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Why Boko Haram is still bombing and killing, by CAN President

Nigeria cannot end Boko Haram insurgency if people, especially leaders of the North are not saying the truth, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) President Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor said yesterday.

Pastor Oritsejafor said what Boko Haram was after is to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria.

He spoke in Abuja at the 2014 National Conference on Voices against violence, organised by Christian Elders Forum of Northern States (NOSCEF).

Pastor Oritsejafor said he would have loved to dialogue with Boko Haram members but, “The Boko Haram members will not listen to me because I do not have the same ideology they have. We must look for a way to end the Boko Haram menace,” he said.

He said he was not against dialogue with Boko Haram members, adding: “In the last one year, Boko Haram has been killing Muslims who are giving information on their activities to either the security or the community. A village was wiped out because they gave vital information about them.

“If we want to end the Boko Haram insurgency, we as Nigerians must speak the truth. That is the major factor. Boko Haram has an ideology, Muslim leaders should engage them and tell them the truth.

“I am not against dialogue, but the people that must dialogue are the Muslims religious leaders, traditional leaders and Muslim political leaders. They must come together and speak the truth to Boko Haram members. The Boko Haram members still believe in some Muslim leaders. They should use this means to tell them the truth.”

Pastor Oritsejafor had a word for traditional rulers, who he urged “to come together and work together”. “You cannot even imagine the difference you will make especially in the North and also for the minority tribe across the north and even from the South.

“You should do everything to come together, you must come together. Nigeria must hear your voice. CAN must partner with NOSEF to achieve peace in the North and in the country.

“Many things are wrong in this country. We look at Boko Haram and we see a terrible satanic, demonic force troubling the entire Nigeria. You know what I am talking about. Even when you are in school, there are some courses you are not allowed to take because you are a Christian. The world does not know this all what many people outside the country know is the word Boko Haram. As we speak, how many people all over the world know that 99 per cent of the kidnapped Chibok girls are Christians? How many people are aware that most of the people they kill in Adamawa and Taraba states and other northern states are Christians? I believe that Christians and Muslims can work together.

“Truth is the foundation for any relationship that will blossom and be strong. Nigeria will not be strong until we speak the truth and use the truth to deal with issues. I heard someone saying that we do not know what Boko Haram wants. I do not know what people mean by that. They are out to establish an Islamic state. Most of these bad groups around the world want to establish Islamic states.

“I do not hate the Muslims but the truth must be told. So many Muslim leaders should take time and visit Christians who are victims of Boko Haram like we Christian leaders do. For the first two, three years, Boko Haram were concentrating on the Christians before they started killing the Muslims. At a point, they even said all Christians should leave the North.”

NOSCEF Chairman Olaiya Phillips, said this year alone, more than 2,000 northern Christians have been killed.

Phillips said: “We join the world in saying, Boko Haram Bring back our daughters and mothers. On an almost daily basis, we have been both shocked and appalled to learn of yet more callous acts of violence committed against innocent members of our community and against our innocent Moslem neighbours and friends.”

July 2, 2014
Felled by Boko Haram: A soldier’s family’s agony

A progressive military career; promising education and a chance of the good life, – Private Sheriff Tijani had it all going for him until Boko Haram bullets stopped his dreams. Now his family is fighting to have Army authorities pay his dues. SEUN AKIOYE reports

It took Saubana Tijani and his wife, Musili the whole of three months to stop crying, but that was even temporarily. At their 94, Jibowu Street, Abule-Egba residence, the surge of sympathisers and mourners is yet to abate. Neighbours took turns to visit and stay with the family to console and share in the loneliness, which tragedy had forced on once happy family.

“They just killed my son, Sheriff, who was my hope; they killed him. Nothing can bring him back now,” Musili wailed, putting both hands on her head while biting her lips. A neighbour admonished her to take courage and leave everything to fate. He implied that, the tragedy was destined and whether she liked it or not she must accept her fate.

This is exactly what is difficult for the Tijani family. On the night of February 11, 2014, their world seems to have come crashing into several pieces. Saubana had received a telephone call from someone who claimed to be calling from a Nigerian Army base in Borno State, where his son Sheriff was serving as a private. The caller had bad news; Sheriff Tijani of the 301 Artillery Regiment posted to Borno State to combat the Islamic insurgents Boko Haram had “paid the ultimate price for the defense of his fatherland.” It was a brief telephone call, but it was enough to change Tijani’s life, maybe forever.

“I would not have allowed him join the army”

Everybody had nice words to say about 27-year-old Private Sheriff Tijani. Prior to 2011, when he joined the Nigerian Army, he had been a role model for many youths in his neighbourhood. Though, born to poor and impoverished family, Sheriff had a strong determination to break out of poverty. As soon as he completed his secondary education he began to do all manner of work to keep body and soul together.

“He was a very humble and hardworking boy; there was no job he could not do. The last job he did before going to the Army was a pure water van driver. He was very determined and courageous,” a neighbour said.

Everyone attested to his good character, neighbours everywhere the family had lived came to mourn with them. They said he was unassuming and did not have a wicked heart. He was loved by everyone as he was always willing to help even when he was in need himself. Then in 2011, Sheriff took a decision that shocked not a few. He joined the Nigerian Army.

Sheriff’s decision to join the Army was a secret he revealed to very few members of his family, it was not certain what the motivation was but the military seemed a perfect choice. Standing at almost six feet tall with broad shoulders and a square face, it was easy for the Army authorities to enlist him.

“He didn’t tell me he was going to join the Army until he was leaving for the Basic Training. He told me to let him follow his destiny so I had no choice than to let him. I would have allowed him, anyway because the Army is a respectable Force,” Saubana said.

But a neighbour said he would have discouraged him from going into the military if he knew. “He didn’t tell anybody, if I knew when he wanted to join the Army, I would have discouraged him. He was such a lovely boy, nobody could believe he would have a heart for the military,” the neighbour said.

Sheriff’s reputation for hard work and diligence followed him to the military; he successfully completed the 66 Regular Recruits Intake on February 3, 2012 and the Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency Centre, Quick Response Force Training, Batch 3, 2012. He was thereafter posted to the 301 Artillery Regiment General Support Gombe, from where he was drafted to Borno to fight Boko Haram.

Perhaps not wanting to cause unnecessary panic in his family, Sheriff did not tell his parents the full danger in his new posting. “I used to call him at least three times everyday but when he was moved to Borno, he said I would not be able to get him as network is disabled in the place he was serving,” the father said.

In spite of his work as a soldier, Sheriff did not lose touch of his dream to get education. According to his younger brother, Idris, he had obtained a form for a part-time course in one of the universities. “He was determined to go to school, no matter what it will cost,” Idris said.

All his parents have now is memories, of the things he had promised and what he could have been. “He surprised us with gifts all the time; he had bought a land where he wanted to build a house for us so we can leave this place. We didn’t know that until he died, he also was going to send me on Hajj,” Saubana said.

He remembered his son’s last words to him. “When he was leaving on February 3, he gave me N5,000 and said ‘Daddy don’t think about anything, all will be well,’ I didn’t know that would be the last time I would see him.”

This recollection brought fresh oppression to Musili. She hissed several times and folded her hands across her breast. Sheriff was her passport to get out of poverty, all which has crashed, at least for now. Recently, she returned to her trade of selling oranges and whatever fruit is in season on a small table in front of her house.

Now, she has added boiled corn to her business. It didn’t bring in much but kept her busy from the oppressing thoughts of her dead son. Her husband too has returned to his business of electronic repairs. His shop is filled with disused television and radio sets which has been abandoned by customers. Sheriff had planned that he would stop the business but his death meant Saubana would be stuck in the same business for a while.

Failed promises

“When we went to Gombe, after his death, the military authorities promised us a lot of things including funding the burial expenses, paying his gratuity, paying us his three months’ salary and giving us some compensation. We have not received any thing from the military since then,” Saubana said.

But it was not that the military never cared when Sheriff was cut down by the bullets from Boko Haram. The military called and sent a condolence delegation to the family while promising the “military is a family” and would not forsake them.

The military promised to pay the family after three months, but the family is still waiting; so are the neighbours too. “It’s not like we are after the money or whatever compensation, but the Army must fulfill the promise it made,” a neighbour said.

Musili was not as impressed as the neighbour. Again, she threw her head sideways and asked: “How many millions can bring my child back?” It was a rhetorical question, it needed no answer.

Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade expressed suprise that the family had not been compensated. He said when all the processes had been followed after the death of a serviceman, the family should receive the entitlement.

He said: “Has the family gone through all the processes? if they have done that, they should have received the entitlement.”

How does the Tijani family see the fight against Boko Haram? Musili wants God to stop the insurgency. “God should stop Boko Haram. After my son died, so many people have died. You heard about the school children that were kidnapped, this is not good,” she said and for a moment forgetting her own sorrows while concerning herself with the misfortune of others.

With the tragedy, would the family allow any other member to join the military? “Never, unless they want to give my son another job but not as a soldier,” Musili said. But the father was more flexible, he would allow his son to join the military if he would not be a combatant.

“I can allow my son to join the Army but not as a combatant. If I am not too old I would like to join the Army too because it is a prestigious career,” he said.

While the family waits on the military authorities to fulfill their promise, youths in the neigh-bourhood organised a candle light session for the departed. Over a hundred young people turned up to mourn his death. “He was loved by everybody, if you were here during the candle light, you will see that he will be missed not only by his family but everyone in this neighbourhood,” a sympathiser said.

July 2, 2014
This Frankenstein Monster

It is basically a war of attrition: “you kick us, we kick you”. This is how best to describe the current situation in the country. These days, the Boko Haram terrorists seem to have broken loose – targeting schools, isolated villages and security officials, ambushing, killing and capturing people, using weapons and tactics that have shaken the country’s defence and intelligence establishments. Already, there are fears that the terrorists may even resort to using chemical and biological weapons, especially as Governor Gabriel Suswan of Benue State recently cried out on the activities of the bandits operating in the Benue-Nasarawa states axis. With the spate of bombings and attempted bombings now rampant all over the place, we must pray fervently against some more devastating weapons falling into the hands of these terrorists. It may sound impossible or even incredible to believe but, looking back, would anybody have thought that this rag-tag hoodlums could go this far?

Although there is no definite research literature on causal factors and diverse goals that drive people to resort to carrying out terrorist acts, multiple reasons are listed, some of which seem to be more applicable than others while some others tend to go together for identification of more or less convincing causal factors. Probably the most contested justification for terrorism is given by those who see terrorists as an aggrieved group resorting to violence over poverty and economic disadvantage, to make a statement. A more important factor may be the social stratification and inequalities in the distribution of scarce resources. In simple terms, this is the poverty argument. When a group is absolutely or relatively deprived, they rebel. However, in an attempt to solve the Boko Haram menace, we need to examine, critically, the real motive why the terrorists are up in arms.

Several suggestions have come up in the past. The terrorists themselves came up with an initial propaganda that they were out to enthrone Islam and Sharia law all over the country. Some other people have argued that the Boko Haram thing is a political weapon by a section of the country to wrestle power from other parts of the country. While the religious dimension may no longer be tenable in the face of indiscriminate attacks that have consumed both Christians and Muslims alike, the political angle may subsist in view of the constant attacks on state institutions, especially the concentration of attacks on targets within the nation’s capital, Abuja. The point is that among the multitude of causes that may lead a person or a group of people to resort to terrorism, there is none that conclusively links a sole cause to the act. Ethnicity, tribalism, poverty, economic disadvantage, lack of true democracy, extraneous interests, dehumanisation and religion all have arguments confirming a possible existing link, as well as reservations against a causal relation.

We must try to find out why a group would suddenly decide to bear arms against the country. From my own findings, it is almost clear that the Boko Haram terrorists are engaged in a violent revolt against the perceived injustice of the political class and the aristocracy in that part of the country. This is evident from the selective annihilation of notable political figures as well as the undeclared war against the aristocracy as manifested in the killings of traditional rulers and village heads. The thinking among the terrorists is that some of their people, especially those earlier mentioned, are directly or indirectly responsible for their backwardness and woes. Why is this so?

For many decades, the aristocracy in that part of the country has enjoyed certain privileges which are denied the majority of the population who have been sentenced to mere subsistent existence. While the children of the aristocrats are born into wealth, with good education within and outside the country, the rest of the population wallows in abject poverty, deprivation and want. Their children are deprived of the basic necessities of life, including access to good education as they are easily dumped in Quranic schools where they form the bulk of Almajiris or homeless youths, roaming the streets and scavenging the refuse dumps. At the end of the day, the children with aristocratic background acquire all the education that is available under the sun and come back to be lords and masters over these deprived children and their subsequent generations. It is probably this obnoxious, retrogressive and debilitating scenario that the poor, who forms the bulk of Boko Haram foot soldiers, are out to correct willy-nilly.

Another causal factor is seen in the political dimension which may have gone awry. Prior to the 2011 general elections, events in the country had pointed to the fact that a section of the country was desperate to monopolise state power. The prelude to this was the ‘internecine’ war that engulfed Aso Rock Villa in the wake of the death of former President Umaru Yar’Adua, who passed on, on May 5, 2010. The choice of a successor to Yar’Adua almost led the country to a great constitutional crisis as hawks within the corridors of power mapped out strategies on how to side-track the constitution to deny the then Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan, the right to assume the mantle of leadership as enshrined in the country’s constitution. As a result of this, the whole country was driven into the precipice. This was later resolved by the “doctrine of necessity” enacted by the National Assembly.

This constitutional breakthrough notwithstanding, some elements in a section of the country would not be pacified. The electioneering that followed provided a good platform for these disgruntled elements to ventilate their anger and resentment for losing power so easily. It got to a stage when some of the dramatis personae openly threatened to make the nation ungovernable if any of their own did not emerge as President of Nigeria. In any case, what they were trying to say was that Jonathan should only spend the remaining one year to complete his principal’s (Yar’Adua’s) first term of four years in office and vamoose from the scene. Constitutionally, it was wrong, and Jonathan refused to be cowed. He also had the support of quite a large spectrum of Nigerians who believe that the Presidency of Nigeria was nobody or group’s birthright. Nevertheless, the animosity persists. The results of the Presidential election in 2011 drew blood in certain parts of the country. Many lives were lost in the carnage. Surprisingly, those perceived as brains behind the violence were never apprehended. They are still going about with their baggage of anger and another election is around the corner.

Truly, the ongoing terrorists’ war has greatly impacted negatively on our collective endeavour to build an economically strong, politically stable and militarily formidable nation that would have been the cynosure of all the nations of the world. That is why all of us, irrespective of ethnic, tribal, religious, political and other primordial differences, must play a major role in helping to put an end to this senseless carnage that is threatening to obfuscate and obliterate our country from existence. This, we can achieve by reconstructing our polity and reviving the country’s economy, apart from restoring the cultural and political relationships among all the ethnic cum tribal groups, which had been based on secular principles. This is necessary because there are reports of the involvement of ‘well-trained terrorists’, who are out to create communal discord in the country to achieve their selfish end. The methods they use and the inhuman tactics they employ are trademarks of a trained terrorist organisation bent on creating discord and disharmony in a country where Christians and Muslims have always lived in peace with mutual respect for each other.

In essence, the Boko Haram crisis, which escalated in July 2009, has continued to grow into the Frankenstein monster it is today because some entrenched interests are busy stoking the fire. Our leaders should stop playing the ostrich, thinking that, suddenly, one day, the problem of Boko Haram will be over. This is not possible. Since the causative agents are a combination of factors, only a holistic approach would solve the problem. Certainly, not finger-pointing; not the heaviest military armaments!

July 2, 2014
Super Eagles: All about self?
SIR: No man goes to war and foots his own bill. When people are sent to represent their country, it is expected that inasmuch as they have not gone to the war front on their own, they owe their victories to their nation.

Nigerians are very passionate about football and will give their all to support their team. Some Nigerians recently died at a football viewing centre in Yobe State in an attack by the Boko Haram terrorist groups. Probably, the people had no electricity at home to watch the game or they could not afford to buy the “I pass my neighbour generating set so they went for the cheaper option of going to a viewing centre and so became victims of circumstance.

The Nigerian senior national team is doing the nation proud in far away Brazil. They have grown with every passing game despite the fact that they have been criticized for not being tactical. From the first goal scored by Osaze Odemwingie to the brace by Ahmed Musa against Bosnia and Argentina respectively, one would have expected that they would have dedicated their goals to those who lost their lives at the viewing centre or use the medium to make appeal for the release of the over 200 girls kidnapped in Chibok. But what did we see? First it was Osaze who dedicated his goal to his son and Musa later dedicating his own goals to his sons too. If I may ask, what about the other players who are yet to score a goal? Or is it now a thing of personal and family glory?

The nation griefs daily; civilians and military are murdered by the Boko Haram sect in the North with rising cases of kidnap and murder of people in the South. These players should know that we only take time from our troubled times to rejoice with them whenever they win or score a goal. The heart cannot weep all day; she searches for happiness no matter how far just to keep body and soul going.

They should know that our existence as a nation does not depend on the outcome of their participation in Brazil; whether they win the World Cup or not Nigeria remains Nigeria. We should all learn that when you wear the national colours, isn’t for you or for your family but for the whole of Nigeria.
- Nathaniel Adeiza Abdullahi,
Abuja
July 1, 2014
50 terrorists killed in military raid on Boko Haram camp

Abuja- A military raid on a makeshift camp used by terrorists in Miyanti and Bulungu, Borno State has claimed the lives of 53 terrorists,the Defence Headquarters said yesterday.

A fuel dump used for storing fuel, vehicles and motorcycles were destroyed in the raid.

The DHQ, in a statement posted on its website, said two soldiers died during the operation.

Five others received injuries.

Besides, 15 rifles, 11 machine guns and ammunitions were captured by the troops.

The information could be independently verified.

The DHQ said that in a separate operation close to Duguri, near the Nigeria–Niger border, troops of the Multinational Joint Task Force stormed a terrorists’ hideout, recovering 18 rifles, five general purpose machine guns, 25 hand grenades and IED making materials.’’

It said a suspected gun runner was apprehended .

The suspect is currently undergoing interrogation.

It said that the suspect was arrested during a cordon and search operation by troops.

The statement said that 15 other suspects were being detained in Abuja after a raid that led to the recovery of seven rifles, pistols, swords and other weapons.

It said that military operations to track armed gangs would be sustained in various locations.

June 28, 2014
APC youths to FG: drop analogue security strategies

The National Youth Caucus of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday advised the Federal Government to tackle Boko Haram insurgency with a modern security strategy.

Condemning government’s approach to the menace, the youths said: “We urge the Federal Government to stop applying an analogue solution to a digital problem.”

The group noted that it has discovered that the government is fighting the insurgency on the basis of mindset instead of its origin.

Addressing reporters in Abuja, former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) National Youth Leader, Comrade Ebikinina Miriki, said: “We realise that the Federal Government fights the insurgency and insecurity from its conclusion instead of fighting it from the introductory aspect.”

He wondered why government keeps applying curative measures instead of preventive ones which, according to the group, is totally wrong and an unfortunate abberation of good governance.

The APC youths warned the Federal Government to stop playing politics with the lives of Nigerians.

“We urge all our political leaders, irrespective of party affiliation, to cooperate with security agencies in bringing an end to this wanton destruction of lives and property in the name of Boko Haram,” Miriki said.

Making a veiled reference to the controversy surrounding the age of the APC National Youth Leader, Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo Waziri, Miriki insisted that Jalo was born in on April 13, 1971.

