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

"We are saying that the solution is not violence. I join His Eminence to speak to our government. When anybody kills, he has committed a crime. It is because people are not brought to book that this problem keeps occurring. We are asking our government to send experts and go and fish out people who are involved and bring them to justice. The moment somebody is jailed, you will begin to see a decline. You don't take another person's life and go free. You don't burn worship places and properties and go free," Oritsejafor said.

He accused the security agents of failing in what he described as intelligence gathering, adding that despite the fact that they had information about the recent violence in Maiduguri and Jos, they failed to do their job very well by investigating the information at their disposal with a view to averting the crises.

The CAN president for asked the Federal Government to increase the presence of security agents especially in Plateau State.

NIREC also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to maximize the opportunity at its disposal to ensure the delivery of free and fair polls, saying never in Nigeria's hist ory have Nigerians "been unanimous about the stainlessness of INEC members as they are presently constituted".

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

Suspected Members of Boko Haram Islamist Sect Kill 8 in Northern Nigeria

AFP20101230648021 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 1538 GMT 30 Dec 10

["Suspected Islamists kill eight in northern Nigeria: army" -- AFP headline]

KANO, Nigeria, Dec 30, 2010 (AFP) - Suspected Islamists killed eight people, including three policemen, in five separate attacks in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the military and police said Thursday.

The gunmen were suspected of being members of the Boko Haram sect, army spokesman lieutenant Abubakar Abdullahi told AFP by telephone from the city.

The sect launched an uprising in Nigeria's north last year that ended with a police and military assault which left hundreds dead.

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

Nigeria: Security Operatives Arrest 92 Suspected Islamic Sect Members in Borno

AFP20110101598003 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 2300 GMT 31 Dec 10

[Report by Odita Sunday and Njadvara Musa: "Security Operatives Arrest Boko Haram's Financier, 91 Others"]

After a four-hour gun battle with suspected members of Boko Haram, the joint police/military taskforce yesterday arrested an alleged financier of the group, Alhaji Bunu Wakil and 91 other persons.

Also, in Lagos, the state police commissioner, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo assured that members of Boko Haram would not be able to operate in the state.

The Borno State Police Commissioner, Mohammed Abubakar, told The Guardian on Saturday in a telephone interview on Thursday night that the arrests were made between the hours of 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. at the suspects' various hideouts in Maiduguri.

He said the arrests were made after a very fierce gun battle with the armed members, and that the policemen and soldiers chased them to their respective hideouts. He said most of them lived among residents of Maiduguri, who were very much ignorant of the activities and motives of the outlawed Boko Haram sect against security personnel and state government.

He said before their arrests, the police and soldiers had to rely on some individuals that volunteered to give information on the hideouts and activities of the feared sect.

He said it took the collective efforts of policemen and soldiers on foot and vehicles to smash the over two-dozen hideouts of sect members.

With the arrest of the suspects, including their financiers, the police will continue with the stop and search exercise and the restrictions placed on the movement of motorcycles and taxis.

He said all the arrested suspects were conveyed last night to Abuja for interrogation and further investigation, until the brains behind the Moslem sect are uncovered by the police to restore peace and security of lives and property in the metropolis and Northeast sub-region of the country.

Akpoyibo, told reporters in Lagos: "I don't want anybody to spread rumours in Lagos and cause unnecessary panic. We have no Boko Haram in Lagos State. I don't want anybody to invent something that is strange, destructive and scaring. We should abandon rumour mongering. In Lagos, we are peace-loving people, we don't believe in destruction of lives and properties. So, if such things happen elsewhere, it does not follow that it must happen in Lagos. We are very security conscious, every Lagosian's eyes are open."

The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) had raised the alarm over an alleged infiltration of the Mile 12 Market in Lagos by the Boko Haram Islamic sect.

The OPC Founder, Dr. Frederick Fasheun had narrated how a minor disagreement between two executive members in the market, Alhaji Haruna Muhammed and Alhaji Ibrahim Mamuda, led to an invasion of the market by members of the sect on December 6, during which over 20 people were injured.

According to the OPC leader, the Boko Haram members (allegedly linked to one of the two warring market leaders, Mamuda) attacked those loyal to the other party, Muhammed first at midnight on December 6, with machetes, swords and other dangerous weapons. They returned the following night to burn down the old office of the union located inside the market.

Fasheun implored the Lagos State government and other security agencies in the state to beef up security at the market to avoid inter-tribal clash that occurred in the market seven years ago when the Hausa and the Yoruba clashed.

"We know the importance of this market to the economic development of the South-West. Besides, the market is on the soil of the South-West Nigeria, and we have to avert what happened then and protect the interest of the market women and men in there," he said.

The Lagos police boss also noted that his officers and men were prepared to ensure a hitch-free voter registration exercise in the state.

[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/]

Four Killed, 26 Injured in Abuja Bomb Attack

AFP20110101650002 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 1312 GMT 01 Jan 11

[["Four killed, 26 injured in Abuja bomb attack " -- AFP headline]]

ABUJA, Jan 1, 2011 (AFP) - A bomb ripped through a crowded market on the edge of an Abuja military barracks on New Year's Eve killing four people and wounding 26 others, 11 of them seriously, the defence minister said Saturday.

"As at this moment, four people died from the blast, including a pregnant woman. Twenty-six others were injured, 11 of them seriously," Adetokunbo Kayode said at the scene of the explosion.

It is the second such attack in three months in the Nigerian capital and the first explosion near an army barracks in Nigeria since the return of democracy in 1999.

Kayode, a lawyer, promised a "thorough investigation" and said the attackers would be severely punished.

"I suspect nobody but I assure you that we will go through a very thorough, deep investigation...Anybody that is involved in this will be tracked down and will be made to face the full wrath of the law," he said.

All the dead and most of the injured are civilians, the minister told reporters after being briefed by security and health officials.

President Goodluck Jonathan, in a statement from his office, immediately denounced the barracks attack as "new and dangerous challenge to our peace and stability."

Speaking at a New Year church service on Saturday, Jonathan vowed to rid the country of terrorists.

"For us to get where we want to go as a nation, we will have our obstacles. These explosives and explosions are part of the road bumps that are being placed but God will see us through," he said.

"They will never stop Nigeria from where we are going to, we must work and reproduce a country...where there will be no space for terrorists, a country where there will be no bombers and people with explosives to deter us," he added.

The bomb went off around 7:pm (1800 GMT) at a popular eating and drinking spot on the fringes of the Mogadishu barracks, located in a heavily fortified area of the city.

There have been no claims of responsibility so far.

"This is a new kind of crime that has just surfaced," chief of defence staff, Air Marshal Oluseyi Petirin said, while visiting the site.

The blast site was cordoned off on Saturday morning and dozens of security officials, including soldiers, either stood guard or patrolled the area.

"It's unfortunate that some people planted a bomb where people were relaxing," Petirin said.

"It's the same type of incident we had in Jos," said Petirin, referring to the multiple blasts in the central city of Jos that killed more than 80 people on Christmas Eve.

An Islamic sect calling itself Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad has claimed responsibility for the Christmas Eve attacks in Jos.

Jos which lies in the so-called middle-belt region between the predominantly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south, and capital of Plateau state, has long been a hotspot for ethnic and religious friction.

Boko Haram, which launched an uprising in Nigeria last year, had previously said it wanted to be known as a group that goes by that name.

Police in northern Nigeria on Thursday said they had arrested 92 suspected Boko Haram members, including a man in his 70s they believe is the main financier of the group's activities.

The latest attack was the second in the federal administrative capital in three months. Twin bomb attacks killed 12 people during Independence Day festivities on October 1.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Nigeria, an armed militant group in the oil-rich region, said it carried out the Independence Day blasts.

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

Al Jazeera.net: Many Dead in Nigeria Market Blast

GMP20110102966234 Doha Al Jazeera.net in English 1811 GMT 02 Jan 11

["Many Dead in Nigeria Market Blast" -- Al Jazeera net Headline]

[ Computer selected and disseminated without OSC editorial intervention ]

(AL JAZEERA NET) -

Four people have been killed and injured 13 in an explosion at a beer garden in Nigeria's capital Abuja, state television has reported.

The blast occurred in the Sani Abacha army barracks, a busy area where people meet to eat and shop.

The base includes market stalls and beer parlours referred to locally as a "mammy market".

A local police spokesperson said the blast occurred at 1830 GMT on Friday.

A witness said he was approaching the market to join New Year's Eve celebrations when he heard the explosion."People ran in different directions. There were scores of bodies - dead and wounded. They used army trucks to pack them away," Eric, who regularly uses the market, said.

Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian president, has said that a "faceless" group is responsible for the attack.

He has linked it to bombings on December 24 in the central city of Jos, which sparked a week of violence.At least 80 people were killed in ensuing violence between Christian and Muslim residents.Friday's attack came as police detained 92 suspected members of the Islamic Boko Haram group.

Debate over death toll

An anchor on the state-run Nigerian Television Authority gave a death toll of 30 to viewers Friday night.

But a local police spokesman immediately disputed the figure, saying four people had died and 13 were wounded.

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from Abuja, said the attack had struck people who had gathered for dinner and drinks to welcome the new year.

