The Nation Newspaper

Tag: boko haram

  • Insurgency: Jonathan stops ethnic registration, ‘deportation’

    Insurgency: Jonathan stops ethnic registration, ‘deportation’

    The National Security Council (NSC) meeting, presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday stopped the registration and “deportation” of non-indigenes across the country.

    Some states had begun the registration of residents to enable them identify visitors and check Boko Haram deadly activities.

    Addressing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the Director-General of State Security Service (SSS), Ita Ekpeyong, explained that such exercises were more dangerous than Boko Haram activities.

    The SSS chief, who in company of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar, said Nigerians are free to settle anywhere they like.

    He said another NCS meeting will be held next week to discuss the development.

    Ekpeyong said: “The IGP has told you what was discussed at the meeting: the fight against Boko Haram, the government’s efforts to rescue the Chibok schoolgirls and the issue of ‘deportation’, registration of Nigerians in some states. We regard this as even more potent than Boko Haram.

    “The council discussed in detail the issue of registration of Nigerians in any part of the country, being subjected to registration, being subjected to deportation, being taken away from one part of the country to the other.

    “The council discussed the reaction by some groups in Kano State and other parts of the country. It observed that this threat was more potent than Boko Haram and could disintegrate the country.

    “We take this very seriously: for some people to deport other people; for some people to take other people from one place to the other; for the registration of indigenes. No matter where they are, they are free to settle anywhere they like.

    “The council resolved that the issue of registration of Nigerians anywhere in the country and ‘deportation’ should stop forthwith. To emphasise the importance the President attached to this, that is why he asked the IGP and I to address the press. This must stop forthwith.”

    The SSS director-general said security operatives had been directed not to be involved in the registration of Nigerians who are resident outside their states or in banishing people from their state of residency.

    Ekpeyong said: “If the police, the SSS are found to be involved, they will be severely dealt with.”

    The SSS chief also warned youths to desist from fomenting trouble over the matter because the government was taking steps over the matter.

    He said: “The government is doing everything possible to stem this from getting out of control. As a matter of fact, to show the urgency, the NCS meeting will be held anytime next week to discuss this issues.”

    On the fight against terrorism, Ekpeyong said: “The fight against Boko Haram is ongoing. We kept saying that the fight against Boko Haram is like the footballer. You know when the Germans played the Argentines, it was only just one goal they scored that everyone is remembering. The other goals that were stopped, nobody will remember them.

    “There are several things the government is doing. There are several attacks government has stopped. But nobody will remember those ones because we don’t tell you. But several things are going on.

    “On the Chibok schoolgirls, the government is making efforts (to rescue them). We know where they are, but we don’t want to endanger their lives. That is the truth. We want to take it gradually and release them at the appropriate time. We know where they are you can go to bed with that.”

     

  • Dud CCTV cameras

    Dud CCTV cameras

    •Reps’ probe is good, but will it amount to much?

    GIVEN  the humongous amount of resources expended on tackling  insecurity in Nigeria over the last few years, there is no excuse for the continued widespread rate of crime that has put the entire country under siege. Apart from the festering Boko Haram insurgency that has practically crippled significant parts of northern Nigeria, criminal activities, including armed robbery, kidnapping, ritual killings, assassinations, rape and communal violence, to name a few, are all over the country. It would appear that the necessity to contain the scale of insecurity in contemporary Nigeria has provided unscrupulous public officers with an avenue to enrich their pockets to the detriment of the public good.

    Thus, the more resources that are channelled into the fight against crime, the more insecure the country becomes, in what is turning out to be a disturbing vicious cycle. The scale of this problem was, once again, highlighted by the decision, last week, of the House of Representatives to probe the $470 million purportedly expended by the Federal Government on Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Projects to help detect and stem the tide of crimes in major Nigerian cities, particularly Abuja and Lagos.

