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

The association's Assistant Secretary, Dr. Haruna Karatu, accused some of the 19 members of the forum of having a hand in the crisis, as collaborators of the leaders of the Boko Haram sect.

Besides, he alleged that some of the governors colluded with security agents to hasten the killing of the sect leader, Mohammad Yusuf, saying that they were afraid that he could reveal their secret dealings and spiritual relationship with him.

According to Karatu, the late Yusuf and scores of his followers were in close contact with some of the governors, who secretly contracted them as personal prayer warriors.

He said the governors, whose names he refused to disclose, abandoned the Boko Haram leaders to their fate, "when the crisis became full-blown and the governors' secrets were about to be revealed."

The Assistant Chairman of CAN, Rev. Umar Garba Dutse, however, stated that Moslem Ullamah and the Moslem community in the North should also take part of the blames for the Boko Haram violence, saying they did not monitor "negatively-minded immigrants from the neighbouring countries" who sneaked into Nigeria to perpetrate violence.

The CAN leaders who expressed regrets that the Moslem community in the geo-political zone was all too quick to embrace such foreigners in their midst, without investigating their background, argued that the slain leader of the Boko Haram group hailed from Niger Republic.

His words: "You see, the Moslems in the North have this attitude of embracing just any stranger who arrives in their midst, so long as he or she pronounces Allahu Akbar (God is most supreme). But they forget that it's not all the mouth that praises that are Moslems, let alone steadfast faithful.

"May be if the Moslem leaders in our midst had eschewed sentiment as to be mindful of finding out the background of strangers looking like faithful who appear suddenly from nowhere, may be the Boko Haram crisis would have been averted. If the truth must be told, even the leader of the group, Mohammad Yusuf was not a Nigerian. He came all the way from Niger Republic."

CAN Secretary, Elder Saidu Dogo, argued that the crisis was badly managed by the concerned Northern state governments and the security agencies.

In Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, 50 suspected members of the sect were arrested yesterday.

The Nigerian Compass gathered that the suspects arrived in the town in the early hours of the day through the Jalingo-Numan road when they were picked up at the Jalingo Main Market.

Shortly before entering the town, security operatives at the city gate quickly alerted soldiers on patrol in the city, an action which led to their arrest.

Seized from them were machetes, charms and military uniforms.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Malam Usman Isa Baba, confirmed the arrest.

"They denied any link with the dreaded Boko Haram, insisting that they were going to Iware, a Muslim town in Taraba for a wedding but, so far, they have failed to explain why they have military uniforms and weapons with them."

[Description of Source: Isheri Nigerian Compass Online in English -- Website of the privately owned newspaper close to former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili; URL: http://www.compassnewspaper.com]

Nigeria: Christian Group Blames Government for Outbreak of Sectarian Crisis

AFP20090808565010 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 08 Aug 09

[Report by Saxone Akhaine: "CAN Blames Northern States, FG for Boko Haram Crisis; Demands Rebuilding of Burnt Churches"]

Officials of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern States and Abuja have faulted the Northern Governors on the decision to enact a law which will empower traditional rulers to regulate the activities of religious preachers, just as they blamed the federal and state governments in the region for the outbreak of the Boko Haram crisis.

Besides, the CAN leaders demanded the re-construction of the churches destroyed in the states where the Islamic fundamentalists, Boko Haram sect, unleashed violence and killed three pastors and eight other Christian worshippers.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna yesterday, the Secretary General of Northern CAN, Elder Saidu Dogo pointed out that "since the incident, some northern leaders including the federal and the Borno state governments appear to be suppressing the facts of the violence as it affects Christians in Maiduguri and we feel it is imperative to tell the world about the callousness and barbarism that the Islamic sect meted out on Christians."

"The Boko Haram sect went about wielding dangerous weapons and abducting Christians to the enclave of their leader, Mohammed Yusuf in the name of implementing Sharia in Nigeria," he said, adding that, "they were forcefully converted to Islam after they were tortured."

According to Dogo "three pastors and eight other Christians who resisted the forceful conversion were beheaded on the order of the leader of the Islamic sect, while 20 churches were burnt by the fundamentalists. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 Northern States is holding the Federal Government and the five state governments where violence erupted responsible for the mayhem, especially the Borno state government."

"The authorities in Borno State must be blamed for laxity in acting promptly on issues that have to do with security of lives and property. For instance, on Monday July 20th, this year, before the violence erupted CAN in Borno State had received information indicating that the leader of the Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf and his followers were brazing up for a show down. The following day, the CAN officials in the state alerted the appropriate security agencies, expressing their fears about the activities of the Islamic sect, but they were assured that the Christian community was not the target of the blood thirsty hoodlums."

