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Tag: boko haram

  • Boko Haram disowns ceasefire pact with govt

    Boko Haram disowns ceasefire pact with govt

    *Shekau: We’ll burn more schools, kill teachers
    *Backs massacre of Yobe students

     

    The ceasefire agreement purportedly signed recently by the Federal Government and the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, is already in jeopardy.

    The leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, yesterday disclaimed the ceasefire and threatened more attacks on schools within its sphere of influence.

    The Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki, had on Tuesday announced the signing of an agreement between government and Boko Haram as a prelude to ending years of killings and destruction of property by the group.

    An influential member of the Shekau-led sect, Imam Muhammadu Marwana, corroborated the minister’s statement and also apologised for the various activities of the sect which have claimed thousands of lives especially in the northern part of the country.

    However, Shekau, in his latest video message supported the July 6 attack on Government Secondary School, Mamudo near Potiskum, Yobe State in which officials said 20 students and one teacher were shot dead. Although unofficial sources claimed THAT well over 40 lives were lost.

    The early morning gun and bomb attack at the boarding school saw assailants round up students and staff in a dormitory before throwing explosives inside and opening fire on fleeing students and teachers.

    He did not claim responsibility for the massacre but said:”We fully support the attack on this Western education school in Mamudo.”

    In the video, Shekau described all “Western education schools” as a “plot against Islam.”

    He stopped short of claiming to have ordered the attack.

    He threatened to burn down more schools and kill teachers. But he denied his fighters are killing children because, according to him, the Quran teaches one must not kill children, women and elderly people.

    His words:”School teachers who are teaching Western education? We will kill them! We will kill them. We don’t attack students.”

    Boko Haram means “Western education is sin.”

    Announcing the ceasefire agreement earlier on Tuesday on the Hausa Service of Radio France International, Tanimu who doubles as Chairman of the Peace and Dialogue Committee in the North said: “We have sat down and agreed that Jama’atu Ahlul Sunnah Lidda’awati wal Jihad, known as Boko Haram will lay down their arms as part of the agreement so as to end the insurgency. Government agreed with ceasefire and will look into ways to ensure that the troops relax their activities till the final take off of the ceasefire.”

    He gave no details of the agreement.

    Marwana, on the said programme, confirmed the agreement and sought the forgiveness of Nigerians over the number of people killed in the country by the sect.

    “This ceasefire, in sha’Allahu, from the time I am talking to you, we have ceased fire because of the discussion held,” he said and appealed to those who have lost their loved ones to “forgive us and on our side we have forgiven all those who committed atrocities against us.”

    But he denied the involvement of the sect in the Mamudo school massacre.

     

  • Yobe Governor commends FG, DHQ response to weekend attack

    Yobe Governor commends FG, DHQ response to weekend attack

    Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State has commended the Federal Government and the Defence Headquarters for their prompt response to the weekend terrorist attack on a secondary school in the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that gunmen, suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect, attacked the Government Secondary School, Mamudo, killing 24 students, a teacher and an Islamic preacher.

    The commendation was contained in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja by Brig-Gen. Chris Olukolade, Director of Defence Information at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ).

    The statement said the governor gave the commendation when he received the Defence Headquarters fact-finding team in his office in Damaturu.

    Geidam said he was happy with government’s prompt response by sending the fact-finding team to the state.

    “The governor noted that the gesture was the first of its kind in response to a disaster in the state.

    “He also declared that the Joint Task Force deployed in the state was doing its best in addressing the security challenges,’’ the statement said.

    It quoted the governor as saying that the incident in Mamudo was an unfortunate and painful disaster.

  • Boko Haram won’t renounce ceasefire deal, says Fed Govt

    Boko Haram won’t renounce ceasefire deal, says Fed Govt

    Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, Dr. Kabiru Tanimu Turaki yesterday assured that Boko Haram won’t renege on the ceasefire agreement reached with the Federal Government.

    He said the ceasefire would last forever though the terms and conditions are still being worked out.

    Turaki, who is also the special duties minister, spoke at the State House in Abuja.

    He said the ceasefire does not mean automatic end of the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

    He said: “Of course it is not something that is done for a specific period of time. It is something that should be forever. As far as we are concerned it is something that has been agreed and I don’t think there will be any basis for anybody on the agreement.

