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Tag: boko haram

  • Boko Haram ceasefire plan soon, says minister

    Boko Haram ceasefire plan soon, says minister

    •DHQ team for Yobe

    The Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki yesterday said the Federal Government is having a ceasefire understanding with the mainstream Boko Haram led by the late Mohammed Yusuf.

    He said the government wasworking on broader terms for the ceasefire and will unfold it soon.

    Turaki, who spoke with our correspondent, yesterday said no formal agreement had been signed with Boko Haram.

    He said: “We have reached an understanding with them (Boko Haram) for ceasefire, which they have already directed and which we have accepted.

    “We are working on the formal agreement which will follow in due course.”

    Asked about which of the factions of Boko Haram the government is discussing with, the Minister said: “It is with the mainstream Yusuf. We are working on the broader terms now and will announce to the world in due course.”

    A statement by the spokesman for Defence Headquarters, Brig-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said a delegation led by the Chief of Research and Development in the Defence Headquarters had been sent to Yobe to find out how no fewer than 22 pupils were killed.

    The statement said: “A fact-finding team of senior officers from the Defence Headquarters is in Yobe State for an on-the-spot assessment of the deployment of troops of the Joint Task Force in the State.

    “The team is to pay particular attention to the security circumstances around the incidence of the attack on the Government Secondary School, Mamudo near Potiskum during the weekend.

    “Led by the Chief of Research and Development in the Defence Headquarters, the team is visiting troops deployed in remote locations in Yobe State to verify the effectiveness of patrols and cordon and search operations directed at forestalling any further breach of security and tracking down perpetrators of the weekend attack.

    “The team is expected to brief the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ibrahim Ola Sa’ad in respect of any requirement for additional troops and logistics for the operation in Yobe State.”

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on Boko Haram members to disarm totally and permanently in the spirit of the Ramadan fasting period, which begins among Muslim faithful in the country today.

    In a good will message to mark the beginning of the 30-day long Ramadan fasting by Muslims, the former Vice President appealed to the Boko Haram insurgents to permanently abandon any form of violence against innocent people.

    According to him, cold-blooded murder of innocent people is against the teachings of Islam and, therefore, advised the Boko Haram insurgents to embrace peace, using the Ramadan season as the beginning of the end of their violence against defenseless victims.

    Atiku Abubakar advised Boko Haram to embrace dialogue and disarmament to save the nation this needless violence against innocent people. He added: “deliberate violence against innocent people cannot be justified under whatever circumstances and it benefits nobody. The Boko Haram insurgents should take advantage of this Ramadan period to end all forms of violence once and for all, and save us from this endless trauma

     

  • Four boko haram members jailed for life

    Five boko haram members : Shuaibu Abubakar, Salisu Ahmed, Umar Babagana-Umar, Mohamed Ali and Umar Ibrahim have been convicted for terrorism and related acts.
    They were convicted for the 2011 bombing of INEC office in Suleja, Niger State, in which 16 people were killed and others injured; illegal possession of improvised explosive devices (IEDs); illegal training in weapon handling and aiding of unlawful weapon handling training for the purpose of engaging in terrorism acts.
    Six of them were originally arraigned on the five-count charge, but one –  Musa Adam – was discharged and acquitted for lack of evidence.
    Justice Bilikisu Aliu of the Federal High Court, Abuja in a judgment yesterday sentenced
    Shuaibu Abubakar, Salisu Ahmed, Umar Babagana-Umar, Mohamed Ali were sentence to life imprisonment while  Umar Ibrahim was jailed for  10 years on the ground that he served as errand boy to aid the training.

  • Troops deployed in schools to stop Boko Haram attack

    Troops deployed in schools to stop Boko Haram attack

    -UNICEF, Amnesty seek arrest of killers

    —Britain bans sect

     

    Troops have been deployed in Government College, Maiduguri, following a threat by Boko Haram members.

    It is apparently to prevent another massacre of pupils like the one in Yobe where no fewer than 22 were killed.

    In Yobe, there is a heavy security build-up to ward off insurgents.