Dogo also disclosed that "on the 25th of July, the governor of Borno State, Senator Modu Sheriff also came out to assure that the security of citizens was guaranteed and urged them to go about their normal duties. "However, to our greatest surprise, on the 26th of July, at about 11 pm, Christians and their churches were attacked by the Islamic fundamentalists as they set our churches and vehicles ablaze".

He said: "The federal government was equally aware of the existence of terrorist groups in the country. This is because long before now, the Director General of the State Security Services (SSS) had informed the nation of the existence of terrorist groups in the country. The federal government was aware of the existence and activities of these terrorists groups. The Federal government and other relevant authorities were adequately informed about the activities of these people. We also have had cause to alert the nation about the existent of these terrorist groups and their training grounds, but the authorities did not take us seriously. In fact, a prominent traditional ruler in the North who travelled to the United States denied that there are terrorists in Nigeria. Indeed this violence in Maiduguri, Bauchi, Kano and Potiskum has vindicated the SSS and CAN in the Northern states."

The Northern CAN, therefore, demanded that the Federal Government and the Borno state government "immediately rebuild the churches that were destroyed during the violence in Maiduguri".

"We are extremely worried about these frequent attacks on Christians and their churches in the north and it is our prayer that this madness should be nipped in the bud before t he younger generations who are watching this callous behaviour decide to take the laws in their hands," the CAN officials added.

"The government must address this issue of Sharia which is being implemented in some of the northern states seriously. Since the introduction of Sharia, the northern states have increasingly become a hotbed for religious and ethnic crises. Thousands of people have lost their lives in bloody religious crises in the North," they added.

Meanwhile, the Northern CAN Publicity Secretary, Reverend Joseph Hayep who also spoke on the decision by the 19 Northern Governors to regulate religious preaching through the traditional rulers in the north said that the governors would not succeed in their mission because religious activities cannot be placed under the bureaucratic control of government.

[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/]

Nigeria: NGO Rejects Yar'Adua's Order To Probe Killing of Islamic Sect Leader

AFP20090808565011 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 08 Aug 09

[Report by Yetunde Oyegbami: "Group Faults Probe of Boko Haram Leaders Execution"]

A non -governmental organization [NGO], Access to Justice (AJ) has rejected the probe ordered by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua into the killing of the leader of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, the Executive Director, Access to Justice, Mr. Joseph Otteh said the Security Adviser lacked the legal competence and power to undertake the "quasi -judicial assignment."

Joseph noted that the Security Adviser is a retired military officer whose balanced judgment could not be guaranteed.

"There is nothing in the manner that the President intends to investigate this that assures this inquiry will be impartial, independent, open and thorough," he said.

"A security adviser cannot exercise the power necessary to reach the truth of how the death of a much vilified criminal suspect came about; he cannot compel the witness, order the production of evidence, protect witness from prosecution and take evidence scrutinized by cross examination," he said.

Otteh further said that President Yar'Adua had allowed the reign of a culture of impunity and lawlessness within the police to continue in spite of his avowed rule of law policy, stating that many lives had continued to be lost to police brutality, torture, sexual violence and deliberate executions.

He also called on the Police Service Commission to place on suspension all the policemen involved in the reported killing of Yusuf.

The group urged the new Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo to demonstrate that he will not condone further extra judicial killings in the force and set the police towards a new culture of respect for human rights.

[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/]

Nigeria: Police Arrest 50 'Suspected' Islamic Sect Members in Taraba State

AFP20090808565014 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 08 Aug 09

[Report by Ibe Uwaleke and Charles Akpeji: "Police Arrest Suspected Boko Haram Sect Members in Taraba"]

About 50 suspected members of Boko Haram Islamic sect have been arrested by the Taraba State police command.

The suspects, made up of both sexes, as well as children, are presently undergoing interrogation at the command headquarters in Jalingo, the state capital.

A senior police officer told The Guardian that the suspects were arrested at about 5pm yesterday on their way "from either Kano or Jigawa State to Taraba State."

The suspects, he added, "were arrested at the Jalingo central market in a truck covered with tarpaulin by the military/police joint patrol team.

Confirming the arrest, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Musa Aliyu, through his deputy, Usman Isa Baba, told journalists that the arrested suspects were presently undergoing "screening" and promised to speak with journalists afterwards.

He said: "It is true our men intercepted these people, but we are still trying to get information from them. Some of them claimed that their mission to the state was to search for menial job's, while some claimed to be sorcerers."

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has commended the Presidency for ordering law enforcement agencies to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the sect.

The Presidency had in the wake of widespread condemnation of the alleged summary execution of Yusuf and some of his members, ordered a probe into how he and his members were killed.

Reports had it that the Operation Flush captured Yusuf alive and handed him over to the police, but he was found dead the next day in police custody.

BOTh the military and the Police have been trading blames over who was responsible for the death of the sect leader.

NBA was among groups, institutions and individuals that condemned his killing, describing it as ex-judicial murder, which is unconstitutional and against global best practices.

Justifying its stance on Thursday on the issue, NBA President, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN [Senior Advocate of Nigeria]), who spoke in Lagos said the action of the law enforcement agents in killing Yusuf "was most unfortunate and a violation of the constitution."

According to him: "Everybody has a right to life and according to the constitution, the only way one's life can be eliminated is where there is a judicial pronouncement to that effect."

He said any other means applied to eliminate somebody, which is not within the laws, was unconstitutional and condemnable, adding that no matter the crime a person must have committed, a judicial process must still have to be applied to solve the riddle.

Akeredolu further stated that, it is the courts that should determine the proper punishment to be meted out to any suspect, no matter how heinous his crime was, whereby it is the same courts that can award prison sentences or death penalty, where appropriate.

He revealed that a number of police stations carry out extra judicial killings every now and then, particularly the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian Police, noting that some people who the police regard as armed robbers may not actually be so.

He regretted that they are shot at and killed without arresting, investigating and charging them to court for the judiciary to confirm who they actually are.

[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/]

Nigeria: Authorities relax curfew in northern Nigeria's Bauchi State

AFP20090808011003 Nigerian Tribune Online in English 08 Aug 09

Authorities relax curfew in northern Nigeria's Bauchi State

Text of report by Nigerian Tribune website on 8 August

[Report by Ishola Michael, Dipo Laleye: "Boko Haram: Yuguda Relaxes Curfew; Fear Grips Niger Residents -Police on Red Alert"]

As normality gradually returns to Bauchi State after the smashing of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, penultimate Sunday, the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed on the state capital has been relaxed by the state government from the initial 9.00 p.m to 6.00 a.m, as it will now take effect from 12 midnight to 6.00 a.m.

This new development was contained in a release signed by the Permanent Secretary, Special Services, Abdu Aliyu Ilelah and made available to Saturday Tribune on Thursday.

The release said that, "latest reports from security agencies in the state indicated that the security situation in Bauchi metropolis and its environs since the recent unfortunate sectarian crisis has improved considerably.

In view of this new development, coupled with appeals from several quarters, government has decided to relax the curfew imposed on the metropolis, while the curfew will now operate from 12.00 midnight to 6.00am."

The state government also appealed to the public to remain calm and go about their normal businesses, assuring that government is taking necessary measures to ensure maintenance of peace, law and order in the state.

It will be recalled that the Boko Haram violence that started in Bauchi on July 26 spread to other states of Yobe, Borno, and Kano, leading to the killing of people and destruction of properties.

Despite the fact that normality is gradually returning to the affected states, security operatives are still searching for the fleeing members of the sect who have vowed to re-group and launch their attack on security operatives.

The crisis which started in Bauchi State, was quickly nipped in the bud through the assistance of both police and military deployed to overpower the group.

Saturday Tribune gathered that the sect's members have targetted some important public buildings and individuals for destruction, should they have succeeded in launching their jihad in the state.

Also, fear gripped residents of Minna, the Niger State capital, on Friday following speculations that members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect planned to unleash terror on the state.

Most of the residents received text messages advising them to remain indoors from noon when members of the sect were expected to begin to strike.

As a result, some of members of the public did not go out of their houses. Those who did returned quickly. The police moved out their men to strategic locations in the city to ward off any trouble.

Also, mobile policemen loaded in not less than eight trucks moved round the city. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Michael Zuomoukor, told Saturday Tribune that the force was aware of the text messages being sent to members of the public and assured that the police were ready to deal with anyone who attempted to foment trouble.

"Niger is the most peaceful state in the country and we will not compromise its security," Zuomoukor said, adding that people should go about their lawful businesses.

In the meantime, the police on Friday arrested three armed robbery suspects who sneaked into Minna from a town in the eastern part of the country.

Zuomoukor, who confirmed the arrest, said sophisticated weapons were also seized from the suspects who, he said, would be charged to court after investigations were completed.

[Description of Source: Unidentified Source in English ]

Nigeria: Report Says 30,000 Nigerians Killed in Violence

AFP20090810686006 Port Harcourt The Neighborhood in English 10 Aug 09 P4

[Unattributed report: "Report Says 30,000 Nigerians Killed in Violence"]

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), a human rights group, has said that over 30,000 Nigerians may have been killed in various violence in the country between 1999 and this year.

"We have observed that over 30,000 Nigerians might have died since 1999 or in the past 10 years, as a result of extra-judicial killings, assassinations and sectarian violence.

"While over 5,000 citizens lost their lives to the Onitsha Traders Association [OTA] and the Bakassi Boys killings in Anambra State between 1999 and 2002, 3,500 persons were reportedly killed in Abia State under similar circumstances and periods.

"Over 1,500 others were believed to have been killed in Imo, Ebonyi and Lagos states by the Bakassi Boys and the Odu'a People's Congress [OPC]. More than 150 prominent Nigerians had been assassinated since 1999 by politicians and Nigeria's security forces," stated the group.

In a report signed by its Chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, the group said over 20,000 Nigerians have died in the hands of religious extremists and over-zealous government security forces.

Those who died in the hands of the security forces, according to the report, included victims of Odi, Zaki Biam/Tiv massacres and the recent Niger Delta military invasions.

In the Jos religious crisis of late 2008, for instance, it said "About 700 persons were reportedly killed, though the Nigerian authorities claimed that about 300 persons were killed." Also, the highly disputed 2007 general elections in Nigeria reportedly claimed about 300 lives, it said, citing Human Rights Watch reports.

It said the grand summary of the report is that till date, the perpetrators of the killings so highlighted, are still on the prowl with impunity.

These, it said, have resulted in "the entrenchment of a consociation democratic culture in Nigeria," which it defines as "a democratic system with deep-rooted animosity, deepening ethnic or sectional divisions, economic backwardness, corruption and selective justice."

It decried unending violence targeted at non-Moslems by various Islamic extremists in Nigeria and said it was condemnable.

"The leaders of the Boko Haram and other religious fundamentalist movements are deceiving their followers. The tagging of the so-called 'Western Education' as sacrilegious, is totally false and a product of ignorance," echoing the views of Moslem scholars in the country.

According to it, "History has shown that apart from Egypt being the headquarters of Arabism/Islamism, it is also the origin of the world ancient university, the Egyptian System Mystery Schools, where the philosophy which gave birth to today's university disciplines originated.

"The modern world's oldest university, Al-Ahzar University of Cairo, which was built in 970AD, is also located in Egypt. The division of days into seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and months originated from the Egypt and the Babylon or Iraq, before their transformation into the Gregorian calendar," it noted.

It, however, condemned the extra-judicial killing of the leader of Boko Haram, Ustaz Yusuf, by the police.

[Description of Source: Port Harcourt The Neighborhood in English -- Privately owned daily]

Nigeria: Retired Army Officials Reportedly Trained Cults Involved in Sect Crisis

AFP20090810578005 Ibadan Nigerian Tribune Online in English 10 Aug 09

[Unattributed report: "'Boko Haram Members Trained by Soldiers'"]

The level of military sophistication exhibited by the Boko Haram cult has been traced to the military training they allegedly got from retired military men.

Nigerian Tribune reliably gathered from a retired military officer, (name witheld), who was contacted for recruitment, that key people associated with the sect approached him and some of his colleagues to train members of the sect.

The retired soldier, who currently works with a company in Zamfara State, when asked why he refused the offer, which he said was juicy, said he refused to be enlisted in a project that could dismember the country.

"In spite of the shoddy treatment we were -- and are still being given -- I remember we fought a war to keep this nation one. How could I then be involved in a move that could break up this country? That singular thought prevented my taking the sect's offer," he said, adding that other demobilised soldiers had taken up the training offer.

The recruitment, he disclosed, was done in the North among retired soldiers, who were already disenchanted with how they were being treated.

The demobilised soldiers were said to have trained them in military tactics, which resulted in the level of difficulty the military authorities had in tackling them.

The Federal Government had expressed surprise at the level of resistance by the Boko Haram cult.

Contacted, the Force spokesman, ACP Emmanuel Ojukwu, said he had no such information at his disposal yet.

The group was founded in 2002 in Maiduguri by Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf. In 2004, it moved to Kanamma, Yobe State, where it set up a base called "Afghanistan", used to attack nearby police outposts, killing police officers.

Yusuf was hostile to democracy and the secular education system, vowing that "this war that is yet to start would continue for long" if the political and educational systems were not changed.

In Bauchi, the group was reported to have refused to mix with local people. The group includes members from the neighbouring Chad Republic and who speak only Arabic.

Boko Haram opposes not only Western education, but also Western culture and modern science as well. In a 2009 BBC interview, Yusuf stated that the belief that the world was a sphere was contrary to Islam and should be rejected, along with Darwinism and the theory that rain comes from water evaporated by the sun.