The Nation Newspaper

Tag: boko haram

  • ‘Force can’t win Boko Haram war’

    ‘Force can’t win Boko Haram war’

    The Transcorp Hilton Hall, venue of the discourse on how to end the Boko Haram insurgency was filled, and the event started on time. More than 20 repentant former leaders of the sect were in the hall. The opening remarks by Egbeme Eniwoareke set the tone of the discourse.

    He said, “The Northeast region used to be one of the economically promising regions of the country. It was the bastion of commerce and trade with prominent local enterprises. The region drew in entrepreneurs, technocrats and bureaucrats from other regions in Nigeria. Its growing natural resource base increased its investment and industrial potential. In those days, the region enjoyed religious, cultural and ethnic harmony.

    “In recent times, this has not been the case, as vicious economic hardship has become the most pertinent public policy challenge in present-day Nigeria. The activities of this terror organisation, Boko Haram, have paralysed the economy of Northeast Nigeria. An estimated 2.5 million Nigerians are internally displaced as a result. Prior to the scourge of Boko Haram, Northeastern Nigeria had 68 percent poverty and about 28.5 percent unemployment (according to the 2011 report by the National Bureau of Statistics). With the current decimation of the region, it will not be a surprise if the next set of economic statistics places the region lower down the economic ladder.

    “But this is not a Northeastern problem. It is a Nigeria problem. We are a family and whatever happens to the least of us, happens to us all. The innocents who have suffered the scourge of Boko Haram in the North are ordinary Nigerians who wish to be left alone to face the opportunities and challenges of life on earth”.

    According to Eniwoareke between 2011 to date, the Federal Government has squandered about N3.6 trillion on security, funds that could have been spent on other human development indicators. He said what is more scary at this time is that with declining oil prices and the expected decline in foreign exchange revenue, Nigeria may not be in a position to spend as much on security given competing demands for resources. What will then become of the security situation in the North and across other parts of the country?, he asked.

    However, in his speech, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku said solution to the Boko Haram challenge must be the responsibility of northern leaders. According to him, the Boko Haram experience was not totally different from the Niger Delta militancy, which later culminated in widespread kidnapping and bombing of oil and gas infrastructures. He said further that moving around the Niger Delta became an issue at the peak of the insurgency as parents were continuously warning their wards on where and when to move.

    Kuku got the audience laughing with a story in which he was involved in negotiating for the release of a kidnapped Urhobo man. “The captors of the Urhobo man refused to listen to him, that he wasn’t an expatriate, that he was an albino. He was eventfully released after days in captivity when nobody came for him. He nonetheless got the beating of his life for eating all the food given to him. That’s how bad it was.

    “The result was that many things were lost as Niger Delta region became deserted. Nobody wants to come to the region again, even technicians working for oil companies were flown in jets from Lagos and back. It however got to a peak when we had to decide on how to end it all. We had to talk to ourselves, the youths of the region. Events leading to the beginning of the end of the militancy could be traced to the night of my wedding with everybody in attendance only for one person, who drove into the venue on a power bike asking to see me.

    “The story he told me that night changed the whole process. He said some hoodlums (pirates) killed a one-year-old baby on Benin River while forcing the mother to laugh at the killing of her baby. That was the height of it because it was a pointer that our struggle has become self-destructive, especially with the event on Benin River.  That is what is happening to Boko Haram today. It has become self-destructive. That Benin River event forced us to decide how to clean up the struggle because we lost control. Today John Togo is no more”.

    Kuku said the solution to the Boko Haram insurgency can be solved taking some lessons from the Niger Delta experience where community and religious leaders, youths and women groups were all involved in the intervention with the militant groups. He asserted that huge use of force cannot win the war with Boko Haram. According to him, for the insurgency in the Northeast to end, same groups of people from the region must be involved.

    “We needed somebody, one of our own at the top in government to tell the militants that government’s intention to negotiate is genuine. As a result we went everywhere, to all the camps, with our political and community leaders like Diepreye Alamieiyeseigha, Timipre Sylva, Papa Edwin Clark all playing key roles and at the end, we are where we are today. What it means is that peace can win a war while the use of force can’t work ultimately.

