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Tag: boko haram

  • Security delegates want Boko Haram funds, sponsors tracked

    Security delegates on Wednesday called for tracking of both the local and external sources of funding for the Boko Haram sect.

    The delegates at a one day security meeting in Abuja also pushed for cutting of arms and ammunitions’ supply to the group.

    The delegates at Wednesday’s meeting included ministers of Nigeria, Cameroon, France, the United States, Canada, China, the United Nations, the European Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Commission) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

    They met to assess the implementation of decisions and commitments made at the Paris security summit and the follow-up meetings in London and Washington DC.

    The delegates called on regional governments and multilateral development institutions to intensify socio-economic cooperation aimed at poverty-eradication, economic uplift and inclusive development.

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Aminu Wali, who read the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, said the summit provided another opportunity for them to undertake a comprehensive and critical review of the initiatives.

  • Boko Haram seizes Borno’s second biggest town Bama

    Boko Haram seizes Borno’s second biggest town Bama

    Aerial battle to reclaim captured town begins

    Fighter jets were pounding Bama, Borno State’s second biggest town last night –  in a desperate bid to save it  from Boko Haram insurgents.

    The vicious Islamist group that is fighting to create a Caliphate in the Northeast captured the city on Monday night, hoisting its flag there.

    The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) ordered the Air Force to flush them out.

    A top military source, who spoke at 7:18pm, said:  “Based on the order of the DHQ, many fighter jets have been deployed in Bama to sack the insurgents from their temporary occupation of the area.

    “The jets are to pound the insurgents into submission. So, aerial battle is in progress now in Bama because the insurgents have blocked access to the town.”

    Asked how long the air strikes would last, the high-ranking source added: “Till the insurgents surrender and vacate Bama. We hope to reclaim the town within 24 to 48 hours because we are dealing with an unorganised group.”

    There were fears last night that the insurgents might use Bama as a base to attack Maiduguri, the state capital, which is less than 70 kilometres away.

    But a top military source, who described the capture of Bama as a “temporary setback”, said the  “devastated insurgents” regrouped Monday night and descended heavily on Bama.

    “The troops tried to repel the insurgents but they were just too many. I think they had a base in some villages nearby from where they launched their reprisals,” said the source, who added:

    “From intelligence reports, the insurgents had seen heavy casualties in their camp in their first encounter with troops at dawn on Monday. They had also put in place a Plan B with which they used to attack Bama afresh at night.

    “Our concern is that the insurgents might harm the residents of Bama and destroy military, police and security formations.

    “For now, reports have indicated that the situation in the town is tense. The insurgents have established a firm control of the town. They are also prepared to declare an Islamic Caliphate in the area.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “There were casualties on both sides but we cannot take stock now because the insurgents have occupied the place.

    “You will recall that early on Monday, troops killed more than 40 insurgents. The reprisals led to fierce encounters with  casualties on both sides.”

    Military chiefs were locked in a meeting last night on how to reclaim Bama from the insurgents.

    Security has been tightened around Maiduguri following the fall of Bama.

    Another source said: “The fall of Bama poses danger to Maiduguri because under one or two hours, the insurgents can launch fierce attacks on the state capital.

    “This is why there is a heavy security ring in and around Maiduguri.”

    The DHQ said   a dust-to-dawn curfew had been imposed on Maiduguri to prevent the insurgents from entering the city.

    The DHQ said: “The curfew in Maiduguri is from 7pm-6am, aimed at preventing infiltration into Maiduguri metropolis by insurgents who suffered heavy casualties.”

    One security source said up to 5,000 people had fled Bama.

    Defence spokesman Gen Chris Olukolade had not spoken on Bama at press time last night.

    In a “bungled” air strike, several troops were killed at the Bama armoury by a fighter jet targeting the insurgents, according to a soldier on the ground.

    The Boko Haram fighters captured the remote hilly town of Gwoza, along the Cameroon border, last month. Sect leader Abubakar Shekau declared Gwoza an Islamic Caliphate.

    Troops are still battling to regain control of Gwoza.

    “When we started hearing gunshots, everybody was confused. There was firing from different directions. We just ran to the outskirts of town,” Bukar Auwalu, a trader who fled with his wife, three children and brother, said. “There were military helicopters and a fighter jet. We slept in the bush on the outskirts of town.”

    A soldier involved in the Bama clashes, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the insurgents had targeted the armoury with heavy weapons, including tanks.

    As troops tried to repel the attack, they called in air reinforcements. But by the time the fighter jet arrived, they had mostly lost the battle for this location. The jet then bombed the area but accidentally killed everyone there – both Nigerian troops and insurgents – the soldier said. “The situation is bad. We lost so many of our men,” he added.

    A local farmer, Ibrahim Malu, said hundreds of residents had fled the town. He said he had visited his farm before morning prayers when gunfire and explosions erupted. He ran home, but by the time he got there his wife and children had fled. “I still don’t know where they could be,” he said. “Two soldiers fled with me. One of them didn’t even have shoes.”

  • BOKO HARAM: Finally, the truth is out- Oyegun

    BOKO HARAM: Finally, the truth is out- Oyegun

    Being text of a Press Conference addressed by the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

     Good afternoon Gentlemen of the press, and thank you for honouring my invitation to this press conference.

     Before I address you today, kindly permit me to play the full interview of Dr. Stephen Davis, the Australian negotiator who was appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan to help secure the release of the over 200 girls who were abducted by Boko Haram on April 15th.

     The interview was aired on Arise Television on Thursday Aug. 28th.

     Thank you for your patience, gentlemen.

     The All Progressives Congress (APC) like many well-meaning Nigerians had resolved long ago that the issue of the Boko Haram insurgency should not be politicized. In view of this, the APC expressed its willingness and readiness to cooperate with the Federal Government in neutralizing the insurgency. Regrettably however, instead of accepting this offer of cooperation, the PDP-Federal Government has consistently pointed accusing fingers at our Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the sponsor of Boko Haram. They have called us all sorts of derogatory names, but failed to provide any shred of evidence to support their claim.

     It has been very clear to us that the vehemence and persistence of this accusation, the deliberate distortion of statements made by our leaders to paint us as Boko Haram sponsors and the way the PDP-led Federal Government has gone to hire foreign PR firms, at a huge cost to taxpayers, as well as foreign and local hack writers to push this narrative, they were struggling hard to cover up something. We waited patiently knowing that the truth will one day surface.

     In a rare moment of truth, a top official of the Jonathan Administration, no less a personality than the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi, situated the Boko Haram problem within the PDP. Shortly thereafter he was fired, and he later died in controversial circumstances. Still we waited.

     They distorted and misrepresented the statements made by our leader, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to try to convince the world that he was indeed the main sponsor of Boko Haram. They continued to echo the same slander about Gen. Buhari that was started by Presidential Spokesman Reuben Abati in 2011, and for which he and his cohorts eventually begged to settle out of court and to apologize to the General. Still we waited.

     

    When their attempt to link Gen. Buhari with Boko Haram failed, as his popularity among ordinary Nigerians continued to soar, he was suddenly attacked by suicide bombers. Those who planned the attack believed this as the final solution to what they perceived as the threat he represents to the realization of their ambition. By the grace of God, he survived. We do not claim to know those who attacked him, but we do know those who provided the atmosphere for that attack to take place. Still we waited.

     When the government declared a state of emergency in three worst-hit states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe in 2013, thousands of troops were deployed to the three states. But the unusual happened. The number of attacks simply skyrocketed. It is common knowledge that in any territory that has been placed under a state of emergency, the military takes charge of security, erecting checkpoints as part of efforts to keep a tab on security. Such was the situation in Borno in April 2014, when over 200 girls were abducted and driven away in many trucks. Soldiers posted to a nearby checkpoint were said to have withdrawn shortly before the attack. Who ordered their withdrawal? Some of the trucks in which the girls were being carted away broke down, yet no one challenged them. Despite this bizarre occurrence, they refused to accept responsibility and continued to cast aspersion on our Party, the APC, as the sponsor of Boko Haram. Still we waited.

     Boko Haram routinely enriched their arsenal with tanks, Armoured Personnel Carriers, guns, trucks and other military equipment which they seized from the Army. From the videos they release from time to time, one could see Boko Haram insurgents driving around unchallenged in convoys of up to 60 vehicles made-up of tanks and other military vehicles they seized from our military, in a territory that is under a state of emergency. What is happening? No one could fathom it. Still we waited.

     A man known to all as the kingpin of Boko Haram, a man who helped to arm them so he could win elections and decimate his opponents, was moving around with the best security ever. He is a known ally of the President and he is not known to be under any immunity. Yet he was never arrested or even questioned. Still we waited.

     In line with a Yoruba adage that says when a drum starts sounding too hard, it is about to burst, the PDP and the Presidency ratcheted up their attacks on our party, labelling us as Boko Haram sponsors. They hired a foreign firm, Levick, for US$1.2 million in taxpayers’ money, as well as a number of out-of-luck hack writers and pseudo analysts, one of them from Russia, to help push the narrative. Still we waited.

     Then their drum exploded!

