Boko Haram terrorists on Monday attacked two communities in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
Reports said the attacks took place in Nyibango and Muduvu communities in Adamawa.
The Chairman of Madagali Local Government area, Yusuf Mohammed, said the attack occurred on Monday night.
“Houses, churches, shops, and animals were burnt down during the incident,” Mohammed said.
The Federal Government remained committed to winning the war against insurgency, the Minister of Defence, Malam Muneer Dan-Ali, has assured.
The Minister gave the assurance on Monday in Kano while briefing newsmen.
He said the military was determined to overcome security challenges confronting the nation, especially in the North-East where the Boko Haram terrorist group had renewed suicide bombings.
He said that in its efforts to end the spate of bombings in the town, the military had undertaken a search of residential houses in Maiduguri Township to fish out the hideouts of the insurgents.
He said that the security agencies were collaborating with each other to tackle the security challenges facing the nation.
The minister said he was in Kano to commission the Kano/Jigawa zonal office of the military health services.
According to him, the commissioning of the office will go a long way to address the health needs of serving military men and retirees.
At least four persons were killed in an attack by Boko Haram insurgents at Wanori-Amarwa community, Konduga local government area of Borno.
The incident occurred on Saturday at about 11:00 a.m. at a village along Maiduguri-Konduga Road.
A witness, Idrissa Musa, said heavily armed insurgents stormed the village in the night, maimed and killed the inhabitants.
Musa said the insurgents also carted away food items and razed down houses in the village.
He added that four persons died at the scene of the attack while two others sustained various degrees of injuries.
“The attack lasted about two hours. The insurgent moved from house-to-house committing various forms of atrocities.
“Some of the surviving villagers with help of security operatives evacuated the wounded to the Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri,” he said.
According to him, the village was located few metres away from a security check point in the area.
NAN
The National Management Emergency Agency (NEMA) on Sunday said it had evacuated 121 displaced Nigerians from Cameroon.
The Information Officer, NEMA North-East, Abdulkadir Ibrahim said in a statement that the displaced persons were evacuated to Maiduguri.
Ibrahim said that the displaced persons fled their homes in the wake of Boko Haram attack in Ngala local government area of the state.
“About 121 displaced persons of Ngala Local Government Area returned from Cameroon through Mubi in Adamawa State.
“The returnees were transported back to Maiduguri accompanied by officials of NEMA and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA),” he said.
Ibrahim added that the displaced persons were camped at an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camp in Gubio.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that over 46, 000 persons had returned to Nigeria from Cameroun in the past months.
The displaced persons were currently taking shelter at various IDP camps at Banki and Maiduguri.
Two tractor drivers were killed by Boko
Haram insurgents in Jere Local Government Area of Borno, Alhaji
Muhammad Dilli, the state Commissioner of Agriculture, said.
Dilli told newsmen in Maiduguri that the insurgents attacked the
tractor operators while working on a farm “in the past few days’’.
He listed the slain tractor operators as Kashim Bukar and Shettima Mustapha.
The commissioner said that the upsurge in the Boko Haram insurgents
was a major challenge facing the agriculture sector in the state.
Dilli added that thousands of farmers had returned to the farms in the
liberated areas, in spite of the insurgents’ attacks.
However, he said, most of them could not go to the farms for fear of the insurgents’
attacks.
“The state government had procured farm inputs and modern agricultural
equipment but it could not distribute them to farmers due to the insurgency,’’ he said.
The commissioner also disclosed that the state government had spent over N40
billion on agriculture development programmes in the past six years.
He said that government had adopted proactive measures to
re-engineer and transform agriculture from the debilitating
effects of the Boko Haram insurgency.
He also said that the state government had procured 15,
000 tones of assorted fertilisers, 1, 000 tractors and 25 combined
harvesters.
Dilli added that over N700 million were also spent on procurement and
distribution of seedlings to displaced farmers in liberated areas.
He noted that the gesture was to assist the displaced farmers and
encourage them to go back to the farms.
