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

In July 2009, the Nigeria Police started investigating the group, following reports that the group was arming itself. Several of its leaders were arrested in Bauchi, sparking off deadly clashes with Nigerian security forces and the estimated deaths of, at least, 700 people.

In Yobe State, fighters reportedly "used fuel-laden motorcycles" and "bows with poisoned arrows" to attack a police station. On 30 July, allegations were made that Yusuf himself was killed by Nigerian security forces after being taken into custody.

Prior to the clashes, many Muslim leaders and, at least, one military official had warned the authorities about Boko Haram. Those warnings were reportedly ignored.

[Description of Source: Ibadan Nigerian Tribune Online in English -- Website of the privately owned daily; URL: http://www.tribune.com.ng]

Nigeria: NGO Faults Formation of Panel by Yar'Adua To Investigate Sect Violence

AFP20090810578006 Ibadan Nigerian Tribune Online in English 10 Aug 09

[Report by Akeem Nafiu: "Boko Haram: NGO Denounces Administrative Panel"]

A Human Right Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Access to Justice (AJ), has denounced the setting up of an administrative panel by President Umaru Yar'Adua to probe the recent unrest in some parts of the Northern states occasioned by the Boko Haram Islamic militants.

The organisation's position was made known by its executive director, Joseph Chu'ma Otteh, while speaking at a one-day workshop on public interest litigation aimed at expanding individual rights and social justice held at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of Lagos, Akoka.

[Description of Source: Ibadan Nigerian Tribune Online in English -- Website of the privately owned daily; URL: http://www.tribune.com.ng]

Nigeria: Ethnic Leader Faults Yar'Adua for Visiting Brazil Amid Sect Violence

AFP20090810578007 Lagos Daily Sun Online in English 10 Aug 09

[Report by Taiwo Oluwadare: "Boko Haram: Yar'Adua Blasted for Brazil Trip"]

Following the violence that erupted in some Northern states of Nigeria by some sectarian religious groups, Co-ordinator of Ijaw Monitoring group, Comrade Joseph Evah took a swipe against president Yar'Adua as a care-free leader for traveling amidst the crisis to Brazil.

"Was Yar'Adua in the country? The country was burning; Yar'Adua was playing football in Brazil. Yar'Adua is a disgrace to this generation. Because of his heart problem, he didn't travel to Brazil the other time. Now, thousands of people are dying. He could not abort his traveling. We should be ashamed of him.

He said the amnesty granted to the militants must be reciprocal, saying "it is not the duty of the federal government to give us amnesty, we are also to give federal government amnesty because they have polluted our environment. But yet, government is not serious.

The money government is coming up with about 15 billion or 16 billion Naira is for the PDP to rig the election. We are talking about employment but they are talking about something else. Thus, you will agree with me that the federal government needs spiritual deliverance. We want our people to work. But they are after bribing to rig the elections. I want all Nigerians to agree with me that any other violence that comes from Niger-Delta, you hold the federal government responsible.

From the materials you put on, textile products cannot come out without petrochemical industries. Without it, you cannot have tyre industies and other products that come from it. If the federal government and oil companies are not involved in this amnesty. We are telling the oil companies not only to lift oil but do what they do in other countries. Why don't you clear bushes in Niger-Delta and provide industries for us to engage our idle brains in Niger-Delta?

He said "we are doing our best. I give scholarships. According to him, we should go into private development schemes. I give scholarships in my community and other communities. What we are saying is that our environment is destroyed. There is no economic activity in our environment. The way oil companies are polluting our environments, they should provide alternatives as they do in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and other areas. If you don't make our Niger-Delta to be like Abuja, no oil company will operate. The children in the womb are more deadly than our generation. If you don't do what we want, no amount of amnesty is acceptable to us as far as is this generation is concerned. Government doesn't want to even involve oil companies in amnesty."

[Description of Source: Lagos Daily Sun Online in English -- Website of the privately owned daily close to former Abia State Governor Orji Kalu; URL: http://www.sunnewsonline.com]

Nigeria: Former Taraba Governor Denies Involvement in Islamic Sectarian Violence

AFP20090810578010 Isheri Nigerian Compass Online in English 2300 GMT 09 Aug 09

[Report by Stephen Osu: "Nyame: I am Not a Member of 'Boko Haram' Senator Condemns Killing of Sect's Leader"]

Afraid that security agents might rely on the rumour that he was a member of the Boko Haram sect to clamp down on him and. his loyalists, former Taraba State governor, Rev. Jolly Nyame, has denied membership of the deadly sect which wreaked havoc in some states in the North for one week.

