Police storm Boko Haram hide-out• Kill 3 suspects, lose 2 men-3 others shot dead

Posted by admin Boko Haram, Latest Politics Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Seven people including two policemen, an Assistant Superintendent of Customs (ASC II), and three civilians were on Tuesday killed by the Boko Haram Islamic sect in Maiduguri, Borno State.

The two policemen whose ranks could not be ascertained as at press time were shot dead in Gwange area within three hours. The development came as three members of the Islamic fundamentalists were killed by policemen at their hideout in Bauchi, on Tuesday. Several other members of the sect were injured in the clash.

Bothered by the spate of killings by Boko Haram and the level of insecurity in the country, the Senate met top security chiefs, including National Security Adviser, General Oweye Azazi behind closed door for three hours in Abuja, yesterday. Azazi led the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim and the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS) Ita Ekpeyong, to the meeting even as Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Ivy Okoronkwo accompanied Ringim to the parley.

Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) who spoke with newsmen at the end of the session noted that the Senators were specifically briefed on the Boko Haram phenomenon, the arrests made so far and the challenges facing them. He said: “The briefing was extensive and covered every aspect of the security challenges currently facing our country including the Boko Haram phenomenon. Questions were asked, clarifications sought, and were given.

“At the end of the day, I can say with certainty that the security chiefs have assured Nigerians that they are on top of the situation and that these challenges, especially the challenge of the Boko Haram, will be curtailed sooner than later.”
However, some Senators at the meeting told Daily Sun that the security chiefs took their turns to brief the chamber on measures and strategies being put in place to counter insecurity in the country.

“They briefed us on the general security situation of the country. At the end of the day, they all centred on Boko Haram menace; porosity of our borders and infiltration of small arms and ammunition.”
Another ranking Senator who craved anonymity narrated how the security agencies had decided to collaborate on the counter-offensive measures being put together to curtail the menace.

“They told us that they have risen to the challenge and how the problems would be curtailed. The security chiefs left us with the assurance that they were cooperating on the Boko Haram problem. They have started and are still meeting.”
Reacting to the report that members of the dreaded group plan to shift their attacks to Kogi, Benue and Nassarawa States, Lokoja residents called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Borno State and set up a special tribunal to try those guilty of bombing and kidnapping saying, the option of President Goodluck Jonatahn to treat the issue with political solution may not bring any tangible results
Many of the residents urged President Goodluck Jonathan to be more firm and radical in his approach to security of lives and property of Nigerians.

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 same 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, Maj. Gen 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 this reporter 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 told Daily Sun.

Meanwhile in Bauchi, the suspected Boko Haram hideout attacked yesterday was located at Kur in Jahun ward of the Bauchi metropolis. An eye-witness 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 eye-witness 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 that 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 a gun and ammunitions.
He added that the police has 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, Hon. Efe Ofobruku advised President Goodluck Jonathan, to dialogue with the sect in order to nip their activities in the bud.
Ofobruku who gave the advice Tuesday in Warri, expressed deep worries over the activities of the sect sect serious tension it is causing across the country, 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 bedeviling the northern part of the country was as a result of financial support to terrorist’s 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 as denied both local and foreign investors investing in that state, and has affected negatively on the economy and well being of the citizenry.

On its part, the office of the Traffic Warden National Welfare Committee has appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to use the death of Asst. Nongor Nangtu in 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 is 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

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Posted by admin on Jul 5 2011. Filed under Boko Haram, Latest Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry