President Goodluck Jonathan will today commence two-day official visit to Borno and Yobe states, the first since he became president. His initial plan to be in Borno for the flag-off of his presidential campaigns for the northeast in the build-up to the 2011 electioneering was cancelled midway and shifted to the neighbouring Gombe State.He had been severally accused by the Borno Elders Forum and government of Borno State of refusing to visit the troubled states, which had witnessed persistent Boko Haram attacks.

More than 2,000 people have died in the two states since the 2009 uprising. Today’s visit by the president is coming barely a week after eight governors of the newly formed opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) stormed Maiduguri in what they described as a visit “to sympathise with the people who lost their loved ones and properties.”

Residents of Borno and Yobe believe the visit of the APC governor presumably compelled the president to come to the area though Vice President Namadi Sambo had during his one-day official visit to Borno early February promised the readiness of the president “to visit soon.” According to sources from the presidential visit planning committees in Maiduguri and Damaturu, Jonathan who is expected to arrive Maiduguri Airport before 12 noon would proceed to Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, about 120 kilometres from the airport.

He is billed to commission a 300-housing unit along Gujba Road built by Yobe State government and a library complex at the state-owned Bukar Abba Ibrahim University after which he would be expected to hold a town hall meeting with traditional rulers, elders and community leaders as well as religious leaders. The president is also expected to return to Maiduguri same day (Thursday) for similar town hall meeting on the lingering security problem in the area.

A PDP chieftain in Borno said the president’s visit today was like “a confidence building mission” especially for the leader that had been repeatedly criticised by the people for his alleged poor handling of the Boko Haram insurgence. Security has been beefed up in both Maiduguri and Damaturu to make the president visit a hitch free even as some aides of the president and security personnel have already arrived the two states. Meanwhile, Borno State government has declared Friday March 8 a work free day for both “public and private sectors.” A statement from the Secretary to the Borno State Government, Alhaji Baba Ahmed Jidda said the work free day is “in honour of the visit of Mr President to Borno State.”

Via Sun

CNN quoted the police to have said one assault occurred at the Church of Christ in Nations, Potiskum.

The gunmen were said to have attacked worshipers during prayer, killing six people, including the pastor, and setting the building on fire.

Worshipers were also attacked at the First Baptist Church in Maiduguri, where a deacon and five church members were killed.

They were the latest strikes against Christians in the region. More than 30 people died in a wave of Christmas Day attacks in the North in 2011.

“Suspected members of the group have bombed or opened fire on worshipers in at least 18 churches across eight Northern and central states since 2010.

“In Maiduguri, the group also forced Christian men to convert to Islam on penalty of death,” Human Rights Watch said in an October report.

It was not immediately known if the group was behind the latest attacks.

The Christmas Day attacks came as families, whose kin died in last year’s killings, delivered graveside prayers for a peaceful holiday period.

The head of the Network for Justice, a human rights group, Zakari Adamu, told the BBC that the gunmen also attacked the homes of Christians following the attack during the midnight mass service.

Military spokesman Eli Lazarus told Reuters that six people were killed in the violence which happened when “unknown gunmen attempted to attack Potiskum but were repelled by troops”.

“While they were fleeing, they attacked a church in a village,” he said.

The head of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Yobe, Idi Garba, told AFP that many worshippers at ECWA “are still missing”.

“I have been informed that six bodies have been recovered,” Garba said.

He said some worshippers who lived near the church “fled their homes during the attack and it is assumed that they are still hiding in the bush”.

CAN, however, on Tuesday condemned the invasion of the churches.

CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, described the incident as a “bestial act against a people exercising their rights to worship”.

He said, “It is highly disturbing and very barbaric; it is archaic. It is totally against God and anything that has to do with Him. You wonder how people will go to this extent in the name of God.

“Let us not continue to deny that there are jihadists, extremists and Islamists in this country. They are here. Let us agree that it is time for us to take certain steps to bring this madness to an end.”

He urged the worshippers in the area not to succumb to evil perpetrators by absconding their ancestral homes, stressing that doing so would be tantamount to cowardice.

Oritsejafor explained that even though he was not cut out to disparage adherent of other faith, the truth must be told.

He said, “Let me again say that I have high respect and regard for my Muslim friends and brothers. I’m not against Muslims. We need their help. We have been saying it and we will continue to say it. Not only do we appeal to them to condemn it, we are asking that they must help us take this message to the grassroots.

