Boko Haram: No cause for alarm –Security chiefs (Tell it to the victims)

Posted by admin Boko Haram, Latest Politics Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

A legal practitioner in Kogi State, Mr Ahmadu Umar, said before there could be peace in Borno State or in the North-east where the bombings were rampant, President Jonathan must hold the bull by the horn by declaring a state-of-emergency in Borno State.

“President Jonatahn must not treat this sect called Boko Haram with kid gloves. He should confront them frontally by declaring a state-of-emergency in Borno State and go ahead to set up a special tribunal to try those caught to be involved in bombings and kidnappings in the country. “The special tribunal,” he advised, “should be made up of retired justices and military generals including members of the security agencies and those found guilty should be sentenced to life imprisonment without an option of fine.’’

Michael Olowojaiye, a retired Army officer also shared the view of Umar as he said unless the Federal Government used Borno State Government to test its will power by declaring a state of emergency there, peace may continue to elude that area.

Olowojaiye, however, called on the security agencies to identify influential people who may be sponsoring this sect including past and present political office holders in the state, saying, nobody should be above the law.
On Tuesday’s killings in Borno State, sources said one of the slain policemen identified as Babagana Angus was attached to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the Gwange Divisional Police Station until the early hours of Tuesday when he was shot.

Daily Sun gathered that the gunmen had stormed Babagana’s residence at Gwange at about 11 am on a motorcycle and disappeared as soon as their mission was accomplished. A police operational vehicle was seen with the corpse of Babagana in front of the Accident and Emergency Unit of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) at about 12.30 pm.

But less than three hours after the killing of Babagana, another policeman was mowed down at Gwange at about 3.30 pm. Details of the second killing were sketchy as at press time even as residents were gripped with fear.
As at the time of filing this report, details of the killing and identities of the three corpses found around the Bulunkutu roundabout were still sketchy even as military authorities maintained they had not received information on the incident.
Commander of the Joint Task Force, Major General Jack Nwaogbo, who spoke on phone, disclosed that the force had received the news of the Gwange early morning killing. He, however, maintained he was “yet to receive any information on the Bulunkutu incident,” promising to furnish journalists with details when he is briefed.

Efforts to reach the Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, on his mobile phone were unsuccessful as his line remained switched off throughout yesterday afternoon. The Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abdullahi Lawal, who spoke with Daily Sun on phone said he did not have the details of the incident. “I’m not in the state right now and I don’t have the detail,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Bauchi, the suspected Boko Haram hideout attacked yesterday was located at Kur in Jahun ward of the Bauchi metropolis. An eyewitness said he saw heavily armed policemen in the area very early in the morning.
The police operation which lasted almost six hours was said to have been a pro-active action aimed at smoking out members of the sect in the state.

Sporadic gunshots caused panic among residents living in the area particularly, in Dutse Tanshi, Danjuma Goje Street, Federal Low Cost Housing and Games Village. There were also reports that at least three persons were killed in the operation while several others were injured.
An eyewitness told Daily Sun that he saw one man shot on his stomach and another man shot on his hand and legs.
In his account, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammad Barau, said police received information that the criminals hid in one house in Anguwan Kur.

Barau said based on the information, a team of policemen cordoned the house.
He said the people inside the house opened fire at the police and the police responded and overpowered them.
The PPRO said the house was searched leading to the recovery of a gun and ammunition.
He added that the police had arrested and taken the injured to the hospital.
When asked whether the suspects were members of the Boko Haram sect, Barau said he could not yet establish if they were members of the group or not.

On the number of suspects arrested, killed or injured, the police spokesman said the group just came back from the operation and was yet to make a detail report.
Speaking on the threats to national security posed by the Boko Haram, a lawmaker in Delta State, Efe Ofobruku advised President Goodluck Jonathan, to dialogue with the sect to nip their activities in the bud.
Ofobruku, who gave the advice on Tuesday in Warri, expressed deep worries over the activities of the sect, especially in the northern states and Abuja, the nation’s capital.

“I want to call on the president to engage these fighters in a dialogue because two wrongs do not make a right. It is true that what they are doing is wrong but it will be worse for government to take wrong step in a bid to solve this issue,” said Ofobruku who is representing Uvwie Local Government in the state House of Assembly.
Also the Coordinator, Journalist Network against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in Nigeria, Mr. Andrew Agbese, has said the prevailing insecurity bedevilling the northern part of the country was as a result of financial support to terrorists’ activities in the past.

Agbese told Daily Sun yesterday in Jos, after he addressed secretariat staffers of the network in Plateau State. He informed that the network was formally inaugurated in Nigeria during the weekend in Kaduna, Kaduna State, with the aim of exposing corrupt practices. He emphasized that money laundering and terrorist financing were the focus of the network.

Agbese observed that the Boko Haram syndrome been recently experienced in some part of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital had affected negatively on the economy and wellbeing of the citizenry.
On its part, the office of the Traffic Warden National Welfare Committee had appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to use the death of Asst. Nongor Nangtu at the Police Headquarters, Abuja bomb blast to address the lingering issue of the promotion of traffic wardens and their over-dependence on the Nigerian Police.

The tribute which was read during the burial of the late traffic warden in Langtang, Plateau State and made available to Daily Sun recalled that a ministerial committee was set up last year on the instruction of the president to look into the issues and submit a report within a week to the presidency.

He, however, lamented that till date, the report was yet to be submitted despite having completed the job.
It urged the president to step into the issues affecting traffic wardens as a tribute to their dead colleague who had become a sacrificial lamb to save the Nigerian Police and the Inspector General of Police, in particular.

-Sunwp_posts