     Dr. Stephen Davis, a man hired by the President Jonathan-led Federal Government to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the Chibok girls decided to speak out, believing the best way to tackle the insurgency is to expose the sponsors. And who are they? On international television last Thursday, and as you have just seen and heard, he named former Borno Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and a former Army Chief, Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, as the sponsors of Boko Haram.

     

    Prodded by Sahara Reporters in a subsequent interview on whether Gen. Buhari and Malam Nasir el-Rufai were sponsors, he said the Boko Haram commanders who gave him the names of their sponsors did not mention their names. The die is cast. The truth is finally out! Boko Haram sponsors have been exposed. They are within the ruling PDP. They are friends of President Jonathan. He cannot pretend not to know who they are and what they have done and are still doing. His myriad of intelligence agencies, including the DSS and the DMI, cannot pretend they do not have any information on these men.

     It is true that Ali Modu Sheriff was, until recently, a member of our Party. But the Party always suspected that he was a mole, planted to hijack or at best weaken the new Party for the PDP. He is not new to that role. He helped to decimate his former party, the ANPP, to an extent that the number of states under its control fell from seven in 2003 to three by the time he left as Governor.

     

    We know for sure that Ali Modu Sheriff was planted in the APC to help decimate our party. We confronted him openly during the merger negotiation but he denied vigorously. His surrogate for the post of the Chairman of the APC, Chief Tom Ikimi together with whom they planned to hijack the Party for the Presidency was firmly rejected. Realizing they have failed, they fled our party and returned to where they came from, and were duly embraced by their controllers.

     

    President Jonathan cannot pretend not to know the alleged role that Ali Modu Sheriff has played in the establishment and growth of Boko Haram, yet he never allowed the man to even be questioned by any of the security agencies under his control. All through his time with our Party, every time they accused us of sponsoring Boko Haram, on the basis of his presence, we challenged them if they had evidence to arrest any of our members who is suspected to be a sponsor, they never did. They dared not, because Sheriff was their agent. Even if he had remained in the APC after we democratically encouraged him to go, they would still not have arrested him.

     

    Recall, gentlemen, that immediately Sheriff went back to the PDP, the Maiduguri Airport that had been closed to even the pilgrims from the state on grounds of security, was re-opened specially for him. What more evidence does anyone need that Sheriff was and remains President Jonathan’s Man Friday?

     

    Our Stand

     

    The truth is finally out. We have been vindicated. We have no hand in the Boko Haram insurgency. The raison d’etre of our party is the well-being and security of Nigerians

     

    The sponsors of Boko Haram are within the PDP and the Presidency. They are known friends of President Jonathan. He knows them and they know him.

     

    The man who exposed these Boko Haram sponsors is a Jonathan-appointed Negotiator. He has no axe to grind, neither does he have any motive to shield the APC or portray the PDP/Presidency in bad light. In fact, if he had any sympathy at all, it is for the man who hired him, President Jonathan.

     

    We have said it all along. Boko Haram was politicized purely for one reason, and one reason only: To be used as a trump card for President Jonathan to win another term. For that strategy to work, the APC, which they see as the only stumbling block to the PDP’s victory in 2015, must be maligned and labeled. Gullible, duplicitous and self-serving politicians like Femi Fani-Kayode swallowed the bait, hook, line and sinker, and started parroting the glaring lies. PDP spokesman Olisa Metuh, an obvious pawn on the chess board, followed suit, labelling a party that comprises Nigerians of all ethnic and religious hue a Janjaweed and Islamic party. Now he is stewing in his own juice.

     

    In the process of this dangerous politics, the Nigerian military which was globally acclaimed for its impressive showings at various peacekeeping missions around the world, simply suffered collateral damage. Apparently, fifth columnists in the military has sold the force out, first by denying it of the necessary fighting tools and then weakening it to such an extent that even the little it had was being taken away daily by insurgents. When the patriotic Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno tried to raise the issue of the poorly-equipped troops and their low morale, he was roundly pilloried. Now the world knows why!

     

    Now that the cat has been let out of the bag and the real sponsors of Boko Haram have been exposed, we hope President Jonathan will summon the courage to do the right thing: Hand over the identified Boko Haram sponsors to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation and prosecution.

     

    There is no doubt that Boko Haram has committed crimes against humanity in its scorched-earth campaign against unharmed citizens, and the most appropriate body to investigate and try the sect’s sponsors is the ICC.

     

    According to Article 17 of the Rome Statute that set up the ICC, and to which Nigeria is signatory, the ICC is a court of last resort, expected to exercise its jurisdiction only if states themselves are unwilling or unable genuinely to investigate and prosecute international crimes.

     

     

    In view of the fact that the alleged Boko Haram sponsors are either members of the ruling party or friends of the President, it is clear that the PDP-led Federal Government is unwilling and unable to try them, hence our call.

