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Tag: boko haram

Safety of mother, child in emergency

“I remember hearing gunshots and feeling afraid. I ran to save my life and that of my six children, but I was not fast enough… I lost my baby… but I had to remain strong for the others…”, recounts Zainab (not real name) rescued from the Sambisa forest.

“We are looking for your men. Do not run,” she remembers the gunmen saying when her village was stormed, leading to abduction of women and children. Another survivor, a pregnant Fatima (not real name) watched Boko Haram militants murder her husband and drag her three children away. Afterward, she was taken to the Sambisa Forest and ended up giving birth in the forest. She and her newborn were later rescued.

The above tales of horror orchestrated by Boko Haram insurgents at the peak of their acts of terrorism in North-East Nigeria has been strongly condemned by the internal community including the United Nations (UN).

The plain truth, yet a sad commentary, is that at the receiving end of the humanitarian crises arising from insurgency are women and children. The number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the refugees kept growing.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the UN system in Nigeria put the total number of IDPs at 1,235,294 while 2,120 refugees and asylum seekers were registered as of 17 January 2015.

According to Assessment Capacities Project, Start Network (ACAPS), the majority of IDPs are in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, in the far northeast, but 47,276 IDPs are in Plateau, Nasarawa, Abuja, Kano, and Kaduna states.

However, the magnitude and severity of needs remain more pressing in the northeast, where humanitarian emergency thresholds have been exceeded and access was for a long time extremely challenging.

Thus, it is no longer news that hundreds of women and children were abducted and held in locations hitherto held by the insurgents, including the dreaded Sambisa forest. It is also not news that hundreds of women and children have been rescued and are still being rescued by the military.

That a number of the women and girls rescued were very traumatised and found to be pregnant is also in the public sphere. However, that every pregnancy, regardless of circumstances leading to it, must be safe and delivered is the issue for the front burner of public discourse.

No doubt, the women and girls have gone through hell in the hands of their abductors. Their rights have been infringed upon; they have been brutalised and abused; and many have lost their lives in the process. The lucky ones that are still alive are back and still far away from returning to their normal self. They, obviously, need all kinds of support: foods, non-foods, dignity kits, health support, education, livelihood, among others.

Furthermore, every time there is a humanitarian emergency, the actors in the humanitarian field are quick to rush and repeatedly provide food and non-food items to the displaced population.

Of course, that reinforces the African proverb that says, ‘If you resolve the challenges of feeding in the life of a poor man, then he is no longer poor.’ But over time, the reality of other equally critical needs set in. The pregnant women, the lactating mothers, women of reproductive age and the children have to be catered for specially.

The United Nations through its specialised Agencies, Programmes and Funds and the government, with the benefit of hindsight, always anticipates this and in all cases, factors such into its response plans.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) being the lead Agency of the UN in the area of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) is committed to delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every child birth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. Its mandate was determined by United Nations Members, including Nigeria.

Indeed, Nigeria is one of the countries whose 1965 appeal to the UN ultimately inspired the creation of UNFPA a few years later.

UNFPA in Nigeria is committed to save lives, restore dignity and rebuild broken lives of vulnerable women and girls.

Within the context of the insurgency in the North-East and its humanitarian challenges especially as they affect women and children, UNFPA is addressing gender-based violence in humanitarian settings through a wide range of services, including counselling, post-rape treatment, legal support, assistance with livelihoods, and support through its Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) programs.

Working with and through the government of Nigeria including in the states, UNFPA interventions in 2014 alone supported more than 16,000 safe deliveries in North East Nigeria; reached about 2.6 million women and girls with SRH services including for Gender Based Violence (GBV) management in North East Nigeria; and supported provision of modern family planning services to an estimated 2 million women and Couple Year Protection of 2.2million countrywide.

It is gladdening to note that through its interventions and support, about two thousand maternal deaths were averted country wide while another one thousand free fistula treatment surgeries were supported with 97% success rate across the country.

Explaining the SRH support to the rescued girls and women, the Director and Country Representative of UNFPA Nigeria, Ms Rati Ndhlovu, observed that “Upon the arrival of rescued women and children in Malkohi camp in Yola, UNFPA responded immediately by providing reproductive health care and psychosocial counselling to survivors of violence.

