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

A federal road safety commission official for Borno state confirmed that the office was hit. James Christopher, the official in the Borno State confirmed that ‘‘our office in Mainok was attacked by gunmen and burnt down but none of my men there was affected though one of our operation vehicles was burnt in the attack."

But last Thursday, Ms. Maryln Ogar, spokesperson of the State Security Service, said that the security agencies have been unfairly criticized.

Speaking on a morning program on the Lagos-based Channels Television, Ogar argued that a slice of the blame should go to the residents, some of whom she claimed clapped for Boko Haram members as they shot at policemen. She added that residents also have a tendency to hoard information that could help halting such occurrences.

[Description of Source: Lagos TheNews in English - independent weekly news magazine]

Nigeria: Boko Haram Threatens More Attacks

AFP20111119642020 Lagos Vanguard in English 07 Nov 11 p 2

[Report by Rotimi Ajayi: "Expect more deadly attacks - Boko Haram"]

Islamic sect, Boko Haram has threatened to carry out more attacks, a day after a series of blasts and gun battles claimed by the group killed more than 100 people in the country's northeast, the Nigerian Red Cross has said. Ibrahim Bulama, an official from the humanitarian organization, said on Sunday that the death toll is expected to rise as local clinics and hospitals tabulate the casualty figures from Friday's attacks in Damaturu, the capital of rural Yobe state. A spokesman for the Islamist armed group, using the name Abul-Qaqa, promised "more attacks are on the way", speaking hours after witnesses reported "scenes of carnage."

The US Embassy in Nigeria has issued an emergency warning to its citizens living there that bomb attacks could be possible at luxury hotels in the capital Abuja. Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sacrilege," has claimed responsibility for previous attacks and the latest was the deadliest since the group attacked a UN building in Abuja in August, killing at least 20 people. We will continue attacking federal government formations until security forces stop their excesses on our members and vulnerable civilians," Abul-Qaqa said in an interview with the Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria's Muslim north.

Suleimon Lawal, the police commissioner of Damaturu, told Al Jazeera a suicide bomber drove a vehicle apparently laden with explosives into a building housing the anti-terrorist court. Lawal said the attack killed 53 people but he did not disclose how many among the casualties were security officials."The explosives rocked the building and there were casualties. Two of them [suicide bombers] perished in the bomb," he said. Lawal insisted the group was not gaining an upper hand and vowed that it would be crushed.

"My strategy is a security strategy [that] I cannot disclose on air. So as they're not [Boko Haram] disclosing their security strategy, I don't think it is safe for me to tell the whole world what I am doing," he said. The violence followed a series of attacks reported in the neighboring cities of Maiduguri and Potiskum on Friday afternoon. "There's that fear that something might possibly happen again," Ibrahim Bulama, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said.

Security vehicles torched

News agencies, quoting officials, said after the attack on the building, armed men went through Damaturu, blowing up a bank and attacking at least three police stations and five churches, leaving behind their rubble. People began hesitantly leaving their homes on 5 November morning, after seeing the destruction left behind, which included military and police vehicles burned by the armed men, with the burned corpses of the drivers who died still in their seats.

Boko Haram wants the strict implementation of Islamic law across the nation of more than 160 million people, which has a predominantly Christian south and a Muslim north. Nii Akuetteh, a former executive director of Africa Action, a Washington-based rights group, said the group appeared to be growing strong. "The government has been saying that it will deal with them and that it will get a handle on the problem, but it's not been able to," he told Al Jazeera.

"Previously, the attempt made was to try and fight them militarily - to send the security forces after them - but that has created its own problem. "I know for a fact that there're Nigerian groups in and outside the government, including the media, who are suggesting that the government should try to talk to Boko Haram. But my own impression is that they don't seem to be particularly ready or inclined to talk."

Split into factions

The AP news agency, quoting a diplomat, said the government was facing an increasingly dangerous threat from Boko Haram, adding that the group had split into three factions, one allied with al-Qaeda's North Africa branch. It said one faction remains moderate and welcomes an end to the violence while another wants a peace agreement with rewards similar to those offered to MEND, which has been fighting for a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth. The attacks occurred just before id al-Adha, or the feast of sacrifice, celebrated by Muslims around the world.

Police elsewhere in Nigeria had warned of violence in the run-up to the celebration in the country that has previously been rocked by religious violence. Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's Christian president who took office amid religious and political rioting that saw at least 800 die in April, cancelled a trip to his home state of Bayelsa for his younger brother's wedding on 7 November. His spokesman, Reuben Abati, said the president did not consider those who launched the attacks "true Muslims," as the assault came during a holy period. Abati also promised that "every step will be taken" to arrest those responsible - the same pledge made again and again as Jonathan has visited other sites bombed by Boko Haram.

"The security agencies will tell you that what happens on this scale is even a fraction of what could have happened considering the scope of the threat," Abati said. "The security agencies are busy at work trying to make sure the will of the majority of the Nigerian people is not subverted by a minority [group] with a suicidal streak."

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Isaac Olawale, a researcher for Oxford University Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity, says: "The present attempt to deal with the problem using confrontational strategies will not work. There is poverty all over the country and an increased number of Nigerians are jumping into the warm embrace of ethnic, chauvinist and religious fundamentalism. Boko Haram expresses some of the social upheavals we are witnessing in Nigeria."

[Description of Source: Lagos Vanguard in English -- Independent widely read daily]

Nigeria: Suspected Islamic Sect Members Reportedly Kill 5 People in Borno, Kogi

AFP20111120565001 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 2300 GMT 19 Nov 11

[Report by Njadvara Musa and Ralph Omololu Agbana: "2 Soldiers, 3 Others Killed in Fresh Boko Haram Attacks; Bombs Rock Bank, Police Command"]

At least, five people, including a child and two soldiers, have been killed in separate shootings and bomb blasts suspected to have been orchestrated by the dreaded Boko Haram sect in Borno and Kogi states.

As residents of Gwange Ward of the Maiduguri metropolis were yet to come to terms with Friday's attack on a Joint Task Force (JTF) patrol vehicle that killed a nine-year-old child and two soldiers, bomb blasts hit a bank and area command police headquarters in Kabba, Western District of Kogi State, yesterday leaving two police officers, an inspector and a lance corporal, dead.

The hoodlums opened attack at the police station before proceeding to the local branch of a first generation bank situated within 200 metres to their initial target. Bombers, whose identity was yet to be ascertained, targeted the bank.

Initially, they were thought to be members of the Boko Haram sect but a failed attempt to gain access to the bank's vault pointed to armed robbery.

According to an eyewitness, two sets of the hoodlums, about 10 in number, attacked the two targets. On getting to the police station, one of the teams reportedly disarmed the police on guard and headed for the armoury where they carted away guns and ammunitions and in the process set free detainees in the station before detonating a bomb.

Having successfully subdued the police, a second team, it was gathered, simultaneously threw a dynamite to gain entrance into the banking hall shooting sporadically in the air. "They threw several dynamites into the bank premises but they could not gain access into the vault before they left in annoyance", said the witness.

Speaking with journalists, the state Police Commissioner, John Abasankanga, who paid on-the-spot assessment to the station, said immediately he was alerted of the incident he mobilized his anti riot men stationed in Okene to go with the APC tank to the scene.

On entry to Kabba, the police detachment met the bandits who opened fire on the rescue team and deflated the tyres of the APC tank. The policemen swiftly responded to the exchange of gunfire with the bandits before they managed to escape. Abakasanga said he had put his men on red alert and expressed hope that the bandit would soon be arrested.

Reacting to the ugly incident, governor Ibrahim Idris described the incident as unacceptable, saying it was barbaric for anybody to shed innocent blood.

The governor, who spoke through his Director- General, Press Affairs, Mr. Richard Elesho, immediately directed the State Security Service to swing into action and unravel the identity of the bombers.

On the other hand, the Bama-Road shooting in Maiduguri occurred while the soldiers were on patrol of the Gwange ward to protect lives and property.

A sugarcane seller in the area said the incident occurred at 7.30pm on Friday when unknown gunmen, numbering about four, attacked a JTF vehicle.

"We saw two of the soldiers shot, while stray bullets pierced the vehicle of a resident and killed a child sitting beside his father, before the soldiers in their patrol vehicles arrived and started raiding part of Gwange ward for the fleeing armed sect members."

Confirming the killings yesterday in Maiduguri, the Borno State Police Commissioner, Simeon Midenda, said the JTF and the police commander of Gwange ward, were yet to brief him on "Friday night's attacks and killings by suspected members of the Muslim sect, as I have just returned from Abuja for a security conference."

[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/]

Al-Qa'idah, Nigerian Islamist sect collude to terrorize Sahel - Burkinabe daily

AFP20111120950032 L'Observateur Paalga in French 15 Nov 11

[Corrected version: correcting subject line, metadata.]

Text of report by Boureima Diallo entitled "AQIM/Boko Haram collusion: The threat that can set all ablaze" published by Burkina Faso's L'Observateur Paalga newspaper website on 15 November

The news has been whispered for some time now in some circles like the international press. And the conditional was very current. But this time around, it is a terrible reality that sends cold shivers down the spine: there is a connection between AQLIM [Al-Qa'idah Organization in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb] and Boko Haram, an Islamist movement which operates in northern Nigeria. In any case, this is what the Algerian deputy foreign minister, Abdelkader Messahel, said.

His statement tallies point by point with that of several Western diplomats and other security experts. Thus, "the links between Boko Haram and other extremist organizations is of grave concern to us", the commander of the US Army Africa [USARAF], Gen [Carter] Ham, declared last August when he visited hydras in Nigeria which gang up to better terrorize the subregion.

Therefore, this means that the threat is gaining ground in Afghanistan and Pakistan where Al-Qa'idah appears to be declining in form, militarily speaking, towards new sanctuaries in Africa, especially given the situation in Libya where huge quantities of arms have been fraudulently removed from barracks and retrieved by some fanatics. The explosion in arms trafficking in the Sahel countries, millions of tons of arms from Libyan depots left unattended by the new authorities and NATO and the demobilization of hundreds of Tuareg warriors who fought for [Col Mu'ammar] al-Qadhafi seem to have been a godsend for those amateurs with feelings.

It was common knowledge that AQLIM had already contacted the Algerian GSPC [Salafi Group for Call and Combat], the Somali Shebabs and Boko Haram - four terrorist groups which bare their teeth to the subregion, attempting with difficulty to burst the boil. But the most worrying aspect is doubtlessly an apparent coordination of the will to synchronize their capabilities.

The attack on the UN premises in Nigeria's Abuja on 26 August using a car-bomb technique, which reminds us of the mode of the AQLIM operation, is considered by informed observers as the starting point of the complicity between these terrorist organizations. This is a threat which can set the entire subregion ablaze. Or can it well serve as a subregional response to a totally new situation? There lies the question.

[Description of Source: Ouagadougou L'Observateur Paalga Online in French -- Website of the privately owned, pro-government daily; URL: http://www.lobservateur.bf]

Nigerian Police Reveals Boko Haram's Political Ties

AFP20111121637003 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 1707 GMT 21 Nov 11

["Nigeria extremist sect has political links: police" -- AFP headline]

ABUJA, Nov 21, 2011 (AFP) - Nigeria's secret police said Monday that the extremist Boko Haram sect, blamed for scores of attacks including the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters here, has links to local politicians.

Police said they had exposed the connections after the arrest and questioning of an alleged spokesman for the Islamist group.

"His arrest further confirms the Service (police) position that some of the Boko Haram extremists have political patronage and sponsorship," secret police spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar said.

The statement said that the suspect named as Ali Sanda Umar Konduga confessed he "was recruited by a political party stalwart in Maiduguri," the northeastern city where most of the attacks blamed on Boko Haram have taken place.

Police did not identify the political party involved.

It alleged that Konduga was the Boko Haram spokesman quoted in the media under the alias Usman al-Zawahiri.

He was arrested on November 3. Police did not say why it was only being announced now.

There has long been speculation over political links to at least certain factions of Boko Haram, which has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks, including an August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja which killed at least 24 people.

Ogar's statement alleged Konduga was "a former political thug," referring to the practice of Nigerian politicians of recruiting or forming local gangs to help rig elections or use as muscle.

The statement said one benefactor promised to pay him 10 million naira ($60,000, 45,000 euros) to work for his party, but then died on his way to deliver half the sum to Konduga.

Konduga claimed a member of Nigeria's National Assembly then took over the running of his activities.

The statement also alleged Konduga was behind threatening text messages sent to election tribunal judges and other threats made to politicians including former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

It clamed that Konduga told security agents that threat messages sent to the chairman of an election petition tribunal in Borno state, where Maiduguri is located, "were scripted and relayed to him by the National Assembly member."

Boko Haram launched an uprising in 2009 put down by a brutal military assault that left hundreds dead and which left its mosque and headquarters in Maiduguri in ruins.

It appeared to go dormant for about a year before re-emerging with a series of hit-and-run shootings. Bomb blasts have become frequent and increasingly sophisticated in recent months.

There has been intense speculation over whether the group has formed links with outside extremist groups, including Al-Qaeda's north African branch.

[Description of Source: Paris AFP (World Service) in English -- world news service of the independent French news agency Agence France Presse]

Nigeria: Police See Ties Between Radical Islamic Sect, Politicians

AFP20111121678013 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 1931 GMT 21 Nov 11

["Nigeria extremist sect has political links: police" -- AFP headline]

ABUJA, Nov 21, 2011 (AFP) - Nigeria's secret police said Monday that the extremist Boko Haram sect, blamed for scores of attacks including the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters here, has links to local politicians.

Police said they had exposed the connections after the arrest and questioning of an alleged spokesman for the Islamist group, which is believed to have various factions and aims.

There has also been intense speculation, particularly among Western nations, over whether the group has formed links with outside extremist groups, including Al-Qaeda's north African branch.

"His arrest further confirms the Service (police) position that some of the Boko Haram extremists have political patronage and sponsorship," secret police spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar said, referring to the arrest of the alleged spokesman.

The statement said that the suspect named as Ali Sanda Umar Konduga confessed he "was recruited by a political party stalwart in Maiduguri," the northeastern city where most of the attacks blamed on Boko Haram have taken place.

The police did not identify the political party involved.

They alleged that Konduga was the Boko Haram spokesman quoted in the news media under the alias Usman al-Zawahiri.

He was arrested on November 3. Police did not explain the delay in announcing the arrest.

Speculation has been rife over political links to at least certain factions of Boko Haram, which has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks, including an August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja which killed at least 24 people.

Such speculation has pointed to local politics in Borno state, where Maiduguri is the capital, or opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan in the mainly Muslim north.

The alleged confessions of Konduga seemed to involve mainly local politics.

Ogar's statement alleged that Konduga was "a former political thug," referring to the practice of Nigerian politicians of recruiting or forming local gangs to help rig elections.

The statement said one benefactor promised to pay him 10 million naira ($60,000, 45,000 euros) to work for his party, but then died on his way to deliver half the sum to Konduga.

Konduga claimed that a member of Nigeria's National Assembly then took over the running of his activities.

The statement also alleged that Konduga was behind threatening text messages sent to election tribunal judges with the aim of having the government in Borno state tossed out.

Other threats were made to politicians including former president Olusegun Obasanjo, the statement said.

It claimed that Konduga told security agents that threatening messages sent to the chairman of an election petition tribunal in Borno state "were scripted and relayed to him by the National Assembly member."

Konduga was briefly presented to journalists at secret police headquarters on Monday, as is often done following arrests in Nigeria.

He spoke in the Hausa language common throughout Nigeria's north, but those translating his remarks said he stated that he had been a student of former Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in 2009.

He was said to have admitted to having a phone conversation with a senator from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, but it had to do with a presidential panel set up to explore whether dialogue was possible with Boko Haram.

According to the translation, he claimed to have previously been a spokesman for Boko Haram, but said the sect now suspected that he may have informed on them.

Boko Haram launched an uprising in 2009 put down by a brutal military assault that left hundreds dead and which left its mosque and headquarters in Maiduguri in ruins.

It appeared to go dormant for about a year before re-emerging with a series of hit-and-run shootings. Bomb blasts have become frequent and increasingly sophisticated in recent months.

[Description of Source: Paris AFP (World Service) in English -- world news service of the independent French news agency Agence France Presse]

Nigeria: Security Service Arrests 'Self-Acclaimed' Spokesperson of Islamic Sect

AFP20111122598001 Ibadan Nigerian Tribune Online in English 22 Nov 11

[Report by Jacob Segun Olatunji and Chris Agbambu: "Modu Sheriff, Ndume, Pindar behind Boko Haram; Sect Spokesman Opens Can of Worms; JTF Arrests 13 Over Yobe Bombings; 'How We Sent Threat Messages to OBJ, Govs Aliyu, Lamido, Others'"]

The self-acclaimed chief spokesman of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, popularly known in media circles as Usman Al-Zawahiri, has been nabbed by the Department of State Security Service (SSS), just as he opened up on those backing the sect.

Fielding questions from newsmen at the SSS headquarters in Abuja, on Monday, Umar named former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff, the late Ambassador Sheidu Pinda and serving Senator Ali Ndume, both of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the real brains behind the group in Borno State.

Umar, who spoke through an interpreter, explained that members of the group had a good working relationship with former Governor Sheriff, of the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) until he fell out with the group after sacking a member of the group from his cabinet, a commissioner, who was later murdered.

According to him, "Usman Al-Zawahiri is not my real name; it was given to me to portray me as an extremist and as well to conceal my true identity. We were political thugs to former Governor Sheriff until the relationship went sour. We switched over to the late Ambassador Pinda, who promised me N10 million to work for his political party, the PDP, in Borno State during the last elections.

"Unfortunately, Ambassador Pinda died on his way to make the part payment of N5million and Senator Ali Ndume took over from where the late ambassador stopped."

Umar, who described himself as a student under the late Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, claimed that Senator Ndume "scripted and relayed" to him all threat text messages he sent to prominent Nigerians.

Those prominent Nigerians, according to him, included former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; Justice Sabo Adamu and other judges of the Election Petitions Tribunal in Borno State; Governors Sule Lamido of Jigawa State; Babangida Aliyu of Niger State; Ambassador Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, Director-General of President Goodluck Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation and Senator Sanusi Dagash, former Works and Housing Minister, among others.

He said that the threat messages were being sent to former President Olusegun Obasanjo based on the belief that he had sympathy for the former and present governors of Borno State, while same messages were sent to Senator Dagash when it became clear to them that he was allegedly going to sabotage the electoral victory of the PDP in Borno State despite the fact that he was a member of the party.

He revealed that the text messages of the group, which forced the Borno State Election Petitions Tribunal to be relocated from Maiduguri to Abuja as well as those sent to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke, were meant to compel him (AGF) to influence the judgment of the tribunal against the government in Borno State.