    The contract for this project, known as Public Security Communications System, was reportedly awarded to ZTE Nigeria Limited by the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and funded under a finance agreement with the China Export Bank. Saviour Friday-Udoh from AkwaIbom State, who raised the issue on the floor of the House, said that the project included the installation of 1,000 solar-powered cameras each in Lagos and Abuja; the installation of 37 switch rooms; provision of 37 emergency response systems; 38 video conference sub-systems; 37 e-police systems; six emergency communication vehicles and 1.5 million subscriber lines. According to the legislator, the CCTV can produce video, digital or still recording images for surveillance purposes. It has been alleged that the projects had been completed and handed over to the government since 2012 but that “no criminal activity has ever been detected through the security cameras”.

    We commend the House of Representatives for mandating “its committees on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Public Safety and National Security to investigate the failure of the Video, Surveillance and Close Circuit Television to detect criminal activities in Nigeria’s cities and report back to the House within two weeks”. However, until a thorough investigation is conducted and all the affected parties given the opportunity to state their case, the conclusion cannot be reached that the facilities are non-functional or that they have never detected any criminal activities.

    Given the sensitive nature of the project, it is not impossible that the relevant security agencies may be reluctant to disclose the location of the devices in order not to compromise their integrity and efficacy. The onus is on those who awarded and executed the contracts to demonstrate to the committee that the facilities have indeed been procured, installed and are helping to achieve the desired objective.

    One benefit of the probe will be to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the project. Has the money invested in the venture been worthwhile? In what way have the CCTV cameras contributed to crime detection and prevention, especially in Abuja and Lagos? Could this project not have been more effective and efficient if the states had been empowered to undertake it in their respective jurisdictions rather its being centrally controlled from Abuja?

    It is important to note, however, that the national legislature does not have an enviable record when it comes to investigating perceived malfeasance by public officers. We hope the integrity of this probe will not be compromised by corruption, in which case it will end up another exercise in futility.

     

  • Boko Haram holds sway in Damboa as Air force chopper crashes

    Boko Haram holds sway in Damboa as Air force chopper crashes

    The Boko Haram sect is holding sway in Borno State town of Damboa about 80 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, a local vigilante leader told the BBC.

    The vigilante force defending the town fled on Sunday as Boko Haram’s black flag is now flying over Damboa, he said.

    No fewer than 40 people were killed when Boko Haram attacked Damboa on Friday, the vigilante leader added.

    Damboa is one of the biggest towns in Borno state and a busy trading centre.

    During the fighting in Damboa, some electricity installations were damaged. This has left Maiduguri without electricity for three weeks, a local resident told the BBC.

    A Nigerian Air Force Helicopter yesterday crashed in Bama also in Borno State.

    A statement by Director of Defence Information Major General Chris Olukolade, said the helicopter was on a training mission and the crash was due to a technical fault.

    The statement added that the crash was not the action of any enemy but purely accidental.

    “A Nigerian Air Force Mi-35 Helicopter on a training mission this afternoon, crashed due to technical fault at a location South of Bama. Investigation has commenced to unravel the circumstances that led to the accident. Meanwhile, it is established that the crash is not as a result of any enemy action. Further details on the crash will be made known as soon as the investigation is completed,” the statement said.

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) also yesterday said 15,204 persons have been displaced by the weekend’s attack on Damboa.

    An epidemic may arise as a result of several bodies left unburied on the streets of the town as the surviving residents were made to flee.

    It was also gathered that thousands of people were seen yesterday morning fleeing towards Uba town from Damboa and other areas bordering it that were attacked by the insurgents.

    A source from the town said: “Thousands of our people are running in all directions and over 1000 people fled in the direction of Uba to seek solace.”

    The Boko Haram sect on Saturday killed over 60 people at Gaidamgari village in Bama local government area of Borno State, following the refusal of residents to allow their young males enlisted as members of the terrorists group.

    The sect, it was learnt had embarked on a recruitment drive to shore up its membership, but villagers resisted allowing their children to join.

    “The refusal of the community to allow their children particularly young boys between the ages of 15 to 20 to be recruited into the Boko Haram group, led to the carnage that befell them as the terrorists mobilised and launched a deadly attack on Gaidamgari village,” security source said.

    He pointed out that during the attack, over 60 residents were killed, while several others sustained gunshot wounds.

    He said, the gunmen that invaded the village were many, using Toyota Hilux vehicles with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

    Another security personnel, however, said only 29 people were killed.

     

  • Terrorism: Security Council stops ethnic registration, deportation

    Terrorism: Security Council stops ethnic registration, deportation

    The National Security Council meeting presided by President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday stopped the registration and deportation of non-indigenes in any part of the country.

    To check the onslaught of Boko Haram, some state governments have reportedly commenced the registration of non-indigenes in their states.

    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting at the Presidential Villa, the Director General of State Security Service (SSS), Ita Ekpeyong, maintained that such deportation and registration are more dangerous than Boko Haram itself.

    Ekpeyong, who was accompanied by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, said that Nigerians are free to settle anywhere they like.

    He said that the Council of State meeting will be held next week to discuss the issues.

    He said: “The IGP has told us what was discussed at the meeting, the fight against Boko Haram, the efforts made by government to rescue the Chibok girls and the issue of deportation, registration of Nigerians in states of the federation. We regard this as even more potent than Boko Haram.”

    “The Council discussed in detail the issue of registration of Nigerians in any part of the country, being subjected to registration, being subjected to deportation, being taken away from one part of the country to the other.

    “The Council discussed the reaction by some groups in Kano State and other parts of the country. We observe that this threat was more potent than Boko Haram and could disintegrate the country.

    “And we take this very seriously, for people to deport people, for people to take people from one place to the other, for registration of indigenes no matter where they are. No matter where they are they are free to settle anywhere they like.

    “The Council resolved that the issue of registration of Nigerians anywhere in the country and deportation should stop forthwith. To re-emphasis the importance, the President has attached to this that is why he asked the IGP and myself to address the press, this must stop forthwith.”

  • Boko Haram: Outrage over Jonathan’s $1b loan request

    Boko Haram: Outrage over Jonathan’s $1b loan request

    APC, Tinubu, lawyers to lawmakers: say no

    Minister defends plan

    There is outrage over the proposal by President Goodluck Jonathan to secure the National Assembly’s nod to obtain a $1billion loan to buy arms and ammunition to strengthen the fight against Boko Haram.

    Minister of State for Defence Musiliu Obanikoro, said at the weekend during his tour of Naval formation in Delta and Bayelsa states, said major military equipment had not been procured by successive governments in 25 years – to justify the need for the loan.

    Obanikoro, accompanied by the Commanding Officer, NNS Delta, Navy Captain Musa Gemu, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Naval Engineering School, Rear Admiral Sidi H Usman and Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Peter Agba, said the war against terrorism would soon be won.

    On the state of the military, the minister said: “So far so good, but in real terms and given the goals that we have set for ourselves as a nation, there is the need for more investment. No doubt about that.

    “Funding will forever remain an issue. I schooled in the U.S. Anywhere, funding is a problem in terms of the military. It is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. I recognise the fact that if you have a responsibility to somebody, the person must be equipped to carry out such responsibility.

    “The Federal Government has resolved that within the limited resources available, the military is properly kitted to deal with the challenges confronting the country for now and the future.

    “The president is committed to that and he has taken practical steps. As I speak to you today, some of the acquisition we are doing to beef up military capacity have not been done in the last 25 years. That, to me, is what progress is all about.”

    Speaking in Yola, Obanikoro said: “It is not true that the military is not well motivated. We must recognise and appreciate the effort of President Goodluck Jonathan since he came on board.

    “I can tell you that in the last 25 years, we have not made major acquisitions in terms of platforms for the Navy,  amunition and equipment generally for the military.

    “It is Jonathan that has started doing that now and it is as a result of neglect that we are suffering today. But that we are also trying to overcome with this new acquisition.

    “There is no doubt that we have both men and women who can deliver under any situation and they are acclaimed worldwide to be among the best. If they can solve issues outside, why will they not be able to solve issues at home.”

    The pattern of Defence Budget in the last 25 years showed a sharp increase, but most of the funds reportedly went to personnel and overhead costs.

    This year’s budget has the highest allocation to Defence N968.127 billion  out of total budget of N4.962 trillion.

    The capital budget has always been spent on buildings, uniforms, some ammunition and vehicle spares parts.

    It was learnt that there was a little improvement in 2012 when the Navy bought two offshore patrol vessels and six coastal patrol boats and some spares.

    It was gathered that in the same year, the Air Force acquired 12 Augusta 109 helicopters and some uniforms, reactivated C-130 and G222 Alpha Jets.

    A military source said: “The military budgets over the years were not meant for massive equipment. They were meant for administration, logistics,training and day-to-day running of the establishment.

    “Nobody envisaged a war of this magnitude. This matter should not be unnecessarily sensationalised or politicised. These are facts Nigerians should be made to know.

    The source spoke on the telephone and pleaded not to be quoted.

    In an article in 2012, which drew the ire of the Presidency, a former Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, gave an insight into the nation’s defence budget.

    He said: “Military spending the world over averages about 2.5 per cent of GDP, with the USA being the highest spender – about $700billion, which is about 5 per cent of GDP. In Africa, the leading military spender is Algeria, ranked 29th in the world, with 3.8 per cent of GDP, followed by Egypt (41st, 2.1 per cent), Angola (42nd, 4.2 per cent), and South Africa (43rd, 1.3 per cent). Nigeria is ranked 57th in the world then earmarking $1.724billion – about 0.9 per cent of our GDP on defence. Even a smaller country like Morocco, ranked 48th with 3.4 per cent of GDP out-spends us! In contrast, countries at near state-of-war like Lebanon (58th, 4.1 per cent) and Sudan (56th, 4.1 per cent) are in our neighbourhood in terms of defence outlays.

    “Our current budget for defence has climbed slightly to just over 1 per cent of GDP.”

    From N1.2 billion in 1988, the defence budget moved to N968.127 billion in this year’s budget.

    The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday urged the National Assembly not to give its go-ahead for the President to take the loan.

    It urged the government to account for the “missing” $20 billion oil money, saying “massive corruption and lack of accountability is behind the government request for loan”.

    To APC national leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, “the loan is dubious”, “Nigerians must reject it,” he said.

    Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) urged the National Assembly to reject the President’s request, saying there was no justification for the loan.

    The activist recalled that between 2010 and 2013, over N3 trillion was budgeted for defence.

    “Under the Appropriation Bill signed into law on May 23, 20 per cent of the entire federal budget i.e the sum of N968.127 billion out of N4.962 trillion, was earmarked for defence,” Falana said.

    He advised the Senate to find out what happened to the defence budget in the middle of the year to warrant a supplementary budget of N160 billion.

    Other senior lawyers urged the National Assembly to scrutinise the request.

    Joseph Nwobike and Sebastine Hon (both Senior Advocates of Nigeria) said, the legislature should monitor the application of the funds – if it gives the go-ahead.

    Nwobike said in view of the growing insecurity in the country, no amount was too much to spend on a secured environment for the people.

    Hon urged the National Assembly to extract, undertaking from the President to assure the country that the money would actually be spent for the purpose for which it was being sought.

    Nwobike said:”With the growing security challenges in the country; insurgency in the Northeast, as well as oil theft and sea piracy and other maritime crimes in the southern part of the country, I think there is a need for the government to acquire sophisticated military hardware and training for our military to be able to combat these crimes.

    “We should not ground in the argument about whether money had been spent in the past or not. What we should be concerned with is how to tackle these challenges, which are not only threatening the fabric of our nation, but also interfering with our economic life.

    “In other words, we all know how much Nigeria has lost since this insurgency, oil theft and other maritime crimes started. What we have lost in a year is more than $10billion. So if we spend $1b to equip our military so that they can stop or nip in the bud, this escalating criminality, I think is a welcome development.”

    “The only thing that I will ask the National Assembly to do in approving the loan is to improve  on their oversight function, such that they will be able to monitor in great details, where the money will be spent, what it will be spent on, and the benefit capital, which the money will be able to generate in the area of security of lives and property in the country,” Nwobike said.

    Hon said : “The question that will arise is, what has been the effect of the spending on the military so far? Is it that it has not been fully utilised or there are some extraordinary measures requiring external borrowing, in addition to what has been budgeted for to take care of the military?

    “I think as the Commander-in-Chief, he is the person wearing the shoes and he knows where they are pinching him.

