The Nation Newspaper

Tag: operate

  • My story, by ex-Boko Haram ‘commander’

    •‘Shekau is alive’

    •I can make Shekau, others surrender

    Former Boko Haram Commander, Rawana Goni (32), has appealed to the military to allow him call the elusive leader, Abubakar Shekau, and about 137 others, to make them surrender.

    Goni, who is undergoing rehabilitation at a military detention camp in Maiduguri, Borno State, spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    The former Boko Haram commander is an indigene of Bama in Borno State. He surrendered to the military in Cameroon after escaping from Sambisa Forest eight months ago.

    Goni claimed to have held several positions in 10 different cells in Sambisa Forest, the last position being the Chief Officer of Dispute Resolution. Many militants came to him to settle problems such as family matters, and he also reconciled Boko Haram factions.

    He said: “I rescued people sentenced to death and minimised punishment of those who committed crimes. I am one of the most influential persons in the group and they always listened to my opinion.

    “I joined Boko Haram because of the condition I found myself in the last five years. When the insurgents invaded Bama, I ran with my family to Cameroon thinking I was in a safe place. But on reaching Cameroon, I was shocked to realise that I brought myself into another Boko Haram camp. By that time, I knew I would not survive without joining the group.

    “Days after my induction, we opened a permanent camp at the Cameroonian border and named the forest “Aluska”. It was in that camp that I learnt all types of trainings, including handling weapons.

    “After the training, we embarked on our first mission – we invaded a military formation in Cameroon, dislodged the soldiers and took many weapons from their armoury. We couldn’t take any vehicle because the area was surrounded by river.

    “We took the recovered weapons to our leader – Abubakar Shekau – and briefed him on our success. He was happy that five of us could dislodge a military formation. After congratulating us, he appointed me to lead the group and returned our weapons to us.

    “Few days later, I recruited many fighters, because as a commander, you are expected to have no fewer than 250 fighting troops. With the new fighting force, we invaded Waza, Damaga and Banki. We also invaded Bama.

    “I was touched to see my people being tortured and killed, while women and children were living in excruciating hardship. So I decided to pass a message to my fellow insurgents from Bama and we formed a group, comprising about 137 persons, to help our people in prison escape.

    “I was able to rescue about 300 hostages at the prison facility in Bama. I usually lied to the guards at the prison that I was going to kill the inmates. But I would take them to a safe place in Konduga and ask them to run to a safer destination.

    “Many of the prisoners were exposed to hard labour while some were used as guinea pigs at shooting range.”

    Goni added that Shekau’s was healthy as against a report of his ill-health.

    “Nothing happened to him; he broke his leg five years ago while riding a horse but he has since recovered.

    “Anyone saying Shekau is sick is deceiving himself. We used to communicate through radiophone but not anymore,” he added.

    The ex-insurgent, who believes the war was coming to an end, urged the military to let him tell Shekau and other insurgents that he is still alive.

    He said: “My 137 boys are on standby to hear I am still alive and I can assure you they will run out of Sambisa Forest and surrender to the military. I once told them to surrender and they said we shall all get killed. But I told them that I will surrender and they said if nothing happened to me, they will all come out.”

  • NPA: only eight agencies free to operate in ports

    NPA: only eight agencies free to operate in ports

    The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has directed the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) to ensure compliance to the October 26, 2011, directive on agencies permitted to operate in the ports.

    The NPA, in a statement yesterday, said only eight federal agencies were allowed to operate and be represented in all ports.

    The agencies are:  NPA, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Police, Department of State Sevices (DSS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Port Health and the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

    The statement by General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, Abdullahi Goje, said: “Other agencies not mentioned in the list above should remain outside the port premises as the Nigerian Customs Service, which is the lead agency for inspection of cargoes, has developed standard operating procedures to facilitate their seamless operation.

    “The NPA remains committed to the determination of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to enhance the ease of doing business in the country and the improvement of conditions under which business is carried out in all ports across the country.

    “The authority solicits for the kind support of all agencies and stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime sector towards actualising the noble goal of making Nigeria a destination of choice for all legitimate businesses.”

