The Nation Newspaper

Tag: boko haram

  • Police widows beg for jobs

    Police widows beg for jobs

    Some wives and children of policemen killed by Boko Haram insurgents, yesterday appealed to the government and the police to provide them with vocational training and jobs.

    The widows and other members of their families made the appeal in Kaduna during the distribution of bags of rice, vegetable oil and a cow by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Abubakar.

    Margaret Ishaya, widow of one of the deceased officers, said she and her colleagues were ready to accept job as cleaners.

    She said that it would go a long way in fending for their families and appealed to the police authorities to consider them during recruitment.

    The wife of late Inspector Sunday Badeh, who died in the process of detonating a bomb, urged the police to fast track the payment of benefits to the affected families.

    Mrs. Badeh, however, commended the support from the police authorities following the demise of her husband.

    Also speaking, the widow of Sgt. Yakubu Musa, who was killed on April 18, 2012 at Rigasa said some of them needed jobs to have a steady income.

    The IG assured the widows and other families of deceased officers of the Police continuous support for them.

    Abubakar, represented by the Commissioner of Welfare, Mr. Usman Yakubu, said the distribution of food items was aimed at alleviating the hardship the families of the deceased officers were facing.

    He said that the police have so far distributed food items to families of deceased and injured officers affected by the insurgency in 10 states.

    “Though they have paid the supreme price so that Nigeria and Nigerians can live in peace you will continue to be regarded as active members of the Nigeria police family,” he said.

     

    The Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olufemi Adenaike, said that the command recently distributed N10, 000 each to families of the 29 policemen killed between 2011 and 2013.

    Adenaike said that the effort was aimed at providing them with succour during the yuletide and New Year.

  • Boko Haram frees kidnapped French priest

    Boko Haram frees kidnapped French priest

    The French Roman Catholic priest kidnapped in Cameroon by the Boko Haram on Nov. 13 last year has been freed.

    He has returned home to the embrace of his family and French President Francois Hollade in Paris. George Vandenbeusch, 42, was kidnapped by armed men who broke into his church in the north of Cameroun and then taken to Nigeria where he was held hostage.

    He was welcomed at the Villacoublay military base, near Paris, by President Hollande, who praised his “courage” and warned French people in danger zones of the risk of kidnapping.

  • Canada names Boko Haram terror group

    Canada has designated Boko Haram and the Caucasus Emirate as terrorist organisations under the country’s Criminal Code.

    Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Steven Blaney spoke in a statement on Monday in Ottawa and posted on the ministry’s website.

    “Boko Haram is an organisation responsible for over 300 attacks in northern Nigeria, resulting in the death of over 1,000 people.

    “The Caucasus Emirate has carried out terrorist activities in Russia, resulting in the death and injury of many Russian civilians and security personnel,” the statement said.

    It quoted Blaney as saying that listing these organisations as terrorist entities sends a strong message that such actions will not be tolerated.

    The statement added that listing terrorist entities would facilitate the prosecution of perpetrators and supporters of terrorism, as well as countering terrorist financing.

  • Canada designates Boko Haram terrorists

    Canada has formally designated Boko Haram and the Caucasus Emirate as terrorist organizations under the country’s Criminal Code.

    Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Steven Blaney, made the announcement in a statement dated December 30 in Ottawa and posted on the ministry’s website.

    “Boko Haram is an organisation that is responsible for over 300 attacks in Northern Nigeria, which have resulted in the death of over 1,000 people.

    “The Caucasus Emirate has carried out terrorist activities in Russia, resulting in the death and injury of many Russian civilians and security personnel, “the statement said.

    Listing these organisations as a terrorist entities sends a strong message those actions will not be tolerated,” Blaney was quoted as saying in the statement.

    The statement added that listing terrorist entities would facilitate the prosecution of perpetrators and supporters of terrorism, as well as countering terrorist financing.

    According to the statement, under Canada’s criminal code, any person or group listed may have their assets seized and forfeited.

    The News Agency of Nigeria recalled that the United States formally designated Boko Haram and Ansaru as Foreign Terrorist Organisations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists on November 13.

     

     

     

  • 63 Boko Haram men killed in raid, says military

    63 Boko Haram men killed in raid, says military

    •Shekau boasts in video

    The Defence Headquarters said yesterday that 63 Boko Haram members were killed last weekend during ground and air operations on their bases in Bama, Borno State and Lake Chad.

    Two soldiers were wounded in encounters with the insurgents.

    Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau boasted in a new video that the sect will wreak more havoc on Nigerians.

    He also derided the $7million bounty on his head by the United States.

    The military claimed that the first clash occurred at Alafa Forest, where 56 insurgents were killed. The Nation could not verify the facts independently.

    The remaining seven fell to the repelling attacks of the Multi-National Joint Task Force on an island in Lake Chad

    There was no reaction yet as at last night by the leadership of Boko Haram on the crossfire with government troops.

    The latest Defence Headquarters figures brought the casualty figures on the side of the sect to about 113 within two weeks.

    The DHQ had last week said 50 Boko Haram insurgents and 15 soldiers were killed in a pre-dawn attack on Mohammed Kuru Barracks in Bama last Friday.

    It also said five civilians died during the attack on the barracks by the insurgents.

    A statement in Abuja by the Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said the operations were part of steps at tracking fleeing insurgents who attacked Mohammed Kuru Barracks in Bama about two weeks ago.

    The statement said: “Nigerian security forces have launched ground and air operations on terrorists locations in the Forest at Alafa, about 21km from Bama, Borno State. Over 56 terrorists died in the ensuing intensive fight over the weekend.

    “Two soldiers were wounded in the operation which is meant to track fleeing terrorists.

    “Acting on intelligence reports which indicated renewed efforts by the terrorists to establish a new camp in the forests locations, the land and air operations have inflicted heavy casualty on the insurgents as indicated by the high level of their loss of men and materials.

    “Air and land bombardments are continuing in different locations where terrorists have been reportedly sighted.

    “In another development, troops of the Multi-National Joint Task Force have foiled an attempt by terrorists who were massing up on an island on Lake Chad with a view to carrying out an attack on some Nigerian communities.

    “Seven of the terrorists died while others fleeing in different direction towards Niger and Chad Republic are being trailed by troops.

    “Intelligence reports have confirmed that some of the wounded terrorists were seen in a canoe paddling towards Tumbun Telkandam in Chad Republic.”

    Shekau, in a new video, promised to “decapitate and mutilate” more people in the name of Allah. Ridiculing the United States for putting a bounty on his head, he said: “You can’t in any way harm me.”

    Shekau, who has been dubbed a “global terrorist” by the US and twice been declared killed by the military, claimed responsibility for a December 20 attack on a tank battalion barracks in Bama, north eastern Borno State.

    “Brothers pulverised 21 armoured tanks. People were killed in their multitudes; bodies scattered all over,” he said, adding that his forces “blew out the brains” of soldiers who tried to hide under their blankets.

    “Had Allah allowed us to eat them we would have eaten them but we are not cannibals,” he added, according to a news agency reports. “This is a victory from Allah.”

    The video showed the terrorist leader seated on a mat, surrounded by masked fighters. It included footage of the attack, with burning buildings and fighter jets and armed, masked men walking around them.

    The insurgents stormed the barracks by arriving in a convoy of trucks shortly before sunrise, opening fire on soldiers inside before torching the compound. Witnesses said they kidnapped soldiers along with women and children.

    Shekau threatened more mayhem in the video sent to AFP on Saturday whose authenticity has not been verified, although it is one in a series sent to the news agency in which he features.

    “As for killing, we will kill because Allah says we should decapitate, we should amputate limbs, we should mutilate,” he said.

    Thousands of people have been killed since Boko Haram launched its uprising against the state in 2009.

    Boko Haram means “Western education is forbidden” and the militia, which has links to al Qaeda, has attacked schools, universities and colleges, killing at least 40 children in one attack in September.

    “They try to brainwash the people that we are fighting an ethnic war,” Shekau said in his latest video. “No, we are fighting a religious war, we are fighting (Nigerian President Goodluck) Jonathan, we are fighting Christians.”

    He also shrugged off the bounties put on his head – $7 million by the United States and $312,500 by the Nigerian government. “We do not worship money,” he says. “You can’t in any way harm me.

  • May God hear Pope’s prayer on Nigeria

    Pope Francis’ Christmas Day informal intervention in strife in Nigeria, specifically the apparently religious war by Islamic fundamentalists under the banner of Boko Haram, should be cause for deep reflection by the presidency, which does not seem to be winning. It is noteworthy that the Goodluck Jonathan administration extended emergency rule in the troubled Northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe by another six months with no end to the destructive conflict in sight. There are indications that the insurgents have reviewed their strategy in a counter move to the government’s approach, and their recent devastating penetration of military facilities demonstrated that they were not about to surrender or concede defeat.

    So, when the new Vicar of Christ, elected on March 13, in his first “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and world) message on the theme of peace, called for dialogue to resolve the violence, he was understandably speaking as a priest and perhaps without a clear understanding of the basic issues. It is certainly difficult to imagine a compromise on the part of the rebels, who have escalated hostilities since 2009 and callously terrorised the people with a view to imposing an Islamic theocracy, which amounts to an unacceptable contradiction of the secularity emphasised by the country’s constitution. How do you talk with closed-minded desperadoes who refuse to co-exist with others outside their own faith?

    Ironically, the Roman Catholic leader, who preached a homily of harmony to tens of thousands of the faithful from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, represented a symbol of the very religion that Boko Haram considers anathema and deserving of destruction, to go by its consistent attacks on churches. It is interesting that with particular reference to the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, and the crisis in Nigeria, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq, the chief of the 1.2 billion-member Church said, “God is peace; let us ask him to help us to be peacemakers each day, in our life, in our families, in our cities and nations, in the whole world.”

    Of course, the Pope’s recommendation of dialogue in connection with the Nigerian conflict is not novel; various other voices from different quarters have before now suggested that the government should pursue the path of negotiation and lay down arms. However, there is no doubt that, on account of his immense stature and moral influence, the Pope’s verbal mediation has not only further publicised the clash internationally, it has also reinforced the need for government to critically re-evaluate its road map to peace. It is a development that demands a high degree of strategic creativity, especially in the light of the fact that the prolonged fighting continues to arrest progress in the affected areas.

    It is intriguing that the government has been unable to crush the rebellion through the force of weapons, which makes the Pope’s wisdom attractive. However, apart from the rigid resistance of the militants to dialogue, there is the inevitable possibility that such accommodation may set a counter-productive precedence, which could be exploited by others. The situation places the administration in a tight spot, but it will need to do something anyway and expeditiously too.

    It is clear that the world is watching and waiting to see how answers will be provided to the problem, and what answers. The Pope’s supplication for peace brings to mind the poetic construction of Alfred Lord Tennyson, who wrote, “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.” In this context, it is optimistic to dream of a New Year that will bring an end to terror in the land. May God hear the Pope’s prayer!

     

     

     

  • 56 terrorists killed in counter offensive – DHQ

    The Defence Headquarters on Monday said the Nigerian security forces launched ground and air operations on terrorist locations in a forest at Alafa, about 21 kilometres from Bama, Borno State.

    Defence spokesman, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, said in a statement that over 56 suspected terrorists were killed in the ensuing intensive fight over the weekend.

    He added that two soldiers were wounded in the operation.

    The statement said: “Acting on intelligence reports which indicated renewed efforts by the terrorists to establish a new camp in the forest locations, the land and air operations had inflicted heavy casualty on the insurgents as indicated by the high level loss of their men and materials.