    “The National Assembly should extract an undertaking from the President to the effect that if this amount is approved, he will tackle the insurgency that is ravaging our country.

    “The National Assembly should audit the military in view of the fact that there have been allegations flying here and there that substandard equipment are being supplied to soldiers fighting the insurgents and that heavy money has been misappropriated or taken away outrightly.

    “So, I advise that there should be probity and accountability to make Nigerians appreciate the imperative for looking for additional funds,” Hon said.

  • Jonathan, Shettima meet over Boko Haram’s Damboa massacre

    Jonathan, Shettima meet over Boko Haram’s Damboa massacre

    •Military: we won’t allow hoisting of strange flags in any part of Nigeria

    Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima met with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja on Friday, pleading for assistance to stop the rampaging Boko Haram insurgents.

    More than 300 peoples, including a Lieutenant-Colonel, have been killed by the insurgents in the last  three weeks in Damboa.

    The daring insurgents have also served notices of attacks on nine other towns.

    But the military yesterday stepped up activities against the sect and ordered troops to rout out Boko Haram from Damboa.

    The Defence Headquarters said it would not allow any group to annex any part of Nigeria or hoist a strange flag.

    According to sources, Shettima had a closed door session with the President at night on Friday on the security challenges facing the state.

    The two leaders locked themselves up for about 45 minutes without any of their aides present.

    A source said: “The meeting had to do with the security situation in the state, especially attacks on Damboa and the withdrawal of troops from the area by military authorities.

    “The death toll had made the governor sad, in spite of the huge investment in security apparatchik in the state.

    “The military is unhappy that some local collaborators played key roles in the ambush of troops on July 4 which led to the killing of a Lieutenant Colonel in a tank by some suicide bombers.

    “The governor came to beg for more military intervention to save the state. No leader will be happy seeing his people being killed like fowls. And the President reassured the governor that more actions will be taken.

    “As if the assault on Damboa was not enough, the insurgents have served notices of attacks on nine more towns. It is like a part of Borno is under siege again after the gains made by the military.

    “I think they also had discussions on the fate of the Chibok girls and the President’s proposed meeting with some of the parents of the abducted girls and those who escaped.”

    Neither the Presidency nor Borno State government was willing to reveal the details of the meeting.

    When contacted, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati confirmed that the President met with the governor.

    Also, a top government official in Borno State confirmed that the governor met with the President on Friday night.

    Barely 48 hours after the meeting, the military yesterday stepped up activities against the sect and ordered troops to rout out Boko Haram from Damboa.

    The Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, who spoke with our correspondent,  said the military had ordered troops to firm up activities against the sect in Damboa and other vulnerable areas.

    He said: “We have put in place necessary machinery, including the patrol of vulnerable areas, to check the insurgents. Activities are being stepped up to curtail the menace.”

    Asked in what manner the activities had been stepped up, he replied: “I won’t go into details on the actions we have taken. I cannot disclose military plans.

    “We will not say when troops will take charge of Damboa to avoid a repeat of the last ambush of these committed and loyal soldiers. But we are firming up deployment of troops to Damboa and other places.

    “We are ready for the insurgents but we will prefer to keep our strategies to ourselves because of the nature of the battle ahead.”

    Pressed to talk on the hoisting of flags in Damboa by Boko Haram, Brig.-Gen. Olukolade said:”From intelligence report, no hoisting of the flags was noticed in the sense that people are creating the impression. One or two persons may have hoisted flags in their compounds

    “The Nigerian military will deny them any freedom of action against the people this country.

    “Let me assure you that the military will not allow any portion of this country to bear any strange flag.”

  • External loan to fight Boko Haram a hard sell

    External loan to fight Boko Haram a hard sell

    If proof is required to show how and why Nigeria has been misgoverned, last week’s request by President Goodluck Jonathan to the National Assembly to be allowed to borrow one billion dollars from external sources is indisputably the most convincing. Writing to the National Assembly, the president had reasoned: “You are no doubt (familiar) with the ongoing and serious security challenges which the nation is facing, as typified by the Boko Haram terrorist threat. This is an issue that we have discussed at various times. I would like to bring to your attention the urgent need to upgrade the equipment, training and logistics of our Armed Forces and Security Services to enable them more forcefully to confront this serious threat. For this reason, I seek the concurrence of the National Assembly for external borrowing of not more than $1bn, including government to government arrangements, for this upgrade.”

