Air Commodore Yusuf Anas (rtd), on Wednesday said some Boko Haram leaders offered to negotiate for ceasefire because they are tired of fighting.

    He said both the Federal Government and the insurgents should adopt an open mind to the ongoing talks for negotiation.

    He, however, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for expressing the government’s willingness to dialogue with the sect.

    Anas made the clarification in Abuja while speaking on the dialogue being facilitated by the CCC between the government and the insurgents on how to free the 219 abducted Chibok girls.

    He said Boko Haram neither asked for monetary inducement nor compensation during preliminary talks for dialogue.

    [ad id=”403656″]He said: “We want to note that none of the suspected Boko Haram elements that spoke with the CCC asked for any form of monetary inducement or compensation as a pre-condition for laying down their arms.

    “In fact, many of them said that they were simply tired of fighting and being fugitives in a war that they were deceived into joining.

    “Nevertheless, the Centre will continue to support and encourage all efforts towards bringing insurgency to an end in our country.”

    Anas, who praised President Buhari’s decision to go into dialogue with genuine leaders of the sect, said there is nothing wrong in exploring any possibility of securing freedom for the girls.

     

  • Military will meet presidential deadline on insurgency – Army chief

    Military will meet presidential deadline on insurgency – Army chief

    The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, said on Wednesday in Kaduna that the military will meet the three-month presidential deadline to end the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast.

    “The military is winning the war on daily basis,” Gen. Buratai told journalists shortly after declaring open the 10th Nigerian Army Finance Corps Biennial Training Conference in Kaduna.

    He added that it was possible to meet the deadline set for the military by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    President Buhari had given the military up to December 2015 to end the insurgency in the northeast.

    Gen. Buratai, who did not give details on the deadline and the strategy of the military during the interview, simply said: “We will end Boko Haram insurgency very soon. It is possible to meet the three months deadline. We are very close to the insurgents. We are winning them on daily basis.”

    [ad id=”403656″]However, the COAS while addressing the military officers and men earlier at the conference, said the Army has keyed into the change mantra of the Federal Government especially in matters relating to financial management, through the introduction of the Single Treasury Account System.

    The theme of the army conference is: “Impact of evolving federal government financial policies on operational roles of the Nigerian Army amidst dwindling budgetary allocation.”

    Gen. Buratai, who said the TSA has given the Nigerian Army new ideas on how to make judicious use of its funds, noted that the change slogan of the federal government has brought to life existing financial policies that were dormant in the country over the years.

     

     

  • Army captures over 200 Boko Haram insurgents in Adamawa

    Army captures over 200 Boko Haram insurgents in Adamawa

    The Department of Civil Military Affairs at the Army Headquarters, said on Wednesday that it had captured and de-radicalised over 200 Boko Haram insurgents in Adamawa.

    Brig.-Gen. V O Ezugwu, the Commander, 28 Task Force Brigade, Mubi made the disclosure at the opening of a two-day sensitisation programme on de-radicalization held in Mubi, Adamawa.

    “This Brigade has rescued and de-radicalised over 200 Boko Haram insurgents from November 2014 to date.

    “And the beneficiaries of this programme numbers in terms of thousands,” Ezugwu said.

    According to the commander, military operations alone cannot provide a holistic solution to eradicating terrorism and insurgency in the country.

    “There is need for a collaborative approach involving political, diplomatic, economic, timely information and other related lines of counter insurgency operation,” Ezugwu said.

    He said that the seminar was part of efforts by the Nigerian Army High Command to deepen collaboration with all stakeholders.

    In his lecture on relationship between the military and civil populace, Col. Victor Olatunji said that the Nigerian Army was committed to respect for human rights in the discharge of its responsibilities.

    Olatunji assured that the Army would not trample on the rights of any Nigerian including captured Boko Haram terrorists.

    He advised the participants to offer useful suggestions that would promote good relationship between the military and the civil populace for the benefit of all.

  • Buhari: Boko Haram demands release of its bomb maker

    Buhari: Boko Haram demands release of its bomb maker

    Fed Govt ready for talks to free Chibok schoolgirls

    Government officials have met with the leaders of Boko Haram sect for talks on freedom for the abducted Chibok girls, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said in France.

    He however added that apart from ensuring that it negotiates with genuine leaders of the sect, the government rejected the condition given to it by the sect to proceed with the negotiations.

    The condition is for the release from custody of the main suspect behind the production of Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs).

    The President, who was rounding off his state visit to France, spoke during a meeting with the Nigerian community, who met with him under the auspices of Nigerians In the Diaspora Organisation (NIDO)

    Buhari said: “The issue of Chibok girls has occupied our minds and because of the international attention it drew and the sympathy throughout the country and the world, the government is negotiating with some of Boko Haram’s leadership.