    The Defence Headquarters yesterday fingered Boko Haram as the mastermind of the murder of the Yobe pupils, amid reports that the sect denied responsibility for the gruesome action.

    Defence Headquarters spokesman Brig-Gen. Chris Olukolade told our correspondent: “Even if they are denying it, Boko Haram members are those in a marauding group doing such a thing.

    “The manner in which the students were killed conforms to the pattern of their operation.”

    UNICEF and Amnesty International demanded the arrest of the perpetrators of the Yobe massacre and protection of pupils.

    According to a top security source, the Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ibrahim Ola Sa’ad, has directed the Joint Task Force (JTF) to protect the Government College in Maiduguri, following the receipt of threat letters from insurgents.

    The source said: “As I am talking to you, JTF has moved near the school and placed it on surveillance. The school got a series of threat letters, asking students and teachers to leave because western education amounts to nothing. But our troops are up to the task.

    “Also, the CDS has directed that even schools without threats from Boko Haram should be heavily protected in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

    “We will certainly secure all the schools in the flashpoints.”

    As at press time, it was gathered that the CDS has ordered a fresh security build-up in Yobe.

    Another source said: “The fresh deployment is just a move around type. The main concern is to continue the chase against those behind the killing of these innocent 29 students.”

    The state government and indigenes have demanded restoration of GSM service to allow them to assist security agencies.

    But the DHQ said the disadvantages of restoring GSM service outweigh the advantages.

    A statement by the governor’s Special Adviser on Press Affairs and Information, Abdullahi Bego, said: “The governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, calls on the Federal Government and military authorities to order the restoration of GSM service across the state.

    “He said lack of GSM service has prevented patriotic citizens who have hitherto been collaborating with security agents from reporting suspicious movements in their neighbourhoods.”

    But a Defence source said: “The disadvantages of restoring GSM service far outweigh the advantages. Restoring GSM may retard the progress we have made in the last few weeks or months.

    “The Boko Haram insurgents had taken advantage of GSM service to unleash mayhem. But since we curtailed GSM service in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, thy have not been able to coordinate. Restoring GSM service now will compound security challenges.

    “In fact, the insurgents became desperate to the extent that the attacks on schools in Borno State were coordinated with Thuraya, despite the huge cost of such a mobile service.”

    The killing of the 29 students has attracted international outrage from UNICEF and Amnesty International (AI).

    The two agencies yesterday demanded the arrest of the perpetrators of the Yobe massacre and protection of school children.

    UNICEF, through its Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Manuel Fontaine, said: “The deaths of students in yet another attack on a school in northeast Nigeria should be condemned absolutely by all communities,

    “As we extend our sympathy to the families of the victims, we would say in the strongest possible terms that there can be no justification for the deliberate targeting of children and those looking after them.

    “UNICEF is calling for those responsible to be brought to justice and for communities to demand that schools be considered as places of safety.

    “Since June 16th, it is reported that a total of 48 students and seven teachers have been killed in four attacks in the region.”

    Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Africa, Lucy Freeman, said: “The Nigerian government must act to prevent attacks on schools to protect children’s lives and their right to education.

    “The protection of children’s lives is paramount, and the Nigerian government has a duty to ensure that the country’s educational sector is not further threatened by the killing and intimidation of students and teachers and the destruction of school buildings.”

    “It is not yet known who is responsible for the attack although the group Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for several attacks on schools in the past.

    “Such attacks violate the right to life and undermine the right to education for thousands of children in northern Nigeria. They must stop immediately,” said Lucy Freeman.

    “The Nigerian authorities must investigate these attacks and bring those responsible to justice in fair trials without recourse to the death penalty.”

    “According to information received by Amnesty International, dozens of children who fled to the bush after Saturday’s attack are still unaccounted for.

    “Since January 2013, around 30 schools have been reportedly burnt, damaged or destroyed by suspected Boko Haram members in the neighbouring state of Borno alone.”

    “The attacks have ranged from killing teachers in full view of school children to destroying school buildings. Many schools have reportedly been forced to close as a result of the attacks.”

    “The Nigerian government is obliged under the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child to which Nigeria is a state party to “take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools”.

  • Boko Haram’s onslaught on schools

    Boko Haram’s onslaught on schools

    Three schools have fallen victims of Boko Haram attacks in the last few weeks, reports Christian Science Monitor

    Following an attack on a boarding school that killed 42 children and teachers, the governor of Nigeria’s northeastern Yobe state has directed that all secondary schools be closed starting today until they convene in September for the new academic year.

    The Saturday pre-dawn attack on the school saw gunmen – believed to be Boko Haram Islamist insurgents – set fire to the building and shooting pupils as they tried to flee. Survivors of the attack are being treated for gunshot wounds and burns.

    This marks the third attack on schools in recent weeks, including two in Yobe. On June 19, unknown gunmen attacked a secondary school in the Customs area of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State and the epicenter of a four-year Islamist insurgency. Four teachers and two students were reportedly killed in the raid.

    The slaughter of children at the school takes place amid a nearly two-month crackdown on Boko Haram by the Nigerian government of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    In mid-May the government scotched discussions and ended rumors about an amnesty for the Islamic fighters, and launched a sweeping offensive to end a four-year campaign by Boko Haram – which translates loosely to “Western Education is Sinful” – to create an Islamic state, partly by the killing of thousands of men, women, and children.

    The operation, launched on May 14, included placing three of Nigeria’s northeastern states under a state of emergency. Phone services have been cut to prevent intelligence of military operations from spreading within Islamist cells. In mid-June the use of satellite phones was also banned.

    The offensive initially stemmed the unrest, and the military has claimed some major successes. However, it has failed to stop the sect from launching devastating attacks, indicating that military gains may be short-lived.

    Boko Haram cells have shown in the past that they can go into hiding only to then regroup and adapt to security measures, and finally overcome them. Attacks on schools have taken place steadily in Borno and the northeast, where Boko Haram has vilified secular education as usurping its efforts to impose Sharia law.

    Muslims schools have not escaped the sect’s efforts either and have been targets of arson attacks.

    Targeting schools has historically been secondary to and less frequent than Boko Haram’s attacks on security forces and assassinations of public officials.

    “Since Boko Haram has attempted to reassert itself during the heightened northeast military campaign, it is clear that soft targets such as schools and churches have become the group’s primary objects,” according to a security expert in Nigeria.

    A continuation of the spate of suspected terrorist attacks that began re-emerging three weeks ago raises concerns over the effectiveness of the ongoing counter-insurgency operations in the northeast.

    Security experts believe that further targeted shootings and low-level bombings can be expected in Borno State as pressured Islamist militants attempt to show their resilience in the face of the military onslaught.

    Soft targets such as schools and churches will be at increased risk, although militants have made recent attempts to re-launch attacks on security targets.

    President Jonathan’s administration offered an amnesty and peace talks to members who renounce violence, but their charismatic leader has repeatedly rejected any negotiations.

    Critics say that until the driving forces such as poverty, unemployment, and mistrust of the southern-led government are addressed, no amount of force will be able crush the group.

    Britain’s Home Office announced yesterday that it was adding Boko Haram to its list of outlawed terror groups.

     

  • EU: foreign interest not ruled out in Boko Haram’s attacks

    EU: foreign interest not ruled out in Boko Haram’s attacks

    European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS Mr. David Macrae has said there is foreign interest in the security challenges facing the country.

    Macrae spoke in Abuja yesterday.

    He said: “We were all very surprised, especially by the suicide bombings because as we all know that Nigeria has a lot of life. The idea that Nigerians will want to sacrifice their lives for such a ridiculous calls is beyond the comprehension of Nigerians. We can only think that this kind of thing is foreign inspired.”

    He said terrorism could not be tied to religion, saying “it is criminal”.

    He added that the perpetrators should be treated as criminals.

    Macrae said the EU “will be very supportive of dialogue. Interfaith dialogue and understanding is the key to a long term solution”.

    The EU envoy hailed the security forces, saying that the union was in full “support for the security services in the country; adding that “We are fully behind the work of security services”.

    He urged the security operatives to act within the rules of engagement, so as to ensure respect for human lives.

    Macrae said it was a shame that the country had not harnessed its vast mineral resources.

    He said: “Here in Nigeria, we have the oil but some call it a curse because during this time that the oil has been flowing, things have not been going the way they should have. There are imbalances in the economy. There are not enough activities taking place to provide jobs. It is a shame! There is a lot of importation of things like fruits in a country which has plentiful land. Really much more could be done to develop agriculture and should have been done in the past. Those things the country had in the past which were not put to good use have all contributed to the situation we find ourselves here”.

    Citing Rwanda as an example, Macrae noted that its numerical and economic disadvantage had been recording high rate of economic growth while in Nigeria with its population strength “there has been growth which has not been inclusive.

    “Nigeria has tremendous possibilities in the people with very lively society but lacked governance. We need accountability and an end to impunity”.

    He also recommended that “strong institutional framework if investments are to be sustainable.”

    He added: “It is not sustainable if you have non-accountability. There is need for total accountability and transparency for all public monies spent. The idea of centrally transferring money to the States or to Local Governments and not being accounted for is not the way to go”.

     

  • UNICEF condemns killing of Yobe school children

    UNICEF condemns killing of Yobe school children

    The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Monday in Abuja expressed displeasure over the killing of some school children in Yobe.

    UNICEF said in a statement signed by its Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Mr. Manuel Fontaine, that there was no justification for targeting children and those looking after them.

    “As we extend our sympathy to the families of the victims, we would say in the strongest possible terms that there can be no justification for the deliberate targeting of children and those looking after them,” the statements said.

    It called on governments at all levels to ensure that those responsible for the dastardly act were brought to book.

    The statement noted that 48 students and seven teachers had been killed since June 16 in four separate attacks in the region, and stressed the need for safety in all schools, to prevent future occurrence of such act.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect on Saturday attacked the Government Secondary School, Mamudo, along the Damaturu-Potiskum highway, killing 24 students, a teacher and an Islamic preacher.

    The attacked occurred while the students were asleep.

  • Emergency rule: Yobe seeks special intervention fund

    The Yobe Government has appealed to the Federal Government to float an intervention fund to cushion the effects of the Boko Haram insurgency on affected states.

    The Special Adviser to the state Governor on Media and Information, Alhaji Abdullahi Bego, made the appeal in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu on Sunday.

    Bego said that while the Yobe government was totally in support of the declaration of emergency in the state, it would also like the Federal Government to set up a fund to assist people affected by the insurgency.

    He said that the state government had been cooperating and providing logistics to the Joint Task Force (JTF), tackling the security problems.

    “We have provided more than 200 vehicles to the JTF in addition to paying allowances to the operatives.’’

    He said the state had spent about four billion naira since the insurgency started, describing the insurgency as a big drain on the meagre resources of the state.

    The special adviser also appealed to the Federal Government to provide modern equipment to the security agencies, praising the troops for sticking to rules of engagement.

     

  • Boko Haram kills 20 students in fresh attack

    Boko Haram kills 20 students in fresh attack

    It was another bloody weekend in Yobe State yesterday after gunmen, suspected to be members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, attacked a secondary school. Twenty students and a teacher were killed.

    The gunmen raided Government Secondary School, a boarding school at Mamudo, on the outskirts of Potiskum, the commercial hub of Yobe State which has been a flashpoint in the Boko Haram insurgency.

    Spokesman for the Joint Task Force in the state, Lt. Lazarus Eli, confirmed the casualties figure.

    He said four others were injured in the dawn attack.

    However, sources at the Potiskum General Hospital said 42 dead bodies were deposited in the hospital

    The federal authorities approved an immediate deployment of more troops to the area while the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Sambo Dasuki ordered a probe of the massacre.

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mallam Aminu Tambuwal condemned the attack and told the security agencies to live up to their responsibilities.[

    The gunmen struck at about 5.30am yesterday.

