President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday revealed that the masterminds of
the two deadly bomb blasts that rocked Nyanya, a suburb of the Federal
Capital Territory have been arrested and are currently helping the
security agencies in their efforts to unmask their financiers.
Jonathan spoke while fielding questions from journalists at the end of
the 24th World Economic Forum for Africa, WEFA, held in Abuja which
ended yesterday.
He also said that the Federal Government had earmarked $10 million as
matching grant to the efforts by the international community to rescue
the 230 abducted female students of the Government Girls Secondary
School, GGSS, Chibok in Borno State.
Jonathan said he had declared a total war on Boko Haram ‘’terror
group’’ to rout it out of existence in the country, warning that
anybody thinking that the spate of bombings and other devastation
activities by the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria would force his
administration to bend over forward and negotiate power with the sect
or their sponsors should rather have a re-think as such a situation
would not arise.
He however, reiterated that the successful hosting of the WEFA in
Abuja in spite of threats by the insurgents was a clear demonstration
that the days of Boko Haram were numbered as they will soon be smoked
out with the help of the international community and made to face the
consequences of their evil deeds.
”Boko Haram is a terror group and as journalists you should know the
meaning of terror. Before the 9/11 no body in the US or UK imagined
the dimension of terrorists in the world. You can not be too sure of
what ideology that drives their leaning. Sometimes, it is from the
religious sentiments… but we need to combine so many factors to
underscore their driving spirit .
But I want to advice that the terrorists should also know that they
don’t do certain things and get away with it because most of these
activities are criminal offenses and they should know that when they
are caught, they would pay dearly for it. ‘’For instance, I can tell
you that the masterminds of the last Nyanya bomb blast have been
arrested and would face the long arm of the law.
”I want to assure also that sooner than later, the abducted Chibok
school girls would also be rescued with the help of the global
community and we will use remote sensing technology to smoke them out
to face the consequences,” Jonathan added.
Also, the US Marines currently in Nigeria to help the government
combat Boko Haram terrorists have made their first arrests taking two
male suspects into custody after they were found in possession of arms
and ammunition during a targeted search.
The two suspected Boko Haram members were arrested at Any¬ibe in Logo
Local Gov¬ernment Area of Benue State.
According to the Director of Defence Information, DDI, Major General
Chris Olukolade, the duo, including a teenager and an elderly man,
were arrested during a cordon-and-search operation and found to be in
possession of firearms.
Weapons found in their possession included two rifles, three locally
fabricated pistols and 61 rounds of special ammunition.
Earlier, at a separate briefing by the Coordinating Minister for the
Economy and Minster of Finance, Dr.( Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala and
former British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown among other WEF
Officials, had expressed the desire of both the Nigerian government
and the international community to continue with the agitation of the
Bring back the Chibok Girls campaign.
Brown described the adoption of the school girls as ‘’disgusting and
devilish’’ but assured that the international community would not
stand by and watch the senseless action by Boko Haram to scuttle the
educational desire of innocent girls. He further said that the global
community was already mobilizing million of dollars to combat the
”There is nothing going to stand between the Nigerian children from
going to school. There will be multi- million pounds from the
international community to ensure that every boy and girl has
opportunity to go school in Nigeria through the save school initiative
launched by the Nigerian Private Sector Initiative,” NPSI.
On her own part, the Okonjo-Iweala expressed satisfaction over the
successful hosting of the WEFA and adding that Nigeria used the
opportunity of the forum to canvass for investments and other
networking between local businessmen and the foreign investors that
attended the meetings.
”We are grateful for the first WEF in Africa. The attendance was very
strong with over 1000 delegates from all over the world. The forum was
a success because it enabled us to mobilize the support to bring back
the girls. We also managed to mobilize the international support and
the local ones too,’’ She said.