“Women and girls who survive unimaginable trauma of captivity and brutalizing violence need immediate and compassionate care and UNFPA has been, as always, determined to ensure that they are given everything they need to be able to heal with dignity, safety and a restored sense of self-worth. After a few weeks of counselling, there was marked improvement in the survivors.”

Restoring the livelihood and normal lifestyle of the rescued women and children and those that are displaced by the insurgency and military operations is the issue on the front burner of the UN system in the country.

Of particular importance is ensuring that women can deliver babies safely and that they and girls can maintain their health, dignity, rights and self-worth even in the most challenging situations.

“Our efforts”, Ms Ndlovu added, “are focused on supporting women and girls to restore their lives as quickly as possible and begin the process of healing to be able to fulfill their potential and once again resume productive lives.”

May 28, 2015
UN decries Boko Haram’s sexual abuse of captives

Ms Zainab Bangura, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, on Wednesday decried reported rape and forced marriages of female captives of Boko Haram.

Bangura lamented in a statement signed by her Office’s Advocacy and Women’s Rights Specialist, Ms Letitia Anderson, that one year after the Chibok Girls abduction many were still in captivity.

“Over a year since the extremist group Boko Haram abducted 276 teenage girls in Chibok, Borno State, in Nigeria, many still remain in captivity.

“I am appalled by reports that hundreds of the recently released female captives were repeatedly raped by Boko Haram militias and compelled to “marry” their captors.

“These latest revelations suggest that Boko Haram is not only destroying existing family and community structures but is bent on controlling their future composition.

“In order to give rise to a new generation raised in their own image, they are waging war on women’s physical, sexual and reproductive autonomy and rights.’’

According to her, sexual violence is not merely incidental, but integral to Boko Haram’s strategy of domination and self-perpetuation.

The UN official said that she recently met with women and girls in the Middle East that were newly released from sexual slavery by ISIL.
Bangura, therefore, renewed the UN’s call for the immediate release of the abducted women and girls.

“I reiterate my calls for all abducted women and girls to be immediately released from captivity and returned safely to their families.

“I call upon the Government of Nigeria, with support from the international community and local organisations, to provide medical and psychosocial care for those who have been impregnated.’’

Bangura also called for the provision of treatment for women and girls infected with Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV/AIDs.

She urged the international community to adopt a coordinated response that would address the root causes of violent extremism in communities.

May 27, 2015
Boko Haram kills 43 in Borno attack

DHQ studying captured videos on sect

Boko Haram militants have killed at least 43 people in a five-hour assault on the town of Gubio, Borno State, witnesses said yesterday.

The attack, which a military source said involved a convoy of about 50 Boko Haram members storming Gubio, lasted for about five hours on Saturday afternoon and ended about 9.30pm, local resident Malam Yusuf Mohammed said.

Details of such attacks often take a number of days to surface outside of the affected areas due to poor telecommunications.

Mohammed estimated that more than 400 houses had been burned by the insurgents.

“They came, shooting, threatening to kill everybody. They set fire on many houses, burnt down our peoples’ vehicles and motorcycles. We lost 43 people including two children,” Abubakar Mondama, leader of a local vigilante group, told journalists.

Military authorities are analysing some video/clips indicating that foreigners hold positions of power within the Boko Haram set-up.

They are being analysed. The clips are among those found in captured Boko Haram camps to identify the fighters and study the group’s internal dynamics, it was learnt.

The Federal Government has spoken of foreign influence within the ranks of the jihadists but lacks the evidence to back up its assertion.

“They (foreigners) carry arms and fight alongside the other terrorists,” a senior military source, who declined to be identified, said. “They are also experts and trainers.”

Reuters was not able to establish how many other foreigners were at the filmed event or what percentage of the militants’ fighting force they account for overall.

In 2012, Boko Haram was reported to be receiving training from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), although there has been little to back up claims of foreigners at the core of the group beyond anecdotal evidence from civilians who escaped or soldiers who fought them.

The footage shows Boko Haram administering sharia judgments in front of a big crowd in a field stained with blood with a man speaking in Sudanese Arabic.

“God ordered all believers to enforce his punishments,” the man, whose face is completely covered by a white turban, says to camera. “God ordered us to cut off the hand of the thief and flog the adulterer and adulteress.”

Standing in the middle of a circle formed by the crowd and near a preacher shouting into a loudspeaker in Hausa, the man appeared to be overseeing at the gathering called to implement sharia law.