    Some of the pupils were burned alive in the attack, the worst of the three by the sect, since the declaration of a state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa by President Goodluck Jonathan on May 14 to end the reign of terror unleashed by the fundamentalists mainly on the North.

    The teacher, Mohammed Musa, an English language instructor, was shot in the chest according to another teacher, Ibrahim Abdu.

    Parents screamed in anguish as they tried to identify the charred and gunshot victims.

    A farmer Malam Abdullahi, found the bodies of two of his sons, a 10-year-old shot in the back as he apparently tried to run away, and a 12-year-old shot in the chest.

    “That’s it, I’m taking my other boys out of school,” he told The Associated Press as he wept over the two corpses. He said he had three younger children in a nearby school.

    “It’s not safe,” he said. “The gunmen are attacking schools and there is no protection for students despite all the soldiers.”

    “We were sleeping when we heard gunshots. When I woke up, someone was pointing a gun at me,” said 15-year-old Musa Hassan.

    He put his arm up in defense, and suffered a gunshot that blew off all four fingers on his right hand, the one he uses to write with.

    He said the gunmen came armed with jerry cans of fuel that they used to torch the school’s administrative block and one of the hostels.

    “They burned the children alive,” he said, the horror showing in his wide eyes.

    He and teachers at the morgue said dozens of children from the 1,200-student school escaped into the bush but have not been seen since.

    Some bodies are so charred they could not be identified, so many parents do not know if their children survived or died.

    “From accounts of teachers and other students who escaped the attack, the gunmen gathered their victims in a hostel and threw explosives and opened fire, leading to the death of 42,” one source said.

    He said security personnel were combing the bushes around the school in search of students who were believed to have escaped with gunshot wounds.

    “So far, six students have been found and are now in the hospital being treated for gunshot wounds,” he added.

    Another resident who does not want to be named said: “It was a gory sight. People who went to the hospital and saw the bodies shed tears. There were 42 bodies, most of them were students. Some of them had parts of their bodies blown off and badly burnt while others had gunshot wounds.”

    He said the attack was believed to be a reprisal by the Boko Haram Islamists for the killing of 22 sect members during a military raid in the town of Dogon Kuka on Thursday.

    Lt. Eli said more security men had been deployed to the area for cordon and search operation.

    The fundamentalists had, on Sunday, June 16 attacked Government Secondary School in Damaturu, killing five students.

    Twenty four hours after, they also attacked a Private Primary/Secondary School in Jajeri Ward of Maiduguri, killing seven students who were writing their National Examination Council (NECO) exam.

    The Yobe State commissioner for Lower Education, Alhaji Almin Mohammed, said at that time that the state government had deployed security men across school in the state to protect students and teachers.

    He also promised that the schools would be fenced round.

    This is yet to be done.

    The militants are increasingly targeting civilians, including health workers on vaccination campaigns, teachers and government workers.

    Farmers have been driven from their land by the extremists and by military roadblocks, raising the spectre of a food shortage to add to the woes of a people already hampered by the military’s shutdown of cell phone service and ban on using satellite telephones.

    In a separate attack in Karim Lamido, Taraba State, suspected Islamist gunmen fired on a police station and a bank killing three policemen.

    A police official said the attackers blew up the bank’s vault with dynamite and made off with the cash.

    The hit-and-run strikes suggest that the seven-week-old military offensive has pushed the insurgents into hiding, but failed to stop them launching devastating attacks.

    Taraba, which has been only rarely attacked by the sect, is not covered by the military offensive, so the heist there may be a sign the assault has pushed the militants into other areas.

    Security agencies gave approval for the immediate deployment of more in and around Potiskum as a first step in dealing with the situation while the NSA ordered a probe into the massacre.

    A top source speaking on the development yesterday said: “We suspected reprisal by insurgents of Boko Haram but investigation is still in progress. We learnt they raided the school after the students had gone to bed, set it on fire and as students were scampering to safety, they opened fire on them.

    “The military authorities have deployed more troops in and around all villages surrounding Mamudo and Potiskum in order to track down the fleeing gunmen.

