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Tag: Chris Olukolade

  • Nyanya blast: Troops arrest 8 Nigerian, Cameroonian suspects

    Nyanya blast: Troops arrest 8 Nigerian, Cameroonian suspects

    •Death toll now 20, injured 85

    EIGHT foreigners are now in security custody in connection with Thursday’s bomb explosions at Nyanya, near Abuja, the Defence Headquarters said yesterday.

    It also confirmed that it foiled insurgents’ attacks on Margimari village and other settlements on the outskirts of Maiduguri early yesterday.

    The DHQ insisted that neither Maiduguri nor University of Maiduguri was attacked as rumoured in some quarters.

    The Director of Defence Information, Gen. Chris Olukolade, who gave the update in a statement in Abuja, said the suspects were helping ongoing probe of the blasts.

    He said the arrested persons are helping ongoing investigation with useful information after the operation which is sequel to intelligence reports.

    They were picked up around Kugbo and areas adjoining the Nyanya site of the recent bombings in the Federal Capital.

    “Those confirmed to constitute threat to security will be handed over to appropriate prosecutorial agency on conclusion of the preliminary investigations,”he said.

    However ,a source said the arrested foreigners are from Cameroun and Niger Republic.

    “They are already being quizzed at a detention facility which for security reasons we cannot disclose,” the source said .

    It was gathered that fingerprint scanning on the suspects confirmed traces of IED in their hands.

    “The ongoing grilling of the suspects may provide more clues on the blast in Nyanya.”

    One more victim of the Nyanya bomb blast   has died,bringing the death toll to 20.

    The victim,whose identity was not immediately known died at the Asokoro Hospital.

    Fourteen of those injured and receiving treatment in various hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory have already been discharged.

    An unknown number of people who were injured were said to have opted to take care of theri treatment.

    Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu and Minister of State Khaliru Alhassan visited the hospitals yesterday to monitor interact with the injured.

    They visited Asokoro Hopsital, Nyanya Hopsital, Maitama, Wuse and Gwarinpa Hospital.

    Speaking at the end of their visit, both minister expressed satisfaction at their improvement in the health of the patients.

    Meanwhile, Gen Olukolade also yesterday dismissed reports of an attack on Maiduguri yesterday, saying:”Rather, on receiving distress call, troops at about 2am this morning (yesterday) launched a counter attack using mainly mortar shells on a group of terrorists who had attacked and killed four persons in Margimari village and other settlements in the outskirts of Maiduguri.

    “There was no fighting or attack around the University or any barrack in Maiduguri either, as reported.”

    He also said that a Chadian, Usman Mecheka operating with the terrorists group around Lake Chad has been taken into custody by the Multi National Joint Task Force.

    He was apprehended by the Task Force while trying to extract a ransom from herdsmen and farmers in the area, after an earlier attack on the community.

    Troops of the Special Task Force in the Plateau have also raided a camp maintained by an armed gang operating in a settlement in Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State.

    “A gun fabricating machine as well as some arms and ammunition from the hideout were recovered during the raid. Also recovered during the raid, were local single barrel guns, pistols, an automatic rifle, bullet pellets and a large quantity of materials for producing gun powder,” he said.

     

  • Counter-terrorism: Military not targeting Muslims, Fulani, says DHQ

    Counter-terrorism: Military not targeting Muslims, Fulani, says DHQ

    The Defence Headquarters yesterday said the military is not targeting either Muslims or Fulani for elimination in its counter-terrorism strategy.

    It said the military has remained non-partisan and non-sectarian.

    The Director of Defence Information, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, faulted allegations of religious and ethnic cleansing by Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI).

    The DHQ said: “The statement issued by the Secretary General of Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI), Dr Khalid Abubakar Aliyu alleging extra-judicial killing of Muslims and people of Fulani ethnic group by the Nigerian military is spurious and inflammatory.

    “Much as the military is reluctant to join issues with a respectable religious organisation like JNI, the need to set the records straight makes this response imperative.

