The Nation Newspaper

Tag: boko haram

  • Troops make steady progress in Sambisa forest – Army

    Troops make steady progress in Sambisa forest – Army

    The Nigerian Army says troops involved in the counter-insurgency operation code-named; “Operation Lafiya Dole’’ are making steady progress toward clearing all Boko Haram enclaves in and around the Sambisa forest.

    This is contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by the acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman.

    Usman said in the statement that troops were currently clearing Boko Haram hideouts around areas that had already been taken over by the Army within the forest.

    “I am glad to inform you that our troops are making substantial progress within the fringes of Sambisa forest.

    “Nigerian Army troops are clearing Boko Haram enclaves along axis of advance from Bitta to Tokumbere,’’ the statement said.

    It reiterated the commitment of the Nigerian Army toward ending insurgency and to ensure a safe and secure Nigeria in line with the directive of the President.

    In a related development, the Army announced the arrest of some suspected suppliers of hard drugs and other stimulants to Boko Haram terrorists by troops of the 3 Division, Nigerian Army.

    The Army said the suspects were arrested between Depchi and Geidam in Geidam Local Government Area of Yobe on Tuesday.

    The arrested persons were also said to be engaged in the supply of fuel in addition to hard drugs such as Cannabis (Indian hemp) Chlorofone substance and Tramol.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the development reinforces an earlier statement by the Army that the insurgents were operating under the influence of drugs.

    The Army had earlier reported that most of the Boko Haram terrorists captured by Nigerian military could not read the Holy Qur’an.

    According to the Army, the bases of the insurgents are littered with local charms, condoms and drugs, including sex enhancing ones.

  • Boko Haram in Lagos?

    Boko Haram in Lagos?

    •All hands must be on deck to check the group’s incursion to Lagos, other cities

    News that the terror group, Boko Haram, might have penetrated the security ring around major Southern towns like Lagos and Enugu, among others, is an indication that there is a constant need to review the security situation in all parts of the country. One major achievement recorded under the Jonathan administration was the restriction of the terrorist strikes to the North East.  Earlier forays to the North West and parts of the North Central had led to panic that the group could expand its operations to other parts of the country.

    In recent times, the Nigerian Armed Forces had recorded further gains that have incapacitated the group and reduced it to a band of marauders. This has raised hopes that the military might succeed in winning the war within three months as ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    We call on the military to step up their acts in view of the latest news .A single strike in Lagos would be a major moral booster for the murderous sect. It could be used by them to indicate that they have the capacity to take the war beyond their traditional atria. It could also send fear through the spines of the people in Lagos and the South West. Realising the pride of place that Lagos commands as the country’s industrial and commercial nerve-centre, one set to join the league of mega-cities soon; all efforts must be made to frustrate the devilish plans of the group. Anything that undermines the security of Lagos would disrupt the country’s economy. The Lagos airport remains the busiest and the seaports make the city a major maritime hub not only in Nigeria but the West Africa sub-region.

    The people, too, should realise that they have major roles to play in securing their neighbourhoods. Intelligence gathering plays a major part in any war. Since the suicide bombers are no spirits, vigilance on the part of the people and their willingness to cooperate with the fighting forces would help in checkmating the feared Boko Haram incursion to Lagos and other Southern cities. The vigilance groups, Neighbourhood Watch units, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police and community development associations should be immediately incorporated into the war. Suspicious movements and actions in neighbourhoods should be promptly reported to the security agents through the emergency lines.

    State information agencies should be more actively engaged in sensitising the people to what is expected of them in times like this. Heightened awareness has been observed in Jos, the Plateau State capital, where abandoned parcels had been reported to the police, thus averting imminent bloodshed.

    Security around important public buildings such as the air and sea ports should be tightened, as should places of worship, markets, shopping malls and motor parks. In addition, as training of personnel is being stepped up, it should not be limited to the North East.

    We commend the Fashola administration in Lagos State for the Lagos Security Trust Fund and advise that more investment be made in purchase of surveillance gadgets. The Federal Government, too, should deploy some of the equipment being bought to securing the former capital city.

    We also call the Federal Government’s attention to the need to break the terror ring by disrupting the supply chain and its fund channel; it is not enough to dislodge the foot soldiers and lower rank agents, efforts should now be made to apprehend the godfathers. Nigerians are tired of the corrosive effects and costs of the war at a time of economic emergency. All Nigerians, military and civilian, young and old, living in the north or south, male or female must come together to defeat this latest challenge to Nigeria’s corporate existence.

    ‘Security around important public buildings such as the air and sea ports should be tightened, as should places of worship, markets, shopping malls and motor parks. In addition, as training of personnel is being stepped up, it should not be limited to the North East’

  • 500 days and still counting

    500 days and still counting

    We shall never be free of the burden of  bringing back the Chibok girls

    Thursday, August 27th, marked another tragic milestone in the evolving barbaric narrative of the Boko Haram terrorist insurgency that has, over the last five years, claimed thousands of lives, particularly in the North-East of Nigeria, and rendered the region economically prostrate.

    It was exactly 500 days that day since the extremist sect invaded the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, on the night of April 14, last year, abducting 276 girls who were preparing for their end-of-year Senior Secondary School examinations and carried them away in several trucks into the evil bowels of their Sambisa Forest fortress. But for about 57 of the abducted girls who were lucky to escape from their captors, nothing has been heard till date of the remaining 219 girls.

    That horrific incident shocked the entire world and exposed not only the depth of evil symbolised by the Boko Haram sect, which claimed to be waging a war against western education, but also the utter irresponsibility, insensitivity and incompetence of the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration. For one, it was simply incomprehensible how the insurgents could operate with such abandon and audacity in an area that had been placed under a state of emergency by the Federal Government.

    Even more exasperating was the inexplicable initial lethargic and unserious reaction of the Jonathan administration to the girls’ abduction. The administration only bestirred itself to act almost two weeks after the incident, and then only because of the international outcry that ensued. That squandering of valuable time is certainly a key reason why the insurgents were able to successfully spirit the girls away and their fate remains uncertain and unknown over 500 days after.

    The girls and their families heroically insisted on their obtaining western education despite the murderous threats of the Boko Haram barbarians. Unfortunately, the Nigerian State failed in its prime responsibility of providing them with adequate security to safeguard their lives. The sheer agony that the relatives and loved ones of these girls have been put through since the commencement of this ordeal can best be imagined. For, they have no way of knowing what fate has befallen the helpless girls. The parents of at least 17 of them have reportedly died during the ordeal. It is improbable that even if they are eventually rescued, the girls’ lives can ever be the same again.

    Messages of solidarity from across the world on the 500th day of their abduction show that the plight of the girls continues to haunt the global conscience. The Bring Back Our Girls movement deserves commendation for its tenacity in keeping the issue at the forefront of international consciousness. Even though it did not create the problem, the challenge and responsibility of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is to mobilise all the resources at the disposal of the Nigerian state to locate and rescue the girls. Luckily, the administration enjoys tremendous international goodwill and support, which it should draw upon to achieve this objective.

    ‘Even though it did not create the problem, the challenge and responsibility of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is to mobilise all the resources at the disposal of the Nigerian state to locate and rescue the girls. Luckily, the administration enjoys tremendous international goodwill and support, which it should draw upon to achieve this objective’

    Understandably, President Buhari has been cautious not to create the impression that he has a magic wand to find and bring the girls back home. It would be cruel and dishonest to raise the hopes of their loved ones on unrealistic premises only to have them dashed eventually. But no matter how bleak the situation looks, we must never give up hope of rescuing and returning the girls home. We agree with the sentiments of the Pakistani human rights activist, Malala Yousafzai who in a letter to the girls said: “…Today and every day, we call on the Nigerian authorities and the international community to do more to bring you home. We will not rest until you have been reunited with your families”.

  • Dangote donates N100m to Boko Haram victims

    The Dangote Foundation has donated N100 million to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) affected by Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast.

    The foundation’s Chief Executive Officer Mrs Zouera Youssouffou, announced the donation at an advocacy and fund raising ceremony organised by the Daily Trust in Abuja.

    Mrs Youssouffou said the donation was part of the gesture of President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, who she said had been passionate about the plight of the IDPs.

    She said the foundation had been involved in similar donations.

    Dangote Foundation was involved in supporting about 5,000 families in the affected region.

    The foundation also donated materials to victims of the 2011 post-election crisis in Kaduna State.

     

     

     

     

  • Chibok girls: FG yet to accept Boko Haram’s dialogue offer

    Chibok girls: FG yet to accept Boko Haram’s dialogue offer

    •Pressure from troops, Cameroon, Chad displaces sect
    •Troops launch manhunt for location of Chibok girls

    In spite of offer of dialogue, the federal government is yet to make up its mind on whether or not to go into fresh dialogue with Boko Haram.

    Some representatives of the sect were said to be on standby for new talks with plans to release two or three of the 219 missing Chibok girls.

    Also, intelligence report indicated that pressure from troops in the North-East, Cameroon and Chad has displaced the sect from their strongholds.

    It was gathered that as troops gained more grounds, they have been given a mandate to locate the whereabouts of the Chibok girls.

    Investigation by our correspondent revealed that although some representatives of Boko Haram had sneaked in and out of the country for preliminary talks with the federal government, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is being cautious.

    Findings confirmed that the government has left only the facilitators of the new dialogue to discuss with the representatives of the sect while a profiling of the offer is being done by the government.

    A top source said: “The government of President Buhari is yet to accept the new offer of dialogue from Boko Haram in order to avoid the pitfalls of the past.

    “At the official level, no one has met with the representatives of the sect. This administration is not opposed to dialogue but it has to be cautious in its approach. Much money was wasted on the failed peace talks.

    “At the end of the day, the sect and the facilitators benefited more from the failed project. So, it is not an issue government will rush into.

    “While the President is not opposed to dialogue, security agencies are still conducting the profiling of those behind the latest talks, their ranking in Boko Haram hierarchy and the probability of the new deal. They only promised to release two or three of the girls.”

    Another source, however, said the government believes the continuous attacks of soft targets by Boko Haram made the Buhari administration to be skeptical.

    A security source said: “Members of the sect are not behaving as if they are ready for dialogue. In one breath they talk of dialogue but they continue to maim and kill many.

    “I think the pressure from our troops, Cameroon and Chad has displaced the sect from their bases and camps. The sect is no doubt feeling the heat of the increased tempo of counter-insurgency.

    “During the week, Boko Haram members engaged in reprisals in Northern Cameroon because they know the game is up.”

    As at press time, it was learnt that troops have been given the mandate to “locate the whereabouts of the Chibok girls.”

    “We believe Boko Haram leaders are using the girls as shield as they engage in make-shift life. But troops are now more determined because of far-reaching back up and new equipment. We are hopeful that we will locate the girls.”

    The Executive Secretary of Centre for Crisis Communication, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas, whose organisation is playing a facilitation role for the latest dialogue, said all options were still open.

    He said: “On the possibility of negotiation as we intimated in the last briefing, the Centre wishes to state that nothing has changed so far and all options are still open.

    “In any case, negotiation or not, we urge the military to continue in their operations until the mission is achieved.”

    He also asked Nigerians to remain security conscious at all times.

    He added: “The Centre has noted the resort to soft targets for bombing by some elements of the terrorist group using hapless young women and children.

    “Seldom is direct confrontation between the insurgents and the troops are reported these days. What this means therefore is that the time now calls for more intelligence gathering and sharing by all and sundry.

    “Citizens must remain security conscious and vigilant, especially in public places like markets, schools and worship centers and be able report any lead to the nearest security forces.”

  • Boko Haram kills 30 traders in Borno

    Boko Haram kills 30 traders in Borno

    No fewer than 30 innocent traders have been reported killed after bomb explosions rocked a local market in Borno State, according to local and vigilante sources.

    A resident of Askira Uba who escaped from the market during the attack narrated that a suicide bomber suspected to be a Boko Haram terrorist disguised as a wheel barrow pusher at the peak of Linmakara weekly village market in Gwoza local government area.  The terrorist detonated explosives at the centre of the market killing not fewer than 30 traders with several others left with critical injuries.

    A  local vigilante who does not want his name disclosed that ” a middle age man who disguised  to be pushing kuus-kuus (local wheelbarrow)  detonated it at the centre of the market at noon when people  were busy buying and selling.

    “More than 30 traders were dead and several others injured at Limakara village on Friday,” he informed.

    He also disclosed it was difficult connecting with the people from the area due to network problem.

    Limakara is a remote village in the southern part of Borno State and 65 kilometres to Askira-Uba.

  • Boko Haram kill 30 traders in Borno

    Boko Haram kill 30 traders in Borno

    Not fewer than 30 innocent traders have been reportedly killed by bomb explosions at a local market in Borno state, local vigilante sources disclosed.

    A resident of Askira Uba who escaped from the market during the attack narrated that a suicide bomber suspected to be Boko haram terrorist disguised as a wheelbarrow pusher at the peak of Linmakara weekly village market in Gwoza local government area of Borno state on Friday afternoon where he detonated explosives at the centre of the market killing not fewer than 30 traders with several others left with critical injuries.

    A local vigilante disclosed that, ‎” a middle age man who disguised to be pushing kuus-kuus(local wheelbarrow) detonated it at the center of the market at noon when people were busy engaged in buying and selling.

    “More than 30 traders were dead and several others injured‎ at Limakara village on Friday,” he informed.

    He also disclosed it was difficult connecting with the people from the area due to network problem.

    ‎Limakara is a remote village in southern part of Borno state and 65 kilometers to Askira-Uba.

  • How not to end Boko Haram

    How not to end Boko Haram

    Barely one month after he appointed his new service chiefs, President Muhammadu Buhari in August set a three-month deadline for the defeat of Boko Haram. In the first flush of excitement after they were picked to lead the military, the service chiefs themselves openly acknowledged that the November deadline was achievable. There was great enthusiasm, new military equipment, additional motivation, and the violent sect was so degraded as a fighting force that nothing seemed unrealistic about the deadline. A wary but eager public cottoned onto the Buhari timeline notwithstanding the failure of several deadlines issued by former president Goodluck Jonathan, deadlines that failed woefully, repeatedly and embarrassingly. Like many other things with the Buhari government, such as electricity supply and fuel availability, which seem to be responding positively to what has been described as his body language, many Nigerians are joyous with hope that the Boko Haram deadline would yield to the president’s sorcery.

    There are chances the high hopes could be realised, and the war and the sect would both be extinguished. The Buhari government has also talked of his plans, together with a part of the world community, for the post-war reconstruction of the northeastern part of Nigeria ravaged by the sect’s nihilistic and murderous war. Having secured a humongous and seemingly disproportionate number of votes from that blighted region, President Buhari, it seems, is not being hypocritical in disclosing his huge plans for the Northeast. Though the plans are yet to be fully spelt out, they appear real and will receive the president’s best backing and energy.

    So far, however, the government’s plan to bring the Boko Haram phenomenon to an end is based on two planks: to defeat the sect militarily, and to rebuild the war-ravaged region. As appropriate as these measures are in dealing with the menace in the Northeast, it is doubtful whether they are sufficient to extinguish the sect or prevent other sects and subversive groups from undermining the peace and security of the country. Boko Haram did not start in 2002 as a violent sect, even if it had the potential. It contained seeds of radicalism in its bowels, but it did not start out radicalised. While it was undeniably Islamist in structure and content, notwithstanding what the mainstream Islamic bodies embarrassed by the sect’s activities have said, it nonetheless distorted and perverted Islamic doctrines. Boko Haram’s militancy, radicalisation and ideology grew out of their experiences and encounters with the nation’s unsophisticated security forces and lackadaisical and undiscerning government.

    If the sect withers before the firepower of the military, and its foot soldiers are depleted by the rebuilding and reconstruction of the Northeast, it is only a part of the necessary conditions for delivering peace to the region. In all President Buhari’s talk of peace in the region, he has emphasised military action, for which he has set a deadline, and economic regeneration, for which he gives the impression he and the world are prepared. But neither he nor anyone else, including the perceptive Governor Kassim Shettima of Borno State, has talked copiously of or emphasised the injustice that was done to members of the sect, nor even of the extrajudicial murder of the late Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf. The sect had in the past seized upon the extrajudicial murder of their leader and members to spurn previous offers of dialogue and peace. It is not now clear how the government hopes to ignore those state killings and hope any peace would endure. Peace must be based on justice, and yes, even criminals need justice delivered along civilised lines.

    The conventional wisdom in Nigeria concludes that troublemakers are deserving of the punishment they get, no matter how the punishment is procured and administered. But it was pigheaded to carry out extrajudicial murder in the early stages of the disturbances, and it is still unethical to suggest that on account of the heavy economic losses suffered by the country, and the killing and maiming of military personnel, and the painful abridgment of governance in large parts of the Northeast, those who fomented the rebellion deserved the arbitrary punishment meted out to them. What sets a society apart from bloodthirsty anarchists and fanatical sects is the ethical standard by which civilised communities are judged. Boko Haram militants engaged in extraordinary and deplorable bloodletting. The rest of the society could not descend to that abysmal level of indiscriminate killings and hope to be regarded as superior to the sects. It took more than two years for the trial of the policemen who summarily executed the Boko Haram leader in 2009 to begin. The trial has still not been concluded more than six years after the state murder was committed, and about four years since the four or five police suspects were first charged in court.

    Because the government itself embraced no fundamental conviction on the issue of extrajudicial murder, and because it reluctantly charged the offending policemen in court and accompanied the sham exercise with no diligent prosecution, it opened the floodgates for scores of other extrajudicial and revenge killings by the military. These unlawful acts in turn prolonged the war, turned it into a vicious and deathly struggle, and led to the partial ostracisation of Nigeria. In March 2013, Dr Jonathan insensitively confused the Boko Haram insurgents with the victimised indigenes of the states affected by militancy, and then warned the indigenes, whom he accused of collaborating with the sect, of the dire consequences of killing even one of his soldiers. After that, the crisis simply took a turn for the worse. It is only in the last one year or so that the military began to recognise it needed different and sensible methods to combat Boko Haram, one that involved winning the confidence of the local populace, making them partners in the war, and recognising belatedly that both troops and victims shared a common destiny and national security objective.

    President Buhari talks fulsomely of winning the war in three months, a deadline the military has echoed and adopted with relish. He has promised reconstruction of the Northeast, and the people of the affected states are eagerly looking forward to the economic revival of their lands. These are laudable, achievable goals. But greater efforts must be applied to deliver justice to the hundreds killed extrajudicially, including the late Boko Haram leader, Mallam Yusuf. Nigeria is a nation of laws. Criminals, even if they are caught red handed, must be served justice according to the law. No more, no less.

    To underscore the point that neither the Buhari government nor the ones before it had emphasised the issue of justice, the country’s security forces in their everyday dealings with citizens have simply refused to imbibe the culture of lawful law enforcement. Torture, state killings not backed by law, and other rampant abridgement and abuse of the rights of citizens routinely take place at police stations and within the precincts of other Nigerian security establishments. It is abuses such as these that sometimes lead to hardening of criminals and their predilection for wholesale subversion. When President Buhari talks of winning the Boko Haram war in the shortest possible time, and reconstructing the Northeast economically, let him also show understanding of the sect’s dynamics and the general dynamics of criminality and revolt by reflecting on the place of justice in the peace equation. More, let him in fact begin redesigning the architecture of justice such that, according to the provisions of the constitution, he will be sworn to defending the rights of every Nigerian. That is the only way to truly win the Boko Haram war and lay its many scary ghosts to rest.

  • Boko Haram: Army bans use of horses in Borno

    Boko Haram: Army bans use of horses in Borno

    The 7 Division Nigerian Army in Maiduguri has called on the general public especially traditional rulers in Borno State to stop the use of horses as Boko Haram have resorted to it as a means of transportation.

    The warning was given by the spokesman of the Division Col. Tukur Gusau at the destruction of dry fish worth millions of naira that was seized from the Boko Haram insurgents at different locations in Borno State.

    He warned that the terrorists have resorted to use of horses, while calling on the general public especially traditional rulers to stop ridding on horses for the meantime, stressing that anyone found using a horse would be considered as an insurgents.

    Colonel Tukur Gusau informed that the seized fish was another source of funding for the terrorists that has been truncated.

    He disclosed that the seized fish consist of 2,000 cartons of smoke fish and dry meat that the insurgents carted away from innocent traders.

    Colonel Gusau said; “we invited you to witnessed the burning of N2, 000 cartons and smoke fish and smoke meat, which they use in funding their terrorism.”

    He explained that all revenue sources of the insurgents have been blocked both their sources of fuel supply and food.

    Col. Gusau boasted that all terrorists’ logistics would be destroyed and peace restored to all areas.

    The Army called on the general public to continued assistance to support “Operation Lafiya Dole” by promptly reporting suspicious movement of vehicles or persons loaded with supplies meant for Boko Haram terrorists.

  • ‘Boko Haram displaced 2.1m in Nigeria’

    ‘Boko Haram displaced 2.1m in Nigeria’

    Mounting attacks by Boko Haram sect have sent more than 2.1 million people fleeing their homes in northeast Nigeria, the International Organization for Migration said Friday.

    Revising sharply upwards its previous estimate of 1.5 million, the Geneva-based agency attributed the increase to a very recent spike in Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency.

    But the state-run National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said other factors were at play, such as unrelenting communal strife and the return of Nigerians who had previously fled the country.

    President Muhammadu Buhari, who completes his first 100 days in office this weekend, has promised to do far better than the previous administration in wiping out the insurgents.

    But more than 1,000 people have died in Boko Haram attacks since May 29 when Buhari came to power, AFP reported

    “The recent spike in attacks by insurgents triggered the increase,” the IOM said, referring to the stepped up attacks. But the hike was also due “to improved access to previously inaccessible areas of Borno State, where the IDP population is now well over 1.6 million.”

    The IOM said the new figure covered internally displaced people (IDPs) in the northeastern states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe as well as the central state of Nassarawa and Abuja.

    It urged the government as well as the international community to step in quickly as many were in dire need of food and shelter.