    “We have been having Painstaking meetings with the leadership of Boko Haram, and like most of you must have heard, the directive for cease fire that was given on tape, basically they took into account, one; the sincerity of the committee which by necessary implication also the sincerity of the President, regarding resolving the issue of insecurity in the North.

    “Number two also unlike their thinking that the committee was meant to serve as a trap for them, they also realised that not only is the committee very sincere, government and indeed Mr. President is also very sincere about the issue.”

    He added that the Boko Haram sect members “also took account of the fasting in the month of Ramadan which is on and felt that they should give peace a chance so that our Muslim sisters and brothers will be able to perform their religious obligation this month without any harassment, without any fear of any bomb exploding and any firing at them while they are in their place of worship.

    “We are still working on the framework, where we will sign an agreement and we will make that public wherever and whenever we agree on the time and place and the international and local media, all Nigerians’ will be privy to it, it is something that will be done openly and transparently for everybody to know that indeed that not only have we been speaking with the proper people, but that there has been a lot of good faith on both sides of the divide.” He added

    Speaking on why there were bomb blasts in some states while the ceasefire negotiation was going on, he said: “In the course of the negotiation of the ceasefire, that issue was raised and they denied that their members did it.

    “But again as far as the commission of crime is concerned, security agencies anywhere will not rely on the confessions for denial of supposed suspect as the basis for their investigation.

    Turaki added: “We have spoken with somebody who is second in command as far as Boko Haram is concerned and he has informed the media that he has been discussing with us with full knowledge and authority of Imam Abubakar Shekau, so we have no cause to doubt him.

    “We have done the checks on him, just as they have done checks on us also and we have realised that yes we are dealing with the proper people and with the proper leadership of the organisation.”

    He said his committee is still working on the terms of the ceasefire agreement and that it will be disclosed to the public as soon as completed.

    “We are working on it especially now that there has been ceasefire, directed by the Boko Haram and then we are discussing with the broader framework and as soon as we are done with that Nigerians will be communicated.”

    On whether State of Emergency will be relaxed in the three states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa as a fallout of the ceasefire, he said: “I think even with the declaration and announcement of ceasefire, I think the issue of the state of emergency will have to stay but in such a way and manner in which security agencies are fully satisfied that normalcy has been restored and that there is order and peace.”

    The Minister also disclosed that the committee is still making efforts to reach out to the other extremist group, like Ansaru in order to ensure total peace and security in the country.

  • Oritsejafor: Boko Haram ceasefire doubtful

    Oritsejafor: Boko Haram ceasefire doubtful

    President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, yesterday dismissed the ceasefire plan between the government and Boko Haram.

    Pastor Oritsejafor said the group cannot be trusted because it is factionalised.

    He spoke in Abuja at the ninth National Assembly of CAN where he was re-elected for another three- year term.

    He, however, said it would be good news if the sect drops its weapons, adding that “Christians and Nigerians will be happy.”

    Responding to questions on whether the purported declaration of truce holds the light to peace in the land, Pastor Oritsejafor said: “Which Boko Haram? There have been all kinds of people that claim to be Boko Haram; now there are two groups— the Shekau group and Ansaru group; have you heard from them?

    “Even if one person says, I want peace, I drop my weapons, we will be happy, but I still continue to ask which Boko Haram because we have seen situations in the past where they told us that some people said they now want to reach truce and the next day we saw people being killed there.

    “We are a people of hope and we cannot lose hope. God will not forsake Nigeria and Nigerians. I believe my re-election is part of God’s plan to make sure that we have a strong nation. Because we have hope we will continue to dialogue with those we need to dialogue with. But we will continue to speak out because if we have a voice, your voice is stronger than a bullet. We will continue to speak out about politicians who do not care about the people who elected them.

    “Let us build Nigeria together. Let us have respect for each other. Peace will continue to elude us if we do not understand that we are one.”

    Oritsejafor who promised to commit the fresh mandate giving to him by the Christian union to pursue peace in the land, also extended his hands of fellowship to the adherents of other faith, stressing that in together lies the destiny of Nigeria and Nigerians.

    On the moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria to make religious organisation pay taxes, he said CAN would not fold its arm and watch the churches being stampeded or asked to go to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to obtain a form before they could operate their accounts.

  • Securing our campuses

    Eight decades ago, precisely on May 23, 1932, in Sao Paolo, Brazil, four students: Martins, Miragaia, Drausio and Camargo were shot dead by government troops while protesting the 1930 coup and the dictatorial government of Gertulio Vargas. What was their offence? They agitated for a constitutional government. Their death spurred an uprising in Sao Paolo that led to the Constitutional Revolution of 1932. Although, the main demands of the revolutionary movement was granted at the end of the day, the blood of the four students had been spilled to usher in a new era.

    In a related event, that reminds me again of the UNIPORT 4. Their case was not so different from that of the Sao Paolo 4. In fact, the UNIPORT 4 were victims of a communal sacrifice. The quartet of Ugonna Kelechi Obuzor, Mike Lloyd Toku, Biringa Chidiaka Lordson and Tekena Erikena were lynched by a heartless mob in a community that is supposed to host and protect them. The manner in which they were lynched and subsequently torched was symptomatic of the Stone Age. If Capt. William Lynch were to be alive to witness this tale of savagery, he would cry his eyes out forgetting the fact that the term ‘lynch’ was coined from his name. It is now over eight months after that incident of October 5, 2012 was staged just like one of those scenes in Spartacus, but justice has not been served.

    The Federal Polytechnic, Mubi in Adamawa State, however, witnessed one of the worst infernal carnage. The Mubi Massacre was an extermination plot of apocalyptic dimension where students were brutally butchered with reckless abandon. According to media reports, the executioners were said to have come with a hit list and a roll call was made with the respondents gruesomely slaughtered. With the contradictory reports pertaining to the actual cause of such monumental bloodbath, one can also predict the case would lead nowhere and could be swept under carpet afterwards.

    An attack on a gathering of Christian students holding services in the sport complex and lecture theatre in Bayero University, Kano State was one too many. The bitter killing of those students was needless and uncalled for. That gory incident really exposed how vulnerable our institutions are. How could the murder of those innocent students on a peaceful gathering go a long way to quench the insatiable thirst of a venomous faceless group, many are wont to ask?

    July 10, 1999 was a day students of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, would not forget in a hurry. It was a day the devil descended in its full regalia to establish a throne in Awolowo Hall. The ogre was freely let loose in the university as the mortal flesh of promising young men was openly sacrificed. That onslaught marked the re-birth of a collective security awakening which could still be felt till date among the students.

    This chain of student murder underscores the apparent laxity of the government and our institution’s management in curbing the stratospheric rate of student insecurity in our campuses. In no sane society would the government assume a clueless pose when students in their intellectual treasure house are being reckless subjected to incessant butchery.

    It is no longer news that the country is engulfed with overwhelming security challenges ranging from the Boko Haram insurgency to the non-stop kidnappings. In the face of this present reality, the point here is that, there is an urgent need to acknowledge students’ security as a catalyst that will ensure a productive output from the ivory towers across the country.

    Insecurity has always been a major factor why our higher institutions earn a constant placement below that of their counterparts in neighbouring African countries. What bothers me most often is the role of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in ensuring that Nigerians students are secured in and outside their campuses. I guess student security is not captured in their agenda since all we do hear about this students’ body is its annual election and incessant toothless condemnation of unfavourable policies.

    The management of our higher institutions should, as a matter of urgent necessity, sit on a roundtable discussion with traditional and political leaders of the host communities where various student hostels are located to ensure a safe ambience in which the students would enjoy a relative peace among the indigenous people. In particular reference to the case involving the UNIPORT 4, one fact must be made clearer here. Evil is evil, no matter the colour it wears. Even if it was a case of real theft or clash of interest among cult groups, they did not deserve such a macabre punishment meted on them by people that were meant to shield them. The relationship between students and their host communities ought to be mutual in such a way that they would work hand-in-hand to ensure the security of all and sundry.

    However, we look forward to students as the future leaders that will steer the course of our nation. Therefore, a bid to protect them means protecting a national treasury. Or are we going to wait until a state of emergency is declared on our higher institutions?

     

    Taiwo is a Corps member, NYSC Ibadan

     

     

  • Boko Haram’s July gift

    SIR: Gifts are like hooks in as much as it attract attention from the receiver; gift is cake until you taste it you wouldn’t know which brand it is made of.

    Boko Haram has just declared ceasefire from their hostilities. Imam Muhammadu Marwana, the armour bearer of the Abubakar Shekau-led Boko Haram dreaded sect reportedly said “in sha Allahu, from the time Iam talking to you, we have ceasefire because of the discussion held so as to have peace over this struggle.”

    Marwana is asking Nigerians and individuals who lost their family members to forgive and forget.

    Over 4000 innocent Nigerians have died, properties worth millions of naira perished since 2009 when the dreaded sect started their bombardment. Nigeria as a country has not known peace; the North-East remain the centre of golgotha. The UN building in Abuja; the media, Chinese construction workers and the latest South-west merchants were not spared from the Boko Haram hunters. There is no one or region that is not affected by their activities. Nigeria police force and the military have also become their prey on daily basis. The pain inflicted by the sect goes round and the rumours spread across the globe like wild fire!

    Now, the dreaded sect through one of their commander has asked for forgiveness in the month of July after sucking the blood of 30 innocent students in Potiskum, Yobe State. I wonder if they could be taken by their words and how many relatives and families who lost their loved ones would be ready to forgive.

    The federal government, after much pressure, has offered the sect amnesty but instead of accepting the offer, the sect told the federal government to come out for amnesty instead.

    What is the idea behind Boko haram’s July gift? Could this be a special gift for the month of Ramadan or a methodology for another dubious and callous acts?

    Yes, they have offered a gift that looks like cake. Cake is good and delicious but the perception could only be confirmed after the taste because some cake appeared to be good but are not.

    Christians in the 17 southern states have described the ceasefire deal with the Federal Government as a ruse. The Jama’atu Nasri Islam, the umbrella association of muslims has welcomed the move. However, the situation now is like dinning with the devil; long spoon is needed to avoid unexpected damage. A mere statement of ceasefire from this group of terrorists is not enough; Nigerians need evidence in their action.

    • Sunday Alifia

    Ibadan

  • To kill or not to kill?

    It is a debate as old as time itself. It is a sensitive issue because it involves life. Wherever the issue is being discussed, emotions run high because the discussants find it difficult to reach a consensus. It all has to do with capital punishment. Should condemned men be executed? Many will not blink an eye before saying yes they should be killed. Yet, there are others who frown on the death penalty.

    Those against death penalty believe that it is inhuman to take a life, no matter what the person might have done. These people are also quick to cite the Bible to strengthen their position. ‘’Thou shall not kill’’, they say, quoting the Bible. But the scripture is clear on the issue of killing. Even the Quran is also explicit on the matter.

    The two holy books draw a distinction between intentional and unintentional killings. They mince no words in their condemnation of intentional killing, which today may be likened to extra – judicial killing. Whoever kills another intentionally, the holy books say, should also be killed.

    Today, there is a raging debate in the land over the propriety or otherwise of capital punishment. The debate ensued over the execution of some condemned men a few weeks ago by the Edo State Government. The executed men had been found guilty of various offences by the court. Their execution followed a presidential directive that governors should no longer shy away from signing the death warrants of condemned men.

    Those against capital punishment say that despite its implementation, we still have cases of armed robbery, murder and related offences. So, they argue, why retain capital punishment when it has not deterred people from committing capital offences. We have been executing robbers as far back as the 1970s yet robbery has not ceased, they further argue. They may have a point, but the failure of a law to deter crime should not be an excuse for throwing away the baby and the bath water.

    If despite the so – called harsh punishment things are like this what will happen if the law is not in place. If the law is not there, things may be worst than they are now despite the human rights community’s misgiving about its effectiveness. Can we blame the laws ‘ineffectiveness’ on the upsurge of capital offences? What the human rights community seems to forget is that those with criminal tendencies will exhibit those traits no matter the ineffectiveness of the law in place. Human beings are very complex. Some express fear for the law, while others are ready to march on the face of the law. In that wise, should such people be allowed to go scot – free? What will become of the society if we allow such impunity?

    Nobody is happy seeing people tied to the stake and shot or put under the gallows, but for a safe, secure and saner society, these things must be done. When such happens, it is for the wise to draw a lesson from such episodes and refrain from things that could make them collide with the law. Execution as a form of punishment is to instil the fear of God in would – be criminals and also protect society. As the Americans would say, ‘’if you don’t want to do the time, don’t do the crime’’. Those who kill or rob know the consequences of their action and that is death. Even the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. What greater sin can there be than to rob or kill?

    Armed robbery and murder, lest I forget, are not offences against the victims alone; they are also offences against the state. This is why the state and not the individual prosecutes for murder and armed robbery. It is because of the sensitive nature of these offences that the state takes up the matter itself in order to avoid a scene in court if the victim’s family decides to prosecute. If the victim’s family is allowed to prosecute, chances are that another murder may be committed in court. Those who kill deserve to be killed. Nobody should take human life and be allowed to live thereafter. What is he living for? If a murderer feels somebody is not worthy of life, he too should be denied the benefit of living.

    Society is the worse for it when people take the lives of others for no just reason. Must we look the other way when such barbaric acts are perpetrated? If we decide to do nothing on such occasions, we will be digging our own grave without knowing it because soon we will have a society of killers. Things have not become worse than they are now because of the law which provides capital punishment for such offences. As I have observed, nobody is happy seeing criminals executed, not even judges, but then, they have a job to do, no matter how unpalatable it may be.

    Perhaps, this was why Justice

    Chukwudifu Oputa, then of

    the Supreme Court, noted in a 1985 murder appeal involving Josiah versus the state: “Justice is not a one – way traffic. It is not justice for the appeallant only. Justice is not even only a two-way traffic. It is really a three – way traffic – justice for the appellant accused of a heinous crime of murder; justice for the victim, the murdered man, the deceased ‘whose blood is crying to heaven for vengeance and finally, justice for the society at large, the society whose social norms and values had been desecrated and broken by the criminal act complained of’’. If justice must serve all these purposes outlined by Justice Oputa, it means that those condemned for murder or armed robbery must pay the ultimate price for their dastardly act or else society risks being at the mercy of criminals. We cannot afford that. With due respect to rights activists, the right of a convicted killer to life ends at the point he is found guilty of the crime. For criminals to maintain their right to life, they must do away with acts that can deprive them of this God given right. If they know how to kill, they should be ready to know how to die when they are caught.

    Killed in their prime

    It was the last thing the public expected to hear in the wake of the emergency declared in the Northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe because of the Boko Haram insurgency. Since emergency was declared in those states on May 14, there appears to have been a lull in the sect’s activities until last Saturday when people believed to be its members hit a secondary school, killing 20 pupils and a teacher. These innocent kids were asleep when the killers struck around 5.30 am. No matter what anybody says, this was a premeditated act carried out with the intention of having the maximum effect. Those kids did not deserve to die that way. These were children sent to school so that tomorrow they can stand on their own and contribute to the socio – economic development of our country. Their dreams have been killed and our parents’ plans for them shattered. It is a callous and barbaric act which no sane person could have engaged in no matter the provocation. The killers carried out the act fully aware of what they were doing. It was a planned and deliberate act to provoke the country at large. Boko Haram carried out this attack because in recent times, it has been losing the terrorism war. Since soldiers arrived in those states, they have succeeded in pushing the Boko Haram insurgents out. Many of its members have fled to neighbouring countries, while those still around no longer move about freely. Since they have been caged, as it were, they needed to make a statement that they were still a force to reckon with. So, they resorted to killing these innocent souls just to make a point. What a mindless act. For too long, Boko Haram has been killing people and getting away with it. This time around, they should not be allowed to get away with the murder of these children. We must pursue this group to the end of the earth if need be in order to make it pay for this killing. Anything short of this will further embolden these killers. Can those campaigning against capital punishment now see why the penalty should be retained for grave offences such as this. I invoke the spirits of these children not to rest until their killers are brought to justice.