    “You will need people to talk to the agitators to have the needed truce. You have to look for someone who was a key actor in the Boko Haram activities, whose trust and confidence is widely accepted, genuine activists to drive the solution like the Amnesty programme. In the Northeast that is what is lacking because we have seen that Boko Haram has become self-destructive with foreigners taking centrestage. At the beginning of Boko a Haram, it was designed to dislodge President Jonathan but what do we see now, the entire region is threatened while the whole country is not spared as well. Boko Haram is a threat to the entire country; they refused to properly interpret what they want, unlike the Niger Delta militants. Militant actors of Niger Delta we all knew but Boko Haram we don’t know. Offers were made for peace for them to come out, even comrades in prison were met but nothing came out of it. It appears like the determination of the northern leaders to see the end of the insurgency is being compromised. For instance, many of the insurgents caught weren’t looking like Nigerians. Our porous borders is a major problem.”

    The robust question and answer session that followed drew emotions from the audience when a speaker described how the government of Borno State is now left with only four Local Government Areas out of 27, the rest having been taken over by Boko Haram. He said 32 of his relations have relocated to Niger Republic as internally displaced persons (IDPs) with six missing or unaccounted for.

    Another speaker wanted to know how intervention of the youths and the political leaders can be effective with a group that is waging a jihadist war with no difference between Christians and Muslims.

    The highlight of the discourse was the pledge by the ex-militants to donate part of their monthly allowance amounting to N30m to the victims of Boko Haram onslaught in the Northeast, while Kuku assured that the PAP would offer useful and effective advice to government on how to overcome the challenge.

    He however warned that it is up to the people of the region and their resolve to end the insurgency because they are the ones that know their terrain and the history of their region. He said no individuals would leave their own region to come over to defend the Northeast but that they would have to take it as a personal effort to defend their own land. He commended the the courage of the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) and implored the people to further encourage them.

     

  • Scores killed in Boko Haram attack on Maiduguri

    Scores killed in Boko Haram attack on Maiduguri

    It was a bloody Sunday yesterday in three Northeast states of Borno, Gombe and Yobe where Boko Haram continued violent campaign.

    The sect’s fighters staged a ferocious attack on Maiduguri, the beleaguered Borno State capital for the second time in one week.

    They did not only fail in the doomed mission launched on three fronts, but lost hundreds of their fighters, according to security and other sources, before beating a retreat.

    A combination of troops and Civlian Joint Task Force (JTF) members dealt a huge blow on the sect.

    In Yobe, an explosion in the commercial town of Potiskum left eight people dead. Five were killed in twin bombs in Gombe, the Gombe State capital, where the sect has also been operating in recent months.

    The coordinated attack on Maiduguri – home to about 1.2 million people – was launched from Dalwa Damboa axis and from the Mafa entry point.

    Many displaced residents from the other parts of the state are also taking refuge in the city.

    Last week’s attack by the sect was initiated from the Damaturu-Jimtilo axis.

    Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima praised the military and the civilian JTF boys for standing up promptly to defend the city. The Special Anti-robbery squad of the police also joined in the battle, which raged for hours on the outskirts of the city, residents said.

    “Fighting has been going on since 3 a.m. as Boko Haram battled soldiers and vigilantes,” said resident Mahmud Kyari. “Explosions and gunfire are all we hear,” he added.

    The militants launched bomb and gun attacks from three points outside the city, but met stiff resistance from troops and vigilantes, residents said.

    Government officials said fighter jets were pounding the insurgents.

    “Boko Haram gunmen have been routed and are on the run,” said Sadiq Balarabe, another resident.

    The militants continued their attempt to enter the city from other areas after they were crushed in Mulai.

    Fearful residents could not leave their houses to begin their activities for the day.

    A resident of Maiduguri, Malam Illya Fanami, said he feared the exchange of Rocket Propelled Gun launchers in the fight, which put many residents at high risk.