    “The troops have specific order to cordon off the area, comb all villages around and arrest the gunmen who perpetrated the attack.

    “As I am talking to you, the overnight raid is still continuing in all the villages and suspected cells of the insurgents.

    “We are acting on intelligence report that the gunmen might have established bases in some villages in and around Mamudo.”

    Another source said: “The Special Force has done well to restore order to Yobe State but what we have witnessed now suggests a change of tactics by the insurgents. The innocent are now being attacked.

    “Now that schools have become targets of attacks, we will respond appropriately to the latest challenge.”

    It was gathered that a preliminary report on the incident has been prepared.

    “In spite of a preliminary report, a comprehensive investigation is ongoing and within the next 24 hours, the NSA would have received the details,” a source told The Nation.

    Another source at the Defence Headquarters, said: “I do not have the details on Yobe incident now but as soon as I get it, I will brief you.”

    A report by the Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) recently revealed that 99 persons were killed across the state this year while 135 others were either injured or had their houses burnt during different attacks.

    Tambuwal last night described the killings at as ignoble, wicked and horrendous.

    In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Mallam Imam Imam, the Speaker said: “No reason can be given to justify such dreadful act.”

    He tasked security agencies to fish out perpetrators of the dastardly act and bring them justice, saying the gains recorded by security agencies in their battle against terror in the country in recent weeks should “be built upon in order to protect the citizens at all times.”

    While expressing sympathy with the families of the victims, Tambuwal urged Nigerians to be more vigilant and to help security agencies with useful information to help secure their areas.

    “He said the National Assembly will, at all times, give necessary support to ensure that peace and security is restored in all parts of the country.”

     

  • Nigeria can only be saved by cultural defences

    The war against terror may consume Nigeria except cultural defences are built across the nation, the Special Adviser to the National President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on anti-terrorism and security matters, Rev. Ladi Thompson, has declared.

    Thompson said sponsors of terror in the nation are working tirelessly to spread the attacks to the South, a development he said can be curtailed through cultural defences.

    Speaking in a chat last week in his office, Thompson said: “If we don’t want the Boko Haram insurgency to come down South and consume this nation, we must begin to build defences along cultural lines.”

    The defences, he explained, have to do with respect for human lives and strong aversion for killing under religious guise, which he said stopped with the abrogation of ritual killing before independence.

    “Africans believed in rituals and human sacrifices but our forefather rose against the practice. This is the same path that Boko Haram wants to take us through again.

    “It is up to different ethnic nations to rise up in unison and insist anyone who kills for religious reasons is satanic and unworthy of relations,” he added.

    He pointed out that different nations have always rallied round different cultures to save threats.

    While the United States of America relied on its culture of equality and democratic freedom, Thompson said the United Kingdom thrived on the culture of stoicism while France’s culture of refinement has been a main stay.

    The cleric said Nigeria as a multicultural nation has different defence themes that can help out.

    He advised that youths of each region should also be mobilised and empowered to resist unnecessary religious aggression and persecutions in any part of the country.

    Allaying fears such groups will turn to armed militia organisations, Thompson said they will operate under strict regulations and supervisions with regular contacts with community leaders.

    According to Thompson: “This is one of the things that can save this country with the increasing inability of government forces to tackle terrorism.

    “If we handle it at the community level, we would save this country and flush out insurgents that have infiltrated government forces from among us”.

  • ‘God could have saved Yar’Adua but…’

    ‘God could have saved Yar’Adua but…’

    Apostle Emmanuel Kure is the National Secretary of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria(PFN) and visioner, Throneroom Trust Ministry in Kafanchan, Kaduna State. He spoke with reporters on the state of the nation. Sunday Oguntola was there.

    Why are you still based in the north despite the Boko Haram insurgency?

    I am a northerner. The day I leave the North, there would be no hope for my people. I am not afraid of being a victim of Boko Haram. I didn’t have to leave the North for Boko Haram because I am in Christ and Christ is in me. I don’t fear death.

    How come such an insurgency is coming from the North? Is it actually caused by poverty as widely believed?

    No, Boko Haram existed before now. This one was a political miscalculation that boomeranged. Poverty is the cause of it and it is the culture of the North. Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed, was mingling with politicians and that was why he was killed.

    Why do you think they are going after Christians if you said it is political?

    It is because it has become a political game. They want attention and Christians are easy to kill. That is why they went about burning churches to create attention.

    What would you say about the state of emergency?

    The declaration of state of emergency is what I’m not happy about because it has not gone well. Those states affected should have their governors removed because some of them are the ones creating problems in their states.

    I will not be surprised if the efforts of the military to restore order are being undermined because some of the governors are not supposed to be in power while the state of emergency is declared in their states.

    Will there ever be peace then in Nigeria considering the penchant, as you claimed, of the North to create crises?

    Yes there can be when the patriotic ones begin to be bold. There are northerners who are patriotic. Let me tell you one of these northern patriotic people was the late president YarAdua. Sincerely, he was a very patriotic man.

    Somebody like Buhari was one person I admired.I really thought at a time Buhari would be one of the saviours of this nation. He was the finest northerners ever produced but I’m beginning to have a rethink. It takes things to bring out a man. It takes provocation to bring out a man. When Buhari made that broadcast over the radio in Kaduna where he was lambasting the Federal Government about Boko Haram thing, comparing it with the late Yar’Adua’s efforts, every respect I had for him went out.

    I thank God he never became the president. We would have been in trouble and I pray he never becomes the President. Any party that chooses him that party will never win any election. Let them hear that now, they will never win any election.

    Even the North will not vote for him. That is not the kind of leader that we want in Nigeria. It is very unfortunate that you allow such provocations. It only means it is time for him to resign from politics before he messes up the remaining glory he has left.

    It is not the Buhari we used to know. Something went wrong except if God was answering our prayers by making us see the true man because we have been praying that kind of prayer that God will begin to provoke men to show themselves and all over they have begun to show themselves and God is using that to arrange things.

    Now with God removing Buhari’s age group, the younger generation can come up. If the APC really wants to give Jonathan a good fight, they should bring out a man that is truly patriotic. They should not commit the same sins PDP is committing.

    How do you see his relationship with Pastor TundeBakare then?

    Bakare is my friend. We know each other people even say we look alike. Bakare has a sincere heart. His thoughts about Nigeria are good and nobody can take that away from him. As a lawyer who is well articulate, he doesn’t pitch his tent without looking at the pros and the cons. There are some choices Bakare has made that I will not believe were in the perfect will of God.

    I am also a prophet but what he did was conducive for that time for him. It was just the way to go to make his point. It was not necessarily in the realms of being in the will of God or not the will of God. If we understand that then we will just allow the matter to be.

    Now I don’t want to comment on his relationship with Buhari. It is his choice. He is human and can make mistakes and he has the right to make mistakes. He will learn from them and grow and I will beg that we give him that chance to learn from whatever he needs to learn from and become a better person.

    You were one of the priests that went to pray for the late Yar’Adua, what was your experience like?

    I don’t think I want to open that now. The day will come. Maybe after this government because it is an offshoot of that government. Let us allow that for now. But the truth is that he had his own pressure, Islamic pressure too. Of course when a Christian is the President, Christians will pressurise that President. When a Muslim is the President, Muslims will pressurise but the President must be able to draw the limes and know that he is the President of everybody.

    Yar’Adua tried to do that. Some of us who were priests were frustrated. Sometimes we were not allowed access until Yar’Adua himself started calling our names that we should come. There were Muslims extremists within the government that did everything to stop us at the gate even when the President sent for us before we went there and I was not the only one with that experience.

    Some of the fathers will tell you the same thing. That was the first time in the history of this country that we would be stopped at the gate. That is why I am happy with President Jonathan. During Christmas, Muslims would gather to go and pay homage and he will open his doors to them. They would rejoice but in the time of Yar’Adua, they would choose only their political priests, not Christian clergies.

