Showing posts with label President Goodluck Jonathan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label President Goodluck Jonathan. Show all posts

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Abubakar Malami: The Richest Government Minister in Nigeria


The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, is the richest Federal Minister in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He should be on the cover of Forbes.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan said he made many of his beneficiaries millionaires. President Muhammadu Buhari is making many of his own benefiaries billionaires that should be on the Forbes list of the billionaires in the world.

The following details of his multi-million dollars assets are published by Sahara Reporters .

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For example, Malami has an underground hotel in Sokoto, three houses at Peace Estate, Abuja, a brand new state-of-the-art school in Kebbi, two houses for his sons worth N100million each, and a new hotel under construction in the Jabi area of Abuja.

He also bought a house in 2020 worth N150 million in the Gwarimpa area of Abuja.

Part of Malami’s assets since becoming a minister is also a newly constructed school which is located at the back of NITEL in Gesse Phase 1, Birnin-Kebbi.

A new house worth N600million on Ahmadu Bello Way, Nasarawa GRA, Kano, was acquired by Malami also after becoming a minister.

Malami also built a N3billion multipurpose event centre in Kebbi state named Azbir Arena for his son in Kebbi.

This is apart from Rayhaan Hotel located on Zaria Road, opposite Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, which the AGF massively upgraded.

Ever since SaharaReporters published a series of detailed reports exposing these illicit acquisitions, the online news medium has been a target for the AGF’s camp.

Despite the open display of unexplained wealth by the AGF and members of his family in recent times, President Buhari, who rode to power in 2015 on the back of a promise to crush corruption, especially in the government circle, has yet to offer any statement on the development.

Observers say Buhari’s silence is an endorsement of the atrocities of one of his most trusted lieutenants, Malami.

Read more on 

http://saharareporters.com/2021/10/09/exclusive-nigerias-ministry-justice-under-attorney-general-malami-goes-bankrupt-exhausts





Friday, August 26, 2011

The Political Pettiness of the Nigerian Ruling Class Exposed

The current scandal rocking the judiciary caused by the face-off between Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysious Kastina- Alu and President, Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami is only exposing the political pettiness of the ruling class in Nigeria. The judicial fiasco has pitched the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) against the main opposition party the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) over their political stakes in the dispute.

The excuse given by President Goodluck Jonathan on his appointment of Justice Dalhatu Adamu as Acting President for the Court of Appeal following the suspension of Isa Ayo Salami by the National Judicial Commission (NJC) is dumb.

"What the President has done is to prevent a vacuum and the law provided for that," said Dr. Reuben Abati, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity.
What a dumb excuse.

The President should have waited for the resumption of the National Assembly before appointing Justice Dalhatu Adamu.

The scandalous political fiasco was caused by erroneous and ambiguous allegations of corruption against election tribunal judges after the controversial results of the massively rigged 2007 elections in Nigeria. There have been over 7,000 electoral cases and the judges have been found wanting.

Retired Supreme Court Jurist, Kayode Eso said the election tribunals were turning judges to billionaires and other highly esteemed legal luminaries in the country agreed with him. Because, petitioners reported many instances of bribery and corruption.


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25 Aug 2011
16:37 Young People Ready to Make Their Mark in the Face of a Challenging Global Legacy





Thursday, July 14, 2011

Boko Haram Terrorism Threats in Nigeria



Boko Haram Terrorism Threats in Nigeria
AK2011130700138.

ANALYSIS

Dr. Deji James, Human Rights Group: writing from Abuja, it is emphatic that the Boko Haram issue is far from being just a ‘northern’ phenomenon, but nationwide crisis.

One of the greatest challenges President Goodluck Jonathan's administration faces is the growing insecurity across the country. Nigerians are said to now be living in perpetual fear of falling victim to the spate of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and other acts of terrorism in the country.

Boko Haram, in its fifth straight day of violence, overran a police station in Toro Council in Bauchi State and carted off arms and ammunition. Elsewhere, a heavy explosion followed by bursts of sporadic gunfire hit Maiduguri, where the Islamic fundamentalists have also been waging a campaign of terror.

The Coalition of Ethnic Nationalities of Nigeria (CENN) has said the nefarious operations of the Boko Haram sect must be considered as an act of war and terrorism in the class of a foreign invasion against the country, "and must be drastically confronted as such by the security agencies to prevent further international embarrassment to Nigeria and further loss of Nigerian lives and property".

Governor Obi of Anambra State described the actions of the Boko Haram sect which has resulted in killings of innocent Nigerians in parts of the country, as unacceptable and must be tackled.

Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi, representing Ekiti North Senatorial district of Ekiti State, has justified the recent deployment of soldiers to Abuja to combat the menace of terrorism by Boko Haram, describing the move as a sure way to curtail the activities of the terrorist group. He assured Nigerians that members of the National Assembly will open debate on the matter after recess, saying the issue of terrorism in the country has reached a feverish pitch and needed utmost urgent attention.

Boko Haram has announced its Jihad in Nigeria and its intent on causing further mayhem until its goals of setting up a nation under Sharia is met. For many Nigerians, this is a serious threat, and must be taken very seriously by this President. Boko Haram has basically declared war on the Federal Government of Nigeria, and it is important to evaluate the situation carefully in the coming days on whether to initiate A-grade operations in the North to root out this threat now or allow it to fester and create a growing, inoperable cancer. It is better now to excise the tumor before it spreads.

The Boko Haram menace has taken a new and deadly twist, with the dreaded group issuing threats to eliminate all Christians and even Muslims currently serving in the Federal government. In the statement released by the group last week, it said: “This is a government that is not Islamic. Therefore, all its employees-Muslims and non-Muslims are Infidels.

While the deadly Maiduguri based terror group, Boko Haram, continues to maim, murder and destroy properties, the Nigeria state officials, security agencies are simply at sea as to how to curtail these strings of mayhem. The police most times try to minimize the magnitude of destruction.
Boko Haram’s Terrorism Does Not Threaten Only Nigeria. The Nigerian government has imposed a curfew on the national capital city, Abuja, following recent attacks by Islamist militants. Nightclubs, beer parlours, and cinemas must close by 10pm local time (2100 GMT) and public parks that admit children should close by 6pm. Abuja city’s administration said it has also banned parking of vehicles on two roads where most government offices are located. The security problems bedeviling Nigeria must pique our interest because of its implications for the entire West African sub-region.
To confront this problem we need to have a full understanding of the notion BOKO HARAM. Its direct translation in English means "Western Education is Forbidden" this notion is a very eccentric idea which takes its roots from the colonial era when the British having subdued the fulani's with their artillery batteries in Sokoto had implemented a system of indirect rule in Northern Nigeria, a system which allowed them to pursue their imperialist plans indirectly through the emirs taking full advantage of the existing feudal system.