     

    Nigerians can rest assured that the APC will not allow this issue to be swept under the carpet.

     

    Now that it is clear that the PDP is behind Boko Haram for the sole purpose of winning next year’s Presidential Election, Nigerians must prevail on the PDP and the Presidency to urgently end this insurgency and the daily killing and maiming of innocent Nigerians!

     

    The President must remember that he is the Commander-in-Chief! The buck stops on his desk. He must now do all it takes to stop the growing mess in our nation’s North-East.

     

    Nigerians expect no less!

  • Jonathan seeks action against Boko Haram, others

    Jonathan seeks action against Boko Haram, others

    To end the rampant killings of innocent people in the continent, President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday charged African leaders to take “action- oriented approach” against the activities of terrorists on the continent.

    He gave the charge while speaking at the 455th African Union Peace and Security Council meeting at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC), Nairobi, Kenya.

    Stressing that the AU has what it takes in terms of legal, political and normative instruments to deal with the rising sophistication of terrorists, he said the task ahead was to ensure the effective use of the instruments.

    He regretted the increasing wave of violence perpetrated by Boko Haram, Al Shabbab and Lord Resistance Army (LRA) on the continent.

    Jonathan, who read the speech of African Union Chairman, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, at the occasion, also called on African countries to fulfill earlier commitments with respect to legal measures, border control and exchange of intelligence.

    He said: “While both member states and the Commission deserve to be commended for their commitment and efforts, nonetheless, much remains to be done. The atrocities that continue to be committed by the terrorist groups active in the Sahel- Saharan region, Boko Haram, the LRA, Al- Shabaab and other terrorist groups, bear testimony to the long road ahead of us.

    “The first (solution) relates to the need for enhanced cooperation among member states and between the continent and the rest of the international community.

    “Indeed the problem we are confronting is global in nature. Terrorists and organized crime syndicates operate in networks that can only be defeated through concerted action and cooperation.

    “The African Union and its various instruments and mechanisms provide the framework within which we should combine our efforts and pull together our scarce resources.

    “The second point pertains to the need for action- oriented approach. We are now well equipped in terms of legal, political and normative instruments. The tasks ahead of us will be to ensure their effective implementation.

    “The countries concerned should take the steps required to become parties to the relevant African and international instruments. We should as member states fulfill our commitments and obligations, particularly with respect to legal measures, border control, exchange of intelligence and other related measures.”

     

  • 40 Boko Haram insurgents killed in battle for Bama

    40 Boko Haram insurgents killed in battle for Bama

    Boko Haram’s ambitious move to capture Bama, Borno State’s second largest city, has turned a misadventure. The sect lost more than 40 fighters. Many were injured.  The insurgents are in control of Gwoza.

    The Defence Headqurters said the attack was being repelled.

    Yesterday’s was the fifth attempt by Boko Haram to take over Bama where most leaders of the sect have their base.

    The insurgents had always targeted Mohammed Kur Barracks and the police station in the town.

    According to a military source, the insurgents invaded Bama early yesterday.

    The source said: “In their typical guerilla manner, about 200 to 300 insurgents invaded Bama with armoured vehicles and motorcycles.

    “They were attacking all persons and objects on sight as part of their bid to annex the town which they lost to the troops last December.

    “But our troops rose to the occasion and launched counter-attacks which led to heavy casualty figures on the part of the insurgents.

    “The invasion was part of their larger plans to take over all towns in Borno State as part of the declaration of an Islamic Caliphate.

    “To them, Bama is strategic because most of their deadly commanders hail from the town. For troops to be in control of the area meant that they have lost a coordinating base.

    “We know that they would always want to go and come in Bama. So, our troops have always prepared for them.”

    The source said: “The insurgents are unhappy that they lost the strategic town since last December.

    “You will recall that in December 2013, the sect lost 113 members within two weeks during encounters with our troops in Bama.”

    Another source said: “They wanted to overrun Bama, which is about 64 kilometres to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. They wanted to use Bama as a base for their final march on Maiduguri.

    “But the resistance mounted by troops was not what they bargained for. Although they had been repelled, troops are pursuing the fleeing insurgents to avert their plans to regroup.

    “As expected, most residents of Bama have been running away from the town to Maiduguri and other safe places.”

    When contacted, the Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade said: “Bama attack is being repelled. We cannot state casualty situation/figures now. Everything necessary will be done to contain the terrorists.”

    A report said another group of the insurgents was sighted around Mafa Local Government Area and Kayamula villages in Konduga Local Government Area, near Maiduguri metropolis. Those sighted around Kayamula were killed by troops while those around Mafa were suspected to be making frantic efforts to enter the metropolis.