    Abdullahi Sani from Damboa Road where the fight was fierce said an RPG dropped on his neighbour’s home, killing the head of the family and his two sons.

    A 70-year-old man, his granddaughter and another girl were also killed in Zannari.

    A resident said a bomb hit the old man  who was  seated in front of his home with his animal when the missile  struck  the tree they sat under killing him, his three-year-old grand daughter and her friend. His ram also died.

    A resident of the area who identified himself as Idris Abubakar  Molai  said soldiers advised  us to “leave the area for them and the terrorists and immediately, we started hearing heavy exchange of fire and loud explosions. It was a fierce battle. I think the soldiers took good positions and took advantage of the terrorists.”

    He said many insurgents were killed.

    He said: “Many were killed, including insurgents and some civilians. Two artillery, vehicles, motorcycles and others were recovered. Many people have also fled the area except a few of us who are assisting security operatives.”

    A member of Civilian JTF, Shettima Kakuwa, who took part in the operation, told our correspondent on telephone. “As I am talking to you, we have just come back from Dalia village in pursuit of the fleeing terrorists. We killed a lot of them, while two artillery vehicles, motorcycles  and many arms and ammunition were recovered”.

    “One of the insurgents who hid on the fence of  Molai General Hospital was aiming at soldiers. Residents of the area took him by surprise, came behind the fence and brought him down. Our boys quickly went there and killed him.”

    Another member of the Civilian JTF recounted how the insurgents were repelled  at Mailai village on the Maiduguri-Damboa  road as they were moving towards  Dala Abuja Zannari.

    He said: “It was a hectic operation.  The  military  engaged  the terrorists  in a gun battle.  The insurgents started shooting Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs). The soldiers asked us to be crawling.  Before we knew it, four of our members had been killed.”

    Mallam Isa Gusau, Shettima’s media aide quoted the governor as saying: “I received with gratitude, information on how youths from different parts of Borno State, comprising those under the Borno Youths Empowerment Scheme, otherwise called ‘Civilian JTF’, vigilantes and other residents of Maiduguri, came out of their homes, abandon their families and, with very uncommon courage, they sacrificed their lives and moved to front lines to support our gallant armed forces in a patriotic battle to defend the soul of Borno State and its people from being seized by determined insurgents … early hours of Sunday.

    “Our armed forces and youth volunteers have proved their worthiness and selflessness. We will, as government, continue to afford them all the they need within the limits of resources at our disposal. Reclaiming captured territories and safeguarding others that are free as well as safeguarding lives and property constitute our fundamental priorities as government.”

    “Residents should cooperate with armed forces and always regard them as partners that put their lives on the line so we all can be alive. I am confident that the Borno’s sun will shine again and very soon. We have many years of resilient history. We will overcome this problems insha Allah.”

    Bishop of Maiduguri Diocese Most Rev. Dr.Oliver Doeme Dashe, described the attack as unfortunate.

    A statement signed by Fr. Gideon Obasogie, the Director of Catholic Communication Maiduguri, described the  fight as a “A culture of savagery and blood bath”

    ”Christians in the capital city are really paying the prize for their faith. This is the second Sunday when we have been forced either to attend Mass/ Sunday service lately or never to attend at all. We cannot even have a sound gathering on a Sunday to thank God for his love thus far and most particularly to pray for peaceful elections. The threats and distractions have become totally unbearable.

    “The ferocious attempt by the unrepentant radical Islamist militants, Boko haram to overrun the capital city of Maiduguri has been very frightening. I wonder and sometimes, I think aloud when all these will stop. When will this culture of savagery and bloodletting end.   Is it that as a nation we lack the inner capacity to abate it?” the statement queried.

  • Boko Haram launches fresh assault on Maiduguri

    Boko Haram fighters on Sunday launched a fresh attempt to take over the strategically crucial northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, Borno State, just two weeks before the general election.

    Four residents told AFP that Sunday’s fighting began at roughly 3:00am (0200 GMT) with loud explosions and gunfire, as the insurgents tried to enter the city from the south.