This grievance has led to mass protests in the north and also the ruling Peoples Democratic Party losing a lot of seats to other political parties. The elite themselves are not safe at all as a result of the spate of high profile assassinations in the country by the dreaded Boko Haram sect. It is very obvious that there is a high level of entropy and ambiguity in the North. The real danger is not in the present but what is yet to come that is why the government must do its best to address the issue of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy in the North.

This time around Nigerians are faced with a problem in the form of terrorist jihadist militants going by the name of Boko Haram which means Western Education is forbidden in the Hausa dialect. The kidnapping of people and blowing up of government infrastructure is one thing but the act of suicide bombing whereby the aggressor is willing to risk his own life by blowing up himself and the intended target to oblivion is a whole different thing entirely.

The recent suicide bombing attack on the National Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force which is the heart of our nation’s civil security outfit is such an unfortunate event. What even makes the situation more alarming is that it was a suicide attack, the first of its kind in our nation’s history.

This is a war that cannot be won by confrontation because these people live among us and for every terrorist that is killed there will be more to eagerly replace them so it is important that the authorities attack this problem from the roots so that our beloved nation will not follow other countries like Somalia, Afghanistan and the rest.

This is a report of how the fear of Boko Haram is threatening to change night life in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja. It is a season of a long list of forbidden activities after 10pm- including weekends. The Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, acting on intelligence and sound security advice, is toeing the path of caution.

Barely an hour after a local government council chairman was shot dead on Sunday evening in his house in Maiduguri by suspected members of the Islamic fundamentalists, Boko Haram, the group was reported to have bombed another local drinking joint at Wulari mammy market in Borno state capital leaving several persons dead and many others injured.

AFGHANISTAN! That was what it called its based in Kanamma, Yobe State. It uses guerrilla tactics as a means of doing devilish things, yet it professes Godliness. Drive-by and ride-by sporadic shooting of police officers and innocent passers-by have become another way of wreaking havoc. Bombs have recently come in handy, and bombs are being deployed with maximum effectiveness. This is the world of Boko Haram, the Islamic terrorist group that appears to be fast replacing the militants of Niger Delta.

The issue of security should not be left alone to government. From my own point of view, government alone cannot stop the activities of terrorists which have left thousands of innocent Nigerians either dead or wounded. People in their thousands are relocating from Maiduguri to their villages and other neighbouring states they consider safe, as the city has been turned into a war zone. When our correspondent visited some motor parks across the metropolis, thousands of people, including students of the University of Maiduguri which was closed on Monday, were seen trying to flee the embattled city.

Death & Destruction, Thy Name is Boko Haram
The members of this sect do not spare royalty or religious leadership. Take: On May 30 this year, suspected members of the sect shot dead Abba Anas Umar Garbai El-Kanemi, the younger brother of Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi. Also, a renowned Islamic Scholar, Shiekh Ibrahim Gomari Airport ward in March.

There was stampede in Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Abuja, Jos, Kogi, Adamawa, Yobe, and Suleja over Boko Haram terrorism acts on Monday when news of incessant killings and bombing by Boko Haram with military forces were announced.

‘’We want people to know that the Federal Government fought us and therefore by the grace of Allah, we would continue fighting until we succeed or die in the process,’’ he said the sect spokesman. Abu Zaid said the sect members would continue to trail former governors of Borno and Bauchi states, Christian preachers as well as all the enemies of God.

Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have arrived Nigeria to help in the investigation of the 16/6 bomb attack on the headquarters of the Nigerian Police Force in Abuja. The FBI is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency (counterintelligence).

The University of Don said that despite the threats by the police and army to crush Boko Haram, the group has continued relentlessly to attack and kill policemen and military-men with ease. The manner in which they went to attack police headquarters in Abuja underscores the fact that they have intelligent people behind them.

However, it is time for government to act before it is too late!


Dr. Deji James, writing from Abuja, Human Rights Group.
13/07/11



Tuesday, July 12, 2011

President Jonathan canvasses speedy ratification of IDPS


President Goodluck Jonathan


11 Jul 2011 16:46 Africa/Lagos


President Jonathan canvasses speedy ratification, domestication of AfricanCconvention on IDPS

ABUJA, July 11, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The current ECOWAS Chairman and President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has called on ECOWAS Member States to ratify and domesticate the African Union (AU) Convention on Humanitarian Assistance and Internal Displacement so as to strengthen their collective capacity to address the challenges of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in West Africa.

Addressing the first Ministerial Conference on Humanitarian Assistance and Internal Displacement in West Africa at the ECOWAS Commission on Thursday, 7th July 2011, the President said although at the sub-regional level, ECOWAS Member States have a relief and support architecture, there was the need to strengthen existing mechanisms through the ratification of the AU convention.

The AU text also known as the Kampala Convention was adopted by African leaders in 2009 to address the problems of humanitarian assistance and internal displacement on the continent.

According to AU records, some 31 signatures and six ratifications had been recorded, while six other Member States have reportedly completed the ratification as of Thursday.


The ECOWAS chairman, represented by Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi, Permanent Secretary in Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Ministry stressed the need for the strengthening of “our democratic structures to ensure good governance as an antidote to political and economic marginalization, which breeds social and political convulsions in our communities.”

He also called on ECOWAS to review and strengthen appropriate mechanisms and institutions in the region “to be able to respond speedily and efficiently to internal shocks, including disasters.”

Speaking in a similar vein, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency James Victor Gbeho, represented by Vice President Jean de Dieu Somda recalled that ECOWAS Member States played a key role in the process that led to the adoption of the Convention, which he described as the first legal instrument on internal displacement with continental scope.

He said the Ministerial conference, organized in conjunction with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the AU and support of the Government of Finland, was an ECOWAS initiative at supporting the achievements of the Kampala Convention.

“In developing strategies and setting standards to achieve our collective goals in assisting and protecting IDPs in West Africa, there is the need for the region to identify the root causes of displacement,” President Gbeho said.