"When the explosion ripped through the market, as you can imagine, it sent people scattering," she said. "Now the question really is ... what could've motivated this attack, who could've been behind it".

The military have been "extremely guarded" in what information they have so far released about the attack.

While some point the finger at Boko Haram, others believe that the bombing may be connected to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which claims to be fighting for a Nigeria to have a greater share of its oil wealth, Ndege said.A police spokesman said on Friday that Boko Haram, which is thought to oppose Western education and culture, was behind the deaths of at least 16 people in three attacks this week in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. Nigeria was also rocked by car bomb attacks in Abuja in October, for which responsibility was claimed by a group opposing the government in the oil-producing Niger Delta, where there has been a recent resurgence in violence.

[Description of Source: Doha Al Jazeera.net in English -- Website of the Al Jazeera English TV, international English-language news service of Al-Jazirah, independent television station financed by the Qatari Government; URL: http://english.aljazeera.net ]

Nigeria: 'Suspected' Islamic Sect Members Attempt 'Jailbreak' in Adamawa State

AFP20110105581009 Lagos This Day Online in English 04 Jan 11

[Report by Matthew Onah: "Riot as Boko Haram Sect Members Attempt Jailbreak in Yola"]

At least 10 prison officials narrowly escaped being lynched on early today when some prisoners attempting jailbreak started a riot at the Jimeta Prisons, Adamawa State.

The prisoners suspected to be members of the religious fundamentalist group, Boko Haram, had attacked some officials of the prison, including the officer in charge, immediately after the early morning roll call.

The officer in charge of the prison, Mohammed Gwami, who was among those attacked, told journalists that he was in the prison yard for his routine check when all of a sudden the inmates started protesting and throwing stones and sticks at him and other officials and refusing to go back to their cells.

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

Nigeria: Police Pledge To Arrest Perpetrators of Abuja Bomb Blasts 'Soon'

AFP20110105565010 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 2300 GMT 04 Jan 11

[Report by Terhemba Daka, Seye Olumide and Ayoyinka Olagoke: "Police Claim Clues, Search for Blasts Masterminds Continues"]

Claiming to have stumbled on a clue about the New Year's Eve bomb blasts at the Mogadishu Barracks in Abuja, police authorities in the Federal Capital Territory [FCT] yesterday said the perpetrators would soon be arrested and prosecuted.

Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) in-charge of Zone 7 Command, Felix Ogbaudu, who spoke to reporters after the opening of a three-day workshop for police officers in Abuja, said the clues which will lead to the arrest of those behind the blasts and their sponsors were gotten through collaboration of Nigerian security agencies and their foreign partners.

The development came as the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), a pan Yoruba organisation, and a senator from Akwa Ibom State, Aloysius Etok called on Presidency, the National Assembly and all security agents to take urgent step to arrest the state of insecurity in the nation.

The ARG which renewed its call for holding of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) and restructuring of the country, decried the current downturn on the political scene, "occasioned by unbridled violence being unleashed on the innocent and the hapless Nigerians", saying something urgent must be done to tackle insecurity as the nation moves close to general elections.

In a statement yesterday issued by its Media and Publicity Secretary Kunle Famoriyo, the group said the machinery of government seemed to have been hijacked by those who do not want peace and progress of the country.

According to him, "ARG has noted with sadness the abysmal level to which politics and service delivery in the country has fallen, considering the characters of individuals in charge. It is a clear departure from what used to obtain in the glorious years of regional governance of the 1950s and the early 1960s in Nigeria."

He added that the spate of bombings across the country is a sad situation that has led to the loss of innocent lives and destruction of property. "Needless to remind Nigerians of the recent mayhem in Jos, Bayelsa, Abuja, and, lately, Ibadan, Oyo State, and other parts of the country! All these have no doubt further demeaned us as a people and a nation."

The group added: "Without any iota of doubt, this needless and senseless disruption of the country's fragile peace, especially, as we move closer to the 2011 general elections, is again a wake-up call for restructuring of the polity to an acceptable standard.

"While we at a time like this renew our call for a Sovereign National Conference of all nationalities, we make bold to state that recent and dangerous events in the land are not only unworthy of a nation aspiring to be great but are also threatening the survival of its constituent components."

Speaking with The Guardian in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, Etok representing Akwa Ibom North West Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District and the Chairman of Senate Committee on Rules and Business expressed support for the plan to bring in foreign security agencies to assist in fishing out the perpetrators and their sponsors.

Etok who described the perpetrators as enemies of the nation planning to derail its democracy, urged President Goodluck Jonathan not to be distracted from his main focus.

His words: "Security agencies must ensure that every culprit is bought to book and severely punished with their godfathers. When people are used as scapegoats, this will show the seriousness and determination of government on zero tolerance for crime. I'm sure the enemies of progress are at work, the devil is using evil minded individuals bent on fomenting problems in the country. I appeal to the police and other security agencies to fish out culprits with their godfathers".

The seminar for police officers, being held to enhance operational effectiveness of the security operatives for violence-free 2011 elections, was organised by Foundation for Peace and Security Education (POPSE).

Speaking at the event, the AIG, who decried the Abuja explosions assured that the perpetrators would soon be brought to book.

"Definitely the perpetrators of the act don't wish the country well. That is why we must rise and elect credible persons," he said.

Ogbaudu urged participants at the workshop to take the training seriously, stressing that the Nigeria Police is poised to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in the 2011 since the onus of providing security lies within its purview.

While urging the police officers to shun temptations by politicians to indulge in rigging during the 2011 elections, the AIG disclosed that cameras and other covert devices among other technologies would be deployed to monitor the polls.

Ogbaudu said: "I urge that you don't allow yourselves to be used by any politician or anybody to rig during elections. This is because cameras and other technologies are going to be installed and used all over the country to monitor the conduct of the elections. Don't dent the image of the police in this coming elections because if you are caught, you will be disgraced and severely punished.

"Remember the security challenges facing the country presently, ranging from Boko Haram to bomb blast. The police have a primary duty to ensure internal security and cannot afford to fail the nation. We must do our best to secure lives and property."

Earlier in an address, the Chief Executive of POPSE and former Commissioner of Police in the FCT, Lawrence Alobi (rtd) said the training workshop organised in collaboration with the Nigeria Police was designed to provide the security agents with the needed capacity in policing the nation at periods of political activities.

Alobi disclosed that the event was organised for officers of the Zone 7 Police Command, comprising FCT, Niger and Kaduna states and will be extended to other zones of the country before the 2011 general elections.

[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/]

Military Says Nigerian Islamists Resort to Robbery To Fund Attacks

AFP20110118309010 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 2234 GMT 17 Jan 11

["Nigerian 'Islamists' resort to robbery to fund attacks: army" AFP headline]

KANO, Nigeria, Jan 17, 2011 (AFP) - Authorities suspect an Islamist sect in northern Nigeria has begun using armed robberies to steal money to buy weapons to carry out attacks, an army spokesman said on Monday.

The sect known as Boko Haram has been blamed for a series of attacks in recent months, including raids on churches and police posts as well as hit-and-run shootings of police officers, mostly in the city of Maiduguri.

"Preliminary investigations suggest that recent armed robberies in the city are being carried out by members of the Boko Haram sect who are desperately in need of money to fund their operations," Lieutenant Abubakar Abdullahi said.

"They are facing a serious cash squeeze following the stepping up of raids on the sect that has seen many of its financiers, who are mostly local traders, closing their businesses and fleeing the city."

Last month, police in Maiduguri arrested 92 suspected sect members, including a 75-year-old man believed to be the group's major source of financing.

Authorities suspect sect members in at least six robberies in Maiduguri over the past two months.

The latest occurred on Monday, when soldiers foiled an armed robbery by motorcycle-riding gunmen suspected to be sect members in which a gunman and a policeman were killed, Abdullahi said.

"They arrived in the business district on six motorcycles, 11 of them in all, armed with AK-47 rifles, and began to shoot sporadically," he said.

"They were confronted by soldiers who succeeded in killing one of them while the rest fled through back streets, shooting dead a policeman returning from work in the process."

More than 80 people have been killed in attacks blamed on the sect in the past seven months, according to security sources.

The sect also claimed responsibility for a series of Christmas Eve bomb blasts in central Nigeria that killed at least 80 people, but police cast doubt on the claim.

Boko Haram launched an uprising in 2009 put down by a police and military assault that left hundreds dead.

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

Nigeria: Suspected Islamic Sect Members Kill Governorship Candidate in Borno

AFP20110129565006 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 2300 GMT 28 Jan 11

[Report by Isa Abdusalami and Njadvara Musa: "Boko Haram Gunmen Kill ANPP Governorship Candidate, Six Others"]

It was another cruel disregard for human life yesterday when five suspected Boko Haram gunmen killed the Borno State All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) governorship candidate Alhaji Modu Fannami Gubio and six others at the same spot.

Also murdered along with Gubio who was the Finance Commissioner were two policemen and four other persons at his father's residence in Lawan Bukar Ward of Maiduguri, the state capital. The gunmen fired several shots at Gubio, while he alighting from an un-marked Sports Unity Vehicle (SUV) at about 2.20 pm at his father's residence.