A man wearing a black turban stands next to him as he speaks in Arabic and occasionally nods in agreement while another waves the group’s black flag behind them. Turbans in this style are not typical in Nigeria’s northeast.

In other parts of the film, men and women are flogged and several have hands amputated while the crowd cheers. A man is also stoned to death after being buried up to his head in a pit.

The military says it believes the events took place in southeastern Borno state in or near the town of Gwoza, Boko Haram’s former headquarters. The distinctive Mandara mountain range can be seen in the background. There was no time stamp to indicate when the half hour of video was filmed but a shorter, edited version of the film was released after the group took over Gwoza last summer.

The military has not publicly released the footage while its analysts worked on identification and the workings of the group.

“It (footage) helps document their atrocities as evidence in the event of any trial,” a senior military source said, adding:

“To understand their pattern or mode of operation … and equipment in their possession with other information, is vital for intelligence.” Reuters was unable to independently authenticate the footage and Boko Haram could not be reached for comment. Reuters viewed four separate videos.

Reuters also saw raw footage of a video titled: “Harvest of Spies”, released in edited form in March, which copied Islamic State videos and showed the beheading of two men accused of being undercover government agents.

May 27, 2015
Euros retrieved as troops kill Boko Haram commander, 29 others

The Defence Headquarters yesterday confirmed that troops have killed one of the spiritual leaders (Amir) of Boko Haram and 29 other insurgents.

Also, some unspecified Euros were also found on the commander, who was suspected to be a foreigner.

But the investigation of the involvement of foreigners in Boko Haram attacks was still ongoing at press time.

Director of Defence Information Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade made these known in a statement in Abuja.

The statement said: “Thousands of Euro currency was found on the body of a terrorist commander after troops successfully repelled a terrorist in Mafa towards the border.

“The terrorist, who is also an Amir by status and believed to be of foreign descent, is among about 30 terrorist fighters who died in the encounter while many others fled with wounds.

“The terrorists also lost a number of weapons and equipment, including the captured 13 rifles, a machine gun, rocket propelled grenade tubes and several other assorted ammunition.

“A Toyota Bufallo vehicle was also recovered from the terrorists. Two of their armoured vehicles were also destroyed in the battle.

The only casualty on the side of our troops was a damaged equipment. Mopping up operations are ongoing in the general area.

“Meanwhile, the offensive on all terrorists’ hideouts is continuing in many fronts.”

A highly-placed source said: “The retrieval of Euros from the commander has confirmed intelligence report of a likely external funding of Boko Haram.

“Some of these insurgents are also using Thuraya phones to communicate following the interception of their GSM lines.

“We are already investigating alleged involvement of foreigners in Boko Haram attacks nationwide.”

Boko Haram fighters hacked to death 10 people in a remote village in northeast Nigeria, a local government official told AFP on Monday.

Maina Ularamu, local government chairperson of Madagali, in the north of Adamawa State, said the attack happened early on Friday morning in Pambula-Kwamda village.

“The attackers went into the village around 04:00 while residents were still asleep and used machetes to attack their victims,” he added.

May 26, 2015
Some rescued Boko Haram victims have gunshot, blast injuries

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Director-General Muhammed Sani Sidi, in this interview with TONY AKOWE, provides insights into the condition of women and children freed from insurgents in the Sambisa Forest. Among other things, the DG said most of the former captives came very ill, some with gunshot and bomb blast wounds. Excerpts:

The insurgents began to hurt Nigerians since they hurled their first bomb and fired their first bullet. Graduating from public nuisance to claiming swathes of territory, Boko Haram fighters have assaulted everything Nigerians hold dear, giving new assignments to emergency workers.

•Sidi attending to one of the women at the camp

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) have had its role scaled to unknown levels. Its Director-General Muhammed Sani Sidi knows how much the agency’s duties have changed, how demanding they have been, especially since troops rescued many captives from the terrorists’ lair.

What has been NEMA’s experience managing the rescued victims of insurgency?

I must say that the security agencies in Nigeria have done very well in the fight against insurgency. Just recently they recorded huge successes by rescuing about 300 women and children from Sambisa Forest who were under the captivity of Boko Haram. When they were rescued we received a call from the military authorities that they would be handed over to the National Emergency Management Agency. Don’t forget we have about 14 camps in Adamawa State alone and because of the successes recorded by the military in the fight against insurgency, most of the communities that were under the occupation of Boko Haram have been recovered and now peace has returned so the IDPs are beginning to move back to their various communities, making it necessary for the agency to begin to reduce the camps.