    This development, according to sources, was one of the reasons for the review of curfew in the metropolis.

    The army reviewed the curfew hours imposed on Maiduguri metropolis and environs, which is now from 6am to 7pm. The spokesman of the 7 Division, Colonel Sank Usman, announced the new time in a statement.

    A source said: “The insurgents stormed the town through Bama-Banki-Gwoza Road but were intercepted by gallant military troops near the Bama Mobile Police Unit located about five kilometres away from Bama.

    A resident of Bama, Mallam Abba Usman, who fled to Maiduguri, said: “There was an attempt by the Boko Haram sect to enter Bama town or capture Bama as they did in Gwoza. But for the good efforts of the troops stationed near the mobile police unit who repelled the attack in a joint effort with their colleagues from the 21 Brigade of the Army.

    A chief in Bama, who does not want his name in print, said Bama people were highly excited with the new efforts of the military and the relocation of the 21 Armoured Brigade Battalion to Bama.

    “Even the reinforcement being done by the GOC now is a clear indication that the military is serious and ready to rid the state of the insurgency, unlike in the past,” he said.

  • NLC to Fed Govt: fight Boko Haram as Ebola

    NLC to Fed Govt: fight Boko Haram as Ebola

    The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Abdul Waheed Omar, yesterday urged the Federal Government to fight the Boko Haram insurgency with the vigour it is fighting the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    He spoke in Kaduna at  the opening of a one-day sensitisation workshop on the prevention of Ebola, organised by National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN).

    Omar noted that the rapid response by the Federal Government to stop the spread of the Ebola virus was commendable, adding:  “I think if Federal Government should fight Boko Haram the way it is fighting Ebola, the insurgency would have ended.

    “I enjoin the government to be as proactive to Boko Haram as it has done to Ebola.”

    The President and General-Secretary of NUTGTWN, Comrade Oladele Hunsu and Comrade Issa Aremu, said there was need for continuous enlightenment and sensitisation of the Ebola virus.

    Aremu said the essence of the workshop was to enlighten members on the disease and how to prevent it.

    He said: “As deadly as the Ebola virus disease is, we should not forget there are other diseases, such as malaria, polio and cholera, which have cure but are still rampant.

    “Thus, as we battle the deadly Ebola virus disease, we should do more with other diseases with known treatment/prevention. It is all about good health care and good governance.

    “We laud the resolution of the crisis in the health sector, which led to the calling off of the strike by members of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA). We are also impressed that the Federal Government has withdrawn the sack order given to the doctors.

    “The truth is that we cannot resolve the health challenges, particularly the threat posed by the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), if we have a crisis in the health sector.

    “Government must provide health workers with the tools, including insurance covers, to deal with the Ebola virus.”

    Delivering a paper titled: “Ebola Virus Disease: What we need to know”, Dr. Sani Gwarzo, a director, Port Health Services, Federal Ministry of Health, said the era of sensitisation was over, adding that action should be taken to prevent the deadly virus.

    Gwarzo, who is also a member of the Incident Management Committee on the Ebola virus disease, said the spread of the disease started in 1976 as rural Ebola, adding that it killed a lot of animals and human beings in Central Africa.

    He allayed the fears of most Nigerians that suffering from acute malaria fever did not necessarily mean a symptom of Ebola, but warned that persons suffering from such fever should keep away from the work place till recovery.

    Gwarzo said the rampaging disease is known as urban Ebola, urging the leadership of the labour union to put in place a policy, work plan as well as a response team to checkmate the spread of Ebola, particularly in their immediate environment.

     

  • NLC to FG: Fight Boko Haram like Ebola

    NLC to FG: Fight Boko Haram like Ebola

    President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Abdul Waheed Omar, on Monday urged the Federal Government to fight the Boko Haram sect with the same vigour it is fighting the deadly Ebola Virus Disease in the country.

    Omar stated this in Kaduna while declaring open a one-day sensitization workshop on the prevention of Ebola virus disease in the workplace, organized by National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN).

    He noted the government’s rapid response to the Ebola scourge was a commendable, adding that, “I think if Federal Government should fight Boko Haram the way it is fighting Ebola, then the insurgency would have ended since.

    “Therefore I call on the government to be as proactive to Boko Haram as it has done to Ebola.”

    In their remarks, the President and General Secretary, NUTGTWN, Comrade Oladele Hunsu and Comrade Issa Aremu, said there was the need for continuous enlightenment and sensitization on Ebola.

    Aremu said the essence of the workshop was to enlighten the labour force about the disease and how to prevent it.

    “As deadly as the Ebola virus disease is, we should not forget there are other diseases like malaria, polio, cholera which are curable but are still rampant in the country. Thus as we battle with the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, we should do more with other diseases with known treatment/prevention. It is all about good health care and good governance.

    “We commend the recent resolution of the crisis in the health sector that led to the calling off of strike action by doctors under Nigeria Medical Association. We are also impressed that the Federal government has withdrawn the earlier retrenchment of the doctors,” he stated.

  • Melaye lambasts Fani-Kayode for comments on Boko Haram sponsors

    Melaye lambasts Fani-Kayode for comments on Boko Haram sponsors

    •Falana urges Fed Govt to prosecute Boko Haram sponsors

    A former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye, has accused a former Aviation Minister, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, of making hasty comments on alleged Boko Haram sponsors.

    The activist said Fani-Kayode’s accusation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with alleged connection with the sect was hasty, indecent and unconscionable.

    In a statement yesterday in Abuja, Melaye said: “Mr. Fani-Kayode’s stout defence of an alleged Boko Haram sponsor, as identified by the Goodluck Jonathan administration-appointed negotiator, Stephen Davis, and his attempt to continue pointing fingers at my party, the APC, is hasty, indecent and unconscionable.

    “The last time I checked, Mr. Fani-Kayode was not a duly-constituted independent commission of enquiry to investigate the allegations by the negotiator. One, therefore, wonders how he could so quickly exonerate any of those who were fingered by Dr. Davis purely on the basis of sheer sentiments as well as unbridled hatred for the APC.

    “What Mr. Fani-Kayode’s desperate moves have shown is that the earth-shaking revelation by President Jonathan’s negotiator has unnerved his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the administration. It has shown the veracity of the saying that when you point one finger at someone, four others are pointing at you.

    “The sponsors of Boko Haram are right within the PDP, as alleged by Dr.

    Davis, who named former Borno Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and ‘a former Chief of Army Staff, who retired in January, rightly sacked by the President’. This has corroborated what the President had said that Boko Haram is right within his administration.

    “What one would expect from a government that is keen on finding the true sponsors of Boko Haram and ending the insurgency – instead of playing politics with it – is to support an independent enquiry into the allegation, instead of rushing to shoot it down and casting aspersion on the man who made the revelation on an international television station.

    “In the rush to discredit Dr. Davis, the Jonathan administration and its attack dogs have forgotten that the President himself appointed the Australian to negotiate the release of the Chibok schoolgirls, who were abducted by Boko Haram. They have forgotten that if at all the negotiator has any sympathy, it would be for President Jonathan, who appointed him.

    “I am glad that the truth about Boko Haram’s sponsors has finally come out. I advise the Jonathan administration to look inwards, instead of unleashing attack dogs on Dr. Davis and sending spin doctors, some of who will do anything to evade justice over the allegation they face on their own, to the media to try to change the narratives.

    “Those who planted Modu Sheriff in the APC, so that they could label the party a Boko Haram sponsor, knew what they were doing. They knew his antecedents. And when the APC decided to frustrate Modu Sheriff and his likes out of the party, they should simply have embraced him and accepted that they had finally been hoisted by their own petard.

    “Enough of the distracting finger-pointing by the likes of the loquacious and truth-twisting Mr. Fani-Kayode. The cat has been let out of the bag!”

    Also, Lagos lawyer Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) has urged the Federal Government to prosecute those sponsoring Boko Haram insurgents.

    In a statement yesterday in Lagos, Falana advised the government to refer those linked with the insurgency to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution.

    The frontline lawyer said the allegations against them were too weighty to be ignored.

    He said: “In view of the gravity of the allegations of crimes against humanity committed by the sponsors of the Boko Haram sect, President Goodluck Jonathan should refer the suspects to the Special Prosecutor of the international Criminal Court.

    “Any local investigation conducted by the Federal Government, in the circumstance, may be manipulated by vested political interests.”

    Falana recalled that the international negotiator, Rev. Stephen Davies, who President Jonathan engaged for dialogue with the Boko Haram sect for the release of the abducted 275 Chibok schoolgirls, revealed the identities of the sponsors of the terrorist organisation.

    He said: “In a well publicised televised interview in London last week, the international negotiator said a former Borno State governor, a former Chief of Army Staff and a former top official of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) provided funds and other logistics to the nihilist body for the terrorist attacks which have claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people in the country.”

    Falana noted that the disclosure was backed with some detailed accounts, which confirmed some information with Nigeria’s security forces.

    The lawyer also recalled that the Ambassador Usman Galtimari Committee on Insurgency in the Northeast, which was set up in 2011 by President Jonathan, recommended the prosecution of “some politicians, who sponsored, funded and used the militia groups that later metamorphosed into Boko Haram”.

    He said: “In a White Paper issued on the report of the committee, the Federal Government accepted the recommendation and directed ‘the National Security Adviser (NSA) to coordinate the investigation of the kingpins and sponsors to unravel the individuals and groups that are involved’.

    “Although the White Paper was published in May 2012, the directive of the Federal Government has not been carried out up till now because the individuals involved are said to be connected to the Presidency…”

  • FOMWAN to Boko Haram: Release Chibok girls unconditionally

    FOMWAN to Boko Haram: Release Chibok girls unconditionally

    THE Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria (FOMWAN) has appealed to fundamentalist Islamic sect, Boko Haram to release the over 200 Chibok girls in its custody without any condition.

    Speaking at the association’s 29th Annual National Conference holding in Osun State, the National President of the association, Alhaja Amina Omoti, said that rather than holding the ‘innocent girls’ hostage, the insurgent group should come into the open to discuss their grievances.

    She said: “As mothers, we are appealing to Boko Haram to engage the federal government in negotiation for the release of the abducted school girls, because Islam as a religion forbids making people undergo suffering and shedding of blood.”

    The FOMWAN president said the recent silence on the rescue efforts being undertaken by the federal government to release the Chibok girls should not be mistaken for noting that the government was only being careful not to disclose its strategy without endangering the lives of the abducted girls.

    While calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure the release of the abducted girls by “all possible means”, she added, “As mothers and grandmothers, we are deeply touched by these innocent girls’ predicament. No one should start thinking that nobody cares anymore.  FOMWAN has always been in the lead for the Chibok girls’ release.

    “We have been praying as mothers and know God will listen to our prayers. Mothers can’t seat back when their children are unsafe outside. Let no one think we are comfortable and not doing anything.”

    Omoti also called on parents to give their girl child sound education that would make them productive and self reliant in the society.

    The conference with the theme: Youths, Peace and Security, which was organised to address the prevailing insecurity in the country,  was attended by about 1,200 participants across the country.

    Dignitaries at the conference include the Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, and his wife, Sherifat; representatives of the  Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar; wife of the Vice President,  Aminat Namadi Sambo and Chairperson of FOMWAN’s Board of Trustees, Hajiya Aisha Lemu and the Chairman of the conference, Prof. Dawud Naobi.

  • Desertion, Boko Haram: Nigeria’s fragility underscored

    Desertion, Boko Haram: Nigeria’s fragility underscored

    In 2005, the National Intelligence Council (NIC), which is described as “The center for midterm and long-term strategic thinking within the United States Intelligence Community (IC)”, published a report of a one-day conference it convened to look at the future of sub-Saharan Africa. The conference examined a 15-year trend in the region and concluded that for Nigeria, any major event could upset its “precarious equilibrium.” The report did not rule out disintegration. Consequent upon the NIC report, the US military conducted a war game exercise in 2008 and also examined what should be the response of the US military should anarchy overtake Nigeria. There was no definitive prediction of a Nigerian break-up, nor any attribution of the predictions to the US government, but none of the studies undertaken by the US bodies ruled out that possibility. Indeed, in view of the security challenges facing Nigeria since 2009, and the country’s increasing fragility, it would require extreme optimism to rule out that frightful worst-case scenario.

    But that is precisely what Nigeria’s rulers have done. Rather than dispassionately examine the damning reports on Nigeria, especially the parameters used to arrive at the frightening conclusions on the country’s stability and cohesion, the rulers have dismissed the study, especially since it emerged it was not a US government study — as if it mattered by whom the studies were produced. Surely it has not been forgotten that in 1991, there was hardly anyone, intellectual or soothsayer, within or outside the US government, who predicted that the Soviet Union would disintegrate that year. Underscoring that universal ignorance, a US international relations expert, George Kennan, confessed that he found it “hard to think of any event more strange and startling, and at first glance inexplicable, than the sudden and total disintegration and disappearance … of the great power known successively as the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union.” Everyone, including leading members of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s government described the Soviet collapse as “unexpected.”

    But Nigerians are enamoured of superstition and are fanatical about religion. Yet, irrespective of their private longings, revolutions are an integral part of history, happen periodically, and are often unpredictable. The spectacular and constantly irredeemable act of leadership malfeasance in Nigeria in fact makes the country more susceptible to fragmentation than any study anywhere has predicted. The absence of social, economic and criminal justice is enduring. The federal and state governments have repeatedly and callously undermined the constitution, abridged rights, promoted tyranny, exploited religious, ethnic and political cleavages, and hoped that by a strange alchemy they could deploy religious faith and conviction to dissipate the spectre of disintegration. They seem to think they are immune to the centrifugal tendencies, (especially the fashionable sectarian adventurism promoted by the Islamic State), overwhelming and inspiring fanatical elements in parts of the world such as Iraq, Syria, Libya and now Nigeria.