    When you went to pray for Yar’Adua, was he still alive?

    He was alive, of course. Do you think, I, Oyedepo, Onaiyekan and Professor Obaje will come out and tell you a lie that he was alive when he was dead? Do you think we would do that and lose our salvation? Everybody knew I will not be part of that.

    The impression Nigerians had was that it was his dead body that was brought from Saudi Arabia

    Well, I don’t know whether it was a dead body I shook. I shook a hand that stretched itself. If it was dead, I needed to have cast out some demons but I never saw a dead body. He was frail but he was not dead.

    Did he recognise you?

    He didn’t have enough time to start recognising people. Sometime when you go to the presidency, the protocol people will start rushing you. The most important thing was to pray for him. He was alive and tried to recognise us. He made efforts to speak. They tried to calm him down. They didn’t want him to talk but he made his efforts to speak, especially when it came to Onaaiyekan’s turn, there was recognition.

    Onaiyekan was the CAN President. He had had more rapport with Onaiyekan than any of us but the essence of our meeting with him was to pray for perfect healing unto Him to bring perfect healing.

    How many minutes did you spend with him?

    Well, I can’t put it in minutes. I can’t remember now. It was as brief as brief. It was naturally done but it was sharp and straight to the point.

    What criteria was used to select those whom you said went to pray for him?

    I am just one person God arrested on the sides but the reason Yar’Adua gave for me was number one, I had given a prophetic insight into his situation for many years. I prophesied his coming to power.

    He came when Atiku and other people were there. I had prophesied also how he would end if he didn’t do some things. If he didn’t put some things right, I told him his destiny. His destiny was to handle the Niger Delta crises and then hold back at that time because another kind of Book Haram was stirring itself up.

    The killing had begun on the Plateau and other places. I told him part of his destiny was to bring peace to the North. He was to be like a prince of peace, a harbinger of peace to the North to sooth frayed the nerves of his fellow Muslims.

    I told him it was his destiny and if he allowed the Muslims to wipe out Christians deliberately, the Lord will take his life from him. I also told him the timings when that will take place and it came to pass exactly the timings I gave.

    I also told the Vice President these timings and meaning that if it works like that at that time, the Vice President would also become the President and it came to pass. Now they remembered those things and pulled me aside.

    They said the reason you are here sir is if God can show mercy. Can God change these timings? It was like they felt he might not survive. Can God change these timings show mercy and they have the right to ask God. Anybody will do that and that was why they called in the Muslims. That was why they called in the Christians too.

    I knew my mission. So, when I got there, I sensed that it would not happen like that and I told them what would make him escape. We were called in because they believed we have access to God and could pray some effective prayers that could solve the problems.

    I think that is about all the details I could give for now.

    Did you tell them the conditions that would have made him live as you hinted?

    Yes I told them. I had announced at our meeting in the Sport Complex of the National Stadium Lagos that within three weeks, the Lord said they should take the late President out of the villa. They should take him to Katsina or somewhere else where he would be away. They should take him to where he would be withdrawn from the pressure and the troubles at that time because the polity was heated up.

    Second, I told them to take him away from there because even if as small as mosquito bites him for once, he would die. Thirdly, I told them I saw only three weeks. So if they had taken him out within those three weeks, maybe God would have shown mercy and given him some more time. I don’t know how long because I am not God.

    I was just an oracle who God used to speak for that season. I was told later, they couldn’t take him immediately and he stood there to ensure Jonathan did not take over even at the determent of his health. May be it was a tactical move. His wife had no say in the matter.

    But the general impression was that his wife was the one calling the shots

    Nigerian politicians are very complicated. When they know their interests will be at stake, they use you (journalists). They will keep you there to get what they want. I think she was also under captivity. That is my opinion. The press likes controversies and my opinion was that she too was under captivity by those people.

    Of course, she would have wanted her husband to live; naturally, she would have wanted to remain first lady. Naturally, let us not pretend. But it was not her call. It was the call of the politicians, which included the people in the National Assembly and other Nigerians, who were calling that let the constitution have its ways. It was not her call.