    “It is a very sensitive development in the sense that first we have to establish who are the genuine leaders of the Boko Haram. That is number one. Number two, what are their terms? The first impression we had was not very encouraging,” he said

    He said: “They wanted us to release one of their leaders who is a strategic person in developing and making IEDs which have been causing a lot of havoc in the country by blowing up people in churches, mosques, market places, motor parks and other places.

    [ad id=”403656″]“But it is very important that if we are going to talk to anybody, we have to know how much he is worth.

    “Let them bring all the girls and then, we will be prepared to negotiate.  I will allow them to come back to Nigeria or to be absorbed into the community. We have to be very careful; the concern we have for the Chibok girls, one only imagine if they got a daughter there between 14 and 18 years and for more than one and a half years, a lot of the parents who have died would rather see the graves of their daughters rather the condition they imagine they were in.

    “This has drawn a lot of sympathy thoughout the world; that is why this government is getting very hard in negotiating and getting the balance of those who are alive.”

    Buhari assured the Nigerians that his administration was doing everything to improve on the state of the economy through provision of infrastructure in critical areas.

     

  • What Boko Haram wants in exchange for Chibok girls- Buhari

    What Boko Haram wants in exchange for Chibok girls- Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari has given an insight into on-going federal government’s negotiation with the the Boko Haram insurgent group.

    Buhari spoke on the negotiation while responding to questions from members of the Nigerian community in France under the auspices of Nigerians In Diaspora Organization (NIDO) on Tuesday.

    He revealed that one the conditions given by the group was for the Federal Government to release one of its members who has been strategic in developing Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs).

    But he said that the government will not accept such a demand.

    [ad id=”403656″]” They wanted us to release one of their leaders who is a strategic person in developing and making Improvised IEDs that is causing a lot of havoc in the country by blowing people in Churches, Mosque, market places, motor parks and other places. But is very important that if we are going to talk to any body, we have to know how much he is worth.

    “Let them bring all the girls and then, we will be prepared to negotiate, I will allow them to come back to Nigeria or to be absolved in the community. We have to be very careful, the concern we have for the Chibok girls, one only imagine if they got a daughter there between 14 and 18 and for more than one and a half year, a lot of the parents who have died would rather see the graves of their daughters rather the condition they imagine they are in.

    “This has drawn a lot of sympathy though out the world, that is why this government is getting very hard in negotiating and getting the balance of those who are alive, ” Buhari stated

  • We’ve started negotiations with Boko Haram leaders, says Buhari

    We’ve started negotiations with Boko Haram leaders, says Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said that the Federal Government has began negotiations with members of the Boko Haram sect towards securing release of over 200 secondary school girls abducted in Chibok, Borno State.
    Buhari made the disclosure while responding to questions from members of the Nigerian community in France under the auspices of Nigerians In Diaspora Organization (NIDO).
    Stressing that his administration was worried by the continued abduction of the girls by their captors, he said that the administration is working tirelessly to get them released.
    Noting that the incident has attracted global attention and sympathy within Nigeria, he said that the government can not continue to fold its arms and watch.
    ” The issue of Chibok girls has occupied our minds and because of the international attention it drew and the sympathy through out the country and the world, the government is negotiating with some of the Boko Haram leadership,” Buhari said
    According to him, the government had to first establish genuine members of the sect in order not to make the mistake of engaging the wrong persons.

  • Troops rescue more women, children held by Boko Haram

    Troops rescue more women, children held by Boko Haram

    The Nigerian Army said on Tuesday that scores of women and children held captive by Boko Haram insurgents have been rescued by troops along Banki, Kumashe and Bama axis in Borno.

    The acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman confirmed the development in a statement issued in Abuja.

    He said the advancing troops cleared four camps along the axis, while several others were cleared in Bolungu 1 and 2, Bula Doye and Cheehi Dare areas also in Borno.

    “Nigerian troops advancing to clear all known Boko Haram terrorists camps towards Banki, Kumshe axis and Bama axis have cleared 4 more camps earlier on Tuesday.

    “They were able to clear the terrorists’ camps at Bolungu 1 and 2, Bula Doye and Cheehi Dare and secured a very important bridge linking the towns of Miyanti and Banki in Borno State.

    “The gallant troops also rescued dozen of kidnapped women and children held captive by Boko Haram terrorists.’’

    It said more enclaves of the insurgents would be cleared as troops involved in the operations advanced towards more areas previously occupied by the insurgents.

    The statement said the offensive operations by ground troops and aerial bombardments by the Nigerian Air Force would continue in the region until the insurgency was ended.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the military had intensified offensive against the insurgents with the aim of ending their reign of terror in the North East.