    Nothing makes the danger of destabilisation and fragmentation more pressing for Nigeria than the continuing threat posed by the Boko Haram Islamist sect, which has just declared a caliphate in Gwoza, Borno State, and seems set to heighten its territorial affront in the face of shambolic and feeble military response. And nothing exemplifies that feebleness than the strange and dramatic manner 480 Nigerian soldiers found their way into Cameroon last week after a particularly gruelling encounter with Boko Haram militants. Some analysts have described the movement of the 480 troops, almost a battalion strength, as desertion, the worst disgrace Nigeria has ever faced in its 54-year chequered history. On their own, however, military officers, presuming Nigerians to be incoherent, have described the embarrassment incredulously as either tactical manoeuvre or tactical retreat.

    Before the Soviet Empire and its accompanying Warsaw Pact alliance disintegrated, they did not face the kind of countdown Nigeria is confronting, a countdown where soldiers are reluctant to fight, their wives are protesting against the deployment of their husbands, and the national spirit is either inexistent or is substantially distorted. There have been one or two attempts at mutiny in barracks in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, with military authorities blackmailing the discerning public into desisting from commenting on the collapse at war fronts. It will be recalled that Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State was the first to raise the alarm that Nigerian troops were unwilling to fight because of poor motivation and inferior weapons. He was pilloried for his outspokenness, until soldiers themselves began to complain openly of being poorly armed, and their wives joined in the unprecedented revolt, never before seen in these parts.

    That the country is badly and incompetently administered is no longer in doubt. What is in dispute is the continuing promotion of the nonsensical viewpoint that Boko Haram is the creation of anti-Jonathan elements, a viewpoint championed by ruffians in the South-South and strangely and stupidly endorsed by elements in the Southwest. This viewpoint has in turn triggered the divisive demonisation of the North as a wholesale champion of Boko Haram, even though the sect was birthed during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo, a southerner, and acquired its terrifying streak under the presidency of the late Umaru Yar’Adua, a northerner. It apparently suits the Goodluck Jonathan presidency that that abhorrent viewpoint is promoted and reinforced by dangerous and malevolent reiteration. This was perhaps why the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, was politicised not by the opposition, but by the Jonathan government, which first doubted the abductions, and has approached the matter since then with undisguised, shameless and enervating impotence.

    Sadly, the government’s appalling strategy is anchored essentially on one leg: to defeat the insurgency militarily, a feat now looking increasingly complicated and far-fetched, and provoke the country with its disjointed and disfiguring triumphalism. As far as the complex factors that have engendered Boko Haram are concerned, such as injustice, economic deprivation, subversion of the constitution, political suppression and oppression, divisive use of religion and ethnicity, nothing has been done, and nothing is planned. Indeed, the abhorrent sub-plot of the Boko Haram insurgency, which is to use it for electoral ends, is nearly so complete that the Jonathan re-election team brutally hangs their campaign on blaming and demonising others — the opposition and the North especially — for its incompetence and impotence in forging a way out of the national morass. The consequence is that instead of the unity needed to direct the fight against the common foe, the country is more divided than ever, fighting one another, promoting fissiparous tendency even in the military, fostering ethnic and political resentment, while Dr Jonathan’s government continues to harvest the sympathy of some of the geopolitical zones which have concluded that Dr Jonathan is in fact being persecuted by northern oligarchs and a complicit faction of the Southwest elite.

    It is not clear why the Jonathan presidency is unable to rise up imaginatively to  both the insurgency in particular and the disequilibrium in the polity in general, or whether he in fact truly desires to challenge and defeat the insurgency and other problems plaguing the country. But I think Dr Jonathan’s government is widely despised for its lack of discipline and its poor intellectual endowment. It is unable to situate the Boko Haram problem in the global Jihadist context, let alone in the less complex domestic context, and is reluctant to appreciate that the sect needs to be examined closely to discover why and how it continues to grow in strength, why it is attractive to all manner of adventurers, why the army seems out of tune with reality, and why his political methods have discouraged and alienated a large swathe of the country. Worse, I fear that Dr Jonathan is not even interested in mustering the huge responsibility needed to understand and solve these problems. He believes that his method of shifting the blame for the insurgency on the opposition and the North will yield him votes, and his tactics of plundering the constitution for provisions and sundry authorisation to sustain and promote the acts of repression will strengthen his hands. He is not tempted to change, and perhaps, as galling as this may sound, may never change even as the country plummets to its most terrifying nadir ever.