Fish out sponsors, Jonathan orders NSA, others, Security shake-up in the offing

Posted by admin Boko Haram, Latest Politics Thursday, December 29th, 2011

Four days after the deadly Christmas Day attack on St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State, the President met with his security chiefs in Abuja yesterday.
He ordered the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Andrew Azazi and other security top shots to fish out sponsors of Boko Haram.

A source said security shake-up is in the offing.
The parley is aimed at providing effective response to Boko Haram, which claimed responsibility for the attack. The Islamist sect had warned of the bombing days before it struck. The security agencies were criticized for the alleged lapse. Death toll from the attack has risen to 43, while 45 were hospitalised. Rising from the top level security meeting yesterday, a source said there will be operational restructuring, that is likely movement of personnel, total overhaul of security network system to give them a bite.

The President warned that henceforth, nobody will be spared for failing to act on information provided to member-security agencies.
According to the source, the President warned that government would not spare any security officer who fails to act promptly on any information concerning the activities of the terrorist group.“Go after those involved in this heinous act. We must stop this Boko Haram madness, ” the President was quoted to have directed the security chiefs. President Jonathan had on Wednesday night told leaders of the Christian Association (CAN), led by Pastor Ayo Oritshejafor of imminent overhaul of the security apparatus.

He told CAN; “The terrorists are human beings, they are not spirits, they live with us, they dine with us. We know them, people know them. As long as Nigerians are committed to expose them, we will get over this ugly situation.“At the security level, we are doing our best, we will restructure, we will re-adjust and make sure we get a team that will meet with the challenge we are facing today”.
As President Jonathan spoke, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Hafiz Ringim, who was part of the meeting, assured Christians of their safety during Cross-over church services on December 31, 2011. He disclosed that security agencies have arrested some suspected Boko Haram members even as the IGP was seeking evidence to arrest and prosecute their sponsors.

He was soliciting public support towards apprehending those sponsors.
Ringim also urged Nigerians, especially Christians that would want to attend the Cross-over services in their churches, to ignore the threats by the sect to bomb various churches on New Year’s eve as his men were on top of their game to foil such attempts.
The IGP, while pleading with the public to co-operate with security agencies and volunteer information that would lead to more arrests however, added that the efforts made by the police in Yobe, Kano and Kaduna states prevented a catastrophe that would have taken place if they had not acted swiftly.

Speaking to State House Correspondents after the emergency security meeting at the Presidential Villa, attended by Gen. Azazi; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ola Saad Ibrahim; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Umar; Director-General, State Security Service (SSS), Ita Ekpenyong and Director-General, Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), Olaniyi Oladeji; Ringim said President Jonathan expressed concern about the security challenges in the country, hence, the reason for summoning the meeting to review the situation “where we were, where we are now and where we need to be, that is what we discussed”.

On why it was so difficult to tackle the insecurity issue, the IGP replied: “Well, we are all worried; terrorism is not an easy matter at all. Terrorism is everywhere, all over the world, particularly here in this country. As you are aware, it is a very new phenomenon here. We have not had this kind of thing before and we are just having it now. So, we are all scrambling to find our feet and face it squarely. That is what we are doing.

“Security agencies, and most importantly the police, have made a lot of gains which have not come to the fore. I want to seize this opportunity and talk to every one of us to remain resolved and resolute to join in the fight against this cankerworm that will not leave anyone of us if we do not put our acts together. What I mean by putting our acts together is by Nigerian Police, security agencies and you, journalists, as well as all members of the public. This is something that should galvanize us in our quest to remain together and also to bring down the scourge”.
On how prepared the police were for December 31 Cross-over night, he replied: “I assure you, we are doing our possible best. We are prepared more than ever before and I want to assure you this; that if we had not done what we did in Yobe State, if we had not done what we did in Kaduna State; indeed, if the Nigerian Police had not done what we did in Kano State, the recovery of the primed-up suicide bombing vehicles, the story would have been a different one. I assure members of the public that the Nigerian Police and indeed, all other security agencies are now ready more than ever before to face these challenges”.

Asked the number of people that have been arrested so far, Ringim said: “The arrests of these terrorists had been going on for a long time. Many, many of them have been arrested and many of them are in detention. They are in the process of being prosecuted. The issue is not the number of arrests; the issue is the co-operation that all the security agencies need from each and every one of us in order to get to the bottom of this matter.“So far, we have arrested hundreds of them but that is not the issue, these people, to my mind, are just the foot soldiers and we need to get strong evidence through the co-operation of members of the public so that we will be able to get to the leaders, masters and organizers of these people”.

Asked to react to agitations by some Christians to resort to self-help, the IGP pleaded: “Definitely, people are agitated and members of Boko Haram terrorist group are not attacking only Christians. They attack everyone that is on their way, including members of the Armed Forces and the police and other security agencies. From among us, there are Muslims and there are Christians.
“I don’t think it is a case of Muslims versus Christians or Christians against Muslims. That is why I am urging each and every one of us in this country to come together to lend a hand so that we can fight this scourge. We have seen how our country has lost through the non-co-operation of the people. It is only when we come together that we can fight this scourge,” the police boss said.

-Sunwp_posts