Curfew in Bauchi, North East Nigeria Over Religious Clash afp20090727614002 Abuja Hot fm in English 26 Jul 09

As at 2.00 p.m. yesterday, six hours after launching the attacks, some of the sect members who escaped the firing power of the police, however, regrouped with arms and took over the entire Abaganaram Ward where the prison is located and the State Low Cost Housing Estate.

The 10-hour Maiduguri clash between the militants and the Operation Flush II, has however, brought business and other economic activities in the state to a halt, as all the streets and roads were deserted by residents, fearing that the crisis might spread to Bulunkutu, Gomari, Customs, Abaganaram and other areas.

Besides, all markets, schools and the Musa Usman Secretariat complex that houses workers with the 18 ministries and parastatals in Maiduguri are to remain closed, awaiting a state-wide broadcast from Governor Ali Sheriff on the sects' clashes with the police.

The Guardian also learnt that the targets of the fundamentalists are government lodges, Operation Flush checkpoints in Maiduguri and Jere metropolis, Police Headquarters and leaders of the Izala religious groups and their mosques located in various parts of Maiduguri.

Confirming the killing of over 154 people, Col. Ben Ahanotu, the commander of Operation Flush II, in a telephone interview said: "Yes, we have got them and gone with their bows and arrows and sticks. The next military action against these armed religious sect, is to destroy their operational points and areas that pose serious threat to lives and property."

While 33 of the militants were nabbed at Wudil, headquarters of Wudil Local Council of Kano State, the police are yet to ascertain whether the remaining 100 arrested at the Mariri area of Kano metropolis at about 1.00 p.m. yesterday were militants or genuine members of the Izala sect who were part of an Islamic peaceful assembly, which took place last weekend in Yola.

As at 3.00 a.m. yesterday, a band of militants comprising nationals of neighbouring Chad had stormed the headquarters of the Wudil Divi sional Police Station with the intent of disarming the policemen on duty.

The policemen put up stiff resistance to the fundamentalists. In the ensuing melee, the militants shot two of the policemen, including the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Sadiq Inuwa.

A contingent of mobile policemen led by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Lawal Tanko who were placed on the alert at the border post at the Bauchi and Jigawa States sprang into action and gunned down two of the militants who had removed two AK 47 rifles from the Wudil Police Station, about 28 kilometres away from Kano.

Kano police spokesman, Baba Mohammed, confirmed the incident at the Bompai Headquarters of the Kano State Police Command.

Among items paraded were knifes, cutlasses, local charms and personal belongings, including some drugs apparently put to use by the fundamentalists before unleashing mayhem on their victims.

Police Superintendent Baba disclosed that a sizeable number of the fundamentalists most of whom are teenagers, hail from Kano and Borno States, just as he expressed the resolve of the police in Kano to avert a spill over of the Bauchi crises to Kano.

A leader of the fundamentalist who carried out the attack at the Wudil Police Station, Abdulmumuni Ibrahim Mohammed, gave an insight into their motive, saying that the attacks were aimed at the elite who had embraced western values.

Mohammed, who hails from Nasarawa State and claim to have attended secondary school, also expressed opposition to the use of the 1999 Constitution to govern the country as well as urged the implementation of the Sharia legal code.

Following the crisis in Bauchi, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in charge of Zone 12, Bauchi, Moses Anegbode, has described the Boko Haram as a criminal group who are parading themselves in the name of religion.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Bauchi, Anegbode said Boko Haram was a threat to peace .

The AIG disclosed that 39 of the Boko Haram were killed in a confrontation in a joint security operation last Sunday in Bauchi while 176 of them were arrested and 15 injured.

He added that a Lance Corporal in the Army and two policemen were killed in the operations against the group.

According to him, the security operatives went after members of Boko Haram after they attacked a police station in Dutse Tanshi and opened fire during attempts to arrest them at their various hideouts in the Federal Low Cost Estate and Fadama Mada areas.

Anegbode said that in Maiduguri on that same Sunday, some members of the group despite the heavy security, came to a police station on a suicide mission with three motorcycles and sped towards the gate and set it ablaze.

