Boko Haram has named popular newspapers and broadcast media as its new target.
The extremist group, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihadl, popularly called Boko Haram, today named more media houses and staff as targets of its attack.
In an 18-minute video, the group threatened to attack more media houses, naming Voice of America (Hausa), Radio France (Hausa), Daily Trust, Guardian Newspapers, among others.
The group also gave reasons why it bombed Thisday office in Abuja and other media houses last Thursday.
“This is a message from jamaatu ahlis sunnah lil daawati wal jihad, and we wish to inform Nigerians our reasons for attacking some media houses,” the group said.
The video also shows that the radical group carried a live coverage of the bombing in Abuja and filmed the explosion at Thisday. The group created the new Youtube video under the name Alhaji Mani.
Available information indicates that the gun battle between the men of the Joint Task Force [JTF] and the men of Boko Haram may have resulted in the death a suspected Boko Haram member while the other members of Boko Haram reportedly escaped. The wives and children were arrested by the men of JTF. No member of the JTF sustained any injuries or died in the gun exchange.
According to the information received by 247ureports.com, the Boko Haram hide out at Maidule area behind Sabuwar Gandu was hit in the early morning hours of today – following a tip off by the neighbors who suspected that the members of Boko Haram were living at the said house. Upon arriving at the location, it was discovered that the men of Boko Haram had bobby-trapped the house. As the JTF began firing, the explosives went off – allowing the men of Boko Haram ample opportunity to escape the house – leaving behind their wives and children – who were then arrested by JTF.
The hit operation by the JTF was said to be a success. The hit recovered a cache of heavy amunitions in the possession of the Boko Haram.
The men of JTF are expected to brief the press shortly.
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The JTF has confirmed that a Boko Haram member was killed in Kano while another one escaped. They indicated that two women and a three week old child were captured in the house along with a large amount of bullets and 60 AK47 riffles and home-made bombs. It was revealled that one of the captured women had in her bag a cache of bullets and other small arms. The JTF revealed that the woman had been arrested previously following a tip off but she was later released because she was pregnant. In addition, the motorbikes recovered at the house resembled the same motorbikes used in the BUK attacks – and in another attack against the Kano State home of the Imo State Commissioner.
Meanwhile, 247ureports.com has gathered that as the men of JTF arrived the scene with the bomb sniff dogs used to detect bombs – and as the dogs began work – the bombs detonated killing the dogs instantly.
The first civilian governor of New Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, has recommended one his successors and incumbent governor of the state, Peter Obi, for the nation’s number one seat of president.
Speaking to newsmen in Awka over the weekend on national and state issues, Ezeife singled out Obi for the presidency of the nation for what he described as his accomplishments in the areas of improvement of infrastructural and administrative developments of the state, his fiscal discipline and leadership qualities which has seen him being the chairman of South East Governors’ Forum for many years now.
‘Peter Obi has been underrated by our people too much and I don’t know why. They said he is even more ‘araldite’ than myself; I was told I was tight-fisted and that he is even more tight-fisted than me, but there has been some significant physical development of Anambra State, there has been some significant administrative development in Anambra State and the governor of Anambra State has been the leader of South East Governors’ Forum. He is highly rated in financial management across the country. Peter Obi is actually one of those who should be considered for the office of president, because he has done quite well,’ Ezeife enthused.
Speaking further on the issue of Igbo presidency in 2015, Ezeife said only the Igbo could stop themselves from becoming president of Nigeria. He however pointed out that it could only come to fruition if the Igbo put their acts together and make a shortlist of not more than five candidates from which one would be chosen by general consensus rather than by force.
‘So if the Igbo people say yes to Igbo presidency in 2015, I will say yes in support and it will happen, but if our people begin to shake and allow all kinds of wavering, then we will be the cause of our downfall,’ Ezeife warned.
He said that the current Boko Haram-induced violence in the country would only succeed in further delaying the north from returning to power in the nearest future. He regretted that after the north had ruled Nigeria for 38 and half out of the country’s 50 years of Independence, they should be willing to give others a chance instead of claiming that they were born to rule.
The first principled truth is that at this time in Nigeria life is frustrating and painful considering the current level of insecurity in the nation.
