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

But it is clear to me that we have a major intelligence failure. The challenge Jonathan faces is to immediately overhaul the intelligence apparatus in a manner that would require a root and branch shake-up of the security system," Agbakoba said.

For now, it is apparent that Nigeria lacks the basic building blocks of an effective modern police. There is a claim that the country has only one hand writing expert, no forensic expert, no forensic laboratory, which are the foundations of a viable police.

"Can we point to single DNA equipment? Can we point to a scientific analysis component of the investigation unit of the Nigeria police? What we have in our policing policy are programs and objectives that are completely outdated," Agbakoba said.

Lack of forensic and other scientific methods of crime detection, prevention, and investigation also breed torture as the only means of investigation. Okechukwu Nwanguma, project co-coordinator of the Network of Police Reform in Nigeria, said that "if you can use somebody's finger print to prove that he committed the crime you do not have to torture him to confess the crime.

"He pointed out that currently, there is no training program that could enhance the intelligence and operational capability of the Nigeria Police. He also said that there are no specialists in Nigerian police.

Series of the so-called reform of the Nigeria police has turned out to be a failure because of the lack of the political will to carry out fundamental changes. "The reform we have been calling for is the removal of the operational control of the police from the president who is currently in charge of the sector. We want the police boss to be independent of the presidency," Nwanguma said.

But Frank Odita, a retired police commissioner and security consultant, absolved the Nigeria police of blame for the intelligence failure that is plaguing the country's security system. He said that the function has been removed from the police and assigned to the State Security Service.

He also noted that by the time he was leaving the force 19 years ago, the police had two forensic laboratories in Lagos State sited in Alagbon and Oshodi.

Apart from highlighting the lapses in the country's security system, the current wave of insecurity also portends ill for Nigeria's democratic rule. According to David Mark, the Senate president and a retired army general, the intention of those that masterminded the bomb blast in a military market was to instigate the army against the government.

Similarly, Agbakoba pointed out that the use of non-peaceful method to resolve differences would affect the national psyche and potentially undermine the stability of the country.

Agugua warned that the escalation of terrorist attack might compel Jonathan to embrace the use of coercive state apparatus, which will connote the funeral of democracy in Nigeria. "I can tell you in a plain language that the Nigeria democracy is really under threat.

And beyond that, the cohesive entity of the Nigerian state is also under threat because what the people are clamoring for also bothers on secession and disintegration," Agugua said.

Glory Chika Nsiegbe, aka Anointed Man of God in Grace of the Christ Mustard Mission in Port Harcourt, alleged that the state of insecurity in the country which has been compounded by the recent bomb blast at the police headquarters portends great danger for the country.

He said that those who masterminded the dastardly act and their sponsors were bent on destabilizing the administration of President Jonathan. He advocated divine intervention through the supplication of anointed men of God.

For now, President Jonathan has assured that he would prefer the use of stick and carrot approach to resolve the Boko Haram threat. How the sect would respond to the offer and what the president's attitude would be in the days to come remains to be seen.

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

Nigerian Governors 'Apologise' to Islamists for Rights Abuse

AFP20110702650005 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 02 Jul 11

[["Nigerian governors 'apologise' to Islamists for rights abuse" -- AFP headline]]

KANO, Nigeria, July 2, 2011 (AFP) - Two senior officials in northern Nigerian have offered public apologies to an extremist sect for any rights violations suffered during military crackdown on its armed uprising in 2009.

Bauchi state governor Isa Yuguda and the ex-governor of neighbouring Gombe state Danjuma Goje, made their apologies in separate statements.

"I apologise to the members of Jama'atu Ahlussunnah lidda'awati wal Jihad for perceived injustices caused them as they have the full rights to be protected by the law," Yuguda said in a statement released to AFP Saturday.

"I hope this will further the healing of the trauma on Jama'atu Ahlussunnah, ...open the door to meaningful dialogue that will end hostilities and usher peace for which the religion of Islam is all about," he added.

Goje, now a senator, said "as a true Muslim, who believes in peace and brotherhood ... I hereby tender my public apology to the organisation for any wrong done to it in the course of performing my duty as the then governor of Gombe State".

The Boko Haram sect, which prefers to go by the name Jama'atu Ahlussunnah lidda'awati wal Jihad, is based in northeastern Borno state, but has also been active in nearby Bauchi and Gombe state.

It has been blamed for a recent wave of violence in the region.

The statements from the politicians appeared to be in reponse to the Boko Haram's demand for apologies as a precondition for dialogue with government.

The group's spokesman Abu Zaid had said they would hunt down the governors of Borno, Bauchi and Gombe states in comments published a week ago in the Daily Trust newspaper, which is widely circulated in the north.

"We would not relent in our efforts of searching for them until they come out publicly and apologize," Zaid told the paper.

Kashim Shettima, the newly elected governor of Borno state had already made overtures to the group.

He offered an amnesty to those of its members who renounced violence, a move backed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

But one of the conditions Boko Haram gave for dialogue was the strict application of Sharia law in the country's 12 predominately Muslim states.

Boko Haram launched a short-lived armed rebellion in a doomed bid to establish an Islamic state in 2009 in parts of the north.

The uprising was crushed by the military leaving hundreds, mostly sect members dead in the crackdown and its headquarters and mosque left in ruins.

Troops and policemen were accused of the extra-judicial killings of suspected sect members.

Seven policeman suspected of killing the sect leader Mohammed Yusuf are expected to face trial this month.

The sect has claimed responsibility for bomb attacks and shoot-and-run killings in the past year, including attacks on military and police personnel, community and religious leaders as well as politicians.

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

Nigeria: Bomb Blast Claims 4 Lives, Islamic Sect Gunmen Kill 4 People in Borno

AFP20110704598001 Lagos The Guardian Online in English 2300 GMT 03 Jul 11

[Report by From Njadvara Musa, Terhemba Daka and Odita Sunday: "Nine Die in Fresh Borno Bomb Blast, Attacks; SSS Accuses Politicians of Aiding Boko Haram"]

Less than 24 hours after President Goodluck Jonathan told the Boko Haram sect that "enough is enough," the group struck yesterday in Maiduguri, Borno State killing five people in bomb blast. Ten others were injured and taken to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH).

Also, armed men suspected to be members of the group on foot killed four residents in separate attacks in some parts of the state.

Amid the attacks, top security operatives yesterday accused some Nigerian politicians in the North and Abuja of fuelling the activities of the Boko Haram, which has claimed responsibility for the recurring bomb explosions and killings in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and some northern states.

The State Security Services (SSS), which spoke on the activities of the group yesterday, claimed that some politicians in Borno State and Abuja were behind the increasing attacks by the sect.

Besides the victims of yesterday's explosion, the group, between Saturday and yesterday, killed a local council chairman and retired military personnel, and three other residents.

In a statement by the State Director of SSS, Ahmed Abdulhameed, in Maiduguri yesterday, he said: "Despite our endless efforts along with some patriotic Nigerians to find a lasting solution to the lingering sectarian crisis in the state, some desperate politicians are hiding under the guise of 'political Boko Haram sect' to perpetrate and continue with the endless serial attacks and killings in Maiduguri and other towns in Borno State."

The statement reads in part: "The State Security Services observed that amidst the concerted efforts being made to achieve and sustain a peaceful atmosphere in Borno State and the North Eastern zone, where law and order is being threatened by activities of the Islamic sect, attempts are being made from certain quarters which have become part of the problem, to use the name of this service in shielding their heinous criminal activities."

Yesterday's bomb blasts occurred at 4.45 p.m. at Wulari Ward near a mini market. The market is about 50 metres away from police barracks. Police bomb experts immediately cordoned of the scene of the explosion. No arrest has been made, the military said.

When The Guardian contacted Maj.-Gen. Jack Nwoogbo Nwoagbo, he confirmed the incident and the number of casualty. He said: "Look we are at the scene of the blast, I cannot talk much."

Citing a statement by one Abu Zaid, the spokesman of the Boko Haram sect, which was published in a national newspaper (not The Guardian) where Zaid had alleged that one Usman Al-Zawahiri was being used by the SSS to distort the demands of the sect, the SSS boss said there was nothing like that. .

"We want to stress that we have always known that there had been a political dimension to the lingering problem in Borno State and that the faceless Al-Zawahiri is the mouthpiece of this "political Boko Haram" which is dropping the SSS name as a cover for its unpatriotic acts."

Jonathan had during the weekend at the graduation of top military officers in Jaji, Kaduna, warned that the government would no longer tolerate the lawlessness of the group.

The SSS chief reiterated the position of the Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, that the Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) donated to the police were not meant to fight members of the sect.

Abdulhameed said: "Suffice to mention here that the current deployment of security agents to the state does not amount to a clampdown on the sect as being peddled by mischief makers, but a matter of responsibility on the part of the Federal Government to protect the citizens who have been seriously traumatised in recent times.

He advised the sect members to lay down their arms and embrace the "carrot and stick" option of the President as their call for "jobs and justice can only be realised in an atmosphere of peace of which, we firmly believe can be achieved sooner than later," .

Three suspected Boko Haram gunmen on foot had killed four persons in Bulabulin-Ngaranaram and Galadima wards of Maiduguri metropolis. The victims included a retired soldier, identified as Joseph, 59, who was shot in the arm when the gunmen climbed the wall fence of his residence at 11.45 p.m.

Others killed were Abba Panama, 45, a bricklayer, Sani Umar, 25, a student of the School of Nursing, Maiduguri, Apagu Umar, 30, a businessman, and Pa Alao, a resident of Galadima ward in Maiduguri. .

Confirming the night attacks and killings, Commander of the Joint Task Force Operation Restore Order (JTORO), Maj.-Gen. Jack Nwachukwu Nwaogbo, said: "We could not get the reports of the multiple attacks and killings in the two wards, until late night at 1.25 a.m. when distress calls were received from two residents that their father and two relations were shot and killed in their houses at 11 p.m. on Saturday by three suspected Islamist sect." .

He said three gunmen climbed the wall fence of the residence of Abba Panama Bulabuli-Ngaranaram ward, before firing several gunshots into his head and chest, adding that barely half an hour, Umar of the School of Nursing, was also shot and killed in the same ward.

On the inability of members of JTORO to reach the scenes of the attacks and killings, he said the gunmen muffled their Kalashnikov rifles with pillows to silence the sounds of the gunshots, adding that "by the time we reached the houses that were invaded, some residents had been killed. The suspects fled into the neighbouring Bolori and Kumshe wards. It seems that the armed men have changed and resorted to quiet attacks and shootings, where both neighbours and taskforce members could not hear the sound of any gun shots to arrest the suspected killers." . .

A 35-year-old trader and relation of the slain Apagu said: "What have we done to the Boko Haram sect? Our brother had been selling fuel to some of the sect members on credit amounting to over N40, 000 without paying... And now they shot and killed our breadwinner in his pool of blood."

Nwaogbo said several arrests were made on Sunday morning following a tip-off on the fleeing gunmen, adding that the suspects were being interrogated at an undisclosed location in the metropolis, before they would be handed over to the police for prosecution in court.

Distraught residents of the FCT at the weekend asked the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, to check the excesses of the soldiers deployed to firm up the security in the area.

The residents alleged that the soldiers had resorted to flagrant abuse of their mandate, just as they described their modus operandi at the checkpoints as "abuse of power and authority."

They, therefore, want the military authorities to review the briefs given to the soldiers.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Navy has charged its officers and men to work with other security agencies, especially the police to achieve the government's goal of combating crime in the country.

The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ola Sa'ad Ibrahim, stated this at this year's Naval Police Seminar tagged "Repositioning the Naval Police for Optimal Efficiency in a Democratic Dispensation." It was organised at the Nigerian Navy Ship Quorra, Apapa, Lagos.

Ibrahim, who was represented by the Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ogbor, said the synergy was necessary because crime fighting is a collective responsibility of all agencies of government.

[Description of Source: Lagos The Guardian Online in English -- Website of the widely read independent daily, aimed at up-market readership; URL: http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/]

Police Say Bomb Blast, Shootings Kill 20 in Northern Nigeria

AFP20110704309009 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 2102 GMT 03 Jul 11

["20 killed in blast, shootings in northern Nigeria: sources" -- AFP headline]

KANO, Nigeria, July 3, 2011 (AFP) - A bomb blast at a police beer garden killed at least 10 people Sunday in the troubled northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri where Islamists are active, a military source and a witness said.

Hours earlier, a leading politician was shot dead in the same city, while police sources and residents reported a wave of shootings overnight Saturday that killed nine people, including three retired police officers.

"The bomb was planted at the middle of the 'mammy market' and at least 10 people have been killed and several others seriously injured from the explosion," said an army officer who prefered not to be named.

The so-called mammy market beer gardens are open air pubs and eateries found around police or military barracks, open to both security personnel and civilians.

Brigadier-General Jack Okechukwu Nwaogbo, the commander of a crack military unit deployed a week ago to curb the unrest in the area, confirmed the attack, saying they had so far recorded eight deaths.

"There has been a bomb explosion at a market belonging to the police in Wulari area of the city," Nwaogbo told AFP on the phone from Maiduguri.

"So far we have eight dead and 13 injured. These are from those counted at the scene," he later said.

Umar Kaulaha, a resident in the area said he had heard a "loud bang followed by dark clouds of smoke from the beer garden".

"There was confusion and horrified cries as people scampered to safety. I saw three military vans leaving the neighbourhood with the dead and the wounded from the blast," Kaulaha said.

"From my estimation, around a dozen people may have died," he added.

The open beer garden was a popular spot attracting large crowds of drinkers especially on Sundays, Kaulaha said.

Hours before the attack, a politician of the state's ruling party the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), was shot and killed near his house in another part of the city.

Two motorcycle riding gunmen shot Mustapha Ba'le in the head, and sped off, a senior police officer said.

And overnight Saturday, gunmen went from house to house Saturday night shooting their victims in targeted attacks, a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity.

"The attackers went straight to the homes of their victims and shot them dead between 11 pm (2200 GMT) and midnight (2300 GMT) and got away," he added.

"It is obvious the attackers were members of Boko Haram."

The Islamist sect is the prime suspect for all of the weekend's attacks, as well as for an attack on a civilian beer garden in the same city last Sunday, which left at least 25 dead and 30 wounded.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, they bore their hallmark.

The extremist sect has in the last year carried out bombings and shot dead leading figures in the region.

And it claimed responsibility for a May 29 bomb attack on a beer garden in a military barracks in northern Bauchi city that killed 13 people and injured 30 others.

The attack happened the same day President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn into office.

The group has also claimed responsibility for the June 16 bomb attack on police headquarters in the Nigerian capital Abuja that killed at least two people, including a policeman.

They said they had been aiming for the national police chief.

The group has targeted military and police personnel, community and religious leaders, politicians, public facilities churches and a prison.

Boko Haram -- the name means "Western education is sin" -- launched an uprising in 2009 which was put down by a brutal military assault that left hundreds dead, most of them members of the sect.

The group is fighting to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

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

Door-To-Door Shootings Kill 9 in Northern Nigerian City

AFP20110704309010 Paris AFP (World Service) in English 2047 GMT 03 Jul 11

["Nine killed in door-to-door shootings in Nigeria" -- AFP headline]

KANO, Nigeria, July 3, 2011 (AFP) - Nine people, including three retired policemen, were killed in overnight door-to-door attacks in Nigeria's troubled city of Maiduguri, police sources and residents said Sunday.

Gunmen suspected to be members of an Islamist Boko Haram sect went from house to house shooting their victims in targeted attacks, a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity.

"Nine people were killed in all and three of them were ex-policemen," said the police officer.

"The attackers went straight to the homes of their victims and shot them dead between 11 pm (2200 GMT) and midnight (2300 GMT) and got away," he added.

"It is obvious the attackers were members of Boko Haram."

Bature Goni Hashim, a resident of Bulabulin Ngarannam area of the city, said six of the victims, including the three policemen were buried Sunday.

Hundreds of troops were deployed to Maiduguri last Sunday on the orders of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to end the insurgency launched by the sect.

The crack team, comprising the army, navy, air force, police, immigration and customs personnels have set up checkpoints all over the city.

Boko Haram, which seeks the establishment of an Islamic state in nothern Nigeria has, since a shortlived uprising in 2009, changed its tactics.

It has since targetted military and police personnel, community and religious leaders, politicians, public facilities, churches and a prison.

[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 100 Suspected Islamic Sect Members in 6 States

AFP20110705598002 Lagos This Day Online in English 05 Jul 11

[Report by Yemi Akinsuyi and Michael Olugbode: "SSS: Arrested Boko Haram Members Won't Face Trial"]

The State Security Service (SSS) Monday said it had arrested over 100 suspected members of the Boko Haram sect but they would not be prosecuted - in line with President Goodluck Jonathan's decision to adopt a political solution to the problem.

The group has been carrying out a bombing campaign, demanding among other things that the Islamic law, Shari'ah, should be implemented across the federation, although with particular emphasis on the North.

SSS spokesperson Marilyn Ogar said the arrests were made in six states - Borno, Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano, Yobe and Adamawa. All are in the North-east and North-west.

Ogar explained that since Jonathan had decided to use the "carrot and stick" approach on suspects of Boko Haram, SSS would not go contrary to that strategy.

"That is why the arrested suspects would not be prosecuted," she said.

The suspects are already helping the security agents with information on the activities of the religious sect.

Part of the benefits of this approach, she disclosed, was that SSS, on May 23, June 10, 14, 27 and 29 discovered and successfully demobilised eight improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Kafanchan, one in Goni Gora, and Dambo Interna-tional College, all in Kaduna State.

The agency also said it received information from some "patriotic Nigerians" and recovered components of yet-to-be-assembled explosives which included a gas cylinder with a pin, detonating cables, a bottle of distilled water, pliers, masking tape and clips in a hotel in Kaduna.

She said the bomb was meant to be detonated in a shopping mall in Kaduna.

In Maiduguri, the Joint Task Force (JTF) said Boko Haram had been planting IEDs at business and social centres.

The commander of JTF, Major General Jack Okechukwu Nwaogbo, revealed this in a statement on the Sunday explosion that rocked the Wulari police barracks in Maiduguri which left many people dead.

"The development is worrisome and there is the need for all hands to be on deck to check this menace," he said.

The statement was signed by the spokesman of JTF, Colonel Victor Ebhaleme.

Nwaogbo called on business owners to report any suspicious movements around their business places and residential areas to his command.

While commiserating with those that lost their loved ones during the recent attacks, the general assured the public that troops were on the perpetrators' heels to restore order in the state.