    “The Nigerian military remains non-partisan, non-sectarian and will continue to be the symbol of patriotism and a unifying factor in the face of threats to national sovereignty.

    “If this wild allegation was meant to cause disaffection or brew disharmony within the military, then it has woefully failed as the Nigerian military does not operate along religious or ethnic lines.

    “Contrary to the false claims, no law abiding individual, faith, ethnic group or organisation is being targeted as alleged by JNI.”

    The Defence Headquarters advised JNI not to join propagandists who are trying to run down the military.

    The statement said: “It is unfortunate that the unjust imputation is coming from respectable and responsible organisation like JNI.

    “We urge the body not to join in the fray of propagandists bent on discrediting genuine efforts at finding solutions to the nation’s security challenges.

    “The military will continue to be driven by patriotism and commitment to the cause of the nation and its law abiding citizens.

    “All responsible organisations are requested to cooperate in the efforts at addressing the nation’s security challenges rather than compound the problem.

    “Individuals with similar prejudices are advised to abandon such biases as the challenges at hand call for prayers and support of all well-meaning organisations and groups instead of trying to turn the public against the military.

    “Rather, all responsible organisations should be more interested in seeking solutions to the nation’s security challenges.

    “It must be noted that the Armed Forces comprises Nigerians from all religious persuasions and cannot be used against any particular religion as purported. The military will not be distracted by unfair imputations from any quarter.

    The DHQ assured Nigerians that it would not shield anyone from justice.

    It added: “For the avoidance of doubt, the Nigerian military and other security agencies do not have any policy, agenda or plans to perpetrate massacre or extra judicial killing of law abiding citizens.

    “The authorities have no reason to take side or shield anyone from justice.

    “Individuals apprehended in the course of counter-terrorism campaign will continue to have access to justice as provided by law.”

     

  • Boko Haram: North’s governors meet U.S. officials in Washington

    Boko Haram: North’s governors meet U.S. officials in Washington

    •Sect kills two

    •Troops kill 8 in Yobe

    Governors of some states in the North are in Washington to meet with top United States officials to seek the solution to Boko Haram insurgency.

    It could not be ascertained how many of them were already in the United States but Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima and Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda who arrived on Sunday took the opportunity of their early arrival to meet with the world’s richest man, Bill Gates, to get support for their states on polio eradication.

    They were at the headquarters of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation yesterday for the meeting.

    They are expected to meet with White House officials, President Barack Obama, Congresssional leaders, the National Intelligence Council and the European Union (EU) developmental agencies, among others.

    In spite of the search for the solution to the Boko Haram insurgency, there is no let to the sect’s brutality. Suspected members of the sect invaded Pela Birni village in Hawul Local Government Area of Borno State, killing two residents before setting ablaze two churches and many residential houses.

    Pela Birni is one of the populated and remote village under Kwajjafa District in southern Borno with Christian domination, and about few kilometres drive to Garkida town in Adamawa State.

    Witnesses said the gunmen who came to the village on Sunday night bore sophisticated weapons.

    Mallam Musa Anjili Pela Birni said he narrowly escaped being killed by the attackers. The house in which he was sleeping was set ablaze.

    “The gunmen invaded our village at about 10 pm on Sunday, They started shouting Allahu Akbar (God is great). They ordered residents of houses to vacate then before setting the houses on fire.”

    Another resident, who did not want his name in print, told our correspondent that most of the houses near the Church of Brethern were set ablaze. Two people died. Many others were injured.

    The gunmen used AK47 rifles, petrol bombs and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

    Troops operating in the Northeast ambushed a group of terrorists on a mission to penetrate and attack Goniri Community in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe state.

    In a statement  yesterday in Abuja,  Maj.-Gen Chris Olukolade, Director of Defence Information, said: “Troops are still in pursuit of the fleeing terrorist elements after the encounter which resulted in some casualties on both parties.

    “Rockets and machine guns were freely used by the terrorists who eventually lost over eight of their fighters with several others wounded.

    “ Arms were also captured from the terrorists while others fled.

    “ The troops, however, lost a soldier while an officer was seriously wounded in the encounter, ‘’ he said.

    Goniri is not far from Buni-Yadi where the terrorists killed pupils.

    He said troops, operating around Gamboru Ngala and Dikwa Local Government Area towards the borders of Chad and Cameroun, were busy throughout the weekend.

    He said the weapons recovered in one of the locations include four anti-aircraft guns, five machine guns and over 500 rounds of ammunitions.

  • Military captures Boko Haram fighters in forest

    Military captures Boko Haram fighters in forest

    House mourns slain Yobe pupils

    Many injured Boko Haram fighters have been captured in some parts of Borno State and on the fringes of Lake Chad, military authorities said yesterday.

    Besides, weapons have been recovered by troops in collaboration with the Multi-National Joint Task Force.

    The captives, who were described by a military source as “famished”, were said to be begging troops to spare their lives.

    But air raids on Boko Haram camps continued yesterday. Besides, security has been tightened in borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic to prevent the insurgents from fleeing.

    According to a statement by Defence Headquarters (DHQ) spokesman Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, some of those arrested have made vital disclosures.

    The statement said: “Scores of wounded terrorists who escaped from various camps under the fire of security forces have been captured in the fringes of Lake Chad.

    “The captured terrorists, some of whom are fatally wounded, are already making useful statements to interrogators of the Multi-National Joint Task Force.

    “Others were captured by troops in locations around Dikwa, Cross Kauwa, Kukawa and Alargarmo.

    “In their confessions, it was revealed that some of the camps have been disbanded following the directive of their clerics who declared that the operation of the sect had come to an end as the mission could no longer be sustained.”

    The DHQ also claimed that some of those being interrogated pleaded with troops not to kill them.

    The statement added: “The terrorists, who gave useful information as to the locations of their remnant forces, were full of apologies and pleas for their lives to be spared, promising to cooperate.

    “They confirmed that starvation was a major problem, in addition to ceaseless bombardments on the camp locations even when they kept relocating.

    “They also confirmed that several members of the group have been wounded and no treatment was forthcoming. Troops have continued their assault on other locations across the states covered by the state of emergency.”

    The DHQ however warned members of the public against visiting captured camps of Boko Haram for “sight-seeing.”

    It said: “Meanwhile, members of the public who have started visiting to engage in sight seeing in some dislodged camps and fringes of forests, such as Sambisa and others have been warned to desist from doing so as the tendency will no more be condoned where operations are still ongoing.

    “The general area still remains a theatre and movement remains restricted as the environment has to be cleared for safety of citizens. The public will be informed when the locations are safe enough.”

    A top military officer said air raids and surveillance in borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic were heightened yesterday to prevent the insurgents from fleeing.

    The source said: “You see, continuous air raids and water-tight security along our borders with neighbouring countries have helped in our campaign against the insurgents.

    “We are determined not to relax air assaults and stoppage of movement along the borders until the insurgents surrender.

    “The troops are really taking the battle to the insurgents instead of being on the defensive.”

    Responding to a question, the source said: “Preliminary findings confirmed that Boko Haram manages rag-tag fighters similar to those in Mali, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

    “No matter how long they pretend to be organised, the battle continues as our troops will not give up.”

    On the outcome of the search for some missing pupils of the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, the source said: “The Yobe State Government set up a committee on this and the state will be able to talk appropriately on this.”

  • ‘70 killed in Boko Haram battle’

    ‘70 killed in Boko Haram battle’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Military hunts terrorists after daring barracks attack

    Military hunts terrorists after daring barracks attack

    Soldiers yesterday surrounded Abbaram village near Bama, Borno State to flush out terrorists who fled there after reportedly snatching soldiers’ wives and children during a daring attack on an army barracks nearby on Friday, witnesses said.

    Suspected Boko Haram fighters stormed the barracks in Bama early on Friday, spraying it with bullets before torching the compound.