According to him, the ministry had encouraged cultivation of ginger in
Biu, Chibok, and Damboa, adding that about six trucks of the produce
were produced in Hawul Local Government Area.
He also disclosed that over 7, 000 goats were distributed to the women among the displaced farmers to enable them to engage animal husbandry and encourage livestock
production.
The commissioner reiterated the government’s commitment to
reinvigorate agriculture, enhance farmer support services, promote
their enterprising skills and add value to the produce. (NAN)
The Director of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force, (NAF) Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, in this interview with Assistant Editor, Blessing Olaifa, talks about some issues regarding the humanitarian activities of the Air Force in the Northeast and the challenges of routing out remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists. Excerpts:
WHAT can you tell us about the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) humanitarian intervention in the Northeast?
Thank you for coming to seek some clarifications on what the Nigerian Air Force is doing in the northeast especially in the area of humanitarian intervention. I will like to start by stating that it is not just starting now, one of the first step we took was as far back as 2015 when we established the first camp, the first hospital in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp. And also in 2016, we established another one. So within this period, one was in Bama and another one was in Dalori, Borno State. These were the emergency hospitals in the IDP Camps. This has always being an integral part of our operations.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, is very passionate about the plight of IDPs. We believe that it is not enough to just go to the northeast and focus only on military campaigns. We believe that beyond that we should be able to touch the lives of the IDPs in that region and you also know that that is what they called winning the hearts and minds of the people.
The Nigerian Air Force of course has to potentially benefit from there because once somebody is friendly with you, you are likely to get more information from him. But the primary reason is the plight of the people. One of the most encouraging examples of what we did was sometimes ago when the Chief of Air Staff saw a five year old child in the IDP Camp. The baby was severely malnourished and was virtually given up. However, because we have such a programme on the ground, we don’t just treat them but we also nourished them back to health. This child was taken to one of our Care Centres in Bauchi and as I speak today, he has fully recovered.
Would you say that all the parties involved in this humanitarian issue are up and doing in their assigned responsibilities?
I believe everybody is doing their best. One thing you must acknowledge is that it is an enormous task. We had an upsurge in the number of internally displaced persons in Nigeria. A few years ago nobody would have been thinking that Nigeria would be a place where you have such a large number of IDPs arising from conflicts. As at the last count the figure being bandied around is close to two million. So it is not going to be an easy task managing such huge number. The federal government is obviously doing its best. Several committees have been set up and we also have international humanitarian organizations and some non-governmental organizations, all doing their best towards solving this problem.
Like I said the task is huge, but the resources are limited and that is why the Air Force believe that as part of its own Corporate Social Responsibility it could contribute. So what the Air Force is doing is virtually contributing to support the efforts of the federal government, the state and other humanitarian organizations.
How is the commitment on humanitarian services affecting your finances?
I may not be able to give you exert figures in terms of financial commitment on monthly basis. I am not in a position to do so. However, one of the interesting things is that there are some corporate organizations who have also witnessed what the Air Force is doing now. The non-relenting efforts of the Force in providing those humanitarian supports are noticeable.
What the NGOs have also done is to support us and that goes on and on. One of such is the recent donation of 4,000 cartoons of Indomie Noodles worth over N10 million to us by a corporate organization. It has been airlifted by our C130 to Maiduguri for the benefit of the IDPs in the northeast. That is just one, you also know that as part of efforts to strengthen our commitment there, the Chief of Air Staff instituted an arrangement whereby personnel of the Nigerian Air Force, both Officers, Airmen and others are encouraged on a quarterly basis to make voluntary donations in cash and also material items towards alleviating the plights of the IDPs.
Sir, what is your take on the comments of some US Senators to the effect that they would work against the Nigerian government from procuring arms from the US government based on allegations of human rights violation in the fight against terrorism?
I am aware that two Senators were said to be pushing for something like that. You also know that the US has a system in place, and we respect their system and of course the Senators will make their inputs and there are more than two Senators in the US government. There would be difference of opinions. What is important to us as a Service at the end of the day is what is communicated to us by the US government with respect to our own plans, not necessarily the internal politics within the United States Government. It is on record that the US government has been an allied of the Nigerian Air Force in the current campaign through training and other areas and we believe the support will continue.
In other words no, cause for alarm on the matter?
To the best of my knowledge, No.
Tell us more about the recent rehabilitation of some NAF aircrafts?
The primary reason for rehabilitating any aircraft at any time is the need for it, especially because the resources are limited. And it is highly resource intensive. It is always on the basis of needs that we rehabilitate them. The moment they are rehabilitated, they are put into use. All aircrafts are for different roles, some of the latest that we rehabilitated are the Dornier 228 aircraft. It is what they called a light transport aircraft. The plan for this one is to be used for courier service by the Air Force. That was the case in the past, but when things became worse, that has to be stopped.
The courier service was within the Nigerian Air Force so that we don’t have unnecessary delay in movement of mails. When I said mails, I am not necessarily talking of documents or letters, or things you cannot send via emails and the rest. It involves movements of our personnel within the Commands. Another one that has been rehabilitated is the ATR 42 aircraft.
What are your immediate challenges in the northeast?
In terms of challenges in the northeast, the Nigerian Air Force as a service is to project air power. Air power has what they call inherent limitations and irrespective of whichever Air Force. We are also facing these challenges, and one of them is the issue of weather. It is such that as a Pilot, one is unable to operate the way one wants to operate. And then to keep our aircraft in the air it is not an easy task.
That is why I must commend the federal government. This present government has been very supportive of the NAF. The credit to the successes recorded by the NAF should go to the FGN. In recent time, the FG has ensured timely release of resources to train the pilots, train technicians, train other ground crew and to buy spare for our aircrafts and other requirement needed to keep the aircraft flying.
There are delays in supplying the spare. Then one of the things we do is to anticipate, and work ahead to make early provisions. But beyond this, the Nigerian Air Force is also intensifying efforts towards developing our own local capabilities.
Again, there are some spares that hitherto we are only bringing from overseas, but now we have them. We have patented some. I gave an example recently of a spare part called hydraulic accumulator diaphragm. This diaphragm of course can only work for a limited number of hours as prescribed by the original manufacturers of the equipment after which its failure become imminent.
But then it is a very expensive item. We always have to import and sometimes there will be delays in importing. What the Nigerian Air Force did was to look at the material and then commissioned our own personnel and then working with some other stakeholders. So after series of experiments we have now been able to come up with our own. And the interesting thing is that the cost is several times less than what we were bringing from outside. It is easily available now and the icing on the cake is that it is much more durable and original. That is just one, there are quite a number of other examples.
What are your observations viz a viz media relations with military institutions?
You just touched on an area which is very dear to me. I wouldn’t know if you have noted it, I write some articles regularly published in newspapers. The first one I wrote was actually on the role of the media in the counter insurgency operations. What are the expectations? To a large extent some media practitioners are not actually aware of their full role whenever a country is at war. What is going on is actually a war and because one of the things that should be done is what we call media campaign or some form of information strategy in which the media play a significant role.
I have always said that the media should assist to as much as possible project the news of our success, of our victories and to a large extent de-emphasize our perceived failure. Because when you do that you find out that the morale of our troops becomes higher. They are emboldened to fight. And they believe the nation is behind them, because the media in a way represents the voice of the nation. When they know that the nation is behind them, they are emboldened and they have a cause to fight.
One of the most motivating factors, speaking from the view point of somebody who has been in war front, I was in Liberia and Sierra Leone from 1997 to 1999 as part of the ECOMOG operations as an aircraft engineer on the alpha jet aircraft, which we are using now to fight this insurgency.
Believe me, the most motivation thing for a soldier in the battle field is not money, it is knowing that he is fighting for a good cause, and one of the ways he knows that he is fighting for a good cause is when the people he represents are happy that he is there. So, the media represents the people; that is why we always urge the media to encourage our troops and de-emphasize our failures.
One of the things that the Nigerian Air Force has done is to make its door wide open. I am the gate way to the Nigerian Air Force in terms of communications and you will agree with me that I have tried my bit to be as responsive as possible.
The whole idea is to encourage the media to seek clarification, because we see the media as partners. However, the way some media practitioners go about it is as if there is a declared battle against the military. If it were in the far past, maybe they might have a reason. But not now that we leave our doors open, and they can always ask questions the narratives should be different.
So, on a daily basis we actually push out information on our activities. Because we believe we are accountable to the people, and we do that through the media. Sometimes the media do not do us justice. I will give an example, some days ago I got a call from a correspondent. He said there was this news going round that the Nigerian Air Force has some new airmen. That the Chief of Air Staff smuggled in additional people and that 80 percent of those people recruited are core northerners and the rest.
I said these mischief makers are at it again, number one, the recruitment is still ongoing, if the recruitment is on-going, how then did you determine that 80 percent are northerners? I said the standard fact is that once the recruitment is done the Nigerian Air Force will publish it in a minimum of two national dailies and also on its website and every other possible public means available stating the people who have been recruited, with all other necessary information.
I must also commend the media because I only gave a bad example, and I think it will not be fair to report that also on a more significant rote. The media has been very supportive in our current campaign, and you know one of the ways is reporting our activities. The media has been up to speed in that regard, so we commend the media. While those mischievous and unpatriotic ones, I will just encourage that they should have a larger picture, the larger picture at the end of the day is Nigeria, not the Nigerian Air Force not an individual, the larger picture, at the end of the day is Nigeria.
How would you relate this to the Osun State University issue?
On the Osun issue, it is another incident again that I felt the media did not do well because despite having stated the fact that my doors are always open. I just saw online, “Nigerian Air Force invades university of Osun”, without anyone seeking to find out from me if it is true. It was not the Nigerian Air Force that invaded Osun University.
There is a difference between the Nigerian Air Force and personnel of the Nigerian Air Force. People should always try to draw a distinction, an organization exists as an entity, individuals of the organization also exist as an entity, the organization are not perfect, the individuals are not perfect.
Our founding fathers envisaged this and that is why there are laws in place in the military and in the civil society, we are subject to the law.
There are laws in place to guide our behaviour and to mete out punishments to those found guilty. We know that individuals will always misbehave, sometimes due to mistake and sometimes due to negligence of order. When you say Nigerian Air Force invades, that connotes organizational endorsement, which is not the case. We are talking about some personnel who were alleged to have invaded. I will expect that somebody will call the Nigerian Air Force to ask if it is true, so that they will be able to give a balanced story, nobody called.
Based on our own philosophy to be responsive and proactive, I immediately put out a statement assuring them that I heard the report and of course the moment I saw the report I informed the Chief of Air Staff who immediately directed that a formal enquiry should commence and that was done. It was made clear that any Air Force personnel found guilty will be dealt with in accordance with our applicable laws and that process is on-going. The process in the military is such that, when an incident that involves both civilian and military occurs, it behoves that Board of Enquiry that is sitting to invite all parties. To get the military people is not really a problem but for the civilians. You need to write letters, and you need to wait for their response and you need to pray that they are cooperative and it’s taking a while. And I can mention that because I also called the unit commanders, so I know that to a large extent, many of the civilians allegedly involved came and gave their own version.
So that unit is under what we call the special operations command. So they have to send that report to special operation command. The command will review it and find out are there gaps? Are there things not covered? Are there things not properly explained? That is their responsibility as a Command. So any time the military comes out with a report, it has to be thorough. The Command will do it before it is sent to the Nigerian Air Force Headquarters. Then it will be subjected to critical review.
We will also do fence mending. I have held meetings with leaders of the University, the community people and other stakeholders. It was not the NAF that invaded the school.
And regarding the case of the airman that allegedly shot his girl friend; you know people wondered for a long time nothing seems to be happening. We are following our process. It is a thorough process. And of course at the right time, a court martial was convened after going through some streams of processes. One of the processes is the Board of Investigation, after that summary of evidence, etc, and the trial is on-going. One of the things NAF holds in high esteem is integrity, integrity of our words. And NAF is a highly professional service and we do not condone indiscipline anywhere.
What has been the consistent campaigns of Boko Haram insurgents is the desire to establish an Islamic State, opposed to the ideals of western education. It has been at the core of the vigorous attempts to impose their own version of Islamism on Nigeria. Boko Haram has been seeking to forbid Muslims from participating in any political or social endeavor laced in Westernization.
Therefore, at the point terrorists seized swathes of territories in Nigeria’s northeast, the insurgents declared them their “Caliphate,” and administered them with some strange Islamic doctrines opposed to anything sane to Islam. Insurgents deposed or killed the incumbent religious leaders and replaced them with those appointed by them.
At the peak of terrorists’ atrocious and violent raids of communities and villages in Nigeria, they indiscriminately murdered both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The Boko Haram jihadists abducted children and women, whom they raped and contracted into forced marriage. They killed Christians, politicians, security agents and even Islamic clerics who opposed their ideology were executed. Such acts defiled all known creeds of Islam.
In justifying their devious and absurd acts through circulated videos, the fanatical factional leader, Abubakar Shekau normally quoted copiously from the Qu’ran. But all Islamic leaders and clerics in Nigeria have declared their ideology and murderous instincts as un-Islamic.
Perhaps, it was this sustained condemnation that sprouted the internal revolt within Boko Haram, as in the open bickering Abu Musan al Barnawi harshly scolded Abubakar Shekau and expressed deep aversion to his style of Jihadism, which spares no one and is too bloodthirsty. Musab al Barnawi, the son of the founder of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf and Shekau’s former publicist loudly decried and denounced the style of Jihad mounted by Shekau as anti-Islam, questioning his tactics.
However, in spite of the wide condemnation of the ideology of the Shekau-led faction of Boko Haram and its atrocious outings, Shekau has kept aligning it with a religious flavor. But in recent times, the religious content of Boko Haram appears to be waning. The emphasis on establishing an Islamic Caliphate or theocratic state has dwindled considerably.
Something striking happened in December 2016, when Nigerian troops invaded the formerly dreaded Sambisa forest. Raging troops dismantled Sambisa forest and penetrated it’s Camp Zero, where Abubakar Shekau had been dwelling in protective custody of his lieutenants. Shekau had escaped before the invasion of Sambisa, but Nigerian soldiers recovered some items in Camp Zero, Shekau’s residential shrine.
The recovered items included a Abubakar Shekau’s personal copy of the Qur’an and flag, their insignia. Shekau abandoned these religious instruments which gave him inspiration to torment Nigerians. Symbolically, it meant the religious content in Boko Haram terrorism fled with him, much as it marked the defeat of the religious sect of Boko Haram insurgents by the Nigerian military. And probably, Shekau has been unable to lay his hands on another religious book to contrive fresh demonic doctrines to terrorize the people.
So, the capturing of Sambisa forest, the fleeing of Shekau and the subsequent surrender of scores of Boko Haram’s top commanders to Nigerian Army had essentially announced the defeat of Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria. The clearance operations conducted in the Northeast by Nigerian troops was basically to cleanse communities of remnants of fleeing terrorists.
Some terrorists fled to neighbouring countries, where they got nourishment and regrouped. They have continued to stray into Nigerian territory to launch intermittent attacks on soft targets, mostly around the Lake Chad Basin of Borno state. These acts have heralded the morphing of the group from a religious sect to a gang, greased by the economic interests of the sponsors.
It is therefore not completely strange the sudden resurgence of suicide bomb attacks and abductions, particularly in Borno state. It is a good guess that the terrorism emphasis and heat on Borno is also economical, hence large swathes of land in the Lake Chad Basin, with crude oil deposits has spiraled into the state.
Experiences have indicated that politics of the control of oil resources is shadowed in some of the countries where terrorism has continued to fester. Afghanistan and Syria are classical examples. It is curious that Nigeria’s neighbours, Chad, Niger and Cameroun together with Nigeria collectively formed the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to battle terrorism in the region. The outfit was designed to function in unanimity in battling acts of terrorism in these countries.
However, while Nigeria has actively backed the MNJTF to actualize its mandate, the other partner-countries are not keen about its functionality. Records indicate that these other countries have largely ignored funding of the security outfit meant to combat terrorism.
It is very safe to conclude that MNJTF exists only in name and Boko Haram terrorists who flee Nigeria find safe abodes in some of these neighbouring countries, where they recuperate and gather fresh momentum to attack Nigeria. MNJTF has remained a toothless bulldog in tracking fleeing terrorists in these countries; hence the current insecurity around Borno spurred by terrorism is now greased by economic interests.
An American conflict resolution expert, Mr. Richards Murphy recently provided strong insights that linked France’s silent force in the resurgence of Boko Haram in Nigeria. He argued that France through its proxies and former colonies could probably be funding Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria to shut out Nigeria from drilling the crude oil resources in the Lake Chad Basin.
Murphy says, “It is not surprising that Boko Haram fighters that earlier fled into these neighboring Francophone countries have slinked back to renew attacks in Nigeria shortly after the French summit that was supposed to have fashioned a solution to their madness. If the authorities in Nigeria get their homework right they should have observed by now that something has changed. The true intent of Boko Haram is emerging and doing so fast. A pointer to this is the July attack on the team of researchers that went prospecting for petroleum in the Lake Chad Basin area.”
Earlier reports indicate the illegal exploration of crude oil on the Nigerian side of the Lake Chad Basin. Chad Republic is reported to have engaged in this unwholesome act using the 3D oil drilling method, which it exports through the permanent Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading, (FPSO) vessel, with a capacity to store 2million barrel of crude oil.
And quite obnoxiously, France provides support by allowing the crude oil purportedly stolen from Nigeria to be oil shipped with tankers for refining at the international refineries in the Port of Le Havre in France. And the scheme, it does appear, is to frustrate Nigeria’s moves to drill oil in the Lake Chad region, while Chad continues to feast on the resources, with France as a vicarious beneficiary. It explains the failure of the fire of Boko Haram terrorism to extinguish in Borno, comparatively with the peace and calm which have returned to Yobe and Adamawa states hitherto similarly terrorized and Nigeria generally.
Commenting on the recent Boko Haram ambush on oil researchers in the state, Murphy hints that “… the attack was major, not one of those skirmishes where Boko Haram fighters want to inflict damages, instill terror and flee back into their hideouts. The intention was apparent annihilation on a scale that will ensure no scientist would be willing to return to the area for any prospecting.”
“Secondly, the intensity of the attack was possible with a combination of sophisticated weaponry and accurate intelligence that made the ambush deadly. Both considerations suggest state backing for the terrorists and only one country has demonstrated interests that correspond to such capacity in the past. It has the resources to match. Furthermore, not much is heard anymore of Boko Haram’s desire for strict implementation of Sharia, which implies that the crux of the matter is about cornering resources and not the creation of a theocratic state”, he warned.
Therefore, time has come for Nigeria to act decisively. The Nigerian military has silenced the religious Boko Haram sect. The emergent sect terrorizing parts of Borno at the moment is the economic wing of Boko Haram, heavily funded by interests bent on stealing Nigeria’s crude oil in the Lake Chad Basin.
Nigeria needs to seriously examine this angle. It is good news that the relocation of Nigerian Service Chiefs to Borno state is not only to halt terrorists attacks on soft targets, but to unearth reasons why terrorism has resurfaced in that part of the country. No half measure should be applied on this mission, until the truth is exposed.
With these emerging insights, the United Nations (UN) is urged to show greater interests by investigating the veiled forces promoting terrorism in Nigeria, at this stage, before it enlarges to plunge Nigeria into the experience in Afghanistan or Syria and the likes. The French President, Mr. Emmanuel Macron is also pleaded to re-examine the interests of France in the Lake Chad Basin to possibly make amendments, where it exacerbates terrorism.
Ainoko writes from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
The Nigerian Army on Saturday expressed its readiness to collaborate with the United Nations humanitarian agencies to achieve the goals of the counter-insurgency campaign.
The Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, reiterated the commitments of the Nigerian Army to work in synergy with UN and other development organisations to address the humanitarian crisis in the North-East region.
He said: “The Nigerian Army is very aware of the need of the UN agencies to discharge their duties and we are ready to support them.
“The army will continue to work toward providing enabling and conducive environment to UN agencies to enhance their operations.
“We are working in the front line with the UN, it is complimenting the effort of the government by providing succour to the displaced victims.
“Such working collaboration is imperative to ensure success of the counter-insurgency campaign in the country.”
Commenting on Friday’s raid on UN facility in Maiduguri, Borno State, Attahiru said the action was based on intelligence report made available to the military and not intended to tarnish the image of the UN.
The commander disclosed that the army conducted cordon operation in the Pompori area of Maiduguri in search of high profile Boko Haram insurgents.
He added: “The house in question does not bear UN designation. We later discovered that the building housed some staff of UN humanitarian agency.
“The cordon and search operation was not specifically targeted at the UN facility, but rather done in the general area of operation.”
NAN
The issue of Bakassi and Boko Haram dominated discussions at a recent meeting between top government officials from Nigerian and neighbouring Cameroun, it was learnt.
Cameroun President, Paul Biya, dispatched a three-man delegation to the country to discuss issues of mutual benefits to both countries.
Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the delegation that was received by Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs in Abuja.
At a joint briefing at the end of their closed-door meeting, which lasted about 45 minutes, the visiting minister denied the recent report of massacre of Nigerians by Camerounian gendarmes.
He said there was no iota of truth in the report, saying that Cameroun is a law-abiding country and no such thing would ever happen.
He said: “ I was sent here by President Paul Biya to come and meet with the Foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria to discuss a number of subjects that are mutually beneficial to both countries.”
On the reported killing of over 97 Nigerians, the minister said: “We are also here to inform the government of Nigeria that a month ago, we had reports in the media concerning massacre of people in the Bakassi area.
“We sent our administrators and we even asked Nigerian consul in Bua to accompany them. They went there and they realized that not a single person was touched, nobody was injured, nobody was killed and it was a fabrication which appeared in the media, which we don’t know why and for what purpose. But we came to reassure the government and Nigerian people that Cameroun is a law-abiding country and no such thing would ever happen under our watch. “
On Boko Haram, he said both countries had been working perfectly to defeat the terrorist group.
He said: “We came to discuss the situation in the North-Western part of Cameroun and North-Eastern part of Nigeria concerning the fight against Boko Haram. We are here to say that the two countries have been working perfectly in trying to make sure that this evil group is completely alienated.”
He also denied the report that his country maltreated Nigerian refugees, saying that they had protested to the UN Human Right Commission.
“ You know being a refugee is a very difficult condition. We in Cameroun are very sensitive to the issue. If you visit our own camp where we have about 60,000 refugees, you will see that they are being given the most humane treatment that we in Cameroun can give and can afford along with the UNHCR,” he said.
The Borno Government has donated N16.5 million to families of 21 oil workers and 12 members of the Civilian Joint Task Force killed in Boko Haram attacks in the state.
The state Commissioner for Local Government and Emirate Affairs, Alhaji Usman Zanna, disclosed this on Friday in Maiduguri.
He pointed out that each family of the deceased oil workers and members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) was given N500, 000.
The commissioner said the state government also donated N6 million to families of 12 other persons killed by terrorists in another attack at Jidari-Kolo area of Maiduguri.
Zanna said the gesture was to assist the bereaved families and assuage their sufferings.
“Governor Kashim Shettima directed the ministry to disburse N500, 000 to each of the affected families.
“It is not compensation but a token provided by the government to support the bereaved families,” he said.
Zanna said the state government has provided support to victims of suicide attacks in the 27 local government areas of the state.
NAN