At the moment we have six camps which we call residential camps that are presently hosting about 27,000 IDPs in Yola in particular and we have over 200,000 living within the host communities. We see the receipt of this rescued women and children as just an added responsibility to what we have been doing as an agency with IDPs. We consider them special because they have been under captivity for a long period of time. Obviously most of them are women and 70% are children below the age of five. Out of the 275, sixty-three came unaccompanied and that is very worrisome; it is a terrible situation to have children under the age of five unaccompanied, meaning they have lost their parents and we cannot link them with their parents at the moment, six of them came with pregnancy and that is a sympathetic situation.

That contradicts the claim that most of the women returned pregnant

That is not correct. I must put it on record that only six of them came with pregnancy and we must add, however, that we must be very careful not to stigmatise these innocent Nigerians who were under captivity and came back with pregnancy so that we don’t end up stigmatising the child that is yet unborn. I think we must respect their rights and be careful of the way we talk about the issue.

Who is responsible for these pregnancies?

I think we must really de-emphasise the issue of these pregnancies; what is important for us as an agency is the welfare and well-being of these women and children, and that is what we have been focusing on. You recall we received them in the middle of the night and our staff waited for them like for two days because of the logistics of transporting them from Sambisa Forest to our camp in Yola. When they came they were very weak and sick. Out of the total of 275, about 158 came very sick, so we had to do an assessment, profile them and some that had serious ailments were transferred to the Federal Medical Centre in Yola. Those that could be taken care of in the camp within the capacity of doctors and nurses were taken care of in the camp.

What was the nature of their ailments?

Most of them came especially the children had eye diseases, malaria, fatigue; they came looking very hungry, tired and traumatised. You can imagine people living under that kind of horrible condition. We had to immediately organise for trauma counselling and other requirements like feeding, clothing and even personal hygiene.

Have you been able to assess the true identity of these rescued women?

We have carried out assessment of the rescued women and children and before they were even delivered to us in our camps, the military have done profiling to ensure that they are not security risks and that they are innocent people captured by the insurgents and rescued by the military. What is left for us is to identify where they came from and that we have done and then we have assessed them medically and we shall continue to monitor them, especially the children. Some of them have also sustained various degrees of injuries, from gun shots, bomb blasts and they have been referred to Federal Medical Centre where they are receiving treatment.

What were the specifics of the military profiling, and has NEMA carried out its own independent assessment?

Our assessment is limited to their conditions, we are not a security agency; the military have done their job by profiling them and ensuring that they are not security risks. They could live in our camps like any other IDPs but they are special to us. They are different from the normal IDPs that are resident in our camps because these are people who were under captivity for a long time, they are traumatised so they need counselling, they need support so as to be rehabilitated back into the society.

What is the humanitarian condition of the rescued women and children?

Emphasis is now giving to the rescued 275 women and children, but before their arrival we have been managing IDPs. Like in Borno we have over 10 camps; in Adamawa we have six residential camps and we have IDPs in host communities who are more in number. We have been managing these IDPs for the last five years and we have enjoyed tremendous support from the Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Gombe state governments, where we have camps in the Northeastern part of the country. Humanitarian activity cannot really be done effectively by one agency, so there has to be collaboration and synergy between all the humanitarian actors. I must say that we have been receiving tremendous support from other actors. We have received training and support for our personnel from the UN system, the Nigerian Red Cross Society has been with us throughout these trying periods, they have been in all our camps and all the other state emergency managements agencies and indeed NGOs and civil societies. It has been a close collaboration and I must say they have all done very well.

Is there any peculiar challenge in managing these special IDPs?

Indeed they are special IDPs because, like I have said, they are people who need special attention. Most of them are children and our greatest concern are those 63 children that came unaccompanied and we have to find the ways and means of unifying them with their parents or families and that is a huge challenge. They can hardly speak, they are small kids just following the other groups looking lost and we are working side by side with all the other agencies working with us to identify their parents.

Has there been any effort to trace their roots?

Certainly, the first step is to establish information centres where people can give information, where the IDPs too can pass information to the camp management on matters that affect their situation. What I am saying is: it is going to take time. Just a few days ago some people came and identified their children, they are not among the 63 but we have other unaccompanied children in almost all the camps. Sometimes we are lucky we have people coming to identify such children as their parents and once the authorities [establish such claims] we hand them over to the parents.

Are you saying some parents have shown up?

Yes, but not in the case of the 275 children and women.

What is the proof of parentage claims?

There are procedures of verification before the children are handed over to parents in accordance with international best practices.

How are those that came with ailments responding to treatment?

I must commend caregivers in the camp because as at the time they arrived, most of them could not even stand on their feet. Now they are gradually recovering, even the mothers were so malnourished that they could not even breastfeed their children. It was terrible but now we noticed significant improvement and we have other agencies with specialty in nutrition that are assisting the nursing mothers and children to see that they recover quickly.

Are the camps good enough to help the IDPs get back to their feet?

I must say that the environment which they live is to a larger extent conducive. All the facilities required to live decent life are provided. We have electricity, water supply, sufficient toilets, adequate sanitation and hygiene and most importantly we have enough food to feed the IDPs.

May 26, 2015
IDPs’ plea to Fed Govt: wipe out Boko Haram

They may never recover what the insurgents took away from them, but they do have one wish: the Federal Government should do everything possible to keep the terrorists out of business. GBENGA OMOKHUNU reports

•Victims of child abuse

It is tough being a victim of Boko Haram. They wrecked lives, torn families apart, anihilated whole communities and sent victims to places they never wished to be. One such place is a displaced persons camp, where the victims live on charity and public goodwill.

Happy to survive the terrorists, the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the New Kuchigoro camp along Games Village Abuja, over 8,000 of them, have pleaded with the government to crush the sect. Perhaps, that will be the best way to recover from the insurgents’ horrors.

The Foundation for the Victims of Child Abuse (VCAF), which has been helpful to the displaced persons, also has a plea of its own: successful and well-meaning Nigerians should give back to the society by investing especially on the women and children in the IDPs camps.

The foundation gave the advise while donating relief materials to the Boko Haram victims.

VCAF assisted by another foundation, Daughters of Abraham, donated relief materials which included bags of rice, noodles, roofing sheets, writing materials, T-shirts and mosquito nets.

President of the Foundation, General Abdulmalik Jibril (rtd), said any nation that wants to nurture its future must take the care of women and children seriously.

He said: “For many of us who have benefited from this country should at one point or the other give back to the society. Any nation that cherises its future should invest extensively on women and children so that at the end of the day we will be better for it.”

He added that the gesture is only a token donation to the victims who have been afflicted with the insurgency.

“Our organisation deemed it fit to make this donation. Taking a look at the commonest issues we have today, the children. We thought of how to touch the lives of the children and encourage the mothers not send them hawking.”

He urged the government to do more in the fight against Boko Haram so as to enable the IDPs return to their various homes.

“Government has been doing well by even providing this environment. They have made good contribution but government should do more so that they can go back and settle in their respective homes”

Speaking also, the vice chairman of the board, Prof. Tajudeen Akanji who represented the former Chief of Army Staff and chairman of the Board, General Abdulrahman Dambazau, said this is just to show kindness to the less privilege in the society and the focus is the children as just a token to their well being.

“The broad objective of our organisation is to as much as possible make the children and women have a livelihood. We are going to serve camps where there are victims of child abuse anywhere they are to see where our foundation can assist.

•Some of the items displayed

He promised that the foundation will remain supportive of the IDPs for as long as they are in the camps so as to give them a means of livelihood.

“We have come here with food items like rice, Indomie, roofing sheets because we can see that they are living in a makeshift tent. Exercise books for the children to be able to work, T-shirt, so that they can dress properly as members of the society and mosquito nets”

In his response, Chairman of the IDPs Camp, New Kuchigoro, Philimon Emmanuel, expressed appreciation to the foundation while calling on the “federal government to try and do something about Boko Haram. We are suffering here. We thank God, we have one school here for our children and the people are helping us with food items. We want the government to pursue the Boko Haram from our villages” adding that all the 873 IDPs in the camp will get a share of this donation.

However, he urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to build a special camp for them as promised. Saying that “we have been here since January last year and up till yesterday some of our people are still coming to the camp”.

An eight-year-old boy Ibrahim Musa told Abuja Review that things are really difficult for them and that they find it difficult to eat even ones a day.

His word: “Government has abandoned us. Only some Nigerian do remember us. We are happy that these gifts will go a long way to alleviate our suffering. Here”

Another girl simply known as Mary said government should try as much as possible to tackle Boko Haram so as to enable them go back to their states.

From the look of things only God knows when the Boko Haram saga will end to enable victims relocate back to their states.

May 26, 2015
Fixing security

• Under Jonathan, Nigeria got as close to state failure as it could ever be. Buhari must banish all that

Security is the hallmark of a state. It is all a throw-back to the Social Contract theory, under which the people surrender part of their rights to a sovereign in exchange for security.

But under President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerians experienced a reverse: the Nigerian state literally cowered before blatant insecurity; and there was no Leviathan to the rescue. Under massive and relentless threat from Boko Haram terror and sundry violent crimes, Nigeria, since independence in 1960, came closest to state failure.

Worse: the outgoing government’s feeble response was to negotiate down its monopoly of coercion. Examples abound in the oil pipeline protection contracts it signed with firms floated by former Niger Delta militants and the Oodu’a People’s Congress (OPC) cadres. Even the brave Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF) in the North, which though is playing an admirable role in current efforts to curtail Boko Haram, if not well managed, could be a source of serious future security crises.

When the government, as the Jonathan Presidency has done, starts ceding part of its coercive powers to groups of citizens, the alarms should start clanging. That is why all that must stop under the Muhammadu Buhari government. What is called for is a new, more efficient and more effective security architecture.

But the Buhari Presidency cannot do that unless and until it appreciates the roots of the crisis. Over the years, there has, trust-wise, developed a gulf between the central primal security agencies like the Police; so much so that local communities tend to view the Police with suspicion, if not outright hatred. Also, grinding poverty of the majority had steadily alienated the Nigerian state from a big chunk of its own citizens, so much so that state security organs were only the hated faces of the hated state.

That singular factor drove militancy in the Niger Delta. It also aided the initial growth of Boko Haram, when budding terrorists on motor-bikes attacked police personnel and torched police facilities.

So, if Nigeria’s centralised primal security agencies appear too far to be trusted by Nigerian local people and communities, the first thing to do is to federalise those forces and agencies. What that means is that the Buhari Presidency must urgently work towards amending laws to legalise state police.

But since that would require constitutional amendments that could take some time, the incoming government could adopt a deliberate policy of community recruitment of intelligence personnel, both for the police and even the military, and, as much as possible, make those recruits work within their communities.

That would score two goals: avert crimes before they are committed; and eventually bolster mutual trust between communities nationwide and the security forces. Gradually, therefore, total state authority would be restored, without even appearing authoritarian.

Beyond federalisation, however, the incoming government must ensure the Police Force is adequately funded; and its budget weaned of the cankerworm of corruption, now widespread. It might also want to consider public-private collaboration, as Lagos State, under Babatunde Fashola, SAN, had gloriously pioneered.

Federalisation, however, can only apply to the civil security agencies like the Police, Department of State Security (DSS), the National Security and Civil Defence Corps.

For the military, the Buhari Presidency should opt for a clear revamping. From their clear feebleness against the Boko Haram onslaught, the Jonathan years have left the Army, Navy and Air Force in a shambles, jaded and disoriented.

So, the new government should re-arm the military, fix the morale of its personnel and make recruitment more transparent. More so, it should further professionalise the military. Since the weeding out of “political soldiers” at the advent of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidency, it would appear Jonathan’s crass politicisation of state institutions has brought the once great military very close perdition. That must not be tolerated.

Since there are hardly bad soldiers but bad officers, the Buhari Presidency should take a very close look at its officers’ corps and weed out everyone found to have compromised their military essence and betrayed their service oath. That done, military budget too must be sacrosanct. That is the only way fresh investments in ordinance and even training would restore the military’s pride.

Still, after all said and done, the greatest security of security is a good economy. A sound economy greatly reduces mass poverty; therefore removing the nursery from whence tension breeds.

May 26, 2015
Insurgency: UN expresses displease

The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon has expressed a deep concern over the continuous attacks by Boko Haram insurgents on civilians.

The Secretary-General was troubled by the continuing indiscriminate and horrific attacks by Boko Haram against civilian populations in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

He regrets that in spite of the military gains made by the affected countries, Boko Haram continues its wanton destruction and killing of civilians.

The UN boss is appalled by the continued abductions and use of children as ‘human bombs’, as well as the testimony that many of the girls and women held by Boko Haram were repeatedly raped while in captivity.

He also expressed displease over the fact that these girls and women were compelled to marry their captors as part of a campaign of forced imprisonment and sexual violence.

“The perpetrators of these despicable acts must be brought to justice,” he said, calling on the Government of Nigeria to scale up the provision of medical and psychosocial support to the survivors.

The Secretary-General is also deeply concerned over the further displacement of some 40,000 civilians in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria in the last three weeks.

He therefore urged members of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin to advance the operationalization of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), and create a secure environment for the safe and voluntary return, resettlement or integration of displaced persons and refugees.

In addition, he urged concerned states to ensure that all measures taken to address the terrorist threat of Boko Haram are conducted in line with international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law.

“To be remotely effective, the response to this threat has to go beyond a purely military one. Legitimate grievances, past and current human rights violations, and the root causes of the conflict must also be addressed,” he summed.

May 23, 2015
Boko Haram kills 26 in Plateau villages

Suspected Boko Haram insurgents have killed 26 residents of Inding and Ropp villages in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.

In the Ropp attack on Wednesday afternoon, nine residents of the villages were burnt inside a room in which they were hiding.

The local government’s Chairman, Emmanuel Loman, confirmed the attacks.

The council chief said the attackers arrived the area in hundreds and surrounded the village.

He said the assailants prevented the villagers from escaping.

Loman said: “These killings are becoming too many. We have been shouting on top of our voices but the appropriate authorities closed their eyes as if it is not human beings the attackers have been killing.

“In the last two weeks, over 60 people have been killed by gunmen in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area alone.”

One of the victims of the Ropp attack, who narrowly escaped death, Samson Dadu said: “At first, the gunmen came and rustled 38 cows from the village. Those cows were recovered the next day by the Special Task Force (STF) when the stolen cows were being transported to the local government.

“But after recovering the stolen cows from the Fulani, they mobilised and attacked Inding village where they killed seven people.

“The next day, the attackers came in hundreds and surrounded the village. They set every house ablaze. If the occupants tried to escape, they were either shot dead or hacked down with machete.

“The attackers were heavily armed. STF soldiers cannot even challenge them.”

The villagers said they had recovered 27 bodies and still searching for the others.

STF officials on Jos Crisis, code-named: Operation Safe Haven, could not be reached last night for comments on the attacks.

The mobile phone of the STF spokesman, Captain Ikedichi Iweha, was switched off when our reporter called the number.

Governor David Jang, last week, announced a dusk to dawn curfew in the local government to halt further attacks.

May 22, 2015
Plateau: 26 killed, 45 houses burnt in Boko Haram attack

Suspected Boko Haram has invaded communities in Barkin Ladi local government of Plateau state killing 26 members of the community.

The two communities attacked in two days are Inding village and Ropp village, both in Barkin Ladi local government.

In the attack in Ropp village on Wednesday afternoon, nine members of the villages were burnt to ashes inside a room they were hiding.

Chairman of Barkin Ladi local government, Hon Emmanuel Loman who confirmed the attacks said the attackers came in hundreds and surrounded the village preventing the villagers from escaping.

The council boss said, “These killings are becoming too much and we have been shouting on top of our voices but the appropriate authorities paid deaf ears to our cries.”

According to Loman, “In the last two weeks, over sixty people has been Killed by gunmen in Barkin Ladi local government alone.”

One of the victims of the Ropp attack who escaped narrowly, Samson Dadu said, “At first, the gunmen came and rustle 38 cows from the village. Those cows were recovered the next day by the special task force when the stolen cows were being transported to the local government.

“But after recovering the stolen cows from the Fulanis, they mobilize themselves and attacked people of Inding village where they killed 7 people.

“The next day the attackers came in hundreds and surrounded the whole village, they set every house ablaze and if the occupants of the house try to escape they are either shot dead or hacked down with matchet.

“The attackers are heavily armed, soldiers of the special task force cannot even challenge them,” he said.

The villagers said they have so far recovered 27 bodies and they are still searching.

However, the special task force on Jos crisis code named ‘operation safe haven’ was not available to comment on the attacks.

The line of the spokesman Captain Ikedichi Iweha was said to be switched off when contacted.

The state governor Jonah David Jang has announced a dusk to dawn curfew in the local government to halt the spate of attacks last week. But in spite of that, gun men raided the villages indiscriminately in nights and days.

May 21, 2015