Less than 48 hours after suspected members of Boko Haram
killed over 50 students in Yobe State, the sect members on Wednesday
night killed 33 people in Madagli and Michika local government areas of
Adamawa State.
Adamawa State governor Murtala Nyako has said that there is need for
the federal government and military authorities to expose the source of
weapons being used by the members of the Boko Haram on the grounds that
there is ulterior motives behind the insurgency attacks in the
north-east.
Nyako further criticized the federal government for failing to foil
an attack on a secondary school in Yobe even though other schools in the
state had been attacked previously, leading to the death of many
students.
The governor, who was reacting to the latest attacks on two LGAs of
the state, said that the rate of insurgent attacks in the state was
getting out of hand. He called on the federal government to resolve the
situation without further delay, adding that the emergency rule clamped
on the state had been totally defeated.
He said that the incessant Boko Haram attacks on innocent civilians
has ridiculed President Goodluck Jonathan’s claim of success against the
insurgency.
‘’Enough Is Enough,’’ Governor Nyako said, stressing that the Boko
Haram crisis is getting out of hand and needs new measures to tackle.
Nyako, who was visibly disturbed by what he called the insincerity of
the federal government in its fight against the insurgency, said:
“There is no excuse whatsoever. We want to know more from the
authorities.
“By now, the authorities should be able to know what is happening. We
should be able to know where these arms are manufactured and even the
signatures of the weapons. We ought to know who ordered them, who paid
for them, how they came into the country. Where were they shipped? Which
port in Nigeria did they arrive, who cleared them?
To buttress his point further, Nyako said it still beats his
imagination that security checkpoints and roadblocks are manning every
nook and cranny of the nation, conducting stop-and-search and wondered
how weapons are being transported across the nation.
He stated: ‘’President, vice president, governors and the military
are the only groups that pass checkpoints without being checked, and
which of the two groups is conveying those arms to the scene of these
actions we want to know.
‘’The other aspect is that the army withdrew from the checkpoint
before the attack on Yadi-Buni. Who ordered the withdrawal? We also have
a case where General Shuwa was killed by so-called Boko Haram. There
were army units there but they didn’t respond during the incident. Who
told them not to respond when Shuwa was being attacked?
‘’The Air Force base was being raided; there was a unit of army
nearby; who gave them order not to respond until all the aircraft were
destroyed?
‘’These are questions that need answers. So, either this thing is
controlled by unknown fellows or unknown Boko Haram strategic commanders
in the defence system, or stage-managed. We have reached a point to
come out and tell them our displeasure over the way the situation is
escalating.’’
33 killed In Fresh Attack On Adamawa
Madagli and Michika local government areas of Adamawa State yesterday
came under fresh attack leading to the death of about 33 people.
Insurgent attacks have escalated within the borders of Adamawa and Borno, resulting in the sacking of over 20 border villages.
The unknown gunmen first struck the border village of Kirchinga in
Madagali LGA about 8:30pm where they set houses ablaze before proceeding
to Shuwa where they killed scores of people.
The source added that the attackers came into the town in a convoy of
13 Hilux pick-up vans, shooting sporadically as people scampered into
different directions for safety.
The source maintained that the military personnel manning different
checkpoints staged a retreat as the gunmen laid siege to the border
villages for more than five hours.
A resident of Shuwa, Mr Kwaje Bitrus, said the gunmen launched
attacks on many places in Shuwa including a bishop’s house, a
theological school, a police station as well as houses of prominent
people in the town, leading to the death of two people.
The chairman of Madagali LG, Mr Maina Ularamu, confirmed the
incident, saying that the gunmen attacked many places including schools,
residential houses, banks and a police station.
A pastor who preferred anonymity said the gunmen destroyed three
banks and many shops in the town while two lives were lost in the attack
which lasted throughout the night.
“When the soldiers at the military checkpoints saw the number of the
attackers, they retreated into the nearby bushes and the gunmen operated
without challenge during the operation that lasted throughout the
night.”
Also, the member representing Michika LGA in Adamawa State House of
Assembly, Hon. Adamu Kamale, confirmed the attack on Michika.
We slept in the hills – Michika residents
Some residents of Michika town in Adamawa said they slept in the
hills and nearby bushes during Wednesday night attack on the town by
suspected insurgents.
Some of the residents told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on phone,
yesterday that the attackers arrived in the town around 9pm to unleash
the mayhem for about five hours.
We’re ready to end Boko Haram menace – Defence Hqs
The military yesterday disclosed that the counter-insurgency war
aimed at stopping the Boko Haram terrorism in the country has entered
into a new phase that is expected to end the menace once and for all.
The Defence Headquarters, through its director of information Major
General Chris Olukolade, who briefed defence correspondents in Abuja,
also condemned in strong terms the terror unleashed on the Federal
Government College in Yobe State that led to the killing of many
students.
“The dastardly act has expectedly attracted the reaction of
well-meaning individuals who have been condemning the senseless
bloodletting. Disturbing as this trend proves, the fact remains that the
chilly episodes are simply typical of terrorists’ intention to
intimidate the people into subscribing to their false claim to
invincibility,” he said.
Olukolade explained that the new approach adopted by the military has
started and it is aimed at strengthening efforts being made at
apprehending the terrorists before they escape to the neighbouring
countries.
“The purpose of this briefing is to intimate you with the elevation
of counter-terrorism campaign in the country. The new approach marks
another phase in the operations designed to further contain the
terrorists and their activities. The specialized campaign which has
commenced is being undertaken simultaneously in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa
states. This operation is also in furtherance of efforts at apprehending
the terrorists and ensuring they do not escape out of Nigeria as they
are now so desperate to do.”
He also gave a vivid account of another attack on some communities in
Adamawa State on Wednesday night that led to the killing of six
terrorists, one soldier and three civilians.
Yobe school killings: Jonathan’s broadcast on centenary misplaced – APC
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has sharply criticised President
Goodluck Jonathan for devoting his broadcast to the nation on Wednesday
night to the centenary celebrations instead of the national tragedy
involving the cold-blooded murder of over 40 schoolchildren in Yobe
State.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its interim national
publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the president’s
action sends a wrong signal to the world about the value which the
Nigerian government places on the lives of the nation’s children.
It wondered what was so important about the centenary celebrations
that it would be elevated over and above what in any nation would be
considered a monumental tragedy, describing the president’s broadcast as
insensitive, misplaced, and an embarrassment to the nation. ‘’Even as
the nation is still counting the death toll from Monday night’s
senseless and gruesome murder of our children, and the ceaseless
killings of innocent civilians before that, the president has already
switched into a celebratory mood, dwelling on themoney-wasting centenary
celebrations instead of leading a clearly distraught nation in
mourning. “Nothing better illustrates the fact that the president showed
more concern about the centenary celebrations than the calamity that
befell the nation than the mention, in only about three paragraphs, of
the tragedy in a speech that spanned over 40 paragraphs.”
The party said now that the president has goofed again, he should
quickly make amends by visiting the scene of the tragedy to empathize
with the families of the victims as well as the government and people of
the state, which is what any leader worth his salt would do under the
circumstance.
It said in case President Jonathan is still in doubt on whether or
not to take a trip to Yobe, and indeed Borno where hundreds of innocent
citizens have been dispatched to their early graves by rampaging
insurgents in the past few weeks, he should take a cue from what other
presidents do in times like this.’’In the US, for example, President
Barack Obama was his country’s ‘consoler in chief’ as he visited scenes
of the tragedies that have occurred in his country since he assumed
office, whether it is the school massacre in Connecticut, the mass
shooting in Fort Hood,Texas, or the tornado in Joplin, Missouri.
Boko Haram Kingpin Arrested in Makurdi
A man suspected to be a Boko Haram kingpin on a mission to unleash
terror in Benue has been arrested by men of the police in Makurdi.
A statement signed yesterday by the special adviser to the governor
on media, Dr Cletus Akwaya, said the suspected terrorist was nabbed on
Tuesday by policemen.
It stated that “the Boko Haram agent ( name withheld), a Fulani, who
hails from Taraba State, was arrested by the police at the Kanshio area
of Makurdi following a tip-off.”
“The Police Command disclosed that the Boko Haram suspect was found
with six blank cheques with the total value said to be in millions of
naira. Also found on him were copies of maps of some parts of Benue
State especially Makurdi, the state capital.
The detailed description of the targets were contained in an exercise
book which was found on the suspect. Some of the places included a
high-profile hotel in the Nyiman area of Makurdi as well as some major
infrastructural facilities central to the economic life of the state
capital,” the statement said.
It further added that the suspect was whisked away to an unknown location where he is being questioned by
security operatives.
Leadership
