Tag: DHQ

Those after me are ‘cyberspace terrorists’, says Buratai

The Presidency has left the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) to determine Chief of Army Staff Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai’s fate, following the outcry over his $1.5 million Dubai property.

PRNigeria,  the military under-cover media machinery, yesterday said the government investigated and cleared Lt.-Gen. Buratai over his assets.

Although the platform was silent on whether it was the Ministry of Defence or the DHQ that cleared Gen. Buratai, it said the nature of his offshore investments was based on capital market principles of shareholding.

Gen. Buratai has been under attack for allegedly buying two property in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The property are allegedly owned by the top soldier  and his two wives.

A source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The Presidency has asked the Defence Headquarters to handle issues on some assets traced to Lt.-Gen. Buratai and his wives in the UAE.

“The DHQ will determine his fate on whether or not he has violated any law and if he has to be sanctioned or not.

“Whatever the DHQ’s findings will be forwarded to the commander-in-chief.  Let the military conduct its findings in line with its rules and regulations.”

But, according to PRNigeria, the government looked into the allegations against Buratai and cleared him of any fraudulent deal.

It said the discreet probe of Buratai indicated that he and his wives only bought shares in some companies instead of wholly owning the property

The PRNigeria said: “The capital market principle that governed the property in issue, as it was found by investigators, was akin to having shares in companies instead of wholly owning the property.

“The government, after investigating a recent media report over the acquisition of propertiys in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) by General Buratai, discovered that he and his wives invested as “shareholders” like many other persons in the property mentioned in the publications and were not the sole owners.”

Chief of Army Staff Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai has described those accusing him of corrupt enrichment as cyberspace terrorists.

He said he would defeat them like he did Boko Haram terrorists.

The military chief spoke with reporters in Abuja yesterday.

Gen. Buratai said: “I am not supposed to comment on this, but for clarity sake, my take on the issue is that we have already defeated the terrorists on land, and they have migrated to the cyberspace and Internet, but I want to assure the Boko Haram that have migrated to the cyberspace, that we would follow them to the cyberspace and defeat them.”

He said he was not deterred by “the campaign of calumny against” him and his office. He advised the media to always put national interest above personal issues.

On the Chibok girls, the COAS said: “You have been told that two of the Chibok girls have been rescued. The most important thing is that those who have been rescued were all abducted from Chibok, either in school or not. I know as it is now, the issue of the Chibok girls has been politicised, and we are not deterred by this politicisation of this issue. Our own task is professional, and we are working hard to ensure that we rescue the girls wherever they may be. Anybody who we rescued is as important as the Chibok girls. We are gathering more information on where these girls are; they may have been scattered, or are in one place. Our aim is to ensure they are rescued, and every other person that is held hostage is rescued. We are still searching for them, and if they are alive, we will rescue them.”

The Army chief added that no part of the country is under the control of the terrorists.

“When we say that the terrorists have been defeated and they are not holding any territory, have they come out to say that they holding any territory? None of them will claim they are holding any territory. Secondly, if you see the landscape of the Northeast, it is large. Many people are scattered in many communities, and they prefer to stay in their communities. Some of them are being terrorised in their locations because they prefer to stay in their communities. These terrorists would come at night to terrorise them, and go away.

Gen. Buratai said due process was followed in the retirement of officers of the Army. He hailed some of them that  have decided to go to court, and said the Army would meet them in court.

He said the military would remain apolitical, and not allow the recent statement on coup lie low, as  anyone trying to destablise the democracy would be making a mistake.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) is not losing any sleep over the threat by the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force (JNDLF) to launch six missiles in the Niger Delta, beginning from Tuesday, the Defence Acting Director of Information, Brig-Gen. Rabe Abubakar said yesterday.

The group had said the missile testing would last three days.

Reacting to The Nation inquiry on the threat, Abubakar said the military would not be deterred at all by the threat and would rather remain focused on protecting the country’s territorial integrity.

“This is no threat at all. The Nigerian military will remain focused and un-intimidated and will not be deterred by such threats,” he said.

“We will respond at the appropriate time. The whole world is seeing what they are doing and these are criminals and unpatriotic elements, and we will treat them as such.

“We are being systematic and professional in dealing with this and any other threats not only in Niger Delta but any other area.”

He urged law abiding citizens to “go about their legitimate businesses unhindered and cooperate with security agencies in containing and bringing these criminals to their knees.”

He added: “We must ensure one nation and one destiny under one God. All our operations are not to harass, intimidate and traumatise any innocent people.”

He reminded the militants that “for the sake of national interest, because the nation’s interest is above any other individual or group interest, they should realise that no non- state actor ever succeeds over state actor.

“Let the so called militants go to history books and find out.”

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has discovered a ploy by Boko Haram terrorists to unleash terror on the people, especially in the Northeast.