    After heavy fighting in the Mulai area just three kilometres south of the city, troops backed by vigilantes repelled the attack, but the militants then began a separate assault to the east and gun battles were ongoing, multiple witnesses said.

    “The gunmen were initially subdued in Mulai, but now they have changed strategy and are attacking through the Damboa road (to the east),” said a resident of the city, Bukar Mungono, in an account supported by two others. “Fighting is still going on.”

    The insurgents tried to capture Maiduguri just a week ago, but were repelled by troops.

    The military was not immediately available to comment on the latest raid.

    “The whole city is in fear,” said another resident Adam Krenuwa. “People are afraid of what will happen if Boko Haram defeats the security forces.”

    Losing control of Maiduguri would be an enormous defeat for the security forces, whose handling of the six-year uprising has been fiercely criticised.

    The city’s fall would also likely spark a humanitarian disaster, AFP says.

    Maiduguri’s population is believed to have swelled above two million in recent weeks as residents from other parts of Borno have been forced to flee to the city to seek refuge from Boko Haram violence.

     

  • Chadian army kills 120 Boko Haram militants in Cameroon

    Chadian forces have killed 120 Boko Haram militants in a battle in the north of neighbouring Cameroon that began when the insurgents attacked its troops, the army said in a statement on Saturday, adding that three of its soldiers were killed.

    Reuters reports that Boko Haram has recently launched cross-border attacks from Nigeria into Cameroon and Chad as part of its drive for an Islamist state in the northeast of Nigeria.

    Chad and Cameroon have stepped up troop deployments to fight the militants.

  • Boko Haram, Nigeria’s punishment for losing Bakassi – Paramount ruler

    Boko Haram, Nigeria’s punishment for losing Bakassi – Paramount ruler

    Paramount Ruler of Bakassi in Cross River State, Dr Etim Okon Edet, in this exclusive interview with NICHOLAS KALU ties the Boko Haram menace in parts of the country to the loss of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. He also spoke other issues.

    What is your take on the issue of Boko Haram raging in parts of the country?

    Boko Haram will not stop unless something is done about the Bakassi people. Was there any Boko Haram before the ceding of Bakassi? When Bakassi was ceded as a result of the ICJ judgement, it was not only Bakassi that was affected. Adamawa, Bornu and Yobe axis were also affected on the land boundary. On the maritime boundary, it was Bakassi. Now in those areas, nobody has said anything because they were resettled properly. You will not hear any complain from them as they were resettled by the Presidential Resettlement Committee. I have the report. It was the same committee that was supposed to come to Bakassi area.

    The Boko Haram thing is highly spiritual because God abhors injustice. There was no Boko Haram before the ceding of Bakassi, was there? None. So Nigeria should look at this angle carefully. The moment you begin to have injustice particularly the one done to a people who have no arms and who have not done anything wrong, God is always there to intervene. People always think that the thought of God towards us is good and not evil to lead us to a successful end. But in the Bible, we were told that God sent an evil spirit to torment Saul. So if the thought of God is perpetually good towards us, why did he send evil spirits to torment Saul?

    You’re saying that Boko haram is a curse linked to the Bakassi  neglect?

    Yes. After several years, Bakassi people have not been resettled. They have been scattered all over. And they are silent. They are not saying anything, but God is doing their fight beyond the Bakassi territory. Look at the Bornu and Adamawa axis, where resettlement took place; where the Boko Haram menace is hottest. I wanted the resettlement there to be replicated here, but the government of Obasanjo told me that the government of Cross River State would do it and today, Bakassi people have not been resettled. And you think God is sleeping? There is too much injustice. That is why there is Boko Haram. And it will not stop until the Federal Government holistically looks at the Bakassi issue. How many committees have been set up for this and I keep saying these are not necessary. We now saw in 2014 budget N100 billion for resettlement of Bakassi people, but we have not seen anything. Also the Efiok Cobham Resettlement Committee white paper is not out. What is the justice there? And you are beginning to do elections every time. Where will the people vote? So these are injustices done to Bakassi people that have made God to do what he is doing there. It is not prayers. People have been praying. There are so many churches and the thing is still going on. So these are the questions that people should ask. There must be fundamental causes for what is happening. Until we address that, we cannot fix the problem. Nobody even has the conscience to ask ‘where are these people and what is happening to them?’ I don’t understand when they say the welfare and security of a people shall be the primary purpose of the government.