He stated: " They forbid anything western, yet their leader has an array of western materials in their position and their usage. Even the phone, SUVs; I wonder if they were made by him. They are notorious for kidnappings, raping, intimidation and molestation and known to be anti-establishment,"

Anegbode revealed that dangerous weapons such as AK 47, 270 rounds of live ammunition, a single-barrel gun, three locally-made single barrel-guns, two locally-made revolver pistol, five rounds of 7.66 live ammunition, 500 rounds of 7.66 mm live ammunition, and 21 live cartridges were recovered from their enclave in Fadama Mada in Bauchi metropolis.

"The implication of this is that these men are armed with sophisticated guns like pump action guns, revolver pistols, AK 47 and lar rifle recovered from them. The operation is still ongoing. We are doing mop up operation so that these items can be recovered," he added.

According to him, two bags of lethal gun powder used for making explosives, 200 detonators, over 1,000 locally fabricated plastic cylinders that could be used for manufacture of local guns were also recovered from them, describing the items as dangerous substances that could be directed at society.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) yeste rday called for urgent implementation of a comprehensive reforms of the nation's intelligence community and the Nigeria police by the Federal Government to prevent the intermittent orgy of violence unleashed by religious fanatics in the country.

The human rights body in a statement endorsed by its national co-ordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, condemned the violence unleashed by the members of the Boko Haram sect in Bauchi State at the weekend even as it called for a transparent judicial commission of inquiry to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the blood-bath and the prosecution of all perpetrators.

The group traced the recurrent religious violence in the country to the total lack of political will on the part of the Federal and state governments to charge perpetrators of all the previous religious riots to court to serve as deterrent.

HURIWA blamed the failure of intelligence on the part of the Nigeria Police and the State Security Service (SSS) for the escalation in religious and ethnic motivated killings in some parts of the North, including Maiduguri and Bauchi.

Also, seven suspected members of the Taliban group were arrested along Kwami Road in Gombe, the state capital and subjected to intensive interrogation at the Police Criminal Investigation Department.

The state Police Commissioner, Joseph Ahmed Ibi, disclosed this to journalists in Gombe yesterday, saying that the suspects told the police that they were on a mission to Kwami village to see some friends, noting that after investigation, the police would be able to establish whether they were actually going to see some friends as they claimed.

[Description of Source: Lagos The Guardian Online in English -- Website of the widely read independent daily, aimed at up-market readership; URL: http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/]

Video: Nigeria: Police Boss Vows To Arrest Extremist Sect Leaders

AFM20090728651003 Abuja AIT Television in English 1030 GMT 28 Jul 09

[For a copy of the video, contact GSG_GVP_VideoOps@rccb.osis.gov or the OSC Customer Center at (800) 205-8615. Selected video also available at OpenSource.gov.]

The acting inspector general of police, Ogbonna Onovo, on 27 July said the situation is under control in Bauchi State after the sectarian violence that claimed dozens of lives. He added that the police would arrest the leaders of the Boko Haram sect. Click here to view a 92-second video.

[Description of Source: Abuja AIT Television in English -- Privately owned television]

Nigeria: Reports Say Bauchi, Borno, Kano Violence Claim 157 People

AFP20090729614003 Lagos Ray Power in English 0815 GMT 28 Jul 09

[From "Political Platform" anchored by Ohiare Agbonsuremi, Amaechi Anakwe, Mustapha Mohammed, and Eheidu Aniagwu]

The 30 minutes program "Political Platform" started with the highlights of the reports that would be considered during the program before reading the listeners mails.

Amaechi Anakwe reported that the sectarian violence which started in Bauchi had spread to two other states – Borno and Kano yesterday with 157 lives reported dead in the clashes. According to him, members of the Islamic fundamentalist sect Boko Haram led by their national leader, Mohammed Bishu, attacked the police headquarters around 10 PM and bombed 12 house and quarters of the police and 11 patrol vehicles leaving about 154 people dead in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital but the timely intervention of mobile policemen in Kano made the casualty figure in Kano to be between three and four. Their grouse of the fundamentalist is that western way of life must give way so they are attacking those who have adopted western ways of life, western values, western education campaigning that they should give way for Sharia ‘ah and pure Islamic way of life and education. Target of the members of the sect were police armor and Maiduguri New Prison and the house of the commander of the joint boarder patrol and they succeeded in setting fire to the house. Reports also said bodies were littering major roads in Maiduguri especially the post office and airport road where the sect used bows and arrows and petrol bombs in attacking the police headquarters.

Ohiare Agbonsuremi said President Yar’Adua has ordered the security agents to contain and repel the attacks. The violence is better referred to as sectarian because this sects fight anything called government institution and the security agencies have been directed to nib their action in the bud. He queried where the religious leaders, traditional leaders and security agents were for the group to gather and launch attack before the attack.

The controversy surrounding the communication of President Yar’Adua with Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola on the status of the 37 development areas was the focus of the next report. The president had written to say the state government cannot operate more than the 20 local government councils recognized by the country’s constitution but Governor Fashola has fired back to tell the president that they were at peace in Lagos and whatever happen the councils are not complaining sharing funds with the development centers adding that the president should stay clear. The presenters wondered why the president is re-awakening the case that has been lying low since he assumed office.

[Description of Source: Lagos Ray Power 2 Radio in English -- privately owned independent radio station]

Nigeria: Bauchi Governor Lauds Security Bodies' Intervention Following Clash

AFP20090729565004 Abuja Daily Trust Online in English 29 Jul 09

[Report by Muhammad Abubakar: "Boko Haram Sect Would Have Captured Bauchi  Yuguda"]

Members of the Boko Haram sect would have captured the whole of Bauchi town, if the security agencies in the state had not acted swiftly, Governor Isa Yuguda has said.

The clash between the group and police in Bauch State at the weekend left over 40 people dead and added to the major escalation of the crisis across many states in the north.

Governor Yuguda, who was speaking at the monthly interactive session with journalists yesterday, said the group had the capacity to capture the state capital, but for the swift intervention of government and security operatives.

"I commend the security men who sacrificed their lives lying down in trenches from about 4pm up to the morning exchanging fire with these hoodlums. But for their gallantry and the swift measures taken by government, they would have captured this town," he said.

The governor revealed that when he decided on the action to take on learning about the attack, he alerted other governors in the northeast zone to take precaution. He said Northern governors' forum as well as the governors' forum will sit to find lasting solutions to these kind of problems in the region and the country in general.

He said the group's stance that western education is forbidden is a farce because he alleged that its leader, Muhammad Yusuf, has lawyers, sends his children to a private school and enjoys many things that are in one way or the other related to western education.

The governor dismissed claims that activities of the group and other militants in the Niger Delta could be blamed on the country's poor leadership, saying the militants too should be blamed for Nigeria's woes.

[Description of Source: Abuja Daily Trust Online in English -- Website of the independent pro-North daily; URL: http://www.news.dailytrust.com/]

Nigeria: Police Confirm Death of 3 Security Personnel in Bauchi Sectarian Crisis

AFP20090729583002 Lagos This Day Online in English 29 Jul 09

[Report by Segun Awofadeji: "2 Soldiers, 1 Policemen Killed in Bauchi"]

Police Authorities yesterday confirmed that three security personnel, made up of two soldiers and one policeman, were killed during exchange of fire with the notorious Islamic sect, 'Boko Haram' in Bauchi, last Sunday.

Similarly, security had been reinforced within the state, to track down fleeing members of the sect in a mop-up operation.

The confirmation was made by the AIG in charge of Zone 12 of the Nigeria Police Force, Mr Moses Anegbode, while briefing newsmen on happenings in the zone, with particular reference to the operation carried out by Bauchi State Police Command.

He said members of the Islamic sect targeted the Police in their attacks, because as anti-establishment sect, they see the police as a symbol of authority and therefore, the first target when hitting government.

He said members of the sect who see anything western as prohibited, are nothing but criminals masquerading in the name of religion, adding that the Police had no option but to open fire in self defence, after they attacked the Dutsen Tanshi Police Station.

Anegbode also said 176 heavily armed suspects, most of them from Yobe and Borno States, were arrested at DIC, behind Styer Company, at the outskirts of Bauchi, while planning to set the company on fire.

He said items recovered from the hoodlums included two bags of gun powder for making explosives, 200 detonators, 2000 locally made cylinders for making bombs and seven bags of potassium nitrate for making explosives and some food items they were stock piling before launching their attack.

He said all the injured and the dead had been taken to the hospital, while those arrested were being interrogated and will be taken to court as soon as investigations were concluded.