There is one Nigerian, apart from the nation’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who really knows the depth and density of insecurity in the country, he is the President’s current national security adviser and his name is Owoye Andrew Azazi, a retired general and a former chief of defense staff.
In truth and in pain, and from the point of speculative or theoretic psychology,Azazi was waiting for that very Friday and that week end to reveal his repressed anger, feelings of shame and guilt about a dwindling nation,and find a way to turn all of his frustrations not against himself, at least not this time but towards the nation as a whole especially those in political leadership, the President apparently.
Azazi’s deep-seated rage it appears was more of a moral issue, as he could no longer guarantee an improvement on security issues, and in his capacity as the security ear of the President and as a well-tested soldier any restrictions placed on the secrecy and security aspect of his job was in disappearance, as disclosing his inner emotional pains was all that matters to him.
Even if his full-blown anger stood out as endangering national security it matters not on that faithful day as the top political parties have already done the damage with total impunity and indifference.
Azazi knew fully well that his burning frustration since finding himself in the midst of do or die politicians would draw attention away from the pretense, silliness and denial which appearto be continuously shaping the nation’s polity.
He knew that to bring to discourse honest dialogue about our present times and how we got to this level of national confusion and undemocratic ways of existenceit was worth the effort and time to open his mouth.
Azazi’s show of public resentment which he displayed to the who-is-who in political leadership came out as a form of political anger even though he is not a politician, and he made sure to blame his listening political audience as responsible for the sweeping societal insecurity. Which to him is a factor of their self-made rules like the system of zoning which he sees as antithetical to the Nigerian constitution.
Azazi as a man of humanity and art by virtue of his education and as a man styled with an apparent personality of systematically reaching and executing decisions, some persons in our society have taking his meticulous appearance and painstaking conduct to be that of indifference. Now they see how wrong they are.
That very Friday, during the second version of the South-South economic summit in Asaba, he knew that one side of the Nigerian political divide known as People’s Democratic Party (PDP)would be fully represented and as a calculating soldier with well-planned and prepared notes, may be for days or weeks or even months, vented out his inner frustrations line by line,irrespectiveof whether the PDP power-that-be identified with his emotions—unconsciously or consciously. He may have even wished the President to be there to see a fellow kinsman telling it all!
In fact Azazi,would have done the same exact thing in the north-east of the country full of core members of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) but with a different type of notes and preparedness.
Azazi by his nature and training in national and international principles of peacefulness, he sees the need for all humans irrespective of one’s place in the society, to follow the legal document called the Constitution.
As a long standing military student of national intelligence, national development, citizen involvement, strategic intensions, tactical coordination and international leadership he seems to approach governance and leadership through the apparatus of the Constitution imperfect as it may be.
For Azazi, anything short of true practice of the constitution or the rule of law could represent various lines and cycles of disorderliness, rebellion, double-dealing, intemperance, inequity, politicking, disunity and discomfort.
Azazi appears to be telling the political class across the nation unless they stop making their personalized rules or doctrines and take the pain to show greater respect for the rule of law in matters of elections, power sharing, and economy, the rising insecurity and civilian extremism may not submerge fully even with the best security infrastructures.
Azazi, by removing the wall of anger between him and his master—the PDP , he had in fact placed the political leaders in a sudden position from where they can see in full view the anger, worry, resentment, frustration, disappointment and other negative emotional states being felt in the north and in the south of the nation.
Azazi is making it clear to the political leadership that to continue to justify the principle of unconstitutional practice, leaves room for more undemocratic responses to their existence and that could include acts of insurgency and chaos in the society.
In using some of his embedded emotions and pains to repudiate the political leaders, beginning with the southern ones, he appears to be disclosing to the country very serious and powerful consequences in the upcoming rounds of political fight for the presidency and other similar positions.
Azazi as a man who is skilled in peaceful resolutions, national integration, meritorious leadership, and American diplomacy any attempt to ignore his true revelations, and even punish him will be a cause for him to further validate his deep feelings of anger, sadness, and frustration and in the process free himself from an interfering undemocratic politicswhich he sees as currently at play in lives of the people.
Consequently, whatever follows this undemocratic divide in leadership with its symptoms of burning distrust and greater danger occurring, Azazi who is currently in the midst of all this divide, appears to be creating healthy ways for his own personal freedom.
Azazi, as he fights inwardly and to some extent outwardly, in an attempt to rescue the nation and even if he is made to apologize for his honored words but under the cover of slip of tongue where the underlying truth really lies, he appears to have another painful concern for his kinsman , Dr.Goodluck Jonathan, who at this time and in the wake of all these happenings is heading a polarized society, and caught between the southern and northern political divide, as such may not be able to escape soon from the partisan burden of a worried nation like Nigeria.
Emotionally, he appears to be telling the President here is a quit notice, my anger is a call your resignation from the presidential leadership at this time!
If Azazi’s emotional exposé was to provoke more national crisis as in Jonathan’s resignation, sorry the President is still standing and the President should not resign.
The President must be wandering how could someone he trust dearly pour out his broken heart publicly, and resolve to pour out his wrath on him and the political leadership, a question that Azazi could fully answer personally in response to a psychological therapy session, that is if he deems it as helpful.
Nevertheless, Azaziin his spirit and mindappears to see the path of progress and unity through the eyes of the constitution but whether this fantasy will turn to a reality is what is probably burning within Gen. Andrew OwoyeAzazi at this unpredictable time. On that unique day in Asaba, he must have hollered free at last, free at last!
John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D., is an Abuja-based Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and the Secretary-General of the Nigeria Psychological Association (NPA), Abuja. Jos5930458@aol.com08126909839
Information available to 247ureports.com through sources in Kano State security quarters indicate that the security agents and the men of Boko Haram were engaged in a heated gun-battle at Maidule area behind Sabuwar Gandu.
According to information gathered, the gun battle between the men of the Joint Task Force [JTF] began at minutes 2am yesterday [April 30, 2012] – as the men of the JTF were tipped off of a Boko Haram hideout at Maidule area. The men of the JTF were reported to have moved into to the area with their sniff – dogs to dislodge the suspected Boko Haram members. Upon reaching the location – the JTF men were reported to have fired warning shots at the building – when they immediately discovered that the building was bobby-trapped with explosives. The explosives began to explode.
The members of the Boko Haram who were holed-up at the hide-out in Maidule were caught unaware from the men of the JTF – immediately began shooting sporadically at the men of the JTF – as the men of the JTF returned gun fire. The exchange of gunfire was reported to have lasted from 2am till 7am of today’s morning. It is not certain the number of casualties on the side of the Boko Haram or the JTF, but a source within the JTF told our correspondent that the men of Boko Haram sustained significant casualties because they were caught unaware.
In the early morning of March 7, between 200 and 500 Nigerian Christians, mostly women and children, were butchered in the villages of Dogo Nahawa, Zot and Ratsat, which lie about 10 kilometres south of Jos, the capital of Plateau State. The corpses were buried in mass graves. A shocked world has compared the deaths to the genocide in Yugoslavia. However, labelling this conflict as a religious one – Muslims versus Christians – is simplistic.
The tragedy at Jos, a city of half a million on the fault line between the Muslim North and the largely Christian South, is a sordid example of how Nigeria’s dodgy political elite manipulates ethnic and religious sentiments to selfishly usurp the soul of the nation. While superficially the Jos conundrum is painted in religious hues, the fact is that it was ethnic, economic and political tensions which set the once peaceful and beautiful city ablaze.
Politics in Nigeria, a country with 150 million people and 250 ethnic groups, is a murky affair. The Afizeres, Anagutas and Beroms – predominantly Christians – are the ‘indigenes’ of Jos. But ‘settlers’, newcomers like the Hausa-Fulani (mostly Muslims), Igbos and Yorubas, have moved into the region for over a century. Conflicts have arisen — mostly between the indigenes and the Hausa-Fulani. These two groups, among other things, both claim the chair of a local government area: Jos North, the political and commercial centre of the city. While the indigenes are bitter about the domineering ‘born to rule’ tendencies of the Hausa-Fulani, the settlers also wish to assert their rights to leadership in a municipal council where they work and pay taxes. This is a right recognised by Nigeria’s constitution.
In Nigeria, local government areas (LGA) determine who is an indigene or not. Only officially certified indigenes can vie for and vote in local elections. An American scholar who has studied the situation in Jos, Phillip Ositien, has asserted that, in the final analysis, this is what much of the fighting is about. It’s hard to disagree.
The political complications were accentuated by the 1991 split of Jos LGA into northern and southern regions by former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida (a northern Nupe Muslim). This reorganisation was perceived as illogical and viewed as a ruse by the Hausa-Fulani to gain political leverage in Jos politics. Furious protests by indigenes and settlers, egged on by sinister politicians, have created a deadly tit-rot-tat massacres in Jos.
Nigeria’s constitution does not help matters. On one hand, it guarantees rights to move freely within Nigeria and to reside and own property anywhere. However, the same statute sets down that federal appointments should reflect a ‘federal character’ . It confers indigeneship only on persons whose lineage can be traced down to their parents or great grandparents.
Now for the hard part. The Hausa-Fulani are not the only settlers in Jos. Unlike the Igbos and Yorubas who probably came before them, however, the Hausa Fulani are the only ones seeking elective posts. This curious twist is made more complex by the Hausa-Fulani propensity to violence.
Besides, notes Ostien, “widespread illiteracy, unemployment, a growing population of rootles and jobless young men, availability of arms, coupled with venal, petty-minded and short-sighted politicians” are fodder for ethno-religious trouble. Incompetent and unaccountable public officials are wont to use violence to win elections makes it difficult to unravel this conflict.
Both sides in the conflict have a fair share of blame for the bloodshed in Jos. No one has been punished since September 2001 when this violence claimed about 1,000 in Jos; three years later in Yelwa as many as 700 died. Another 700 died in Jos in November 2008. In January, perhaps a hundred died, in riots between Muslim and Christian gangs. Both the state and federal government have politicised the matter and the crisis remains unresolved. Since there has been no justice – no one has ever been tried for any of the killings — a revengeful vortex ensues.
Patently corrupt and incompetent leadership has failed to provide employment for locals. That’s the economic angle to this disaster, since government remains the highest employer of labour in Nigeria. Also the security outfits – both police and military – have dirty hands. Why was a crisis in the nearby Bauchi State when an Islamist group, Boko Haram ran amok, efficiently controlled while Jos was left to boil for many days? News reports have supported suspicions that some prominent Nigerians actually sponsored the killings.
Although the Hausa-Fulani are Muslim and indigenes are largely Christian, this is not clash of civilisation. As the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Onaiyekan affirms, this is not exclusively a religious war. Unfortunately pictures of mass graves easily project as a jihad or pogrom, depending on one’s ethnic or religious affiliation. However, it is squarely a leadership problem. The Nigerian political class – both Christian and Muslim – are interested only in filling their pockets. Their insatiable appetite for milking the public till continues to drive them to whip up ethnic and religious absurdities to further their diabolic desires. The division of ‘them’ against ‘us’ will continue until people who want to serve occupy public office in Nigeria.
Information available to 247ureports.com through sources close to the activities within the Government House in Awka, Anambra State indicate that the Executive Governor of Anambra State may be in preps for a cabinet reshuffle and/or dissolution of his cabinet on Wednesday May 2, 2012 . This is as credible information revealed that Governor Peter Obi had on Sunday April 29, 2012 requested from each member of his cabinet “a report card” of their term in service – and submit to the Governor’s office an up to date activities of their various portfolios.
According to information gathered from political players in Awka, the Governor is suspected to be orchestrating a silent dissolution of the cabinet in an effort to avoid raising of unnecessary feathers and/or dust. A source notes that the Governor had specifically told members of his cabinet to prepare a self evaluation of their accomplishments at their respective offices. The source added that the demand for a self evaluation report was actually a polite demand to prepare a “handover note”. The demand was sent by text messages by some of the governor’s aide to the cabinet members.
Independent inquiry by our correspondent in Awka indicated that the members of the cabinet were unwilling to speak on the demand made by the Governor. However, the activities within the various ministries showed that something was cooking behind the scene. A majority of the Commissioners visited were not present at their seats – and the Exco-Meeting which normally holds on Monday of every week, did not hold – as the Governor was away on a trip to the federal capital.
It is suspected that the pending dissolution of the cabinet may be connected to the ongoing misunderstanding brewing between the Governor and the Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance [APGA], Chief Victor Umeh. Sources indicate that the Governor is working on removing cabinet members who have shown loyalty to the APGA Chairman – against the Governor. As gathered, the APGA Chairman had been given many cabinet slots to fill. The persons brought by the APGA Chairman are said to be the ones to face a possible discharge by the Governor by Wednesday May 2, 2012. But some of the Governor’s men have denied that the governor’s demand for a hand over note concerns the ongoing squabble.
It is recalled that following the February 6, 2010 gubernatorial re-election campaign victory by Governor Peter Obi – that the governor did not dissolve his cabinet. It was rumored that the governor was going to dissolve his cabinet but he did not.
A suicide bomb attack targeted at the convoy of the Taraba State Commissioner of Police, Mamman Sule, on Monday led to the killing of 10 persons and the destruction of a portion of the Taraba State Ministry of Finance in the state capital, Jalingo, and a nearby market.
It also consumed valuable documents, vehicles and property.
The News Agency of Nigeria quotes the spokesman for the state police command, Ibiang Mbasike, as saying that explosives were hauled at the convoy by a suicide bomber riding on a motorcycle at about 8.45a.m when workers were resuming for work after the weekend break.
The suicide bomber was holding plastic military explosives before the attack.
Sule escaped unhurt but three police officers and the two suspected suicide bombers were among the 10 persons killed while a dozen others were injured.
One of the explosives hit the rider leading the police commissioner’s convoy, causing him to lose his sight.
The police headquarters in Taraba is 40 metres away from the main entrance to the finance ministry. The ministry’s premises forms part of the entrance into the building leading to the police commissioner’s office.
“The police commissioner usually has to go through the Ministry of Finance to enter his office.
“He was passing by that usual route when the explosives were thrown. So the Police Commissioner’s convoy was clearly the target,” a top police source, who preferred anonymity, told NAN.
The attack on Sule’s convoy was a reprisal for his alleged role in the killing of several Boko Haram members when he was the CP in Yobe State. Mamman had reportedly been on the hit list of the sect.
More details later.
Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has called on the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) to design a short executive programme for State Governors and top politicians that would prepare them for the task of governance.
Dr. Uduaghan, who made the call when participants of Course 34 of the Institute paid him a courtesy call in Asaba, yesterday, said the Institute was endowed with research department and could therefore design a programme that would suit the political class.
He said the Institute should incorporate the affected politicians in an interactive seminar especially as most students of the Institute were top government functionaries who are versed in different aspects of governance.
The Governor explained that since the institute has several programme there was need to accommodate the political class in some of them.
“I want to request that the Institute should organize a short programme for the political class in the country. NIPSS has something for everybody in the society and l think it should organize an interactive programme for top politicians, ”he said.
Dr. Uduaghan described this year’s interactive tour for the Course 34 students titled “Resource Diversification for Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria” as apt, explaining that it was the only way to boost the economy and be less dependent on oil and gas.
He said it was critical for the nation and federating states to move beyond oil and explore their strength in their areas because oil would not last forever.
The Governor recalled the recently concluded Second South-South Economic Summit which also centered on diversification of the economy of the region and disclosed that Delta State already has a programme on diversification titled “Delta Beyond Oil.”
Dr. Uduaghan who said the State’s programme on diversification was broad explained that the policy was on agriculture, leisure, medical as well as other mineral resources adding that his administration has already provided infrastructure such as power, good motorable roads, sea and airports to encourage and attract investors.
He disclosed that the Federal Government and Delta State Government are to partner to develop the cargo wing of the Asaba International Airport as part of efforts to ease cargo movement especially in the eastern part of the country and enhance empowerment of the people.
“Fortunately, the Federal Government is interested in the cargo section of the Asaba International Airport. So we are partnering with the Federal Government to develop the cargo wing of the airport”, he said.
Furthermore, he said “We are also empowering the youths through agriculture and micro-credit scheme because once the youths are engaged they would not be attracted to crime.”
The Director General of NIPSS, Prof. Tijani Bande in his remarks, said his team was in Delta to interact extensively with top government functionaries on the Institute’s theme for the year titled “Resource Diversification for Sustainable Economic Development.”
He explained that diversification was now central to the economic development of the nation and enjoined states to key into it.
The DG commended the South-South zone of the country on its effort towards diversification and said such drive would open the door for sustainable economic development in the region.
He commended Governor Uduaghan for the efforts being made to industrialize the State and urged the Governor not to relent in the bid to transform the lives of the people.