In her statement of support read by the Mr. Dauda Toure, UN Resident Coordination in Nigeria, the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos said “where we are unable to prevent conflict and violence, we must stop accepting internal displacement as its inevitable consequence.”

“More can and must be done to prevent displacement and avert the cycle of despair, deprivation and destitution that almost inevitably ensues,” she added.

While reaffirming the UN systems support, the senior UN official underscored the role of international humanitarian organizations and civil society towards the ratification and implementation of the Convention.

The UN Special Rapporteur on IDPs Chaloka Beyani said “the situation of internally displaced persons affects the stability of states because a stable state in international law is built on a stable population.”

He pledged his readiness to cooperate and work with the ECOWAS Commission, the

African Union Commission, the Member States, and civil society, “to protect and assist internally displaced persons in Africa, and to find durable solutions to their plight.”


The UNHCR Representative to the AU and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Chrysantus Ache, noted that the “AU Plan of Action has a particular focus on promoting the signature, ratification and implementation of the Kampala Convention from 2010 to 2012 and expressly recognizes the essential role that Regional Economic Communities, including ECOWAS, have to play in this important process.”

He renewed the UN agency's unwavering support towards the realization of the objectives of the treaty.

Ambassador Julia Joiner, the AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, who was commended for her distinguished role towards the adoption of the Convention, explained that since the context of displacement having changed dramatically since 1969, Africa now hosts some 3.8 million refugees and over 13 million internally displaced persons, the latter representing about 50% of world's displaced population.

“Internal displacement is no longer an exception and the situation dictates that we respond with new vision and foresight,” she said, adding: “it goes without saying that we need to redouble our efforts to ensure the speedy entry into force of the Convention.

In her message to the ministerial conference, the Finnish Minister of International Development Mrs. Heidi Hautas, represented by Ambassador Kirsti Aarnio, said it was “only through the African ownership and determined action that genuine progress and development could take place” through the Kampala Convention.

She reaffirmed the support of her country to the Convention and its implementation.


Source: Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS)




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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

A Catalog of Pastors Deaths by Boko Haram Militants

A Catalog of Pastors Deaths by Boko Haram Militants

As anxiety is mounting over the activities of Boko Haram group, some Muslims are defusing the fear as misplaced. They see the group as only a new breed of young Muslim activists who have aggressively embraced a stricter version of Islam, rejecting anything Western and Christian. Boko Haram began life as a peaceful group focused on the study of the Koran, according to Abdulmumin Sa’ad, a Muslim scholar and professor of Sociology at the University of Maiduguri.

“The idea was that there is a lot of sin in the larger society and their parents had amassed a lot of ill-gotten wealth,” says Sa’ad, who taught some of the militants. “There is widespread immorality, and so the best thing to do is to remove themselves and camp elsewhere, where they can concentrate on their religion, mediate, reach out and begin to form a fellowship.” Sa’ad claims that group turned violent when authorities harassed it.

In retaliation, the group had killed about 16,000 policemen and was responsible for the death of pastors in Christian circle. Worried about the safety of Christians and pastors in Nigeria, the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, asked the federal government to curb the growing trend of terrorism in parts of the country. “We can no longer allow this group of disgruntled elements to get away with these acts of terrorism in Nigeria,” he said.

The catalogue of death of pastors by Boko Haram militants is raising alarm immediate change. Pastor David Usman, 45, and church secretary Hamman Andrew of the 'Church of Christ in Nigeria' in the troubled city of Maiduguri on the 7 June and Pastor Solomon Uzor of Trinity Chapel in Bauchi on the 10 May were among the latest casualties in what local Christians called "an upsurge of Islamic militancy" in these states.

Evangelical Christians said the two men were shot and killed by members of the Boko Haram sect near an area of Maiduguri, known as Railway Quarters, where their church is based. Hours earlier the gunmen also participated in blasts and attacks that left at least ten people dead, police said. A Catholic church, which was also targeted in the attacks, has been badly shattered, according to witnesses.

The same incident was reported in Lagos where Boko Haram members allegedly killed Pastor Daniel Okolu with two other people in November 2010. Pastor Michael Madugu, had just returned to his medicine store when his assailants pounced on him. Eyewitnesses said: “Two motorcyclists just stopped in front of the shop around 7.00pm and started shooting into the air to scare away people before they opened fire on Madugu. His assailants then moved immediately to the next medicine store where one Obinna and his brother were also shot to death. Unlucky James, another victim, who was about to enter Obinna’s store to buy medicine was also shot dead .

It was gathered that Michael Madugu, a district pastor in charge of Hausa church, was killed by a gang of four fundamentalists in his pharmaceutical shop while dispensing drugs to customers at about 7.05 p.m., leaving his wife and seven children to mourn him.

On December 24, armed men suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect stormed some churches including the Victory Baptist Church at Dala-Alamderi and shot to death the resident pastor, Rev. Bulus Marwa (37), Christopher Balami, a lecturer in the state-owned polytechnic, Paul Mathew, Philip Luka and a tea hawker, Yohana Adamu. The rampaging gunmen also set the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) in Ruwan Safi ablaze. A Deeper Life pastor, 3 others were killed in Maiduguri by suspected members of Boko Haram Jan 20, 2011.

Danjuma Akawu, who survived the attack on the Baptist church, said “they hacked the two choir members using knives and petrol bomb before heading to the pastor’s residence, where he was killed.”

On 26 July, 2009 the girl identified by CSW only as Mary was in church with her pastor, his brother and an older Christian woman when a group of fifty militants broke in. She and her pastor hid as the group killed the pastor’s brother and dragged the older woman out of the room. On discovering their hiding place, the militants cut off her pastor’s hand to stop him holding on to her, then hacked him to death with machetes before setting him on fire.

The girl and the woman were dragged to Boko Haram's compound in Maiduguri's Railway district, and were placed in a room with around 100 other Christian women and girls. They were all asked to renounce their faith or face continued imprisonment, while Christian men were given the choice of renouncing their faith or dying.

Mary vividly describes how she was forced to wash the blood stained clothing of Boko Haram fighters. She was in the camp for four days, but managed to escape with a few others when military forces intensified their attack on the compound.

Mary's pastor was one of three Christian ministers targeted and killed by Boko Haram during that week's violence. "Local Christians have also expressed disappointment that some western media have disregarded the targeted nature of attacks on their community, and the brutal murders of Christian pastors. "Unless this aspect of the violence is recognised by all and dealt with effectively, people in Northern Nigeria will continue to suffer because of their religious beliefs.”

One of the victims of that week’s attack by the Yusufiya sect in Borno State has given a shocking account of how the Islamic extremists killed three pastors who were captured along with other victims on the second day of the insurgence 28 July 2009. The victim was among those held hostage in Yusuf’s enclave.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Sun in Maiduguri, the eye witness who preferred anonymity disclosed that the three pastors were beheaded on the instruction of the sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf shortly after bringing them out of his inner chamber.

“The pastors alongside one Ibo man were asked to change their faith to Islam like they did to other people taken as hostages. And there was an argument by one of the pastors which gave the others some level of confidence to also resist accepting Islam.

“The Yusufiya men who were armed on that Tuesday afternoon were not comfortable with the pastors and they took one of them to the sect leader in his inner chamber. They came out later to the courtyard within the compound and cut their heads one after the other and thereafter, shouted allah akbar in wild celebration accompanied with several gun shots,” the eye witness disclosed.

Corroborating the account of the killing, a Senior pastor with Good News Church, Wulari Maiduguri Rev. Baba Gata Ibrahim told Daily Sun in an interview that a pastor in his church, Pastor George Orjih was beheaded on the instruction of the Boko Haram leader because the clergy man refused to accept Islam.

The late Pastor George Orjih was said to have arrived Maiduguri last week from Jos where he was doing his Masters programme in Theology. Described as a fearless, hardworking, and intellectually sound, his care for the welfare and well being of his family allegedly contributed to his capture and eventual death. “He was mindful of his family and their welfare. He was really out of the house but thought to go back again. That was how he was captured by the Boko Haram before he was killed,’’ the senior pastor added.

“An eye witness who was also captured by the Islamic militants gave us details of how the pastor was killed. He told us they were persuading him to accept Islam and he said over his dead body. He was even said to have preached Christ to Mohammed Yusuf and that reportedly angered the sect leader who then as he ordered that the pastor and others be killed immediately,” he disclosed.

He said the hostages numbering about 50 within the area of the execution of the pastors and another fair complexioned man which he could not identify, were gripped with fear as non could foretell the outcome of their stay at the enclave of the fundamentalists. He was however lucky to escape as he was freed in the night with others with a warning not to mix with kafrici (infidels).

Late Rev. Sabo Yakubu, slain COCIN Church pastor, was assassinated in Bauchi by Boko Haram militants March 2011. The late pastor had once complained about the activities of Boko Haram, saying that unless the Nigerian government faced up to the challenge of its attacks, the extremist group would consume the lives of innocent persons, according to Gongchi. But Reverend Titus Dama Pona of the Evangelical Church Winning All in Maiduguri said local Christians remain concerned about their future. He told reporters that Christians can no longer worship freely for "fear of becoming targets of these unprovoked attacks" by Muslim militants.

A statement was issued by pastor Ladi Thompson, the founder of the Living Water Church, Anthony Lagos that the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Ogun State is an obvious target of the Islamic fundamentalist group, Boko Haram. This is not just a possibility but one of the deadly plans of the fundamentalist group, according to a Christian cleric, Pastor Ladi Thompson.

He particularly advised the leadership of the RCCG to beef up security as the fundamentalists are angry that in the build-up to the last election, President Goodluck Jonathan who visited the camp knelt down for prayer before the General Overseer of the church, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye.

Pastor Ladi advised authorities of the church not to allow worshipers come into its worship hall with more than their Bibles. He also cautioned the church against allowing people to enter the camp with paper bags or other suspicious containers.
When the group launched its attacks in July 2009, Pastor Ladi had alerted the government that what happened then was just a tip of the iceberg and revealed that the Islamic fundamentalists had been at plan since early 1990s, fully backed by some northern former military leaders, Emirs, intellectuals and Imams.

According to Umaru’s declaration the acting leader of the sect in 2009 said: For the first time since the killing of Mallam Mohammed Yusuf, our leader, we hereby make the following statements-

*That the Boko Haram is an Islamic Revolution which impact is not limited to Northern Nigeria, in fact, we are spread across all the 36 states in Nigeria, and Boko Haram is just a version of the Al Qaeda which we align with and respect. We support Osama bin Laden, we shall carry out his command in Nigeria until the country is totally Islamised which is according to the wish of Allah.

It must be recalled that the Islamic group that goes by such names as Boko Haram and Jama’atu ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’awati wal Jihad had made an open declaration of war on the 28th of December 2010 after several bombs were exploded in the city of Jos, along with various Islamic killings in Kano, Bauchi and Maiduguri on the Christmas Eve. Abu Mohammed also known as Abubakar bin Mohammad Shekau the leader and spokesperson for the group said;

“I want to tell the Muslims in this country and the whole world that they need to know that this is a war between Muslims and non-Muslims… this is not a tribal war, nor is it similar to the wars of the pre-Islamic era, it is not a war for financial gains, it is solely a religious war. We did not start this war so it would not end in one week, or one month or one year. Only when we are completely annihilated and nobody chooses to continue with our struggle may be that could be the end. Or we establish a system where [Islamic] religion has the final say or [Islamic] religion determines everything, that will be the end of this war…” He went further to boast that “We are ready for anyone willing to face us, whether it is a group of people or even the government because we know who supports us, God the Creator of the universe, Allahu Akbar. Therefore, we are warning every Muslim who believes in the religion of Islam that he should never help a non-Muslim in this war. If he helps any non-Muslim and in so doing, a fellow Muslim suffers due to that, he should know that he is a dead person.”

The Police Commissioner Mohammed Abubakar admitted a security lapse on the part of his divisional police officers, whom he said had been told to watch out for Boko Haram members. The activities of the Islamic extremist Boko Haram, whose names means “Western education is sin,” were crushed by police in 2009 with the arrest of many of its members and the killing of its leader.

Lagos Police command beef up security to prevent the dastardly incident happening in Lagos, the state command yesterday beefed up security around its environs. Anti-bomb operatives from the Bomb Disposal Squad unit, Ikeja, were spotted at the entrance of the Lagos State Police Headquarters, the force Annex headquarters in Moloney, the Special Anti-robbery squad, Adeniji-Adele and the Special Fraud Unit, Milverton, Ikoyi, screening vehicles that were entering the premises. Even people on foot were not spared as they were thoroughly frisked.

