Nigeria: Report Gives Details, Says Terrorist Groups Gaining Foothold in Nigeria

Do you think President Jonathan is decisive enough on the Boko haram insurgence?

You have to pity the President on the issue. This man is trying his best and he has just got to power. I can see that he is trying to put his house in order, just three months in power. Within now and the next six months, he would have understood the people he is working with. He had just given people appointment without knowing whether they should be trusted or not. He is looking at the security chiefs whether to trust them with the security of the nation or not. So, it will take him time for study especially in a complex nation like Nigeria that has a lot of problems, since the day we got our independence. If you don't forget, Obasanjo had the same problem when he came to power in 1999. Before Obasanjo got his bearing , it was around 2001. So, the same thing applies to Jonathan now in this dispensation.

Are you worried that the Yoruba have lost out in power hierarchy in the country?

Well, it is unfortunate. The most painful aspect of is that even our own people are playing with our destinies. I don't know how the ACN and the Peoples Democratic Party in the National Assembly cannot have one view to make their daughter the Speaker of the House of Representatives. They played politics against the interest of the race. It is not good to play political interest against the collective interest of your race. This is very very unfortunate. In the North, the PDP and party of Buhari, the Congress of Progressive Change(CPC) don't see eye-to-eye but when they wanted to bring Tambuwal as a Speaker, they were united and gave their support for him.

INEC announced the timetable for the governorship election in Kogi State but the PDP leadership has continued to keep mute on whether there should be a fresh primary election in the state or not. As a stakeholder, what is your view about this?

I think we are waiting for response from the national body of the party. You should know that even at local governments, primaries are being conducted by the national body of the party from Abuja. I remember vividly that I was appointed to conduct primaries in Taraba State. I believe it is not within the powers of the state chapter of the party to unilaterally conduct governorship primaries. Though, officials of the party in the state have made some statements, I believe they should know that it is not within their jurisdiction to make such statements and they have no right to do the work of the national working committee of the party. I am sure the national body of the party will come out. The body will conduct the primaries at the appropriate time. This is because the previous PDP governorship primary election in the state has been declared null and void by the court of law. That was why Governor Ibrahim Idris was asked to proceed for another one year. If we accept that it was on a previous oath, it means that the governorship primaries will be done again. This was also done in Anambra State when Obi came to power. Kogi State will not be an exception.

But some politicians have said that there will be no fresh primaries as the one that produced Alhaji Ibrahim Isah and Clarence Olafemi is still intact?

What I'm trying to say is that I am a law-abiding citizen. I have always called for the rule of law, not asking me to go and rub minds with people who are adventurers, who express their own opinions of what relevant law has stated.

After the first primaries in the state, the state Governor set up the Gen. David Jemibewon reconciliation committee which recommended that the party needed a thorough reconciliation. Has the party done that yet?

I don't think they would like to do anything. Based on the attitude of "winner takes all," they have not been able to reconcile the aggrieved party members. The party leadership in Kogi State and the party still have a long way to go. There are a lot of crises to solve. There are one thousand and one problems confronting the state apart from the primaries. Look at Ajaokuta, the issue of deplorable condition of federal roads in the state and so on and so forth. That was why General David Jemibewon recommended that their must be a thorough reconciliation of the aggrieved party members

Last week Saturday, Kogi State clocked 20 years. What is your assessment of the state since creation?

I think it has to be relative in terms , because when we are discussing human affairs, there are certain areas where Kogi has done well. There are other areas it could do better and there some areas it has performed woefully. And on the aggregate, the existence of the state and the stability of the state, although it has been threatened in certain parts, but over all, I think we are lucky we still have Kogi State.

What do you think are the challenges confronting the existence of the state?

We started the agitation for creation of Kogi State. I was in forefront. I was then the national publicity committee of the Kogi State Movement and we did a lot of launching in Kaduna, major towns in Kogi State and other states where there were Kogi indigenes. It was quite successful. That time, we were lucky that Alhaji Adamu Attah, who was then the Governor of Kwara State was very understanding, very cooperative and was willing to ensure that creation of Kogi was realilized. The Igala component, the government in Benue was not positively keen, but because of their dislike for the Igala/Bassa elements in their midst, they saw it as an opportunity to get rid of them. So, they did not push. They were not in support and they were working hard as Adamu Attah and others who were working for the creation of Kogi State. There were no such efforts as the others.

They were willing to let go. That was how the actualization of the creation Kogi State came to be. And then, at that time, we thought Kogi was going to be the intellectual base of the country. Because when you look at the educational development of the citizens and they were the ones who supplied manpower in both Kwara, Benue and even in former Northern region. In other words, what is now known as Kogi State today or Kabba province, contributed immensely to the manpower resources of Nigeria; to talk of the Silas Daniyans, the Dr Mummuni Attahs; you talk of late Sunday Awoniyi and so on and so forth. They all made their marks in the former Northern region even before the state was first created and when we were in Kwara and part of us went to Benue. So, we expected that Kogi was going to be a coalition of highly experienced, highly exposed, highly knowledgeable people who will put all thes e to the advantage, to the disposal of the state so that the state can move forward. But I think this has not been properly harnessed unfortunately. The first military Administration in Kogi State led ably by Danladi Zakari did its very best, but the period he had to stay was very short. He was always struggling against the time.

He himself had no base because he started completely from the scratch. His first government House was then Retired Brigadier General Ogbeha's House. However, I must commend people like Tunde Ogbeha, who had scarified and contributed for the take off of the state by donating his personal House in Lokoja for the Governor to use as his base as well as his office. These were some of disadvantages that confronted Col. Zakar when he came in. He was able to get people to rally round him.

He was able to make some modest achievements. Unfortunately, the first civilian government that came in led by Prince Abubakar Audu refused to build on what Zakari had established. He decided to desecrate everything as if he wanted Kogi to start with him. This is one of wrong steps that we have not recovered from because this tradition of seeing the state as a continum and whoever comes, will take off from where the last person has left; this relay spirit was destroyed by Audu. He threw out permanent secretaries that were deployed to Kogi State. When you do away with the people like this, there is a certain knowledge to go away with which but which you cannot get easy access to when the state was about to pickup.

This is because those who had the sample of what we have, you threw them out prematurely. It was very confusing for the new people who came in. From there, the problem started, the take -off and handing over was sudden. Though this was not the fault of Zakari but Audu. Audu is my very good friend, but I'm being very objective and very frank and then he also did a lot of development except the faulty foundation and these things could not stand a test of time before the military came on board again and truncated the civilian administration. The military also were in hurry to do certain things without adequate planning. For example, two years or five year plan to what people will be committed to. If you look at the state in the holistic manner, Zakari's administration started with setting up of an Economic blue print for the state, but the successive administrations did not know that something like that existed, as partisan politics came in and tribal sentiments also. So, the initial euphoria of unity that we have got a state and we should all work for it eroded away. Even those who worked tirelessly for the creation of Kogi were not remembered in the scheme of things. Like one ALhaji Momoh Idu, whose house we were holding meeting in Lagos, nobody ever thought to remember him. There was also Hajia Adiza who was bringing food to people when they went for meeting. Also Shittu was not reckoned with not to talk of the late Kokori Abdul, who also played active role in the creation of what is known as Kogi State and Idris Makoju also. Look at the Secretary of Kogi State Movement, Kazir Bako, was a Permanent Secretary who took over from a dynamic leader, Dr. Amodu Ali. So, these founding fathers were not remembered and the state is already thrown into anarchy without any clear direction as to where Kogi is moving. You may be seeing sporadic development, but there was no blue print as to what exactly to do for the state. Even the present administration, for instance built houses at local government levels. Those houses are for whom? Is it for the local government staff? Is it owner occupier? Or is it for Federal establishments, Road Safety, Civil Defence or Immigration? There are one thousand and one uses these Houses could be used for, but they lay idle. This kind of not having purposeful approach to development does not augur well for the state.

The issue of power rotation has continued to be a contentious issue even 20years after creation of the state. What is the way forward out o f this sir?

Formally, the founding fathers took things for granted. That was why the issue was not given priority from the beginning. We thought we should give people a sense of belonging because we all suffered the stealing of love in the bigger North that we are being discriminated against. So, we thought what was done to us must not be done to others. Unfortunately, this was threatened by the restiveness of some political bigwigs from the Eastern flank and this is largely responsible for some of the problems in Kogi State. In the beginning, they were divided into two when the agitation for Kogi State was on. One group for Kogi State led by Col Ahmadu Ali, the other side favoured Okura State and they seemed not to have died because they are still agitating for it. I think there was a dichotomy between the Attah leadership and the Ankpas who felt that Attah is for Idah axis. These two issues has not allowed them to discover who they are. I am very surprised that eminent personalities from the area have refused to call their people to order to allow the state to make progress. Because sooner than later, posterity will judge every one of us for the role we are playing. For instance, what is happening in Niger State, the situation there was even worse than that of Kogi. There was a time the Nupe felt they have a majority in Niger State and were prevented from governorship because the other people by then came together; they were more than the Nupes and continued to marginalize the Nupes. So, they were only non -align because they were the single largest ethnic group in Niger. But after some time, the foundation leaders agreed that let there be zoning. Today, if the governor comes from one place, the minister and Secretary to the State Government will come from other places. There is equitable distribution of political offices across the three zones. The zoning system seemed to be working perfectly there, without much rancour. We have been so reluctant to discuss the issue with the current governor because I have proposed to him personally and collectively. I remember the Ebira Human Rights visited him in December 2003. We presented a charter to him and there are of lot of things we suggested to him at that time.

He needs to rise above partisanship and call a meeting of political stakeholders across the parties. Ethnic and religious divisions have to come and discuss the function of leadership in Kogi State. Also, the issue came up two months before the last election where we discussed whether the state should support Jonathan or not, but the State Chairman promised that before the election, something would be done. This land of unfulfilled promises made the people to lose confidence and this is how it has been affecting the state till date. And they have succeeded quite alright. The Igala is dividing the Ebira and Okun and anytime they are about to unite, they will use some brigadier and leaders and destroy such unity. This can only be done for a start time. If they do not allow peaceful change gradually, it will neither be good for the state or them. By the time the Ebira, Okuns and Kotos and Bassa get themselves together to form a coalition as one, the the Igala will find it difficult themselves as the only largest ethnic groups in state will not be able to get the dividends of democracy. So, I think that there should be social justice and mutual trust. I think these are areas we should start talking about because it not too late, especially with the election of the governor coming up in December, 2011. This is the time for Governor Ibrahim Idris to call the leaders for stakeholders meeting across ethnic groups, political parties and religious and agree on the formula on how best to share political offices. Fortunately, we have three senatorial districts where the power can be rotated. Also, within the senatorial districts, a lot must be done to ensure equitable distribution of political offices. That is the semblance of the state. In the central, Ogori/Magongo are being discriminated against by Eb i ras . All these must be taken care of. In the Eastern part, there is discrimination against Bassa and this must be curtailed. Even in Kogi West, a lot must be done to take minorities into limelight. I believe the democracy we practise also accommodate minorities.

There is the feeling that if the Okun and Ebira join hands together, it would have been easier to shift power. Do you believe that?

Yes, that is why they are doing everything possible to frustrate unity and ensure perpetual division between the duo and some people are being used. For instance, how do we suddenly get the position of speaker in the House Assembly? Our people have been struggling for governorship and even if we did it wrongly then, in which our houses were burnt, killed so many people and several left injured. But then, we stated that the way they were going about it was wrong. And Governor Ibrahim Idris agreed with us. And then, we said let Idris have the second term after which he will be part of us to agitate for power rotation. But to our surprise, he reneged in all promises he made, only to ensure that another governorship candidate emerged from Eastern flank. I want to appeal to Governor Idris to have the fear of God and now have opportunities to right the wrong. Because if he refuses to do that, then, the consequences in the future might not augur well for the state at large.

[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 Islamic Sect Seeks Compensation for Slain Chief's Kin in Return of Peace

AFP20110917598020 Isheri Nigerian Compass Online in English 2300 GMT 16 Sep 11

[Report by Gbenga Akingbule: "Boko Haram Leader's Family Seeks N100m Compensation"]

If the Federal Government accedes to a court order granting N100 million as compensation to the family of the slain leader of the Islamic fundamentalist group, Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, peace may return to Nigeria.

This is one of the demands of the family and members of the group who have continued to unleash havocs on Nigeria.

The Nigerian Compass on Saturday learnt that the compensation was one of the demands of the family and the members of the group when former President Olusegun Obasanjo met with them on Thursday afternoon.

The meeting was facilitated by a human rights organization. In attendance were some members of the fundamentalist group.

On Thursday afternoon, the former President secretly flew into Maiduguri, Borno State capital, in a military aircraft. He met with members of the slain Boko Haram leader.

In company of the former President was the facilitator of the peace talk, Comrade Shehu Musa, of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO).

They ensured that no security operative entered the venue.

Alhaji Fugu, the eldest son of the equally killed father-in-law of the group's later leader, Babakura, told reporters yesterday: "This is the first time an eminent personality is visiting the family since our house was demolished in 2009."

Fugu added: "Indeed we received President Obasanjo in our house yesterday (Thursday). His mission was very clear. He said he came to condole with our family over what happened during the 2009 Boko Haram insurgency, especially the extra-judicial killing of our father, and the wanton destruction of our family house."

The spokesman of the family added: "He (Obasanjo) promised that he would convey our plight to Mr. President within a week or two and thereafter will get back to us directly or through an emissary. Although Obasanjo said that although he was not an official emissary of the Presidency, he would convey their wishes to the Federal Government.

The family spokesman revealed they were informed of the meeting through the human rights organisation.

On the outcome of their meeting with the former president, Babakura, whose younger sister is the widow of the late Boko Haram leader, said: "We have told him our predicament, especially the destruction of our family house, and also the need for the state government to abide by the court order which ruled that a compensation of N100 million be paid for the extra-judicial killing of our father.

"We also requested the security agencies to stop harassing and intimidating our family members over issues related to Boko Haram."

He revealed that the mother of the former Commissioner for Religious Affairs, who later became a top member and financier of Boko Haram, Alhaji Buji Fai, was also at the meeting. She was said to have asked the Federal Government to come to her aid in providing financial assistance to the children of her late son.

[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: Videos Showing Boko Haram Members Preparing for Suicide Attacks Emerge

AFP20110918532002 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 0755 GMT 18 Sep 11

["Nigerian 'Bomber' Videos Emerge as Islamist Fears Mount" -- AFP headline]

LAGOS, Sept 18, 2011 (AFP) - Videos have emerged purporting to show members of a Nigerian Islamist sect preparing for suicide attacks, including a young man said to be responsible for last month's bombing of UN headquarters.

The two videos obtained by AFP are said to be from the sect known as Boko Haram and come as concern intensifies over whether it has formed links with outside groups such as Al-Qaeda's north African branch.

The possibility of such links has led to deep concern among Western nations and mounting pressure on the government in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and its largest oil producer.

General Carter Ham, the head of the US military's Africa Command, said Wednesday that Al-Qaeda's north African branch, Shebab militants in Somalia and Boko Haram have expressed a will to "more closely collaborate and synchronise their efforts".

Boko Haram's attacks have grown increasingly sophisticated, and it had not been known to target international institutions before the United Nations bombing in Abuja.

A man who identified himself as a spokesman for Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the bombing on the day of the August 26 attack.

The two videos said to be from the group include speeches totaling some 25 minutes from the alleged UN bomber.

It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the videos, but they seem to offer a window into a form of Islamist extremism in Nigeria that authorities have so far shown little capability of addressing.

They bear hallmarks of past Boko Haram clips and feature speeches by a man identified as Abubakar Shekau, its suspected leader who went into hiding following a 2009 uprising by the group put down by a military assault.

While the sect was long considered a domestic group targeting symbols of Nigerian authority, the videos also show an international emphasis.

They are mostly in the Hausa language widely spoken in the country's mainly Muslim north, but also partly in Arabic.

The voice said to be Shekau's calls the UN headquarters a "forum of all the global evil," while also offering praise for Osama bin Laden.

The video focusing on the UN bombing, which killed at least 23 people and was among the deadliest targeting the world body, is more than an hour and 15 minutes long.

A soft-spoken, 27-year-old smiling man said to be the UN bomber pleads with his family to understand his actions, and a vague warning is sent out to "Obama and other infidels."

During much of his time on the video, he holds an AK-47 while two others lean against the wall. Two gas cannisters are on the floor at his feet.

He is rail-thin and wears a striped, polo-style shirt, a turban and what looks to be a suicide vest.

In a phone interview with AFP, a man who claimed to be a spokesman for the sect identified the alleged bomber as Mohammed Abul Barra, a married auto repair worker with a son from the northeastern city of Maiduguri, where the group has carried out most of its attacks.

His name was picked in a draw because a number of others also wanted to carry out the mission, according to the spokesman, who identified himself as Abu Qaqa.

Boko Haram's supposed foreign links as well as the origin of its backing is controversial in Nigeria -- as is whether it was truly behind the UN attack.

Kyari Mohammed, a Nigerian professor who has been closely studying the sect, said some members may have received training from other extremist groups, but he doubted more substantial cooperation had occurred.

"I personally don't believe there is any serious link," he said.

Nigeria's secret police claimed in the days after the UN attack that an Al-Qaeda-linked suspect who recently returned from Somalia named Mamman Nur masterminded the blast. He was declared wanted.

Nur was believed to be third-in-command of Boko Haram when it launched the 2009 uprising.

In one of the videos, reference is also made to an attempted attack on police headquarters in Maiduguri on August 15 and an image is shown of the man said to be the bomber, who was killed by authorities before the explosives detonated.

Photos of the man killed by police taken by journalists bear a resemblance to the person in the video.