As Borno shuts down…FG to dialogue with Boko Haram (Chickens)

Posted by admin Boko Haram, Latest Politics, Top Stories Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

For the second time within 48 hours, daring Boko Haram members yesterday bombed a Joint Task Force (JTF) patrol van, killing four people and injuring two soldiers in Maiduguri, Borno State. As the security situation keeps worsening, thousands of residents are fleeing the city to other parts of the country. Most private and public schools in the metropolis that had earlier commenced their third term examination on Monday, were forced to close by yesterday even as the Federal Government said it was ready to dialogue with the sect for the sake of peace.

The new Police Affairs Minister, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (retd), disclosed this while handing over to his successor, Ms Olajumoke Akinjide as FCT Minister of State.
However, Borno government through a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Baba Ahmed Jidda, appealed to the people not to panic or flee the state, assuring that the security agencies have been advised to conduct their operations with human face. It said it was not unmindful of the hardship being experienced by the people but appealed for calm.

University of Maiduguri students, who were of Plateau State origin, were stranded in the city, yesterday, following the closure of the institution on Monday. They complained about scarcity of vehicles with the few available ones charging exhorbitant fares.

In yesterday’s attack, sources said that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was thrown into a moving military patrol van near Fannah Dori filling station along Baga Road at about 8 am on Tuesday by people suspected to be members of Boko Haram, wounding two soldiers in the process. Thereafter, the JTF troops were said to have opened fire in the direction from where the explosive was believed to have been thrown. Three people believed to be members of the sect were killed in the ensuing gun battle.

But eyewitnesses said five people were killed, adding that the victims were residents of the area but not Boko Haram men. They also claimed that two more corpses were evacuated by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) near the scene of the incident, two hours after the clash. NEMA Zonal Information Officer (North East), Ibrahim Farinloye confirmed that two bodies were retrieved near the scene but declined to give further details.

“We were just informed about the corpses but we are trying to assist traders in Baga Market who were trapped following the bomb explosion this morning amid the gunshots. We are negotiating with the NURTW in the market so as to help people check out of the place,” he explained. Farinloye also disclosed that another explosion affected a NEMA vehicle when officials of the agency were moving to the scene of the first blast along Baga Road, adding that only the agency’s vehicle was damaged but none of the personnel was injured.

The JTF through its Operational Officer, Colonel Victor Ebhaleme, insisted during a telephone chat with Daily Sun that those who died in the gun battle were members of the Islamic sect. “The Boko Haram men threw explosives into our patrol vehicle and two of our soldiers were injured but our men were very brave as they gunned down three members of the sect,” he disclosed.

Ebhaleme described as untrue claims by some residents along Baga Road, scene of the incident that the victims were innocent citizens. “That is very untrue. This is our problem with the locals as they are not helping matters. They are the ones harbouring these people and when we come to help them, they don’t co-operate. The truth of the matter is that we shot Boko Haram,” he maintained.

Corroborating JTF, the Nigerian Army disclosed yesterday that it has arrested a large number of Boko Haram members since the inception of the operation to restore peace in the North Eastern flank of the country.
Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Onyeabor Ihejirika, told journalists in Lagos that many of the members of the sect had been picked up both in Borno and outside the State. He spoke after declaring open the Combat Support Arms Training week (COSAT 2011) explaining that the Nigerian Army is working with Navy, Air Force, the Police and the intelligence community to deal with the situation.

His words: “I cannot give a specific number of arrests, but I can tell you that a sizeable number of persons have been arrested and interrogated, leading to even more arrests. The operation is on- going and I believe in no distance time, we will begin to appreciate the result. With the work we are doing, the violence level will be reduced drastically and it will take quite some time because a lot of facts are involved in bringing a menace of this magnitude to an end. Until we eradicate illiteracy; until we create serious public awareness; until all sectors refuse to do what we are supposed to do; until we see a reduction in arms proliferation, the problems may persist,” he added.

In a related development, Captain Olubolade said yesterday that government would not only dialogue with Boko Haram, but also with other aggrieved persons and groups in the country.
According to him, “we will explore dialogue with any aggrieved persons so that peace will reign in Nigeria. Where that does not work, but I hope that will work, we will look at what we can do to guarantee peace, because peace must be guaranteed in Nigeria”, he said.

Olubolade, who also urged all citizens to support all security agencies, pointed out that the Police must be given the necessary support and morale to do their work, to ensure peace and security in Nigeria.
While admitting the serious security challenges confronting the nation, he lamented that it requires serious efforts to curb the trend but added that the Federal Government cannot allow insecurity to take over the land.
However a group of Borno elders under the auspices of Committee of Elders and Leaders of Thought, has called for immediate withdrawal of the soldiers on the streets of Maiduguri, noting that the security situation in the state had worsened since the deployment of the JTF.

A communique issued by the 18-member group yesterday said the presence of soldiers who are brandishing weapons on the street of Maiduguri has turned the security situation into nightmare. The elders alleged that “hundreds of youths have been killed by the soldiers for no known reason other than the fact that they are youths.”

They said many communities in the metropolis have been sacked by soldiers, a development which they said forced residents to flee the city. Part of the communiqué reads: “The level of human suffering in Maiduguri has reached its peak and Borno is faced with horrific and horrendous humanitarian crisis.”
Apart from its call for immediate withdrawal of troops, the group headed by the first Nigerian Petroleum Minister, Shettima Ali Monguno, also called on the members of the Boko Haram to tow the line of dialogue in the interest of peace.

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 continue to indulge themselves in taking 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 on Tuesday, in Abuja, when he resumed to 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 Goodluck 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 who was apparently unhappy with the activities of those taking up arms against the state and inflicting pains on fellow citizens, urged them to have a change of heart, while urging also that everyone, “must rise up to the occasion of rendering the right services to the nation.”

As for the dialogue option in curtailing Boko Haram a group, Equity and Transparent Network, based in Abuja has kicked against suggestions that the Federal Government should open 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 on how to tackle the insurgency.

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 are not the same in terms of organization, 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 gathered 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 follow the Israeli way by being security conscious.
Ibeto who gave the advice during the commissioning of the Israel-Nigeria Agricultural project at Lapai-Gwari, Minna, Niger State, 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 described Boko Haram is not only a terrorist organization but political ploy to destabilize 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 who does not enjoy their blessing as the president of this country.

The activist noted that Boko Haram sect activities was a fallout of the Northern Oligarchy’s ploy to stop President Jonathan from contesting the 2011 Presidential election stressing that that since the zoning arrangement of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party failed , they decided to use the Boko Haram sects to distract the government.

Chief Yinbiri made this observation at his country home Patani, Patani Council Area of Delta State warning that youths of the Niger Delta were not fools for accepting amnesty averring that nobody had monopoly of violence.
He maintained that Boko Haram sect is being used as ploy to destabilize Jonathan’s administration by the Northern Ruling class adding that members of the sect live with them, quarrying why are they still perpetrating their evil against humanity without been arrested by security agents.

The youth activist called on President Jonathan not be deterred in using means necessary in flushing out the insurgents from Nigeria adding that the former State Security Service SSS chiefs that engaged the Niger Delta militants to surrender their arms should be re-engaged to tackle the Boko Haram sect.
He warned that the Niger Delta ex-militants are watching the various activities of Boko Haram with keen interest and would not hesitate if the need arise.
Meanwhile, Governor Peter Obi said yesterday that he may evacuate Anambra indigenes from Maidugari, if the bombings continues.

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

According to Obi, members of the Boko Harram 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 is the north, east, north-west, north-east anywhere. Insecurity in any part of Nigeria is insecurity in Nigeria and is our responsibility. And I thank the Nigerian security forces especially the police and they need encouragement, they need information and we all have to be invloved. We are all Nigerians, weare 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 action because what they are doing right now for me, there is no reason.”
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.”wp_posts

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