A statement by defence spokesman, Rabe Abubakar, said the fleeing remnant terrorists have laid landmines on stretches of farmland.

“It is instructive to alert the public that terrorists now operate with horses to carry out attacks on isolated villages and communities along fringes of our borders in the Northeast. A recent attack readily comes to mind. These latest tactics of the terrorists is a grand design to cause fear and panic among the farmers and the local populace. The security forces will be on their trail until they are driven out of our country.

“While the military and other security forces are doing everything possible to neutralise these mine threats, citizens are advised to be mindful of strange and suspicious objects in their farmlands and localities, as well as be wary of those coming on horses as they can be terrorists. They should report these to security forces,” Abubakar said.

The military last night vowed to end the Boko Haram insurgency.

It promised not to lower its guard and urged Nigerians to remain vigilant despite the seeming conciliatory approach of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a video message.

Reacting to the video, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said there would be “no safe haven for terrorists”.

A statement issued in Abuja yesterday by the Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Rabe Abubakar, said: “The DHQ wishes to state emphatically that not minding the contents of the video clips, the Armed Forces of Nigeria would continue to fight in order to consolidate the successes recorded so far.

“The said video clip should, therefore, be discountenanced as it could be another ploy or antics of the terrorists to keep our innocent citizens off their current security alertness to maximise casualties if attacked.

“The Nigerian Armed Forces are now determined more than ever before to end this ugly trend.

“The DHQ is also reassuring citizens that all captives under the cover of the insurgents would regain their freedom with the ongoing military’s final offensive against the terrorists.’’

Abubakar said the CDS commended all officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces for their sacrifices, determination and courage to complete the task against the terrorists.

The statement also advised the public not to be carried away by the video clips but to be extra vigilant and security conscious at all times during the Easter celebrations and beyond.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau staged a return yesterday, more than one year after his last appearance on video, hinting that his “end” as the sect’s leader “has come”.

“For me, the end has come”, he said in a video message without his usual defiance, taunts and denunciation of the country’s leaders.

In a swift reaction, the military said it was studying the video to determine its authenticity.

Apparently debunking his rumoured death, Shekau said: “This is a message of greeting and joy for you to see my face. This is my desire: that whoever sees this will hear nothing but greetings between me and you. Only Allah knows the rest, as you believed [and] as you submitted. For me the end has come.

“This is only the message I want to send to you to understand that this is certainly I. This is why I did this.”

In the eight-minute video, which has been posted on social media and YouTube, Shekau, who in March, last year, pledged allegiance to ISIS in an audio message, is seen holding a rifle beside one of the black flags associated with ISIS.

He speaks slowly and appears more frail than in previous videos. Shekau talks in a mixture of Arabic and Hausa, according to Athanasius Atta Barkindo, a PhD candidate at SOAS University of London, who works with a group rehabilitating Boko Haram extremists.

The video appears to be new and legitimate, according to Yan St-Pierre, chief executive of the Berlin-based Modern Security Consulting Group (MOSECON). “He is telling his followers that he is alive. This appears to be the video preparing for the post-Shekau situation [in] Boko Haram-ISWAP,” said  St-Pierre, who added that his group is still working on the video’s final translation.

Shekau has appeared in numerous Boko Haram videos in the past, including one displaying some of the girls kidnapped by the group from their school in Chibok, Borno State. The girls were kidnapped on April 15, 2014 and the whereabouts of 219 remain unknown. Shekau has a $7 million bounty on his head.

 His broadcast was unlike his past messages at the end of 2014 and the start of 2015, which were well edited and closely resembled those of ISIS.

It was also posted on YouTube rather than via Twitter accounts linked to ISIS supporters and websites linked to fellow extremist groups, which had become Boko Haram’s preferred medium of communication.

The bearded Shekau, who looked thin, spoke to his followers in front of a lime green background, with the Boko Haram black flag superimposed in crude graphics.

There was no indication of when or where the video was shot.

Shekau took over Boko Haram leadership in 2009, following the death of its founder, Mohammed Yusuf. Under his leadership, the group has waged a six-year insurgency in the Northeast —which spread in 2015 to neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger—killing thousands and displacing more than two million people.

Shekau also referred in the past tense to Gwoza in Borno State, which Boko Haram overran in mid-2014 and declared a caliphate.

The town was retaken in a military counter-offensive that has seen towns, villages and territory controlled by Boko Haram seized back over the last year.

Boko Haram supply lines are said to have been squeezed, preventing them for sourcing fuel for hit-and-run attacks and conventional fighting, although suicide bombings persist.

There have also been reports of fighters surrendering for lack of food. Shekau is said to be in hiding in Sambisa Forest in Borno State, which is under military watch.

Shekau has been reportedly killed several times since the start of the insurgency that has claimed at least 17,000 lives since 2009, only for him to reappear in video messages.

The military believes several lookalikes have since stood in for him.