The general superintendent of Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Kumuyi, demanded the arrest and prosecution of the Boko Haram members and others to serve as a deterrent.

“A situation in which feuds easily lead to the burning of churches and the endless killings of church ministers and innocent citizens is an abhorrent trend which must not be allowed to continue,” Pastor Kumuyi said. “The initiative rests on the doorsteps of the security agencies to bring this unfortunate trend to an end.”
The attack on the National Police Headquarters in Abuja last week was a slap and insult on the part of the security forces. Ndigwe said the attack on the Force Headquarters "is a very strong signal that nobody is safe in this country because if the seat of the nation's Police Force could be easily attacked without any resistance, then there is serious danger for the nation.

According to the report from the sect spokesman Abu Zaid: The man who bombed the Nigeria Police Force headquarters in Abuja on June 16 was a fairly well-to-do businessman who was actually on a suicide mission on behalf of the Islamic sect the Boko Haram, Blueprint can authoritatively report.

Mohammed Manga was a 35-year-old married man with five children who drove overnight from Maiduguri to Abuja in order to carry out the morning attack which left about five people dead, including a police officer, and many cars incinerated in the blast. He had left N4 million in his will for his five children – two girls and three boys – before embarking on the fateful journey to the nation’s capital.

There was proof also that Manga was accompanied on the deadly mission by at least a collaborator in the plot, who took his last photograph alive as he drove through the streets of Abuja. The collaborator(s) might have disembarked from the car before Manga reached the Louis Edet House headquarters of the Nigerian Police.

Blueprint can also authoritatively report that, contrary to a claim by the police authorities that the bomber had used a Mercedez Benz ‘V Boot’ car in his terror mission; he actually used a Honda 86 model.

These shocking details and others were made exclusively available to this newspaper by the leadership of the Islamist sect, Jama’atu Ahl-Sunnati Lil Da’awati wal Jihad, popularly called the Boko Haram, in a telephone interview in the Hausa language, fielded by the group’s spokesman who goes by the name Abu Zaid.

The group also e-mailed to our Borno State correspondent startling photographs of a grinning Manga as he undertook the revenge mission. It was the first time it was giving a glimpse into its operations.One of the most startling information given by Abu Zaid was that the attacker was one Mohammed Manga, who was better known and addressed by his friends and business associates as Alhaji Manga.“He is originally from Adamawa State but he was born and brought up in Maiduguri, where he embraced the teachings of the late Mohammed Yusuf,” the spokesman said.

Mohammed Yusuf was the leader of the group and was killed by the police in 2009 following the bloodiest clash involving the Boko Haram in which thousands of the sect’s members and other people died.Blueprint was also told by the sect that Manga was Fulani by tribe and that he started both as a commercial and private driver at different times in his adult life. A few years before the July 2009 Boko Haram uprising, Manga began to travel to Cotonou in Benin Republic and later Dubai frequently in order to buy all kinds of goods.He was a major contributor to the Boko Haram’s arms build-up.

Abu Zaid also confided in this newspaper that Manga left a will of over N4 million to his two daughters and three sons and urged fellow believers to sacrifice their lives for the sake of Allah. This, the group said, is evident in the last-minute pictures of Manga, believed to have been taken at a camp somewhere in Borno State.The man’s last will and the photographs are proof that Manga was on a suicide mission and that his death at the Louis Edet House headquarters of the police was not an accident.
“He was calm and never hesitated or showed fear,” Abu Zaid recalled, adding that everyone at the scene that night on the eve of the attack was envious, wishing it was their chance to act and gain entry into paradise.

According to him, the planning of the attack targeting the Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Hafiz Ringim, was not in any way different from the way and manner they plan other attacks around the country, insisting that the only difference was that this mission was abruptly brought closer in response to the remarks made by Ringim that he would eradicate the Boko Haram within weeks.The IGP had on June 15 boasted, while receiving10 armoured personnel carriers donated to the police by the Borno State government, that the Boko Haram’s days were numbered.

“Now that the (general) elections are over, our attention would be concentrated and I want to assure you that the days of the Boko Haram are numbered,” Ringim had told a gathering at the Government House in Maiduguri, with the state governor Kashim Shettima present.

Abu Zaid also claimed that the bomb his group used in the attack was a ready-made one, which the sect acquired from abroad. “And we are going to use several of them in future attacks,” he warned.The group dismissed media reports and commentaries that suggest it might not have planned a suicide attack but that the bomb blast was merely an accident in which the attacker was trapped, insisting that it was really pre-planned.“Everyone had waited patiently for the outcome of that operation,” said Abu Zaid.

According to him, the car that was used was not a Mercedes Benz ‘V-Boot’, but an ash-colour Honda 86 model.“I was surprised when the police said the car was a Mercedes ‘V-Boot’,” he said. “It was never a Mercedes. The car used for the attack was an ash-colour Honda 86. We are surprised over the way the police are confused anytime we strike.”

Meanwhile, the group has discredited the conditions for dialogue ostensibly given by the Boko Haram by one Usman Al-Zawahiri and others, challenging them to give a single proof that they are with the authentic group.

“We don’t know Al-Zawahiri; he is not with us,” Abu Zaid said.
“In fact, our investigation revealed that he is an SSS (State Security Service operative) and was brought in to discredit what we are doing and give an impression that we are divided. There is no faction in our group.”

Giving a reason why the Boko Haram chose Blueprint correspondent for breaking the news, Abu Zaid remarked: “You were the first journalist who repeatedly wrote about us when we were not known to the world; you were the first journalist who reported when our brothers were shot at on their way to a funeral procession by members of a security outfit setup by the Borno State government, known as ‘Operation Flush.’ We see you as an objective writer who is never afraid to say the truth; that is why our leader approved the idea to give you the final evidence that we were solely behind the suicide attack at the police headquarters.”

The Boko Haram is believed to be headed by one Malam Abubakar Shekau, the deputy of the late Mohammed Yusuf.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) calling on President Jonathan to urgently re-strategise and tackle the current security challenges which had become a major threat to his administration, Ndigwe said that the Ohanaeze would soon convene a meeting to discuss the security of the nation and come up with a position because "the bombings in Iran, Iraq and other parts of the Middle East started like this."


Source: Chidi Ahmed, Blueprint Correspondent.

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28 Jun 2011





Saturday, June 25, 2011

Why Boko Haram bombed the Nigeria Police Headquarters in Abuja



Nigeria: Boko Haram Terrorism Threats: Police Headquarters Bombing and our security

I must confess that I am neither surprised by the brazen attack on the headquarters of the Nigeria Police, the almighty Louis Edet House in Abuja, by members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect, nor by the reaction of President Goodluck Jonathan. Why?

I was in Maiduguri and Bauchi August for over a week in 2009 after the Boko Haram attacks that set Borno and Bauchi States ablaze, literally. The level of destruction was unprecedented. I visited the prison and police stations that were sacked. I went to the police college where senior police officers on course were slaughtered while sleeping. I saw churches that were bombed. I went to the sect’s headquarters located at the Maiduguri Railway Terminus Areas (MRTA) that had been destroyed and taken over by security men. I was told of the atrocities committed in that very compound and shown what was alleged to be the killing chamber of the sect’s leader, Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, who was summarily executed by the police after his arrest.

I visited the compound of Yusuf’s father-in-law, the 72-year-old Alhaji Baa Fugu Mohammed, who was alleged to be one of the financiers of the sect. The man was also executed, his compound destroyed. I interviewed two young women – 22-year-old Patricia Ibe, who was an accountancy student then and 14-year-old Chidinma Obigwe. Two of them watched as three of their religious brethren had their throats slit.

They were taken away as spoils of war, only rescued when men of the Borno State special security outfit, Operation Flush, invaded the sect’s headquarters where they and over 1,500 other people, mostly women, were held hostage.

I spoke to Rev. Dr. Daniel Egboka, Assistant General Superintendent of the National Evangelical Mission and Chairman, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (Borno State chapter), who was also the Pastor of the National Evangelical Mission Wukari Headquarters, Maiduguri. Not only was his church burnt down, his Assistant Pastor, Sylvester Nseobong, his brother who visited from Akwa Ibom, Patrick James, and the church’s security man, Elijah Gambo, were the three men Patricia and Chidinma watched their gory execution.

Pastor Egboka showed me the bones of his fallen colleagues; still at the very spot they were burnt. As at the time of the interview, his wife had fled Maiduguri, vowing never to set her foot again in the state or any part of the North. I interviewed the then state Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, whose former Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Buji Fai, resigned his appointment to join the sect. Buji was also summarily executed. There were insinuations then that the Governor ordered the execution of Mohammed and Buji to stop them from spilling the bean. Sheriff denied the allegation vehemently, claiming that he was also a target. The Commander of the Operation Flush 11, Colonel Ben Ahanotu, who I met in the Governor’s office, spoke off record, detailing the enormity of the crisis and the atrocity committed by the sect members.

The Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbal El-Kanemi, who only assumed office on May 31, 2009, barely two months before the mayhem, spoke. He said the irreverent Yusuf embarrassed not only the state but the entire Muslim community.

The University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) was filled to capacity with victims – men, women, children and the aged. I spoke with soldiers and policemen with all manner of wounds. The mortuary was overflowing. As a result, corpses were being dumped at the car park of the Umaru Shehu Ultra Modern Hospital, Bulumkutu.

Police denied me access to the arrested Boko Haram members, who were in detention, but I spoke to members who were not detained and they vowed revenge. I spoke to many other victims of the madness and came out with the impression that the sect’s capacity for violence was almost infinite. Scarier was my perception that they had the capacity to sustain the insurrection. I saw a people whose thirst for blood was insatiable.

In Bauchi, it was the same level of atrocity committed by the sect members. Many young people are now in their early grave as well as religious and political leaders. I interviewed sect members arrested by the police and vowed to wage war on the nation. Both traditional and religious leaders have been displaced. Bishop A.T Moses was mentioned as the enemy to their mission as well as Pastor Sunday I. Peters.

Since 2009, I have watched as they carried out attacks with astounding precision, knocking off high value targets almost effortlessly.

So, when the group issued a statement last Wednesday, boasting that their warriors had “arrived Nigeria from Somalia where they got serious training on warfare,” and vowing that they would “wage jihad on the enemies of God and his Messenger,” I sensed an escalation in the paroxysm of violence that had gripped the
country. The vow was a reaction to the Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim’s boast that the days of Boko Haram were numbered after receiving 10 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) from the Borno State government the previous day.

It is instructive that Ringim’s office was bombed a day after the group made its vow. It is also helpful, but by no means comforting, to note that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, the first time ever in Nigeria, after Boko Haram’s claim that their fighters had returned from Somalia.

I was also not surprised by Jonathan’s response when he visited Louis Edet House on Saturday. “Let me use this opportunity to assure Nigerians that it happens all over the world, no country is safe,” the President said. How the knowledge that terrorism is a global phenomenon can assuage the anxiety of distraught Nigerians, only the President can explain.

But I was not surprised because that was the same answer he gave after the gruesome murder of the Governorship candidate of the Borno State All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Modu Fannami Gubio, who until his death was the Commissioner for Finance. Six other people killed in that brazen attack on January 28 included the Governor’s brother, Alhaji Goni Modu Ngala, who was former chairman of Ngala local government.

Since terrorism had become global merchandise, Nigerians have nothing to complain about, the President seemed to have suggested. But that is too simplistic a solution coming from him. No Nigerian is going to be comforted by the fact that bombs are also exploding in other parts of the world including the United States and Europe.

The fact of the matter is that Nigeria has become a haven for terrorists and this should give the President serious concern. Sadly, he doesn’t seem to appreciate the enormity of the crisis because if he does, he would have appreciated the significance of the bombing of the police headquarters. It is an audacious attack executed strategically to send a clear message that if the security of the seemingly impregnable police headquarters could be easily breached, then nowhere, not even Aso Rock is safe.

Leadership is not an easy task. It is only in Nigeria that people grow younger and look more robust when they are elected or appointed into public office. In other climes the reverse is the case because leadership exerts its toll on those who occupy public office. Anyone who is in doubt should look at President Barack Obama; how much he has aged in three years.
Presidency is not a feel good job. Jonathan must roll up his sleeve and work. We have full-blown terrorism on our hands. And the successful attack on the Louis Edet House, where the Inspector General of Police, Ringim, escaped death by the whiskers, is a morale booster. It is disturbing that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the country thinks that terrorism can be wished away which is what his statement that, “Nigeria is also having some ugly incidents lately but surely we will get over it and people should not panic at all,” seems to suggest.
However, it was learnt that preliminary police investigations into the 16/6 bombing showed that the Police High Command and the top leadership of the nation’s security agencies came to that initial conclusion from reading the footages of the incident from the Close Circuit Television at the Louis Edet House. The impact of the bomb, which destroyed about 77 cars in the IG’s parking lot and reduced the Honda to an engine stump, killed the suspected bombers right inside their car.
Journalists who went to the police headquarters shortly after the blast last week observed so much confusion among the police about the particular car that actually carried the device. A good number of the policemen pointed to a mangled car whose two tyres were on a culvert in the car park as the car driven by the bomber. It took a lot of protest from the journalists to get a close photograph of the car when the rescue team comprising men of the Red Cross and National Emergency Management Agency got the human parts from the car into some black cellophane bags.

It took a four-man team of journalists from the PUNCH close to one hour to extract that piece of information from a police officer who lost his car to the blast and two of his junior colleagues to disclose the real car that carried the bomb. However, the police have said that the ongoing investigations would soon unveil the sponsors of Boko Haram.

Boko Haram is a determined foe. It must be fought decisively and even if not totally vanquished, at least defanged or we should all consider ourselves dead.


Source: Emeka Owoniyi (JNCR)


Thursday, June 23, 2011

A man and a morass: Can Goodluck Jonathan clean up corruption?




NIGERIANS have taken to watching an old film—one of their own—since the presidential election last month. It shows intrigue and thievery at the court of an ancient king in the Niger Delta. Decked out in glittering costumes on an improvised sound stage, the wicked court at last collapses under the weight of its own sins.

When it was released in 1999, “Saworoide” was seen as a commentary on the regime of Sani Abacha, who ruled (or, as some prefer, “dismembered”) Nigeria between 1993 and 1998. Once again, Nigerians are hoping to see the back of their ruling elite. Goodluck Jonathan, the president, wafts along on a wave of personal goodwill and is mostly seen as benign. It is the men and women around him whom voters blame for Nigeria’s woes.

Click here to read the full report

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  • Monday, June 6, 2011

    President Jonathan meets President Obama at the White House on Wednesday




    Statement by the Press Secretary on the Visit of President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria to the White House


    President Obama will welcome President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria to the White House on Wednesday, June 8.

    The President looks forward to consulting with President Jonathan on the latest regional and global developments, and deepening our strong bilateral partnership.


    Wednesday, June 1, 2011

    Nigerian President Jonathan Meets with Chinese President's Special Envoy

    1 Jun 2011 14:35 Africa/Lagos


    Nigerian President Jonathan Meets with Chinese President's Special Envoy

    BEIJING, June 1, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- On May 30, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan met in Abuja with Chinese President Hu Jintao's special envoy and Minister of Railways Sheng Guangzu, who was here to attend Jonathan's presidential inauguration.


    Jonathan thanked Sheng for attending his presidential inauguration ceremony as President Hu's special envoy. He said China is a great friend of Nigeria and that he is satisfied with the friendship and cooperation between the two countries. Nigeria is now witnessing a new period of development, he said, adding that he expects more Chinese enterprises to take part in railway and other infrastructural construction in Nigeria and offer assistance for Nigeria's economic development. Jonathan said Nigeria hopes to continue getting China's support in the United Nations and other international affairs.


    Sheng conveyed the Chinese president's congratulations to Jonathan. He said, in the past four decades since China and Nigeria forged diplomatic ties, especially since 2005 when the two countries established strategic partnership, the two sides have enhanced mutual political trust. He said on major international issues, the two countries kept close communication and coordination and that they conducted effective cooperation in various areas. The Chinese government is ready to further enhance high-level exchange with Nigeria and deepen the cooperation in bilateral and international issues, the envoy said. China will encourage Chinese enterprises to take part in and support Nigeria's economic construction so as to promote the development of the strategic partnership between the two countries, Sheng added.


    The Chinese special envoy attended Jonathan's presidential inauguration on May 29.


    Source: China - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

    Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time


    1 Jun 2011

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    Sunday, May 29, 2011

    President Goodluck Jonathan must prove himself to Nigerians



    It was a very calm Sunday as President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn-in at the Eagle Square in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, witnessed by thousands at the venue and millions of others followed the event on TV and the internet.

    There is relative peace in the Niger Delta as the former militants are now fully engaged in the Amnesty programme of the government, but the terrorist Islamist sect Boko Haram is still attacking and killing innocent citizens in Borno State.
    President Goodluck Jonathan should do his best to prove to Nigerians that he can lead without the interference of his discredited political godfathers like his former boss, the disgraced former state governor of Bayelsa State Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who was indicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for corruption and former President Olusegun Obasanjo who has done more harm than good to Nigerians. Mr. Jonathan does not need their excess political baggage in his mission to reform and transform the most populous country in Africa.


    ~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima



    Inside Story: Nigeria's presidential election




    Saturday, May 28, 2011

    Security Challenges in Nigeria

    Security Challenges in Nigeria

    ~ By Albert Akpor

    Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan says he is determined to improve security in the country with a new administration that takes power with Sunday's inauguration.

    Security was a driving issue in the presidential campaign following bomb blasts by militants from the oil-rich Niger Delta and attacks on police by members of an extremist Islamic group in the north.

    President Jonathan campaigned hard to convince Nigerians that his government was meeting those security challenges. But rioting that immediately followed his election raised anew questions about security preparedness. The New York-based rights organization Human Rights Watch says Muslim-Christian electoral violence in northern states killed at least 800 people. President Jonathan says he is determined to protect Nigerians wherever they live.

    “As president, it is my solemn duty to defend the constitution of this country. That includes the obligation to protect the lives and properties of every Nigerian wherever they choose to live,” he said.

    Delta State University political science lecturer Benjamin Agah says part of the problem is that suspects arrested after attacks are often released without prosecution, returning to the streets for the next round of violence.

    “The same people who ought to be found guilty, who ought to be jailed or who ought to be punished, they are the same people who will still come out again, untouched by the law. So the president has a lot of security challenges,” he said. Agah says the new government must be willing to better equip security forces, especially in remote areas of the north.

    “There are some places now that can not be policed ordinarily except through air. So the police should be fully equipped. They should be given the requisite necessities to enable them to fight these criminals,” he said. Public affairs analyst Kole Shetimma says insecurity is a problem for the president that runs far deeper than spending more money on police.

    “In these security challenges, I think that we should not approach it from a law-and-order perspective. I think we have to look at the socio-economic and political conditions that have given way to some of these major problems,” said Shetimma.

    In the Niger Delta, for example, President Jonathan helped organize an amnesty for militants fighting against a federal government that they say have failed to develop the oil-rich region. There have been delays in paying monthly stipends to those demobilized combatants and far fewer job-training programs than were promised. Shetimma says the president must address the underlying economic grievances in the Delta.

    “How do we ensure that the communities in which this oil is produced have access to some of the oil resources that we have. The new petroleum bill, which gives like ten percent of the oil resources to the communities, I agree that that should be fast-tracked,” said Shetimma.

    In the north, the extremist Boko Haram group is fighting to establish Islamic law and says it recognizes neither the Nigerian constitution nor the just-completed election. It is rejecting an amnesty offer from the governor-elect of Borno State, who is trying to end months of attacks against security forces. Shetimma says one of the obstacles is the government's refusal to recognize that security forces acted outside the law last year in killing Boko Haram members in Jos.

    “It has to be on how do you respond to the loss of property? How do you respond to the security implications? So I am hoping that this is going to be a comprehensive approach to the issue of Boko Haram,” said Shetimma.

    President Jonathan says part of his plans for improving security in the north and in the south is to increase employment for young men who he says are being used as “cannon fodder for the ambitions of a few.”

    One of the greatest challenges presently facing security agents in the country, especially the Police is the constant threat by members of the notorious Boko Haram sect operating freely in the northern part of the country. The dreaded group has so much instilled fear and trepidation on our law enforcement agents to the extent that the fear of Boko Haram is now the beginning of wisdom to them all.

    In fact, posting to the northern part of the country has become an anathema to, especially members of the police force from the southern part of the country going by the constant killings and attacks carried out by members of this sect who are gravely averse to all kinds and nature of civilization or education. Life before perpetrators of these heinous, sectarian and or religious upheavals has become meaningless and something that could be cut short at will.

    Like the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) in the West, the Egbesu (militants) in the Niger-Delta, Boko Haram came to limelight in 2002. But unlike the OPC and Egbesu, the ideology of Boko Haram was purely Islamism and anti-western civilization.

    This sect led by the (late?) Ustaz Mohammed Tusuf, Mallam Sanni Umaru and Abu Darba has as its sole aim, entrenching Shariah law as the official and only religion not only in the North but also in Nigeria as a whole. With its operational headquarters in Kanamma, Borno state of Nigeria, the term ‘’Boko Haram’’ comes from both the Hausa and Arabic words meaning, ‘’western or non-Islamic education’’ and ‘’sin’’ respectively. So, to believers of the faith, ‘’anything western or non-Islamic education is a sin.’’ It therefore goes to say that members of the sect are totally averse to anything that has to do with western civilization and this literally means that ‘’Western or non-Islamic education is a sin.’’

    Investigation carried out by Crime Alert revealed that though the fanatical religious movement started in 2002 in Maiduguri, its anti-people, anti-government activities became intense in 2004 when the group reportedly attacked a police formation and killed several senior police officers for reasons only known to members. Afterwards, it became much more hostile to non-members, secular education and of course, the nation’s nascent democracy. In fact, the leader of the sect, in his avowed determination to drive home the group’s ideology was once quoted as saying, ‘’This war that is about to start would continue for a long time’’ if the political and educational system in the country was not changed.

    In the mean time, the group’s notoriety assumed international dimension in 2009 as a result of the orgies of violence carried out in nearly all the Northern states, especially, Kaduna, Adamawa, Bauchi and Borno states during which several lives and property worth millions of naira were destroyed by members of the sect.

    Apparently irked by this disturbing dimension, the Police in the month of July 2009 commenced investigation into the nefarious activities of the group especially when it was reported that it was stockpiling arms. The police succeeded in not only arresting several of its members but killed their leader. This sparked off another violent clash to the extent that security reports showed that the group was arming itself. It was revealed that, prior to the clashes, many Muslim leaders and non-members of the sect and a security official had warned the authorities about the heinous activities of Boko Haram and their plans to strike a deadly blow on the nation’s stability.

    However, Crime Alert scooped the reasons behind the group’s guerilla-like modus oparandi and why security agents, especially the Police is seemingly helpless over the ugly development in spite of their heavy presence in the Northern states where the sect is noted to have wrecked and is still wrecking havoc.

    A senior security operative who spoke on the condition of anonymity alleged that a reasonable number of officers and men of all the security agencies from the Northern part of the country, the physically challenged persons from the area and Muslim women who wear hijab are members of the deadly sect. According to him, ‘’I can tell you that the reason why you think we are helpless is that most of us who are members of the group are constantly working against ourselves. As a commander of a squad and secret member of the group, if it is known that the group is operating in one area, you will lead your men to another area. Secondly, if you are the landlord of where the sect grouped or re-grouped to wreck havoc, you dare not inform security agents; it is part of solidarity.

    Again, the fact that you hear of sporadic bombings is not because we were not doing our best, but because as security men, you dare not search Muslim women who wear Hijab. Searching them would amount to indecent assault. Meanwhile, most of them carry the bombs, pass them over to the common cripples on the streets begging for alms and before you know it, you will hear explosion even close to checkpoints and most times at police formation or the barracks.’’

    Continuing, the source said, ‘’This is why we are seemingly helpless. Except we are able to correct this visible errors which are of course, security lapses, bomb explosions and the menace of Boko Haram sect would continue for a long time.’’ It was also gathered that this ugly development which is receiving the attention of the powers that be will soon be addressed following revelations that the Presidency is taking time to ascertain the veracity of the report while at the same time compiling names of those suspected to be involved.

    More over, the Presidency is said to be holding series of meetings with all the security agencies with a view to identifying where there is laxity in the pursuit of this goal. It was also gathered that security at the borders will be strengthened with a view to making it impossible for foreigners to capitalize on the activities of members of this sect and infiltrate into the country.

    Meanwhile, reports said the Controller-General of Immigration, Mrs Rose Uzoma has ordered her men at the borders to swing into action and fish out foreigners that collaborate with members of this sect without delay. Sources at the Immigrations headquarters in Abuja said she had already set up a special task force that will report directly to her over the issue with a mandate to deliver positive results within one month. On their part, the State Security Services (SSS) are said to have intensified efforts towards rounding up all those connected with the activities of this sect remotely or otherwise.

    Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time

    27 May 2011