    Predictably, the request has stirred controversy. The government apparently banks on the fact that everyone will be so worried by the security situation in the Northeast and elsewhere that the country would be compelled, if not blackmailed, into granting quick and easy approval. In particular, the presidency hopes that no one in the National Assembly would like to be seen as standing in the way of equipping and motivating Nigerian troops in the anti-terror war. But if approval is secured as fast and as easy as the presidency hopes, it would be a mockery both of legislative processes and citizen involvement in governance. Both civil society and the parliament should press the government for full explanations on why the Jonathan government thinks the nearly one trillion naira it has budgeted for defence this year is inadequate, and why an estimated 10 percent only is allocated for capital spending.

    Importantly too, the government needs to provide adequate proof it has not been profligate with public funds. In my opinion that proof would be difficult to provide. For instance, rather than offer proof of prudence in the use of public funds by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, especially as it relates to the chartering of aircraft for the use of its minister, the government has engaged in vexatious subterfuge. Then there is also the about $20bn the former Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, alleged had not been accounted for by the Jonathan government in the past few years. All the government has said through the Minister of Finance is that only about $10bn or $12bn is yet to be accounted for. Let the government find the missing money and take one billion dollars out of it for the purposes it is seeking authorisation.

    By every yardstick, the Boko Haram war cannot be compared with the Nigerian Civil War. While the current anti-terror war has lasted for about five years, it only assumed the dimension it has become in the last two or three years. Conversely, Nigeria’s finances were so well managed during the civil war that no penny was borrowed from outside the country. There is nothing to show that the Jonathan presidency has managed the finances of the country and run the military efficiently to guarantee that in borrowing more money we would not be throwing money at the problem. For instance, the government wants more troops, and has begun a recruitment exercise, yet it could spare troops to seize newspapers from vendors in parts of the country, while it also needlessly deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and other security forces to police election in only one small state, Ekiti.

    Reports from the Northeast do not indicate that the government has managed the Boko Haram war as efficiently as Nigerians have demanded. Giving the government more money other than for developmental needs would amount to an indefensible waste. In his justification for the loan request, the Coordinator of National Information Centre, Mike Omeri, offered this trite argument: “Even the United States goes for this kind of facility. For any country involved in such military expedition, not just the Boko Haram issue, but engaged in a number of military exercises, its stock will deplete. Every country must restock to reinforce its capability.” He also tried to link the request with the need to expedite action in rescuing the abducted Chibok girls. No one is convinced. The schoolgirls have spent more than three months in captivity because the government approached the problem wrongly and incompetently. The public should not be made to underwrite the government’s wastefulness and slothfulness.

    If the Jonathan government cannot explain where the $10bn missing money has gone, nor bring the wasteful Petroleum minister to account, nor give infallible proof it is capable of running the military efficiently, it should not be allowed to commit the country to more debt or be allowed to blackmail us with the rising spectre of insecurity. What the country needs is probably not more money, but more sense in managing its affairs and the many challenges confronting it. As the May 1970 lecture given by Chief Obafemi Awolowo at the University of Ibadan shows inferentially, the quality of Nigerian ministers and public servants has declined horribly. Their arguments, appreciation of issues and understanding of the social contract are so elementary that it is not surprising the country is plunging into more mess by the day.

    The Awolowo lecture in reference showed how, without external borrowing, Nigeria financed the civil war. The late sage estimated that in terms of the ‘calculable and visible cost of the war’, about three hundred million pounds sterling was spent, and it was made up of two hundred and thirty million pounds sterling in local currency, and seventy million pounds sterling foreign exchange. In his opinion, the country shunned external borrowing in order to save ‘national honour and pride, and (avoid) corrosion of our sovereignty and self-confidence.’ The question today is, where is our national pride and self-confidence?

    It is not certain how the National Assembly will treat the Jonathan request for foreign loan to prosecute the Boko Haram war, but Nigerians must urge their lawmakers to ask Dr Jonathan to instead plug the leakages in the military itself and especially in the NNPC. Enough money has been declared missing or embezzled to finance more than five Boko Haram wars. At any rate, it must be remembered that when Nigeria financed its civil war without foreign loan, the size of its military concomitantly grew from less than 20,000 before the war to about 250,000 after the war. A proper audit of the current personnel strength and finances of the military may even show that it is unnecessary to engage in any recruitment exercise. If Dr Jonathan can’t run Nigeria, and can’t get the people who can do it to join him, and can’t muster the patriotism, vision, and determination to do what is right, he should step aside rather than seek to commit the country to fresh debt and insolvency.

    Boko Haram war is the creation of this generation; it must not pass the financing of it to future generations. One stupidity, if my readers will forgive this coinage, is enough for one generation.

  • Boko Haram on highways

    Boko Haram on highways

    It is the defiant face of terror

    When in May 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan clamped a state of emergency on three North-east states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, he did so with assurances to Nigerians that the reign of the terrorist group – the Boko Haram –  was about to end.

    A year and two months on, Nigerians are wiser – not only has death toll from the activities of Boko Haram continued to mount, a number of the attacks has been most spectacular. In July 2013 – two months after the declaration of emergency, the Boko Haram terrorists attacked Government Secondary School, Mumoda, Yobe State, during which over 40 students were murdered. If that was supposed to be a wake-up call, the one on the College of Agriculture, Gujba, Yobe State, two months after, in September 2013 – which also claimed another 40 lives – all students – would leave the nation numb. No wonder, the train moved to Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, where another 29 students were gruesomely murdered in their dormitories exactly five months after.

    As tragic as each of the attacks was, none appears to have gripped global imagination as the abduction of 276 schoolgirls from their dormitories in Chibok community, Borno State, on April 15. It was one terrorist misadventure that would spark global outrage, followed by the birth of the #BringBackOurGirls movement.

    Today, more than 90 days after, many of the girls are still in captivity, while a few escaped.

    As it appears, the murderous group remains unrelenting. About two weeks ago, it took its reign of terror one step further when, according to reports, it seized one of the main routes into Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, forcing a detour on hapless motorists, many of whom reportedly took over 12 hours for journeys that ordinarily would take two hours. Indeed, for motorists along the 187-kilometre Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu stretch, theirs have become a daily nightmare in the hands of the terrorists who have since taken over several spots, including abandoned villages, to strike at will – leaving deaths and destruction in their trail.

    By some accounts, some motorists who ventured to undertake the journey through the route were reportedly brought back in body bags. There are reports of nearly a dozen communities along the vast stretch said to have been deserted as a result of the activities of the terrorist group. Mohammed Jidda, chairman of the Civilian JTF in Molai, a village some 15 kilometres from Maiduguri was quoted as telling newshounds that about 60 settlements along the entire stretch have been deserted with the residents fleeing to Maiduguri for safety. The Northeast zone of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has since put the figure of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri and its environ at 130,000.

    Much as we wish that we could agree with the government on its claim to be ‘on top of the situation’, the reality on ground, obviously paints a contrary picture – one that is hard to ignore. With two successive attacks on Nyanya, within the precincts of Abuja, the seat of the Federal Government in a spate of one month, it is clear that nowhere is spared the siege of the Boko Haram.

    For sure, it is not simply about deploying some 20,000 troops to the North-east which the government is all too eager to advertise; or the claim about shipment of more sophisticated hardware into the region in what is supposed to herald a new phase in the push against the Boko Haram; or even the hype about international support to combat the reign of terror.

    For the hapless citizens forced to flee their homes in search of safety, the fathers/mothers forced to watch the abduction of their girl-child or the conscription of their boy-child into the insurgency, such claims obviously mean nothing. Of greater relevance is whether the equipment and the troop numbers is effectual when it comes to prompt and adequate response to situation of dire emergencies. The answer to this would seem partly answered by the relative ease with which the terrorists move around with their hardware unchallenged, to wreak maximum havoc.

    We must say that given the huge capital allocation to the defence sector in the last three years, Nigerians have good grounds to expect robust response to the challenges posed by the Boko Haram. There are simply too many reports of distress calls unheeded by the military; countless incidents in which the insurgents would spend hours ravaging communities with no signs of security presence to aid the victims.

    The current situation in which the terrorists are not only allowed free reign over vast territories, but would go as far as to hoist their flags on the nation’s soil is certainly deplorable. It is about time the security agencies changed the tide if only to assure the citizens that they are truly on top of the situation.

  • ‘Only northern leaders can stop Boko Haram’

    The National Coordinator, Voice of Christian Martyrs Nigeria, Rev Isaac Newton-Wusu, has called on Muslim leaders, clerics and the governors in the north to go beyond condemning the deadly and calculated attacks on innocent Nigerians in the region.

    He challenged them to quench the “fire” of insurgency that is fast spreading by talking to the insurgents themselves.”

    He also described the activities of the Islamic sect as a threat to the nation.

    Newton-Wusu expressed dismay at the nonchalant attitude of political leaders on the abducted girls.

    He said the release of the girls in the captivity of Boko Haram should be the focus and not the 2015 elections, which he regretted has become the preoccupation of political leaders.

    He spoke in Lagos at a briefing on the state of the nation and the graduation ceremony of the children of the martyrs who have lost either of their parents to the insurgency in the north on the 23rd of July.

    On the activities of the organisation, which has been working relentlessly to ameliorate the hardship of children orphaned by persecution over the decades, he said: “The first batch of children brought from Kaduna State to Abeokuta was eight in number. Without funding and support, we increased the number to 14 and then to 20, later to 50.

    “We later brought children from Kano, Bauchi, Jos and Maiduguri. Now, there are 424 of such children here. Each of them lost one of the parents or both in the religious uprising in most part of the north.”

    He added: “Today, we have had 118 of them graduated from the college. Over twenty of them are in various universities being supported by the generosity of concerned Nigerians.”

  • Scores  killed in fresh Boko Haram attack on Borno community

    Scores  killed in fresh Boko Haram attack on Borno community

    Maiduguri— Boko Haram gunmen returned to Damboa, Borno State, before dawn yesterday, killing scores of residents and setting    homes ablaze in a  fresh assault on the town.

    They threw  explosives into residential homes and shot dead civilians who tried to surrender.

    Residents  said yesterday  they were ‘piling up corpses.’

    Half the town ,about 85 kilometers from the state capital, Maiduguri,was   up in flames, according to spokesman for the  Nigerian Vigilante Group otherwise called Civilian JTF, Abbas Gava.

    The town’s  main market, the home of the local government chairman and the area’s top cleric were similarly  set ablaze.

    Well-armed  terrorists  extremists attacked as residents as they were  preparing for the  Fajr  dawn prayers and the civilian defence fighters could only resist with clubs and homemade shotguns, he said.

    “They killed many people. Women and children fled into the bush,” said an official with the Damboa  Local Government, who requested anonymity.

    “Those who could not flee surrendered and were killed by the insurgents,” he added.

    ”Most houses in the town have been burnt. Only a few still remain,” said resident Ahmed Buba. “The destruction is massive… This is the worst attack by Boko Haram on Damboa.”

    “We were defenceless because all the security personnel, including soldiers and policemen, have withdrawn,” Buba told AFP.

    He could not say how many people were killed.

    ”We have to go through the rubble to see how many people died.”

    Those who escaped  from  the overnight raid fled to the state capital Maiduguri and sought shelter in the palace of the area’s top cleric, Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, also known as the Shehu of Borno.

    The survivors “lodged a complaint with the Shehu because there are no security forces in Damboa,” the official said.

    Damboa has been besieged for two weeks, since the  July 4 attack by  Boko Haram terrorists on the  new tank battalion base set up on  outskirts of the town.

    The Defence Headquarters said that attack was  repelled  with 50 insurgents killed.

    Six soldiers including a colonel also died in the July 4 attack.

    But locals said the soldiers were driven from the base and that terrorists twice have ambushed military convoys trying to reach it in the past week.

    The militants had cut off access to the town from the south on Monday when they blew up a bridge further south. Damboa is on the main road south from Maiduguri.