He declared that as a law abiding citizen, "I cannot directly or indirectly do anything that will amount to the breach of law and order and this is the only reason I and my political associates had to put off a meeting earlier scheduled for my country home in Zing town."

The former governor stated this while addressing journalists at his residence on Jolly Nyame Way, Jalingo, the state capital in response to an earlier suspension of all political meetings in the state by Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai which many believe was an action by the governor to frustrate the ambition of his predecessor, a move that has further worsened the crisis between the duo.

The belief in the North-East state is that the story of his perceived membership of the sect is being spread by those opposed to him to ensure his arrest.

Nyame, the self-acclaimed godfather of Taraba politics, also used the forum to declare that he and members of his group are law abiding citizens and can never do anything that will jeopardise the peace of the state. "We have no link and will never have any link with the deadly Boko Haram sect."

The governor said before the meeting, he wrote to the police commissioner for permission but the police boss replied that he did not have enough men to provide security at the venue. "Because of this, we turned the meeting to a dinner and this was communicated to the police commissioner."

He said he decided to obey the law of the land not because he was afraid of the governor but because of the situation in the land.

His words, "I am still powerful and even more powerful than when I was in government. As you can see, the calibre of people I have around me is enormous. Ahmed Yusuf is here even as the governorship candidate of Action Congress. Njika Njobdi, Danlaadi Baido, two former Speakers of the House of Assembly, former deputy governor, Uba Maigheri and Senator Ikenya. I think everybody can agree with the fact that I am still powerful.

"Look, if we had decided to go against security, the state command of the police cannot contend us but with this calibre of people and myself as the former chief security officer of the state, we can never do anything that will jeopardise the law and order of the state.

Meanwhile, the Senator representing Taraba South district, Joel Danlamin Ikenya, has condemned the killing of the sect's leader, Muhammed Yusuf.

He urged the Inspector-General of Police, Ogbonnaya Onovo, to bring the officers involved in the killing to book.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Commerce said: "The Nigerian Army said Yusuf was captured alive but the police said he was killed in a shoot-out. The IGP must investigate the killing. If he were to be alive, Yusuf would have provided useful information to security agents that will help to curb fundamentalists' excesses but now, that is not going to be."

[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: NGO Takes Census of Boko Haram Sect Members Widows

AFP20090811614002 Abuja Cool FM in English 0545 GMT 10 Aug 09

An NGO [Non Governmental Organization], the Nigerian Widows and Orphans Foundation, yesterday began registration of women who lost their husbands in the Boko Haram mayhem in Bauchi State.

The chairperson of the foundation, Sa’adatu Opomo, said that the association had already registered 50 women who lost their husbands in the July 26th crisis.

She said the exercise would also covered children and orphans adding that the headcount was designed to compile a comprehensive data of affected widow and their needs.

[Description of Source: Abuja Cool FM in English - privately owned, independent radio]

Interior Minister Blames Unemployment for Sectarian Violence in Northern Nigeria

AFP20090811565009 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 11 Aug 09

[Report by Njadvara Musa: "Minister Blames Sectarian Crisis on Unemployment, Others"]

Minister for Interior, Dr. Shettima Mustapha at the weekend blamed the recent sectarian violence in some parts of Northern Nigeria on unemployment and qualitative education.

He stated that the four Northern states of Borno, Yobe, Bauchi and Kano affected by the Boko Haram sect crisis had not done enough in terms of creating jobs and quality education for the masses.

The minister made the observations at the weekend in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, while condemning the Boko Haram sectarian crisis when he visited Governor Ali Sheriff of Borno at the Government House.

He said: "We are here today in Borno to sympathise with the people and relations of the killed sect members. Violence and taking to arms to champion one's religion were, however, not the root causes, as claimed by some traditional and religious leaders in the country."

Shetimma further disclosed that the truth about the Yusufiyya sectarian crisis, which claimed many lives and property, was that "the governors of the four affected states in North, however, failed to address the unemployment and educational problems they had been facing since independence." He stated that the incorrect interpretation of the Holy Quran by the religious sect was, however, not the root cause, but the irresponsibility of the elected leaders to provide more jobs and qualitative education to their people.

He therefore urged Sheriff to go back to the drawing board to identify the true causes of the mayhem, instead of attributing the religious crises on the sect members' taking to arms to fight the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) administration and security agents.

He said even though security reports were made available to the governor on the activities of the sect leader, Mohammed Yusuf, since 2004, the state government, however, failed to take any proactive measures that could contain Yusufiyya sectarian activities in Borno and three other states in the North.

But Sheriff in his welcome address said that the intervention of the military and the joint patrol team of Operation Flush II, had assisted a lot in quelling the violence.

While denying that unemployment, illiteracy and poverty, as the main causes of the Boko Haram, he disclosed, that 90 per cent of the sect members were educated, who either shunned government employment and job opportunities or shredded their university degree and National Diploma certificates, as mandatory conditions of joining the Yusufiyya religious sect.

He said about 455 of the sect members in Maiduguri alone also sold their houses and other property in funding the dangerous religious sect, maintaining that his administration would not condone any criminality against his administration and the people that elected him into office.

[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: Taraba State Police Chief Confirms Arrest of 71 Islamic Sect Members

AFP20090811565012 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 11 Aug 09

[Report Charles Akpeji: "Police Arrest 71, Release 38 Suspected Sect Members in Taraba"]

Police Commissioner in Taraba State, Musa Aliyu, yesterday confirmed arrest of 71 members of the Boko Haram sect, contrary to the 50 reported in the media.

While journalists were informed last week that about 50 suspected members of the sect were nabbed in the state by a joint military/police patrol team, the commissioner confirmed that the arrested members were 71.

"Seventy-one suspected members of the Boko Haram sect were arrested by a joint military/police patrol team in a Daff driven by one Idi Adamu from Darazo Local Council of Bauchi State," the police chief said.

He disclosed that 33 of the suspected sect members have been released after thorough investigation "because we found no single evidence against them."

According to Aliyu, police boots, army uniforms, assorted dangerous weapons, among other crude implements were found in the possession of the remaining 38 suspects whom he said "will be taken to either Maiduguri or Bauchi for proper interrogation because those are the places where the crisis took place and it will be easy for them to detect if the suspects are among those wanted."

Taraba State, he said, is not the ideal place for the trial of the suspects as the crime was committed outside the state.

On the alleged Boko Haram school located in Jalingo, the state capital, the police commissioner said his men are making strident efforts to arrest the proprietor of the school, Sadiku Abdulkadir, who is presently at large.

The commissioner, who spoke with newsmen at the command's headquarters in Jalingo, urged the people of the state to go about their duties as police are working round the clock to sustain the already existing peace and stability in the state.

He admonished parents and guardians to caution their children and wards on the need to desist from acts capable of jeopardising the calm atmosphere presently being enjoyed by all and sundry.

[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 Orders Security Agencies To 'Overhaul' Intelligence Gathering System

AFP20090811581001 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 11 Aug 09

[Report by Madu Onuorah, Kelechi Okoronkwo, Inem Akpan-Usoh and Olayinka Olagoke: "Security Agencies Get New Order on Kidnapping, Sectarian Crisis"]

Security challenges thrown up by the recent Boko Haram crisis in some northern states, rising cases of kidnapping and arms smuggling across the country have been taken up by the Federal Government.

Shocked at the quantum and nature of weapons recovered from the Islamic sect's den in Maiduguri, Borno State and the ease with which the members carried out their activities, the government has ordered the nation's armed forces and security agencies to overhaul their intelligence gathering system.

The agencies that have reportedly received the government's directive, according to police and defence sources, are the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), the State Security Service (SSS) and the Police.

It was also learnt that paramilitary outfits such as the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) are to go beyond their routine functions, especially to check influx of aliens and arms proliferation in the country.

Consequently, the heads of such security agencies have been asked to organise refresher courses for their personnel on proactive measures to nip such crises in the bud.

The move is also allegedly directed at ensuring that the gains of the ongoing amnesty offer to militants in the Niger Delta are not eroded by "profiteers" of the crisis, who might want it to continue by instigating violence in the region.

The SSS yesterday may have taken the lead in the update of its personnel with intelligence gathering skills when at a training workshop in Abuja yesterday, it directed the operatives to be more proactive in their functions to prevent the outbreak of violence and sectarian riots in any part of the country.

Although no reference was made to the government's order, the SSS leadership identified the issues of security as the most challenging in the country.

The outfit directed security officers in the North to tilt their intelligence towards indicators of sectarian violence, clashes between herdsmen and farmers and smuggling while their counterparts in the South were asked to watch out for militants' activities like kidnapping, hostage-taking, arms proliferation and armed robbery.

Addressing participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 2 (EIMC-2) yesterday, the Director-General of SSS, Mr. Afakriya Garzama through the Director of Administration, Mr. Uzoma Akuma, said it was high time security personnel updated their intelligence skills through regular researches and studies to have an edge on the perpetrators of criminal and violent activities.

Forty-one senior members of staff drawn from the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the Nigeria Police, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the SSS are participating in the six-month intelligence course of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) inaugurated yesterday.

According to Garzama, the training was designed to enable the participants to understand the need for collaboration between the community and the security agencies.

Akuma, who also spoke in his personal capacity, said the success of any security scheme depended on the intellectual capital of the group's commander and the ability of the security agencies to collaborate in the discharge of their duties.

"The sector that is faced with the greatest challenge in the country is the security sector. Therefore, we the security personnel should always update ourselves...for the security personnel serving in the South-East, South-South and South-West. Their concern should be on armed robbery, militancy, armed proliferation and thuggery. For those working in the North, the concern should be on religious intolerance, smuggling and clashes between herdsmen and farmers," Akuma said.

From Garzama's speech, which he delivered, he said: "Security today is about governance and it is a key for public good. Its efficient management by the services that constitute the national security infrastruct ure is a central component of good governance. The complications and sophistication of the security challenges in Nigeria dictate the need for the security sector actors to appreciate and understand the need for collaboration at both strategic and tactical levels.

"The power of intellectual capital of the commander helps define the competence and professionalism in managing and co-ordinating intelligence for directional purposes. The development of the power of critical thinking by individual security officers by reading books and updating their professional skills is important for adding value in the discharge of their mandate for different services...it is what you learnt after you have learnt it that counts...not your degrees," Gazarma said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government Committee on Amnesty, Disarmament, Demobilisation and Rehabilitation of Militants has said there is no truth in the reports linking the death of a militant leader, Mr. Woki Godswill, alias Kitikata, to the ongoing amnesty programme.

Minister of Defence, Maj.-Gen. Godwin Abbe (rtd), also said there was no way the Joint Task Force (JTF) could be involved in the killing of Kitikata as they had specific instructions not to shoot at anyone unless in self-defence. He noted that since the count-down to the 60-day amnesty, he had not received any incident involving the JTF and any militant or group.

He also asked Nigerians to be wary of some elements who would want to derail the implementation of amnesty package because of their gains from the violence and instability in the region.

Abbe, who was on his maiden visit to Defence Headquarters as minister, said it would be foolhardy to believe that those benefiting from the killings and insecurity in the region would lie low.

He said: "When Mr. President declared amnesty, JTF had specific instructions not to shoot at anyone unless in self-defence. And since the commencement of the 60-day countdown on the amnesty (implementation), the response from most of the militants has been most encouraging and we think that we are making fantastic progress and we are going to succeed by the grace of God.

"But as a nation, we should not be unmindful of those who may be against the survival of our country. And it will be foolhardy for anyone to believe that there will not be a few people who have not been benefiting from these killings and insecurity in the Niger Delta region. These ones will not fold their arms. They will rather wish that the confusion and the killings continue.

" I want you to be rest assured that the amnesty granted by Mr. President is unconditional. It is real. It is a deal of faith between Mr. President and this country. There is no hidden agenda. He just wants peace in this country so that, that part of the country can be developed. And whatever ills, whatever grievances the Niger Delta people have can be addressed in a constitutional manner, in a manner that will bring lasting solution to the problem..."

The Media Co-ordinator of the Amnesty panel, Dr. Timiebi Koripamo-Agary, said in a statement that the body would not in any way implement any cash for arms programme "as being alleged by some," adding that rumours that some militants were being paid for arms they had surrendered were incorrect.

Koripamo-Agary said: "There is no truth whatsoever in the story that the late Kitikata was on his way to an arms collection centre to surrender his arms when he was ambushed and killed. He was indeed engaged in a confrontation with security forces sometime in April 2009 during which he sustained injuries and died as a result of those injuries at the weekend.

"While we are sad that any youth should lose his life at this time, it is necessary to inform the Nigerian people that the confrontation between him and the security forces took place about three months before the proclamation and commencement of the amnesty programme. Therefore, those who have tried to link his death with the amnesty programme are being unfair and deliberately m isinforming the Nigerian public."

Meanwhile, the slow space being experienced at arms collection and registration centres may not be unconnected with the meeting of the President with the leaders of the militants.

This view was expressed by the Akwa Ibom State Co-ordinator of Federal Government Amnesty Implementation Committee and Permanent Secretary, Deputy Governor's Office, Michael Eyoh, yesterday in Uyo.

He expressed the hope that by the end of the meeting, the camps would experience the influx of militants, noting that at the end of the parley, more terms would have been reached between the Presidency and the militants.

The state government has ordered immediate police patrol of Ekpene Ibia community in Uruan Local Council following attacks on the area by suspected kidnappers whose ring leader, Asuquo Etetim, has been arrested by the police.

The Deputy Governor, Patrick Ekpotu, handed down the order when he visited the community alongside the Assistant Commissioner of Police, the council chairman, Dr. Eventus Edem and the paramount ruler, Edidem E.B. Ekamem, to assess the damage by the vandals.