    What do you think is responsible for the economic crisis the country seems to be facing?

    The problem of Nigeria is not economic or religious. It is purely political. We don’t have religious crisis in the north. What we have that has permeated the whole country is political problems. If the political environment can be stabilised, then all other facets would stabilise. Nigerians are very resilient people. If there is any other country that there is no light, that government would be toppled. But Nigerians can endure. Just give them a little bit of political leadership and stabilise the system. Nigerians are very enterprising. They can do a lot. All these they are talking about the economy and saying the dollar is low or high, how many Nigerians are using dollars? They are still going to their market. The problem is politics. Now we are back to the political era. If you look, the politicians have taken over everything. You see a local government chairman suddenly assuming leadership of the community. That is not how community leadership is made. Political leadership is transient. The community has its leaders. You see local government chairmen taking security votes, but when there is crisis, they call on the traditional rulers who have not been given security vote. There is no local policing. The chairman would send the police to do certain things and the traditional ruler would not know anything about it. Unless and until we get to that past, we cannot have peace. The traditional rulers are keeping quiet because the politicians have taken over. They cannot solve the problem. There is no traditional ruler in this country that does not know a thief or Boko Haram or sea pirate or those committing crimes in their communities. And we have these people in all the communities in Nigeria long before now. They are still performing those roles. Politicians just came in and decided to take over those roles. If you give the police information about criminals, they would turn round and tell the criminals who would now descend on the traditional rulers.

    We need a strong leadership and people who have the fear of God and conscience, otherwise Nigeria would not grow beyond what it is now. When you have a turbulent political situation, there is no way the economy would be stable.

     What role should traditional rulers play in stabilising the polity, given their limitations as you have highlighted, especially as elections approach?

    The point is that traditional rulers are not to participate in partisan political activities. You cannot get your name in the register of any political party. You are a father of all political parties. You receive all of them and give blessings, but you are not to have your name in their register or become an officer of the party. In the days of old, political parties used to go to the communities to find out beyond the politicking within their party, who is the popular candidate in that community. They will go to the community, go to the traditional rulers, community leaders and find out about their candidate. If you go and find out that someone is a bad candidate and still go ahead and picked, then you will fail at the main elections. In those days, if you are discovered to be a bad candidate from your community, they dump you and go for a popular candidate who has no money because at the end the day, it will not be party primaries, but the verdict of the people. So, whoever you are choosing must synchronize with the wishes of the people. In those days, they will even come and pay for your form, because you are an asset to them and one that can easily win election and they can go and sleep. But today you just see someone coming to introduce himself to you as your councilor or chairman and you don’t even know him. The person will be so strange to the community and will not do anything for them because he is not with the people. Let us leave this party thing and consult with the people. When you do that and it synchronizes with the wish of the people, there will be no crisis because the person is of the community and who they want. The crisis we are seeing today is picking people that the people don’t want or like and you want to force such people and there is a reaction. So I appeal to politicians to please always consult beyond their parties to the communities in choosing who will lead them, so that there will be peace in the polity.

    What do you think of politicians who fight to win party tickets and begin to feel like the election is already won? Secondly, do you have faith in INEC to deliver?

    Such politicians succeeded largely before now because votes did not count in elections and there was apathy. That is why they were struggling to belong to a particular political party. The moment you spend all the money and you are candidate, it is over because they will carry the ballot boxes and run away and all of that. But the moment this election is going to count as we are seeing, faith will be returned. People will now know that they don’t need to spend a lot of money and pass through a political party in a wrong way. They will now know they can do everything but can never change INEC’s register. When you know that you cannot run away with the ballot box, you will have a rethink. We have been told every polling area has a different polling unit and colour; and there is a card reader and permanent voters card like ATM. The moment they all see that this election is going to be credible, the political parties themselves are going to have a rethink because votes will now count. You have to be a person ready to serve and loved by the community and your pedigree must be known. We have seen that INEC is going to conduct the most credible election in 2015. The moment that is done all these problems will end. The verdict of the people will be final.