[Description of Source: Lagos This Day Online in English -- Website of the independent daily; URL: http://www.thisdayonline.com]

Police Begin Patrolling in Abuja Following Sectarian Crisis in Northern Nigeria

AFP20090729583012 Lagos This Day Online in English 29 Jul 09

[Report by Yemi Akinsuyi and Ogochukwu Obiesie: "Police on Red Alert in Abuja"]

There was apprehension at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja yesterday following the sectarian violence in some states in the North.

The police helped to heighten the fear as over 50 police patrol vehicles, including armoured cars, in a convoy paraded selected streets in the city blaring their sirens.

A bloody clash between the police and members of an Islamic fundamentalist group known as Boko Haram ("Education is sin"), left many dead in the early hours of Sunday in Bauchi, and later spread to Kano, Yobe and Borno States.

The militants, opposed to western education, had been campaigning for the imposition of Shariah (Islamic law), on the 36 states of the federation, allegedly sparked off the crisis when its members launched an attack on a Police station in Bauchi, leading to the bloodbath.

Over 150 people were left dead, while indigenes of the area are said to be fleeing their homes.

As at Monday, the attack by the group had spread to Borno, Yobe, Gombe, and Kano States. Although none of the policemen on patrol accosted or harrassed anybody along the street, they were battle ready for any emergency.

When THISDAY visited some Police formations in the city, the main gate to virtually all of them were either half closed or under locks and keys.

Speaking on the apprehension in the city, Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Emmanuel Ojukwu, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said there was no cause for alarm and that those combat ready policemen were only performing their normal duty of protecting lives and property.

"There is no problem in Abuja. Area is calm and peaceful, and as for the mobile policemen on patrol, they are just performing their statutory duty of protecting lives and properties. There is nothing abnormal about their patrol. No cause for alarm", he said.

[Description of Source: Lagos This Day Online in English -- Website of the independent daily; URL: http://www.thisdayonline.com]

Nigeria Deploys 4,000 Policemen in Kaduna, Gombe To Prevent Sectarian Violence

AFP20090729583016 Isheri Nigerian Compass Online in English 2300 GMT 28 Jul 09

[Report by Godwin Isenyo, Juliu Toba, Ted Odogwu, Samuel Ogidan, Aaron Ossai, Wole Oladimeji, Ayodele Adegbuyi, Joe Ogbodu: "Sectarian Violence: 4,000 policemen deployed in Kaduna, Gombe; Reps Summon Security Chiefs; Tension in Warri; UN Sec-Gen Ki-moon, JNI Shocked"]

Over 4, 000 policemen are on ground in Kaduna, the Kaduna State capital, and Gombe, the Gombe State capital, to prevent the spread of sectarian violence in the region to the two states.

Also yesterday, security agents in other states took measures to stop perpetrators of the violence from infiltrating their areas of jurisdiction.

The violence, started by Islamic fundamentalists in Bauchi, has spread to Borno, Yobe and Kano and claimed hundreds of lives.

The Nigerian Compass reliably gathered that members of the religious extremist group, called Boko Haramun in Hausa language, have been arriving Gombe since the beginning of the week with the aim of unleashing terror on uniformed men and certain government institutions.

Hundreds of the extremists in company of several hired fighters, mostly from Niger and Chad, have allegedly been relocating to unknown hideouts within the state, leaving many residents to face what they call the threat of grave insecurity.

The planned violent strike appears almost inevitable, as there are claims that the leaders of the Islamic group are reportedly piqued that their followers in Gombe did not rise in defence of those who suffered displacement during the conflicts in the neighbouring Maiduguri.

It was further learnt that the Islamists, who have been arriving the state in droves since the last weekend, are urging their followers through inciting preaching to rise up against the constituted authorities regardless of where they find themselves.

Sources said that while many youths and adults, who believe in their cause, had been made to tear their educational certificates, others who were workers, reportedly resigned, all in a bid to distance themselves from Western cultures.

Several armed anti-riot policemen, soldiers and other detectives have, however, begun a 24-hour patrol and surveillance of major streets in the state capital to prevent a breakdown of law and others.

This confirmed President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's statement yesterday that the situation had been brought under control.

The President, before he travelled to Brazil, said he had directed security agencies to arrest the growing unrest.