The group commended the party on his election.

The youths, who defended the integrity of their leader, likened his flair for good governance with that of the late Sir Tafawa Balewa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

June 28, 2014
U.S. reduces surveillance flights seeking abducted girls

WASHINGTON – The United States reduced its surveillance flights to help find the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted in Chibok by Boko Haram, after building a body of intelligence and after other states ramped up support, a U.S. official said yesterday.

Nigeria has committed itself to the hunt for the girls, who were kidnapped in April, and received help from the United States and other countries, including neighbouring Cameroun,Chad and Niger.

The senior U.S. defence official told Reuters that the U.S. intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flights, first announced in May, were now flying at an “intermittent” rate.

The official said overall intelligence-gathering had not diminished, and noted additional operations by Britain and France.

“We had substantial initial coverage for the baseline and we’ve moved into a maintenance mode,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official declined to say how long the period of heightened initial U.S. coverage lasted. Asked whether it was just a week or two, the official said: “No. We were … building this baseline for a good period of time.”

The Pentagon had said on Thursday that there were “around the clock” intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations in support of Nigeria’s search. U.S. military personnel are in Abuja helping coordinate the effort.

The United States also sent about 80 U.S. military personnel to Chad in May to support the surveillance operation. Chad lies to the northeast of Nigeria, bordering the area in which Boko Haram operates.

In the last month U.S. officials have played down expectations about a swift rescue of the girls and stressed the limitations of intelligence gleaned from surveillance flights.

One U.S. official spoke of concerns that Boko Haram may have laid booby traps in areas the girls could be held and there have been reports that the girls may have been split up into small groups.

“ISR alone will not solve this problem. It will take … the Nigerian piece of the equation with their own sources and human intelligence coupled with the other forms to really understand the picture,” the defence official said.

In an opinion piece in the Washington Post yesterday,President Goodluck Jonathan said his government and security services had “spared no resources, have not stopped and will not stop until the girls are returned home.”

The defence official did not discuss specific U.S. intelligence but acknowledged that information gathered from different sources had left only a murky picture of where the girls might be, in how many groups and even in which country.

“What is clear is a sense of dispersion that would contribute to pessimism in terms of the prospects for a successful rescue operation to be mounted by anyone, whether it’s the host nation or supported in any way by external actors,” the official said.

June 28, 2014
Rope-a-dope governance

Hardball had canvassed the issue of finding succour for the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency until he was wearied out by the Federal Government’s seeming rope-a-dope tactics. You remember the legendary pugilist, Mohammed Ali, in his heyday perfected this fighting stratagem in which he leans against the boxing ring ropes, shields his face and goads his opponent to pound the rest of his body. Because a great boxer’s body is as tough as a mass of polythene, you would badger at his body only to your peril. To drill our point home, the Federal Government may (unbeknown to it) has adopted a rope-a-dope style of governance to the effect that it is almost impossible to canvass alternative policy options today.

The Boko Haram insurgents have launched intense war on a large chunk of the North in the past five years without let. No arm of government is seriously taking records, but an estimated 5,000 Nigerians may have been killed, while about 15,000 may have been inflicted with various levels of bodily injuries. There are huge material losses too in terms of property, businesses, goods and cash. But nobody is keeping tab, which is bad enough, but worse is that government has not considered any response to these hapless collateral outcomes of our current hate and terror regime.

This callous indifference may have pushed visiting United States lawmakers to make a strident call to the Federal Government to spare a thought for these victims. Being Americans and extant lawmakers for that matter, perhaps government would be apt to listen to them and act upon their appeal faster than it would hearken to a ranting and disgusting Nigerian columnist. But let it be done all the same and quickly. The US congress men and women who came mid-June said they were in town as part of the global effort to ensure the release of the teenage school girls kidnapped in Chibok, Borno State since April 14. Having assessed the atmosphere of disquiet in Nigeria, they opined that the larger victims of terror need urgent help.

Steve Stockman, who led the delegation to Nigeria, puts it this way: “The best thing that could happen is if we have a fund set up for those that lost their lives and for the families that remain here on this earth.”

Another member of the delegation, Sheila Jackson Lee, said: “Today, we call upon the government of Nigeria to establish a national victim fund for the victims who are suffering in the hands of the Boko Haram.”

Nigerians, including this columnist, have shouted themselves hoarse on this matter, which seems rather straightforward and commonsensical. Why has the Federal Government or any government for that matter not deemed it fit to set up a committee and a fund to begin to sort the numerous victims and grant them reprieve? What we have experienced since 2009 is that after each attack, the dead are evacuated and often poured into a mass grave, while the injured are taken to hospitals and largely abandoned to their fate.

While kowtow and bend over double to appease the terrorists as was done for the Niger Delta militants, we must track and manage the poor victims in order to heal not only the physical wounds, but also emotional and spiritual wounds. It is called atonement.

June 24, 2014
DSS: Boko Haram plans to bomb Abuja with fuel tankers

The Department of State Security Services (DSS) has said the Boko Haram sect is planning to bomb Abuja in the next few days with seized fuel tankers.

The information, the DSS said, was obtained through intelligence reports. It said the sect would seize petrol tankers at gunpoint and fill it with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other types of explosives.

The Coordinator of the National Information Centre, Mr Mike Omeri, addressed reporters yesterday in Abuja at the agency’s daily briefing. He was with the Deputy Director of the DSS, Marilyn Ogar.

Omeri urged the public to be on the alert, particularly when they see any tanker driving dangerously.

He said: “The Nigerian security services have received an intelligence report that insurgents intend to seize petrol tankers and plant IEDs in the tankers and drive them to crowded places in Abuja.

“Against this backdrop, we call on the Petrol Tankers Association to be on the red alert and advise their members to report any attempt or seizure of their vehicles to security agencies.

“…Nigerians are also advised to report any broken-down tanker in any part of the territory to security agencies. Similarly, we are using this opportunity to appeal to the public to be on the alert, particularly when they see any tanker driving dangerously.”

Omeri added that the screening of 486 travellers in Abia State on Monday was not targeted at any group of persons or individuals but aimed at enhancing the nation’s security.

The NOA chief said the kingpin of the Boko Haram sect, who was arrested during the investigation, had been profiled by the DSS since 2007 and had been on its watch list.

He said: “The identification of the kingpin during the investigation led to further questioning of the large movement of persons travelling and not having more than N1,000 on each of them.

“Clearly, their mission was suspicious and had to be thoroughly investigated. We, therefore, appeal for the understanding of the public in allowing our security agencies to carry out their legitimate duties.”

June 19, 2014
‘Boko Haram plans to bomb Abuja with petrol tankers’

The Department of State Security Services on Wednesday said the Boko Haram sect has devised plans to bomb the nation’s capital with petrol tankers.

The DSS said the information was obtained through intelligence reports on the sect’s activities.

According to the agency, the sect will seize petrol tankers at gunpoint and fill it with improvised devices and that will be used to bomb the FCT within the next few days.

The Coordinator of the National Information Centre, Mike Omeri, who spoke at the daily briefing in Abuja alongside the Deputy Director of the DSS, Marilyn Ogar, urged the public to be on the alert, particularly when they see any tanker driving dangerously.

Omeri said: “The Nigerian Security services had received intelligence report to the effect that insurgents intend seizing petrol tankers and plant improvised devices in the tankers and drive them to crowded places in Abuja.

“Against this backdrop, we hereby call on the Petrol Tankers Association to be on the red alert and advise their members to report any attempt or seizure of their vehicles to security agencies.

“In this wise, Nigerians are also advised to report any broken down tanker in any part of the territory to security agencies. Similarly, we are using this opportunity to appeal to the public to be on the alert particularly when they see any tanker driving dangerously.”

Omeri added that the screening of 486 travellers in Abia State on Monday was not targeted at any group of persons or individual but aimed at ensuring the general security of the country.

June 18, 2014