  • How journalists should operate in 21st century, by Omatseye

    How journalists should operate in 21st century, by Omatseye

    With the rapidity of information dissemination in the new media and advancement in technology, the traditional media must brace itself to be relevant in the profession, celebrated columnist and Chairman of The Nation Editorial Board Sam Omatseye said yesterday.

    He said the culture of 21st century journalism practice is a function of speed, which, he said, has changed the conventional practice of news gathering and dissemination.

    A modern journalist, he said, needs innovation and new thinking to practise the profession.

    Omatseye delivered a paper titled: Media in the 21st Century, at a lecture organised by Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) students as part of activities to mark their week.

    He said: “How does a traditional news medium react when its audience already has information it is passing across on social media? The traditional media understand that there are amateurs and professional reporters. But, how can professionals make interesting picture of a news story that will be worthy of the money of the reader, who just saw it on social media? This is the conundrum of the media in the 21st century.

    “The Internet is the major task before the 21st century media practitioner. It is the task of timeliness and rapidity. The new media and latest media tools have cancelled space and time, which used to be bullet point in traditional media practice. It is the task of a modern journalist to make news worth a while.

    “Media practitioners must know that people are in a hurry; they don’t have time to delve into details. It is a task before professional media practitioners to be smart and work ahead of an amateur, who twists language and posts unprofessional news on social media platforms.”

    Omatseye noted that the advent of new media should not be seen as a death sentence to the print media.

    But he said the social media pose great challenge to the relevance of newspaper in modern time.

    According to the celebrated columnist, the print media had survived several technology-induced revolutions, noting that newspaper would survive, if the print media practitioners embrace innovation and keep up with the speed of the new media.

    He said: “Online media have less credibility and are more prone to take risk unlike traditional media, which have to go through the rigour of objectivity and fact-checking. But, traditional media managers must understand that this is a post-modern world; journalism is in a hurry as news is served faster.

    “Journalists and journalism students must project into the future and change the way they look at journalism.”

    Omatseye urged journalism student to focus on how to write masterpiece without compromising the ethics of the profession.

    The highpoint was the presentation of award of excellence to Omatseye by the students for his contribution to newspaper and development of journalism.

    NIJ Deputy Provost Mr. Jide Johnson presented the award on behalf of the students.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • We operate with power-bike because it is not banned —Robbery suspect

    We operate with power-bike because it is not banned —Robbery suspect

    TWO armed robbery suspects cooling their heels in the cells of the Zonal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (ZSARS) Onikan, Lagos, Omoniyi Ayetoba aka Oro, aged 24, and Ogundola SojI aka Mancot, 20, have confessed that they used part of the money got from the robbery of a bureau-de-change to buy power-bike because it is not among the motorcycles banned by the state government and it helps them in their operations in addition to reducing suspicion.

    The exhibits recovered include one iron cabinet, one sledgehammer, one toy pistol and one motorcycle (power-bike) with Reg. No. EKY 104 QH.

    Parading the suspects at the Zonal Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos on Tuesday, the new Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG Bala A. Hassan said: “On the 17th August 2015, EMAP Plaza located at Nnamdi Azikiwe Street, Tinubu Square, Lagos Island was invaded by a group of robbers who carted away the sum of sixty-five thousand US dollars (US$65,000), three million naira (N3,000,000) and other valuables.

    “The complainant wrote a petition to me, the AIG Zone 2, for an in-depth investigation, for the arrest of the suspects and recovery of the stolen money and their operational arms. Based on intelligence gathered and the analysis of the call data of the phone used by the suspect, one Omoniyi was arrested around Costain area of Lagos and he admitted during interrogation that he belonged to a three-man armed robbery gang who rob around Lagos Island and Ajah axis but denied being involved in the incident at EMAP Plaza.

    “He led detectives to arrest one Ogundola who is a member of the gang. When their houses were searched, one toy gun and one power-bike with Reg. No. EKY 104 QH were recovered from them. The gang leader whose names were not disclosed for security reason got wind of the arrests and relocated to Ota, Ogun State where he has formed another gang. However, the zonal Command has intensified efforts to arrest him and his new gang and recover their operational arms.

    In his confession Omoniyi said: “I am an ex-convict. I spent three months in Ikoyi Prison. When I returned to my village, Zion village in Ondo State, I had no work. I am a professional welder but nobody gave me work to do. People were avoiding me so I decided to look for my people (armed robbers) to work with them because they were the only people who welcomed me back and accepted me.

    “With time, I decided to be going on operation with Ogundola because two of us understand ourselves better. My role is to hold pistol when we go for operation but I don’t intend to kill anybody with it because when you kill a victim you create tension and attract police and government. Moreover one can easily dispose toy gun  than real gun. It is when we are more in number that they carry guns.”

    Also confessing, the second suspect Ogundola said: “I am from Okitipupa village in Ondo. I do entertainment as master of ceremony in Lagos. I and Omoniyi live on the same street. We got 160,000 US dollars from Bureau-de-change at Ajah.”

  • ‘Why criminals operate freely at Nigeria/Cameroon border’

    The Nigerian Navy (NN) at the weekend attributed the upsurge of criminality at Ibaka, the border between Nigeria and Camerroon near Bakassi Peninsula to the demilitarisation of the area by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and Green Tree Agreement (GTA).

    Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin spoke with reporters on insecurity within the nation’s maritime domain after the pulling/sailing out parade in honour of former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba (rtd).

    The CNS said the Navy is collaborating with their counterparts in Cameroon and Benin Republic in order to have a joint patrol in the region.

    Ibaka has been under siege of criminals after the withdrawal of troops from the region by the Federal Government in compliance with ICJ’s judgment.

    Noting that steps are being taken to stem the tide of criminals, Jibrin said the Navy on Friday morning, rescued three Indians abducted by pirates at Burutu in the Niger Delta.

    “The lack of Navy presence at Ibaka is as a result of the ICJ judgment in the dispute over Bakassi Peninsula that marked Ibaka as a demilitarise zone.

    “You cannot always find the presence of the nNavy at Ibaka that is why criminals are operating there. It is like a free man’s area. But we are now in talks with the navies of Cameroon and Benin Republic to have joint patrols around Bakassi.

    “We cannot just show presence on our own because it will be in violation of the court judgment and the GTA. Something is however, being done underground to curb the criminality at Ibaka.

    “We have been entering and releasing people that are either abducted or held hostage by pirates. Just this morning, three Indians were released by naval personnel around Burutu. Their ship was attacked and the pirates abducted them but after an exercise this morning, our men rescued them alive,” he said.

    The CNS who said the Navy has identified the various challenges confronting the nation at sea, appealed for the right mix of platforms to address them so that the nation can rip grater economic benefits from its huge resources.

    “At the moment, my focus is to ensure that the government makes more money by curbing the activities of pirates and oil thieves. Several exercises have been lined up for the year and we shall execute them.

    “For us to have credible presence at sea there is need for maintenance. We have challenges in that area because most of our platforms are aged. We have at various fora, appealed for a right mix of platforms-a number of ships, helicopters and even boats.

    “However, one strategy we have decided to put in place is to minimize cost of maintenance in view of scarce resources. We all know that the cost of maintaining a ship interms of fuelling alone is high because a ship can take up to a million litres of AGO.

    “Since we do not intend to waste money as a result of the dwindling economy, we have resolved to deploy our boats in right positions. We are aware of navy’s prominent role in protecting the nation’s economy,” he said.

    Meanwhile, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Navy, Aminu Koko said the committee was working on improved budget for the Navy to get platforms needed to stop oil theft and piracy in the nation’s maritime space.

    Represented by a member of the committee, Mustapha Dawaki, Koko attributed the high insecurity at Ibaka to Navy’s lack of adequate platforms.

    He said: “We have to look at what we generate as a nation so as to cater for all other sectors of government. We are collaborating with the navy at the committee level to see how we can convince the government to increase naval funding.

    “We have gone round various commands as far as Ibaka and we were ashamed when we got to Ibaka as a result of the deplorable condition of our territorial waters and infrastructure.”