    “Air and land bombardments are continuing in different locations where terrorists have been reportedly sighted.

    “In another development, troops of the Multi-National Joint Task Force have foiled an attempt by terrorists who were massing up on an island on Lake Chad with a view to carrying out an attack on some Nigerian communities.

    “Seven of the terrorists died while others fleeing in different direction towards Niger and Chad Republic are being trailed by troops.

    “Intelligence reports have confirmed that some of the wounded terrorists were seen in a canoe paddling towards Tumbun Telkandam in Chad Republic.”

     

  • The Nigerian youth made it

    The Nigerian youth made it

    ALL through the year, theyed play roles that touched all the senses. And all the acts. They played. They fought. They worshipped. They learned. They were music to the ears. The young Nigerians, who had been banished by their parent’s generation and even their own from virtue, recast the story of the year 2013 in a different image: their own.

    It was a year where as sports ambassadors they outclassed their peers around the world. The Eaglets did not play neophyte as they soared to world championship. Their fellow country men and women cheered, first as mere partisans, then as fans, then as patriots. Glory came to all through the lads who roused a country famished for genuine accomplishment. But in politics too, the civilian JTF gave courage with bare hands as they rattled Boko Haram in the way the soldiers could not. They were the true heroes of our politics. They gave without taking. They served as the model of intelligence and pluck.

    The musicians also did not slack. For the past decade they have given grace to a continent of philistines, and everywhere our musicians have served as our best ambassadors. Not our soldiers, or politicians or bureaucrats. They sang to the world and the world loved us back. Individual youths personified the narrative. Jomiloju Tunde Oladipo, the Microsoft whiz kid, Zuriel Oduwole the precocious media sensation and a few others told us that we could rest on our oars even when WAEC results mocked us and the 419 cloud weaves a counter-narrative and sullies the prospect of a future. As playwright Euripides notes, “whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead forever.”

    While many young men and women may seem astray in a wayward generation, The Nation editors present the Nigerian Youth as our Person of the Year. The youth has upturned by acts of sports, soldiery, grassroots defiance, entertainment and personal example, the familiar narrative of drift. The young men and women have pointed the right way out of a gangway.

    The runner-up, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, was a close second. In a year of protests, he was the chief voice of dissent. He saved our politics from errant mathematics, forced the centre to account for our money, nudged us to affirm our democratic loyalties and personified the schism in PDP until now seen as impregnable.

    Coach Stephen keshi came third for exemplifying the story of rebirth, and rebirth by nationalism. He made our soccer our own by succeeding as coach and inspiring us into the new year where he hopes to prove his and his country’s mettle in the world’s marquee sports tournament: the world cup in Brazil.

  • ‘70 killed in Boko Haram battle’

    ‘70 killed in Boko Haram battle’

    The military said yesterday that it had killed no fewer than 50 suspected Boko Haram members fleeing towards Cameroon.

    It said 15 soldiers and five civilians died in the battle.

    The military has stepped up an offensive in the volatile northeast in the past few days, after Boko Haram fighters, armed with grenade launchers and anti-aircraft guns, attacked an army barracks in Bama, Borno State, on Friday.

    Defence spokesman Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade said the military had targeted insurgents behind Friday’s Bama attack and that 20 vehicles used in that raid had been spotted from the air and destroyed.

    “Although a good number of the insurgents escaped with bullet wounds, while some have been arrested, over 50 of them died in the course of exchange of fire with ground troops in the operations to apprehend fleeing terrorists,” he said.

    “The military has lost 15 soldiers, mostly from the attack while some died during the pursuit.

    “A total of five civilians also died during the attack. Intensive cordon and search operations are still ongoing to fish out the insurgents who might be lurking around communities in the area.

    “Meanwhile, families affected by the attacks have been relocated to other military locations.”

    A military source said: “Contrary to what the public was being fed with, the troops were the ones who ambushed the insurgents.

    “We got intelligence report that they might strike and we had to prepare ahead for them. Immediately they succeeded in finding their way to the vicinity of the barracks, we ambushed them.

    “Those arrested are undergoing investigation. But those in the barracks were evacuated because of likely reprisals by the insurgents on civilian targets.

    “We will rid this axis of insurgency in the next few weeks. We have launched a 24-hour air and ground raid against the insurgents.”

    The deadly strike by the insurgents along the axis was the second in two months.

    Armed with rocket propelled grenades and Improvised Explosive Devises (IEDs), Boko Haram insurgents had in October invaded a military checkpoint.

    They took over the Bama-Banki Junction road leading to the Republic of Cameroon.

    The insurgents also set ablaze the entire houses, filling stations and shops within the vicinity.

    Some details on the toll from the Bama attack emerged from Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, the main mortuary for the region.

    An attendant told Reuters that Friday’s attack left no fewer than 20 soldiers dead.

    “There is no space left in the mortuary because the military brought in more than 20 dead soldiers killed in the Bama attack,” the mortuary attendant, who declined to be named because he was not authoritised to speak, said.

    “These four were left on the floor as we’re waiting for space to be created before we put them in,” he added, gesturing to four bodies wrapped in shrouds.

    Borno State Governor Ibrahim Shettima yesterday briefed President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa on the attack by Boko Haram on the Nigerian Army’s 202 Tank Battalion in Bama.

    Speaking with State House Correspondents after the meeting, the governor denied the allegation that the barracks was deserted.

    He said: “Women and children normally during crisis are moved to safer locations but the soldiers are on ground; they are right now in Bama and are doing their job very well.

    “I am just here to brief Mr. President of what transpired in Bama. I believe that very soon this issue will be frontally addressed and it will be a thing of the past.”

  • CAN to activists: stop supporting Boko Haram

    CAN to activists: stop supporting Boko Haram

    •Oritsejafor: govt doesn’t listen to me

    •‘Nigeria needs redemption’

    Civil society groups came under fire yesterday, following allegations that they are supporting the insurgent group, Boko Haram.

    President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, in Abuja, alleged that civil society groups speak for the sect.

    He spoke when a Christian group, led by the Gung Zaar in Bauchi State, Air Commodore Isahaku Komo (rtd), visited him.

    Oritsejafor vowed that he would continue to speak against evil, accusing government of not listening to his advice.

    He said Nigeria needs redemption for improvement. “My doors are always open to everyone.

    “Let me make it clear that I am not a politician, I am just a pastor and leader of Christians in Nigeria. I have no input, no impact, no interest in anything that has to do with politics.

    “They don’t even listen to people like me. They do not look in my direction. But we will continue to speak.

    “Let me say that you have my support because I cannot sit down and see any group or even an individual unjustly treated in this country.

    “Once there is neglect and victimisation poverty will set in.

    “If there is nothing else we can do, we can tell the world of your plight. Where are the civil society groups? Where are the human right groups?

    “I am aware of international and even national civil right groups that are fighting for Boko Haram.

    “They are fighting for a better accommodation and better life for the Boko Haram sect.

    “I am worried about this development. It is puzzling to me. They are even holding press conferences on their behalf.

    “But I have not yet seen any civil society group holding conferences on behalf of marginalised people.

    “The first step of emancipation is recognition. I have heard a lot about religious tolerance, I don’t like that word tolerance. I prefer the word respect. We must have a nation where there is equal respect. Nigeria needs redemption.”

    Oritsejafor urged Christians to reflect on Christ’s messages.

    He said: “I rejoice with all Christians and Nigerians, on this delightful season. I congratulate Nigerians and pray that the Almighty God makes it possible for us to experience another Christmas in Jesus Name.

    “May this Christmas bring joy, hope, peace and harmony in our land.