  • Boko Haram as ghost story

    Boko Haram as ghost story

    Tales out of Nigeria seem so ghoulish lately that it gets a bit difficult to differentiate between the real and the surreal. And things happen so fast like flashes of lightning that before one can track one activity to a logical train of thought, several others interject rudely leaving you somewhat inebriated and dizzy. Consider this sequence of events: terrorists suspected to be Boko Haram (or a splinter thereof), invades a government secondary school in Yobe State slaughtering no fewer that 40 pupils in cold blood. This was Saturday, July 6,. The following day, Sunday July 7, gunmen reported to be Fulani herdsmen invaded Akuruko village in Guma Local Government of Benue State, leaving in its wake, about 34 dead and houses razed. The marauders were said to have made their way from the neighbouring Nasarawa State and they were wielding sophisticated arms.

    The third day, Monday July 8, it so happened that the Federal Government had “reached and understanding” with the militant Islamist sect, Boko Haram, which would lead to the signing of a ceasefire deal with the group. Tanimu Turaki, Nigeria’s Minister of Special Duties and Chairman, Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North revealed this “understanding” in the Hausa Service of Radio France International. This “understanding” with the leadership of the Boko Haram, according to Turaki, was reached after weeks of “discussion” and “interface” with them.

    On the same day, Monday July 8, 2013, the British Home Office (equivalent of ministry of internal affairs) had approached the British Parliament to pass legislation banning Boko Haram and two other Islamist sects based in the United Kingdom. Boko Haram has also been outlawed by the Nigerian government and its leader, Abubakar Shekau declared wanted. The United States government recently placed a bounty of $7million on the sect’s leaders.

    From the foregoing, do you see why the affairs of this clime seem like a long-running ghost story with confounding twists and turns? Now if a government has proscribed a group and declared its activities illegal and acts of terrorism, with its leader on its wanted list, how come the same government is in “discussion” with such an illegal and terrorist group? If the Federal Government has elected to “discuss” with terrorists, why is it on the terms and conditions of the terrorists which we suppose includes shrouding the so-called “discussion” in secrecy? It is common knowledge that the first condition precedent to negotiating with any armed group is to down tools and cease fire? How come the Federal Government has been “discussing” with terrorists under the boom of the guns? The leaders we have been discussing with are they the same ones who are on the wanted lists across the world?

    Now who are the terrorists we are in discussion with? Are they the same ones locked in a bloody battle with Nigeria’s military in the Northeast? Who is the terrorist, who is the peacemaker and who is the government? In this ghost trail, who is the ghost? If all of this would result in billions of naira of amnesty booty, even Hardball would step out all so coolly, lugging his own Kalashnikov defiantly and wearing a natty, slightly graying beard to boot. So why should we take Turaki for his word? Why should we take it for granted that he is discussing with the authentic Boko Haram sect as many splinter groups seems to have emerged? When you do your business at night or left-handedly, you are bound to encounter ghosts every step of your way or put differently, you are bound to smell like a ghost. We are trapped in a woolly, spooky time aren’t we? Don’t howl now!

  • Boko Haram can’t go back on ceasefire agreement – Committee

    The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, on Wednesday assured that the Boko Haram sect would not go back on the ceasefire agreement reached with the Federal Government.

    Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), he said that the ceasefire is to last forever even though the terms and conditions of the agreement are being worked out.

    He explained that the ceasefire does not mean automatic end of state of emergency in the three affected northern states as the military would have to observe and assess the situation to be sure that normalcy has returned.

    He said: “Of course it is not something that is done for a specific period of time. It is something that should be forever. As far as we are concerned it is something that has been agreed and I don’t think there would be any basis for anybody rescinding on the agreement.”

    “Response on series of painstaking discussions we have been having with the leadership of Boko Haram, and like most of you must have heard, the directive for cease fire that was given on tape, basically they took into account, one; the sincerity of the committee which by necessary implication also the sincerity of the President regarding resolving the issue of insecurity in the north.”

    “Number two also unlike their thinking that the committee was meant to serve as a trap for them, they also realized that not only is the committee very sincere, government and indeed Mr. President is also very sincere about the whole discussions.”

     

  • Court jails five Boko Haram members for life

    Court jails five Boko Haram members for life

    In the first major decision on cases involving Boko Haram members, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday sentenced four members of the sect to life imprisonment. One bagged 10 years in jail.

    Justice Bilikisu Aminu convicted the Boko Haram members on three of the five counts brought against them. One member was freed.

    Those sentenced to life imprisonment are Shuaibu Abubakar, Salisu Ahmed, Umar Babagana-Umar and Mohamed Ali.

    Umar Ibrahim bagged 10 years. Musa Adam (43 years and father of seven) was freed for lack of evidence.

    The six were arraigned on a five-count charge in 2011 following the April 8, 2011 bombing of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Suleja, Niger State. Sixteen people died in the attack. Many others were injured.

    They were also charged with the July 10, 2011 explosions at the All Christians Fellowship, Suleja in which three people were killed and others injured; the March 3, 2011 explosion at a political rally in Suleja, where three people died; and the May 23, 2011 explosion in Dakina Village, Bwuari, Abuja, in which three policemen were killed.

    The accused were charged with engaging in illegal training in weapons handling and unlawful possession of weapons for the purpose of engaging in terrorism.

    They were charged under Section 15(2) and (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) Act.

    Justice Aliyu discharged the convicts on the charges relating to the explosions at the All Christians Fellowship and the killing of policemen in Dakina on the grounds that the prosecution failed to provide convincing evidence to support the charges.

    In relation to the other charges, the judge held that the prosecution lacked sufficient evidence to prove the guilt of the convicts.

    She freed Adam on the grounds that the prosecution failed to link him with the offences.

    Justice Aliyu said those sentenced to life imprisonment “used explosives meant for blasting rocks for mining purposes, to kill human beings who had done nothing against them.

    “Human life is sacred. There is no human life that is more sacred than the other. The convicts have shown lack of respect for human life. They deserve to be removed from the society,” the judge held before pronouncing the sentence.

    In respect of Umar Ibrahim, who got 10 years, the judge observed that going by the evidence led by the prosecution, he merely served as an errand boy for others, who engaged in the illegal weapon training.

    Justice Aliyu held that Ibrahim was culpable for aiding the illegal trainees as he could have refused to run errands for them if he was not in support of their activities.

    The judge said: “In the case of the sixth accused person, he was neither directly involved in terrorist acts nor trained as a terrorist; he was misled to be an errand boy.

    “His brother, the first accused person (Shuaibu) used him to take food to Boko Haram training camp in Suleja; he is quite young and has life ahead of him.

    “In view of the plea from his lawyer, Mr Kevin Okoro, the court is persuaded to commit the sixth accused person (Ibrahim) to 10 years in prison.

    “For the rest of the accused persons, the court is satisfied with the evidence brought against them. In most of the charges, the prosecution was able to prove beyond reasonable doubt why they should be convicted.

    “It is clear that Abubakar, Ahmed, Babagana-Umar, and Ali are liable to the charges of causing death to several and injury to many others through their willful terrorist acts.

    “It is also proven by the prosecution that the above four accused persons are members of Boko Haram and have undergone training to handle weapons and explosives for the purpose of causing death of innocent people.

    “The convicts, minus the sixth accused person, used explosive materials used in blasting rocks on fellow human beings; those who got no defence.

    “There is no human life that is worthier than the other. These convicts have deliberately used the explosives in the most brutal manner against other Nigerians.

    “In the circumstance, the first to fourth accused persons are guilty as charged and are sentenced to life imprisonment while the sixth accused is sentenced to 10 years in prison.

    “For the fifth accused person, Musa Adam, his only offence was that he was a friend of Bashir Madalla, the leader of the sect, Madalla Chapter.

    “The evidence brought against him is not strong because the charges did not link him to have committed any terrorist act with the rest accused person.

    “In his defence, he explained how he warned Bashir Madalla, with whom they were teaching Islamic religion together to refrain from activism.”

    Speaking after the judgment, Adam said he was overwhelmed with the turn of events. He said words could not explain the joy he felt on being discharged and acquitted.

    Adam, who said he is an Islamic teacher, recalled that he warned Shuaibu Abubakar when he accepted the doctrine of Boko Haram and decided to team up with them.

    He said the outcome of the case should teach people that “our religions do not allow the killing of innocent souls”.

    He said people should learn to live within the teachings of their religions and learn to tolerate others’ beliefs.