    AFP reported that several Bama residents said that the insurgents also abducted several of the soldiers’ wives and children during the attack.

    Army spokesman in Borno, Mohammed Dole, declined to comment on the matter while the Defence Headquarters Director of Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, could not be reached for comment.

    Bama residents said the Boko Haram gunmen fled to Abbaram after the attack, where the military sent hundreds of troops yesterday.

    “The soldiers have besieged the village and more troops are deploying in hundreds,” said Ibrahim Idris.

    “Nothing is happening yet, but from the huge number of troops deploying and the large number of Boko Haram in the village one can imagine what may happen.”

    Karim Bunu, who also lives in Bama, described Abbaram as a village of some 250 people.

    “We are afraid of what will happen to the people of Abbaram because whichever way one looks at it, they are facing a serious security threat,” he said.

    A third resident, who requested anonymity, said the Islamists were holding in Abbaram the “women and children of soldiers,” who had been kidnapped during the Friday attack, in an account supported by both Idris and Bunu.

    In November, Human Rights Watch reported that Boko Haram has increasingly used kidnappings as a tactic, abducting scores of women and children this year.

    After staging an attack on the military, the insurgents typically flee to far away camps to evade pursuing troops, but their escape was slowed on Friday by fighter jets which dropped bombs on the major routes leading out of Bama, according to the military and witnesses.

    “I counted 18 burnt all-terrain vans belonging to the Boko Haram gunmen pulverised by military jets,” said the unnamed resident, who identified himself as a member of a military-backed vigilante force which has formed in the northeast to fight the insurgents.

    Air force jets continued to fly over the region yesterday, residents said.

    The Bama attack was the second major Islamist assault on the army this month.

    Boko Haram’s four-year insurgency has killed thousands.

    The group has been declared a terrorist organisation by the United States.

  • DHQ recommends 500 terror suspects’ prosecution

    DHQ recommends 500 terror suspects’ prosecution

    The Joint Investigation Team set up by the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has recommended the immediate prosecution of over 500 suspects apprehended in the course of security operations against terrorists.

    The suspects were apprehended in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States.

    This is contained in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by the Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade.

    The statement said the suspects were also among the almost 1,400 detainees screened by the team at the detention facilities in Maiduguri, Yola and Damaturu between July and September.

    It said those recommended for immediate trial included high profile suspects, some of whom were training other terrorists in weapon handling as well as those who confessed to being trained in Mali and other countries for the purpose of perpetrating terror in Nigeria.

    “Also among those recommended for trial are a medical doctor, paramilitary or service personnel who were fighting on the side of the terrorists and other individuals who offered direct logistics support to the terrorists.”

    The statement said the team, however, recommended the release of 167 of the detainees from detention in Maiduguri, Yola and Damaturu.

    It said that about 614 others whose cases were inconclusive had been recommended for review.

    The report also proposed that some of the detainees be tried for other offences ranging from armed robbery, murder to drugs related offences.

    ”If the recommendation of the team sails through, the trial of some of the suspects will be held in the states while others may be tried at the Federal level by High Courts,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the DHQ spokesman as saying in the statement.

    The statement said the team was tasked to examine, classify and recommend appropriate actions against detainees in the various detention centres in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states

     

  • Nearly 1,000 died in Nigerian prisons – Amnesty

    Nearly 1,000 people, mostly suspected Islamist militants, died in Nigerian jails in the first half of this year, Amnesty International has said.

    Amnesty said some of the 950 victims were suspected to have been executed but many died because of the harsh, overcrowded conditions of the jails.

    Some starved to death. Others died after being shot or badly beaten then getting no medical attention.

    “The evidence we’ve gathered suggested that hundreds of people died in military custody in 2013 alone. This is a staggeringly high figure that requires urgent action by the Nigerian government,” Reuters quoted Lucy Freeman, Amnesty International’s deputy Africa director, as saying in a statement.

    Military spokesman, Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, said the army had not yet seen the report but would respond when it became available to them.

    The government’s habitual position is that detainees are well treated and rare cases of abuse dealt with.

    A four-year-old insurgency waged by Islamist sect Boko Haram, aiming to revive a medieval Islamic empire in Nigeria’s largely Muslim northeast, has killed thousands and brought a heavy military presence across the region.

    Residents of affected areas, as well as numerous human rights groups, have long accused the Nigerian military of carrying out summary executions of Boko Haram suspects and others – a charge it always denies.

    Privately, security officials admit such abuses are more widespread but see them as a reaction to an enemy whose vicious guerrilla tactics create a climate of fear.

     

  • Boko Haram leader, others captured in Niger Republic

    Boko Haram leader, others captured in Niger Republic

    The Defence Headquarters on Thursday gave insights into how a Boko Haram leader and other suspected members of the sect were captured in Niger Republic.

    All the suspects are presently undergoing interrogation in an unnamed military facility.

    According to a statement issued by the Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, the breakthrough was recorded through intelligence gathering.

    He said the intention of the sect leader and those arrested was to rearm from Niger Republic and launch deadly attacks on Nigerian communities.

    The statement said: “The plan by a band of terrorists who relocated to Niger Republic to remobilize and rearm insurgents with the aim of carrying out fresh terrorists attacks on some Nigerian communities has been foiled.

    “The leader of the group who had fled Nigeria when the terrorist camps were sacked was reportedly recruiting fresh hands and training them for renewed terrorist activities in Nigeria.

    “The intention of the group is to focus its attacks on some towns around the Nigeria-Niger Republic border.”

    “Intelligence operatives of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) had been on the trail of the leader until he was eventually arrested in Karanga, Niger Republic on Saturday with the cooperation of Nigerien forces.

    “His other accomplices were later picked up in other villages in Nigeria. They are currently being interrogated.

    A source, who spoke in confidence, added: “Investigation revealed that following their dislodgement from their camps in Nigeria, the Boko Haram leader relocated to Niger Republic with his cell members.

    “While in Niger Republic, they tried to regroup and recruit more hands to be able to attack Nigerian communities. When we got intelligence report, we contacted our Nigerien counterpart. The Boko Haram suspects were trailed and their leader was captured.

    “We succeeded in arresting other members of the cell and they were brought down to Nigeria from Niger.”

     

     

  • DHQ orders troops to fish out killers of 22

    DHQ orders troops to fish out killers of 22

    The Defence Headquarters has ordered Special Forces to fish out those who killed 22 persons in Dawashi and Mainok in Borno State last Saturday.

    It also confirmed that many innocent civilians, mostly women and children were killed during the attack.

    The DHQ, which made its position known in a statement by the Defence Spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said troops are being deployed in the affected communities to protect lives and property.

    Although it acknowledged that recourse to ambush by Boko Haram was meant to intimidate civilians, DHQ urged Nigerians not to waiver in the fight against terrorism.

    The statement said: “A large scale shooting and murder by terrorists of over 22 and infliction of varying degree of injuries on over 18 members of Borno Youth Vigilance Group in Dawashi and Mainok in Borno State last Saturday has been reported.

    “It is also believed that a number of other innocent civilians mostly women, children and elderly were killed in the unprovoked attack.

    “The incidents which followed separate attacks on the group and the two communities are consistent with the new pattern of operations by the terrorists after the loss of their camps.

    “This practice of laying ambush or attacking innocent civilians by terrorists lately is meant to intimidate Nigerians who have rejected the activities of terrorists in their communities.

    “The Special Forces have been directed to ensure that the perpetrators of the recent incidents are tracked down and the manhunt for them is in progress accordingly.

    “Meanwhile, more troops and equipment are being deployed in the operation to ensure better coverage and protection of communities in the operational area.

    “All citizens are enjoined to maintain high level of vigilance and continue to cooperate with security forces in the operation.

    “Members of the vigilance group in particular are being counseled to endeavor to work only under the strict guidance and protection of the security forces on ground in their localities.”