“We (Christians) are not their enemies. The clerics that preach in the mosques, they should help us spread this news. With this goodwill, they will be able to flush out those people from among them.”

The CAN President added, “These people are not really helping them. They are destroying their economy. When things like these happen, many (northern leaders) come out to condemn these acts. Condemning it as it is now is not enough. They must go a step further. They must condemn these acts. Nigeria belongs all of us and we must join hands together to make this nation what it is supposed to be.”

-Punch

Telecoms services were on Wednesday disrupted in Borno, Bauchi, Yobe, Gombe and Kano states following the bombing of telecoms base stations by suspected terrorists.

Our correspondent gathered that base stations belonging to MTN, Globacom, Airtel might have been affected in the multiple attacks that jolted Borno, Bauchi, Yobe and Gombe states.

Experts, who described the attacks as detrimental to telecoms growth in the country, said they were suggestive of wilful damage by unscrupulous elements.

As a result, the quality of service in the affected states has taken a downturn as interconnection of telecoms infrastructure has become severely limited.

The Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, confirmed the development to our correspondent in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

Quoting security sources, Reuters, however, reported that similar attacks also occurred in Kano and Maiduguri.

Adebayo said, “We have received reports about some telecoms sites being destroyed by some agents in some parts of northern Nigeria. The details are not clear yet, but we have been told that a number of operators’ sites were affected and they appear, from first view, as wilful damage to those infrastructure.

“We were told that some sites were bombed and they belong to different operators, which means that the act cut across many networks.”

Reuters further reported that one of its reporters saw 10 masts burnt to the ground in Maiduguri on Wednesday morning and local residents complained there was no mobile telephone reception.

In Kano, men on motorbikes reportedly destroyed MTN and Airtel mobile phone masts in the early hours of Wednesday, a policeman told Reuters, asking not to be named.

He said the Boko Haram sect was suspected to be behind the attack.

The Islamic sect had reportedly threatened recently to cause immense damage to telecoms operators’ facilities for allegedly providing information that had helped securities agencies tracked its members.

Analysts said the Wednesday attacks might be connected to the threat by the suspected terrorists.

Reuters also reported that sources close to the sect said Boko Haram members had in the past been concerned that they might be traced through mobile phones.

The Corporate Services Executive, MTN, Mr. Akinwale Goodluck, who equally confirmed the attacks, said, “It is true because we received reports today (Wednesday) that telecommunications towers of major telecoms operators were being bombed. However, I cannot tell you, for now, how many of our base stations or other telecoms infrastructure were affected because information available to us is still scanty.”

Goodluck, however, said that security agencies had commenced investigation into the attacks and the extent of damage, adding that the result would be made available for accurate reporting.

Speaking in the same vein, the General Manager, Corporate Communications, MTN, Mrs. Funmilayo Omogbenigun, who earlier confirmed the situation to Reuters, said, “We confirm that like all the other major telcos, some of MTN installations in northern Nigeria have been damaged by unknown persons. All the relevant government security agencies have been informed and we are receiving their full cooperation.”

via Punch

ALTHOUGH the military Joint Task Force (JTF) is up and doing in the seven troubled wards of Damaturu metropolis in Yobe State, gunmen have struck again.

They attacked the Satellite Prison in the area with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol-bombs and wounded four policemen guarding the building, as well as two residents.

Eyewitnesses said there was a two-hour gun duel between the gunmen and men of the JTF.

During the shoot-out on Wednesday, the Ajari ward was cordoned off to prevent civilians from being killed.

Shops and banks on the Gashua Road were quickly shut while pedestrians and motorists scampered for safety. The JTF opened the roads in the area at 4 p.m.

The attack on the prison, according to the JTF, is the third of such invasion by suspected gunmen, freeing an undisclosed number of inmates.

A resident said: “The police were ambushed on their way from Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital, Damaturu, where they took the body of a man killed by gunmen on Tuesday night. The gunmen appeared suddenly and opened fire on the police, throwing IEDs but they were repelled after reinforcement from the police headquarters and military personnel from the JTF.”

The state Police Commissioner, Patrick Egbuniwe, said “an attack was carried out by suspected Boko Haram members on our men at the prison yard. They were throwing cans of bombs and shooting, but the attack was repelled by the police and the JTF. A few of our men and officers sustained injuries.”

He told The Guardian that three suspects had been arrested.

The JTF in a statement called on residents of Damaturu not to panic or flee because of Wednesday’s attack on security operatives in the state capital.

It urged the residents to go about their normal activities as it had repelled the attacks, adding that normalcy had been restored in the area. The task force asked members of the public to assist it with information on how to improve security situation through the under-listed dedicated lines 08076591981, 08076591976, 08076591986 and 08075090119.

Suspicion will fall on Islamist sect Boko Haram, which is
waging an insurgency against President Goodluck
Jonathan’s government across the north with the aim
of carving out an Islamic state in a country split evenly
between Christians and Muslims.

“The lone suicide bomber detonated the bomb before
the car he was in could be stopped, killing the six
soldiers and one civilian,” Patrick Egbmuniwe, the
police commissioner for Yobe State, told Reuters by
telephone.

“Another civilian died of his wounds in hospital shortly
after.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the
attack in Damaturu’s Shagari housing estate.
Labelled a foreign terrorist organisation by the United
States, Boko Haram has been behind almost daily
shootings and bombings in the volatile northeast.

Witness Abdullahi Sabo said the whole neighbourhood
shook when the Damaturu bomb exploded.

“The car blew up outside the front of my shop, the
explosion was deadly,” he said. “After the dust settled,
many security operatives were rushed to the hospital.”

In a separate incident, police said suspected sect
members had shot dead a former commissioner for the
environment in neighbouring Borno state, the
epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency, in the early
hours of Saturday.
Reuters

National Youth Service Corps members
| credits:

Corps members posted to Yobe, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Bornu and Bauchi states have asked the National Youth Service Corps to redeploy them from these trouble states.

The corps members, who expressed sadness as they received their call-up letters for the Batch B NYSC service year, said they were confused as they did not know what to do due to the spate of bombings and other forms of insecurity in these states.

Some of the corps members and their families, who expressed their worries on various social network sites including Facebook and Twitter, said they were extremely sad and disappointed when they received their call-up letters, deploying them to trouble states where there is currently curfew, threats of reprisals and censeless bombings.

Some of the comments on the social network sites read, “We need to arise and stop the government from sentencing us and our loved ones to death. Is our government/NYSC this heartless or simply inhumane? We seek our immediate redeployment, we want to live in places where we can work with peace of mind.’’

Our correspondents learnt that authorities of the NYSC had also been under pressure from parents and prospective corps members posted to northern states, who had been seeking alternative posting.

Our Correspondent learnt in Abuja on Sunday that the NYSC was already collaborating with the affected states on how to ensure security for the corps members posted to their states.

But speaking through the Borno State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Inuwa Bwala, in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday, the Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, made a case for corps members to be posted to the state.

He argued that the security situation in the state was being exaggerated by detractors to further isolate the state from the rest of the country.

He said, “While it is true that we have security challenges, it is a fact that these challenges are not exclusive to Borno State.

“We don’t have on record any attack on visitors neither do we have any record of attacks on the NYSC camp or corps members posted to and currently serving in Borno State.”

-Punch

RESIDENTS have continued to flee Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, two days after terrorists launched multiple attacks on churches, schools, and a satellite prison where over 50 lives were lost.

A worried ward head, who sought anonymity, lamented that the affected residents had been living peacefully in Pompomari, Pawari and Bundigari areas of the metropolis until the Boko Haram sect struck.

As at yesterday, most houses in the areas were locked while shops and stalls were shut down at 12.30 p.m.

At the Damaturu Central Motor Park, an official, Isa Audu, said: “Yesterday (Monday), a total of 546 passengers boarded buses to Maiduguri, Potiskum, Bauchi, Zamfara, Plateau, Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba states in the North-East sub-region. As you can see, the passengers today (yesterday) are still boarding buses to other neighbouring towns and cities in the North. This morning, a traveller hired a whole bus to carry his personal effects and family members to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Business activities are gradually picking up with some shops and business premises opening up, while customers rush to stock food and other household items. Most civil servants are yet to report for work one week after the attacks.

Kaduna indigenes, under the platform of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), have called for peaceful co-existence among the residents of the state.

In a statement yesterday, the National President of SOKAPU, Dr. Ephraim Goje, expressed joy over the gradual return of peace to the state and commended President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Patrick Yakowa, the security agencies, political and religious leaders, monarchs and other stakeholders for their role in ensuring the quick return of law and order to the state.

Following the review of the 24-hour curfew in the state yesterday, most parts of the Kaduna metropolis were beehive of activities.

Offices, markets and other business premises were opened as residents thronged them for various transactions between 7.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m.

The Leader of Northern Civil Society Coalition, Malam Shehu Sani, fears that the poor leadership quality of President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly may endanger democracy in Nigeria.

He faulted the comment of the Senate President David Mark on the possible break-up of the nation.

Sani said a pragmatic leadership was what Nigeria needed to resolve its ills rather than predicting the nation’s break-up.

In a statement yesterday, Sani said Mark’s warning of a possible break-up of Nigeria as a result of bombings and his shifting of blame to northern leaders was unfortunate.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have canvassed better use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools to curb terrorism and youths’ restiveness in the country.

The NCS President, Mr. Ademola Aladekomo, said yesterday in Lagos that it had become imperative for the government to look at solutions derivable from the ICT sector to stem the increasing wave of crimes in Nigeria.

-Guardian

According to reports, the assailants attacked the prison and freed many prisoners also left a prison warder in critical condition and is receiving treatment at a hospital within the state capital.

Also, a resident told Nigerian Tribune that it was rumoured that the Emir of Damaturu, Alhaji Shehu Hashimi Ibn Umar, had fled the city following his alleged sponsorship of the deadly sect’s activities in the state.

But while speaking, the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Toyin Gbadegesin, told Nigerian Tribune that the allegation that the emir was involved in the sponsorship of the sects activities in Damaturu was baseless and that the emir did not in anyway flee the city as claimed by mischief  makers.

According to ASP Gbadegesin, majority of the attackers lived in an area called Pompomari, which is located behind the emir’s palace, as such mischief makers might be cashing in on the location of the emir’s palace to spread rumour.

While confirming the attack, ASP Gbadegesin told Nigerian Tribune that, “A prison and a school were attacked this morning by the Boko Haram sect, freeing the prisoners. In the process, one of the prisoners was killed while a prison officer was injured.”

He, however, said that the situation was under control as security had been put in place to ensure the protection of lives and properties of the people.

Meanwhile, the sect has said that it is not behind an alleged attempt to bomb a mosque in Kano, as it is a group of Muslim fighters, which must ensure the enthronement of a Muslim state, as such cannot in any way destroy any place of worship of the Muslims.

The spokesman of the sect, Abul Qaqa, said: “In respect of what we heard in the media yesterday [Friday] that some people attempted to detonate a bomb in a Juma’at mosque in Kano, this movement Jama’atu Ahlissunnah Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad hereby dissociates itself from this act. We are fully aware of this kind of conspiracy by the SSS, following a similar pattern of their counterparts in other countries to tarnish the image and reputation of Islamic fighters. They will not succeed, God willing.”

Qaqa, in a statement issued to newsmen in Maiduguri, on Saturday, also argued that “everyone knows that we are waging Jihad to restore the supremacy of Islam, which is why we are labelled ‘Muslim fundamentalists.’ How on earth can we then attempt to destroy a Muslim place of worship? This is, therefore, a conspiracy by those that are averse to the enthronement of an Islamic state, and they will not succeed by God’s grace.

“We also wish to express our happiness over the martyrdom Allah has blessed our brother, Habibu Bama, with.

We pray God accept his martyrdom. Besides, death in the battle front is the ultimate aim of every devout Muslim.

“We are still calling the attention of media houses.  As it is well known to them, we are trying our utmost to avoid quarrel with them but still some of them have failed to understand us. We placed one condition to media houses, and that condition is that any media outfit that knows that it cannot objectively disseminate any statement we issue out or knows that it can’t entirely carry it, then it should not carry any statement from the government even if it is from Goodluck Jonathan. Otherwise it should blame itself for whatever follows.”

Also reacting, the state Commissioner of Police, Patrick Egbuniwe, said the sect also succeeded in taking away their members who were injured during the confrontation with policemen and men of the Joint Task Force (JTF).

“There was an attack on the Yobe prison this morning. The Boko Haram sect attacked the prison through the emir palace. Forty inmates escaped. They attacked with rifles.

“The police and the Joint Task Force confronted them and the Boko Haram members that were shot were carried away by the sect,” Egbuniwe said.

The police boss confirmed that some policemen were injured during the confrontation with the Boko Haram members.

-Vanguard