    What’s your advice to the people?

    People should come out and vote this time that their votes will count. They should come and vote for the candidates of their choice  the ones that will serve them right. Not the ones that will put everything in their pocket. They should send all the politicians who will not serve them away. The people have the power now. So I am appealing to the people to go and get your permanent voters card. I have mine. If you don’t go out and vote, they will continue to do what they are doing.

  • Boko Haram failure of govt, says Catholic Bishops

    Boko Haram failure of govt, says Catholic Bishops

    The Conference of Catholic Bishops in the northern parts has blamed the Boko Haram insurgency on failure of government.

    It said the sect should have been crushed since 2003 when it was just being forming.

    The bishops under the auspices of Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province, which covers Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Kafanchan and Kotongora, also called on Catholics in the country, particularly in the north, to vote only political office seekers ready to give back their schools to them.

    The bishops made these resolutions at the end of their meeting in Kaduna yesterday.

    The Archbishop of Kaduna and Metropolitan Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev. Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso, who read the communiqué, said Boko Haram should have been detected and nipped in the bud since 2003 when they were building up.

    According to him: “The growth of the Boko Haram group is as a result of failure of government because we have allowed them to build up to become a monster group that is now difficult to contain.

    “Today, the destructive violence of Boko Haram and the state of uncertainty surrounding our democracy are the cumulative impact of these years of blind ambition, mismanagement and squander that have brought our nation almost to its knees.”

    The clerics called on Nigerians, particularly northerners, to irrespective of their religious and ethnic differences, close ranks and work towards genuine healing and reconciliation.

     

  • Boko Haram should have been crushed in 2003, says Catholic Bishops

    The Conference of Catholic Bishops in the the Northern parts of the country has described the Boko Haram insurgency ravaging the country as a failure of government.

    The clerics said the insurgent group ought to have been crushed since 2003 when it started its agitation.

    The Bishops under the auspices of Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province, which covers Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Kafanchan and Kotongora also called on Catholics in the country, particularly in the North, to vote only political office seekers who are ready to give back the mission schools to them.

    In the resolution at the end of their meeting held in Kaduna on Saturday, The Bishops said bloodletting must stop because it is the blood of Nigerians of Northern extraction and their future that are being sacrificed.

    Reading the communique issued at the end of the meeting to newsmen, Archbishop of Kaduna and Metropolitan Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev. Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso said, Boko Haram should have been detected and nip in the bud since 2003 when they were building up.

    According to him, “the growth of the Boko Haram group is as a result of failure of government, because we have allowed them to build up to become a monster group that is now difficult to contain.”

    The Archbishop lamented that, “Today, the destructive violence of Boko Haram and the state of uncertainty surrounding our democracy is the cumulative impact of these years of blind ambition, mismanagement and squander that have brought our nation almost to its knees.

    “Ordinarily after four controversial but successfully concluded elections since our return to democracy, we would expect our country to be showing signs of growth and consolidation. Rather, we find ourselves tightly in the clutches of fear, anxiety and near despondency,” he said.

    The clergy however called on Nigerians, particularly northerners to irrespective of their religious and ethnic differences close ranks and work towards genuine healing and avoid opening themselves to another round of violence in the coming elections.

    On the February General Elections, the Archbishop called on all the Catholics in the country to elect only leaders who will return faith based schools and healthcare centers to them, adding that, the government had since realized it was a mistake to have taken the schools from the owners, yet they have refused to return them, instead the schools have been vandalized.

  • Residents flee Maiduguri as Boko Haram surrounds city

    Residents flee Maiduguri as Boko Haram surrounds city

    Residents of Maiduguri are fleeing in droves for fear of an attack by the terror sect,Boko Haram.

    An earlier attempt last Sunday was repelled by soldiers.

    But with residents whispering yesterday that members of the sect had surrounded the city preparatory to a fresh attempt,hundreds have rushing out of town.

    The Damaturu/Kano/ Bauchi/Jos high way which is the only safe route in and out of the town has been recording  heavy vehicular traffic in the last few days.

    A resident of Damaturu in neighbouring Yobe State,Aisha Abdullahi told our correspondent that she almost called off her official trip  to Maiduguri   yesterday on seeing the large number of cars racing  out of the city.

     “I almost turned back looking at the way people were leaving  the town.I just don’t know where the courage to continue the journey came from.I prayed all  through the ,”  she said.

    Usman Kakami Bulama  who  moved his seven children to Kano said that Maiduguri residents have not been sleeping well since President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent campaign visit to Maiduguri.

     “I have become worried just like many other people in Maiduguri. The city  has not had this kind of threat of recent until the president came here and left last Saturday. We don’t sleep with our eyes closed any longer and the  tension is growing stronger every day.

    “I have never moved my family  anywhere since this problem started but I am afraid that this time around something dangerous will happen. It is better for  my family to  leave and I stay alone than all of us staying here. It does not make sense though its painful and the cost implication is also there,” Bulama said.

    Hundreds of people besieged motor parks on  Damaturu/Kano road on their way out of the city.

    Many of them said they might return to  after the election.

    Augustina Andrew who was  travelling to the Southeast with her two children mentioned said: “if Nigeria is alive after May 29, 2015, I will come back  otherwise, it is bye bye to Maiduguri”.

    Abaganna Yunusa however dismissed the threat on Maiduguri by Boko Haram, saying :“Let them come inside Maiduguri, they will see fire. The day they enter Maiduguri will be their last day. We are going to kill all of them. Enough is enough. We are tired of them.”

    The army has remained silent on the feared attack.

    Commercial activities are however going on smoothly in the metropolis. Commercial institutions like banks are still operating in the city while schools, both private and public are also in session.

    The magazine—Newsweek—yesterday quoted John Campbell, former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and editor of the Nigeria Security Tracker – a tool which monitors violence in the West African country – as saying: “In terms of the encirclement of Maiduguri, we try to track the villages that Boko Haram occupies around Maiduguri and indeed it looks like a noose.”

     Boko Haram launched an  offensive on the city last week to coincide with the visit of U.S. secretary of state John Kerry to the capital, Lagos, to meet with both presidential candidates, incumbent Goodluck Jonathan and opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari.

  • AU proposes 7,500-strong force to fight Boko Haram

    The African Union (AU) yesterday tabled a proposal  for a regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to defeat the “horrendous” rise of the terror sect, Boko Haram,in Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Cameroun and Niger Republic.

    The call for collective action came as leaders of the 54-member bloc opened their two-day annual summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where they are addressing a string of crises across the continent.

    “Terrorism, in particular the brutality of Boko Haram against our people, is a threat to our collective safety, security and development. This has now spread to the region beyond Nigeria and requires a collective, effective and decisive response,” AU commission chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a speech opening the summit.

    The proposed force will have the backing of the AU  and will ask for expected UN Security Council approval, plus a “Trust Fund” to pay for it, Dlamini-Zuma said.

    More than 13,000 people have been killed and more than one million made homeless by Boko Haram violence since 2009.

    UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told African leaders that Boko Haram was “a clear danger to national, regional and international peace and security”.

    Also listed for discussion at the summit  are the economic recovery of countries affected by the Ebola virus, the setting up a “solidarity fund” and planning a proposed African Centre for Disease Control.

    The worst outbreak of the virus in history has seen nearly 9,000 deaths in a year – almost all of them in  Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone – and sparked a major health scare worldwide.

    With over a dozen elections due to take place this year across Africa, the focus at the talks will also be on how to ensure peaceful polls – likely leaving little time for discussions on the official summit theme of women’s empowerment.

    The Institute for Security Studies, an African think-tank, warns that many of these elections “are being held in a context that increases the risk of political violence”.

    Ban Ki-moon also told African leaders they “cannot afford” to ignore the wishes of their citizens.

    “People around the world have expressed their concern about leaders who refuse to leave office when their terms end. I share those concerns. Undemocratic constitutional changes and legal loopholes should never be used to cling to power,” Ban said.

    Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has said that the decision of the the AU to commit troops in a multinational effort to fight the Boko Haram terror sect was a welcome development.

    A statement from the Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, yesterday said the decision of the AU to send troops to confront the Boko Haram onslaught will bring succour to many Nigerians who have  waited for government intervention.

    The statement reads: “We welcome the decision of the African Union to endorse 7,500 West African troops to fight Boko Haram.

    “For the victims of the Boko Haram onslaught and for Nigerians who are residents of areas most hit by Boko Haram attacks, this is the best news that has come for a long time.

    “It is an action that has become necessary in the face of the seemingly show of ineptitude and a clear lack of proactive initiatives on the part of the PDP government, a government that prefers to muddle up and politicise issues of paramount importance than to squarely face them.

    “We will only implore the AU troops to conduct themselves in accordance with the global rules of engagement.”

  • Residents flee Maiduguri as Boko Haram surrounds city

    Residents flee Maiduguri as Boko Haram surrounds city

    Residents of Maiduguri are fleeing in droves for fear of an attack by the terror sect,Boko Haram.

    An earlier attempt last Sunday was repelled by soldiers.

    But with residents whispering yesterday that members of the sect had surrounded the city preparatory to a fresh attempt,hundreds have rushing out of town.

    The Damaturu/Kano/ Bauchi/Jos high way which is the only safe route in and out of the town has been recording  heavy vehicular traffic in the last few days.

    A resident of Damaturu in neighbouring Yobe State,Aisha Abdullahi told our correspondent that she almost called off her official trip  to Maiduguri   yesterday on seeing the large number of cars racing  out of the city.

     “I almost turned back looking at the way people were leaving  the town.I just don’t know where the courage to continue the journey came from.I prayed all  through the ,”  she said.

    Usman Kakami Bulama  who  moved his seven children to Kano said that Maiduguri residents have not been sleeping well since President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent campaign visit to Maiduguri.

     “I have become worried just like many other people in Maiduguri. The city  has not had this kind of threat of recent until the president came here and left last Saturday. We don’t sleep with our eyes closed any longer and the  tension is growing stronger every day.

    “I have never moved my family  anywhere since this problem started but I am afraid that this time around something dangerous will happen. It is better for  my family to  leave and I stay alone than all of us staying here. It does not make sense though its painful and the cost implication is also there,” Bulama said.

    Hundreds of people besieged motor parks on  Damaturu/Kano road on their way out of the city.

    Many of them said they might return to  after the election.

    Augustina Andrew who was  travelling to the Southeast with her two children mentioned said: “if Nigeria is alive after May 29, 2015, I will come back  otherwise, it is bye bye to Maiduguri”.

    Abaganna Yunusa however dismissed the threat on Maiduguri by Boko Haram, saying :“Let them come inside Maiduguri, they will see fire. The day they enter Maiduguri will be their last day. We are going to kill all of them. Enough is enough. We are tired of them.”

    The army has remained silent on the feared attack.

    Commercial activities are however going on smoothly in the metropolis. Commercial institutions like banks are still operating in the city while schools, both private and public are also in session.

    The magazine—Newsweek—yesterday quoted John Campbell, former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and editor of the Nigeria Security Tracker – a tool which monitors violence in the West African country – as saying: “In terms of the encirclement of Maiduguri, we try to track the villages that Boko Haram occupies around Maiduguri and indeed it looks like a noose.”

     Boko Haram launched an  offensive on the city last week to coincide with the visit of U.S. secretary of state John Kerry to the capital, Lagos, to meet with both presidential candidates, incumbent Goodluck Jonathan and opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari.