4 more killed in Maiduguri as residents flee

Posted by admin Boko Haram, Borno, Latest Politics, State News Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Reacting, the JTF described the claim by the Borno elders as baseless and uncalled for at a moment the state was facing security challenges.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government is worried over the decision of some citizens to take up arms against the state, even as it disclosed that insecurities in the country was its greatest challenge presently.
Interior minister, Comrade Patrick Abba Moro, expressed government’s concern in his maiden speech yesterday in Abuja, when he assumed office.

The minister was reflecting on the ongoing internal security challenges throughout the country, especially the numerous attacks unleashed on the country and the citizenry by the dreaded Boko Haram sect.

“We want to know why Nigerians are rising up against Nigerians. We want to know why Nigerians are taking up arms against the state,” the minister said.
Moro, who stressed that President Jonathan was at the verge of making history by his readiness to transform the country, stated that the challenges were, however, enormous, adding that violence would not help this administration’s desires to transform the country.

The minister pleaded with thos who were taking up arms against the state and inflicting pains on fellow citizens to have a change of heart, and urged them “to rise up to the occasion of rendering the right services to the nation.”
Meanwhile, a group, Equity and Transparent Network, based in Abuja has kicked against suggestions that the Federal Government should enter into dialogue with the Islamic sect.
National President of the NGO, Mr Ifot Ifot said yesterday during an interview that opening dialogue with a group without an identity or focus would amount to sending wrong signals.

He stated that it was also wrong to compare the struggle by the Niger Delta militants with the Boko Haram, noting that the two groups were not the same in terms of organisation, mission and focus.
What the Federal Government should do to tackle the menace of the sectarian group, according to him, was to employ the instrument of state power to identify the financiers of the group and apply the full weight of the law on them.
“It is our belief that Boko Haram is being sponsored to perpetrate evil; that is why they target churches and where people gather in large numbers. The best thing is to identify their sponsors; when their supply line is cut off, the foot soldiers will be helpless.

“Again, some people are advising government to open dialogue with Boko Haram; our position is that President Goodluck Jonathan should, under no excuse, call for negotiation, because nobody had come out to say that he is the leader of the group, or the spokesperson.”
On his part, Niger State Deputy Governor, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, has said the only way out of the menace was for Nigerians to adopt the Israeli style by being security conscious.

Ibeto who gave the advice during the commissioning of the Israel-Nigeria Agricultural project at Lapai-Gwari, Minna, added that in Israel, all citizens are security conscious.
Ibeto said: “Yesterday, when I visited the site of the bomb blast, part of what I told the people is that we must copy from the state of Israel. In the state of Israel, we know that security, just as it should be, is the concern of everybody and not only the government, but even school children.

“I call on people to be very, very security conscious. They have to be vigilant and very alert. That is the only way we can secure ourselves and our dear nation,” Ibeto said.
Meanwhile, the founder, Niger Delta Volunteer Peace Movement (NDVP), Chief Richman Yinbiri has said Boko Haram not only a terrorist organization but political ploy to destabilise Jonathan’s administration.
He said the upsurge of violence and bomb explosions in the North have been carefully orchestrated by some Northern elite to make the country ungovernable for President Jonathan.

The activist alleged that Boko Haram sect activities was a part of the Northern oligarchy’s ploy to stop President Jonathan from contesting the 2011 presidential election, stressing that since the zoning arrangement of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) failed, they decided to use the Boko Haram sects to distract the government.
Chief Yinbiri who noted that nobody had monopoly of violence called on President Jonathan not be deterred in using any means necessary in flushing out the insurgents from Nigeria.
He warned that the Niger Delta ex-militants were watching the various activities of Boko Haram with keen interest and would not hesitate to act, if the need arise.
Meanwhile, Governor Peter Obi said yesterday that he may evacuate Anambra indigenes from Maidugari, if the bombings continue.

The Governor who spoke to reporters at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after a private meeting with President Jonathan said he was not prepared to see any son or daughter of Anambra maimed or killed in any part of the country.
He said the actions of the Boko Haram, which has resulted in the death of innocent Nigerians in parts of the country, was unaceptable and must be tackled.

According to Obi, members of the Boko Haram sect have no genuine reasons for their actions.
“It is worrisome and we all owe it as a responsibility to do something about the security of this country. See, no sane investor will come and invest in a country that is insecure. It doesn’t matter if it is the north, east, north-west, north-east anywhere. Insecurity in any part of Nigeria is insecurity in Nigeria and it is our responsibility to tackle it frontally. And I thank the Nigerian security forces, especially the police. They need encouragement; they need information and we all have to be invloved. We are all Nigerians, where are the children going to run to? If we go anywhere outside this country, we are all going to be refugees.

“The way out is that those who are causing this problem have to be part of Nigeria by using reason in their actions because what they are doing right now, as far as i am concerned has no reason,” Obi said.
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has condemned the spate of bombings in the country particularly in the north, blaming the activities of Boko Haram on the fall out of political thuggery.

The 19-man ACF delegation, led by Gen. Jeremiah Useni (rtd), chairman of the ACF board of trustees, also had Alhaji Aliko Mohammed, Alhaji Hassan Adamu, Wakilin Adamawa, Maj. Gen. Lawrence Onoja, Alhaji Saidu Barda, and Brigadier Musa Shehu met with President Jonathan at the State House, Abuja, congratulated him on his success in the April elections, and pledged to support his administration as he faces the challenging tasks of governance.

The ACF presented a plaque to the President, which had a quote from the Late Premier of the Northern Region, Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello. The 1966 quote said, “if as a result of the agitation for the fragmentation of this great region, fostered and encouraged as it is so much by persons seeking their own political interest, the unity of the North is impaired or damaged, then I fear greatly that we shall step, not through the gates of the future into the broad prosperity which can lie before us, but back into the past, into tribalism, religious intolerance and violence. May God prevent it.”

The ACF delegation called on the President to constructively engage all who won and lost in the elections, and start programmes that would assist the young children roaming the streets of the country.
Responding, President Jonathan thanked the ACF for the role they had played collectively and individually for peace and stability in the country.

He expressed the confidence that the judiciary would handle cases arising from the elections properly, adding that, “what makes people angry is when things are not done properly”.
President Jonathan said the “Government would do its best, but we cannot succeed unless leaders join us in the efforts to improve the nation”, adding that the Administration would pay specific attention to agriculture, “which can improve the economy of the North”, noting that if farming activities are encouraged, the challenge of poverty can also be addressed.

He invited the ACF to feel free to send any advice and suggestions, because, “we are open to advice, we are not rigid”.
Usani in a chat with State House Correspondents after the group met saparately with the President Goodluck Jonathan and the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, said the body condemned violence in whatever form and “our position is that we should always try to seek redress through normal processes.

And of course, we just came out from the Vice President office where he told us all they are doing as a government to redress the problem. We have agreed that there are Nigerians even within ACF that have been trained in security matters and we, as group, will send a small team to come and discuss with him and find out the best way we think can be done to handle the problem. It is not enough to be issuing statements like ‘Boko Haram your days are numbered’ or ‘Boko Haram you are this or that’. We need to look at it in-depth”.
He regretted that Boko Haram issue which started from Borno has now become national issue, pointing accusing fingers at some governors who used and dumped the boys as political thugs and now they have become nightmare to the nation.

Going down memory lance, Useni said, “I remember when I was the Deputy National Chairman of the ANPP, I went to the state to commission some projects and when we were driving along one of the major streets, I saw young boys selling petrol in jerry cans and I asked him (governor) why he allowed them to be selling on a major road like that, and he said, ‘no, no, leave them they are very useful, general elections, we can use them to turn everywhere’. So, it means they were used during the elections. So, that was how it all started. And if you remember, we had the same problem again in Rivers State were one of the former governors used thugs and at the end of it, they became militants.

So, there is always reason for something. No matter how good a government at the top is, some politician at the state and local government will renege on their duties and divert public funds meant for infrastructure development to fund their political ambition. So, there a lot of things responsible for all these and the best way is for us to sit down and tell ourselves the truth. That is why we are organising Arewa Peace Conference come December this year. All the governors will come so that we will sit and talk and we will follow up with a monitoring group to. As an organisation, that is all we can do since we have no legislative powers. But for now, we are going to start something before the conference”.

Speaking on the use of force by the military, he said “We abhor the use of violence in whatever form. We believe there are due processes through which we can voice our complains. So, why should we kill to satisfy our grievances? So, the more we condemn this the better for us not for some people to go and sit-down and be saying its good for them. Like in war, the soldiers must be working on information on the Boko Haram. Innocent ones would definitely be killed in the process of trying to dislodge the Boko Haram members from their base”.

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Posted by admin on Jul 12 2011. Filed under Boko Haram, Borno, Latest Politics, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry