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

[Description of Source: Port Harcourt The Port Harcourt Telegraph in English -- Rivers State owned daily]

Nigeria: Group Accuses Northerners as Sponsors of Islamic Sect

AFP20111108686003 Port Harcourt The Port Harcourt Telegraph in English 07 Nov 11 p 9

[Report by Chidiebere Iwuoha: "Zoning Agitators Behind Boko Haram, Says Ijaw Group"]

The president of the Ijaw Youth Council [IYC] Worldwide, Mr. Miabiye Kuromiema, has alleged that the agitators for zoning of the presidential slot in the ruling People’s Democratic Party [PDP] are behind the dreaded Boko Haram sect. The sect, according to him, was the creation of the prime movers of the zoning arrangement.

He stated that dialogue, to have the people’s constitution/true federalism, especially through the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference [SNC], remained the only way out of the incessant bombings and crises in the country.

Kuromiema, in a telephone interview yesterday, stated that President Goodluck Jonathan, an Ijaw from Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, inherited the security and economic crises, which he said would not be solved overnight.

He alleged: "The zoning agitators are behind the bomb blasts and crises in the North, just to spite President Jonathan. Quite unfortunately, the sponsors of Boko Haram have lost control of their boys.

"The Northerners, who were behind zoning, believe they were born to rule Nigeria forever and they are creating the security challenge to cause confusion and to create the impression that a Southsouth person cannot govern the country.

"The fundamental issues affecting Nigeria should urgently be addressed. There is need for true federalism. The bomb blasts by Boko Haram show that we are yet to have a nation. Most of the politicians are just pretending.

"Nigeria should move to a new political order by the people discussing. We may have the best of economy, but we need to dialogue. We should go beyond attempts to eradicate poverty, which cannot be achieved overnight.

"Until we sit down to discuss, thereby giving rise to the people’s constitution, we may not move forward as a nation. We should stop pretending."

Arewa Youth Forum [AYF], the umbrella organisation of northern youths, has also condemned the Arewa Consultative Forum [ACF] for discouraging dialogue with the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, accusing it of being responsible for the uprising. The youths, who are not happy with the romance between the northern elders with the presidency, said that ACF was not in the position to assist the federal government to solve the Boko Haram imbroglio and lambasted them for saying that the Islamic sect was a creation of political thuggery. In a statement yesterday, AYF explained that ACF did not possess monopoly of wisdom on how to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency, adding that "if Nigerian leadership acted well in running the Nigerian state and nation, many challenges threatening or undermining national security would have been overcome, which will have saved this country huge resources and innocent lives that are being wasted daily".

The statement, signed by the national president of the forum, Gambo Gujungu, said that ACF could not assist the federal government and security agencies as far as Boko Haram issue was concerned and argued that ACF lacked moral standing to mediate on the issue because they have failed the North in all ramifications. The youths were also not happy with the calibre of northerners in the cabinet of President Goodluck Jonathan, saying, "In the history of the North since the return of democracy in 1999, this is the worst scenario going by the president's choice of incompetent, mediocre and short-sighted northerners he is to partner with in moving Nigeria forward.

"Alas, we may add, had Nigerian security agencies and government been proactive, many lingering security challenges being experienced in the country would have been nipped in the bud right at infancy level".

The statement said it was laughable that ACF could influence the 19 northern states to address critical issues of abject poverty, cancerous religious and ethnic crises, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, almajiri syndrome, illiteracy, unemployment and collapse of agriculture in the region, and wondered what they could do about Boko Haram.

In a related development, the chairman of the Northern Governor’s Forum and Governor of Niger state, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu yesterday lashed out at northern leaders for dragging their feet on the Boko Haram security challenges in the region.

He said they cannot continue to double speak in their handling of issues by "saying one thing in the open and doing acting differently in private"

The governor spoke just as the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad also warned that the north cannot afford to fall into another crisis before talking necessary measures to safeguard the integrity and future of the region. He said the north must go beyond current efforts to address the underlying causes of these violence and take practical steps to "cure the disease and to move forward", adding that "to secure our future and forestall violence, crisis and conflicts we must create the space and opportunities for people to realize their full potentials and aspirations".

The governor noted that Nigerians must decide whether they "are serious about lasting peace or merely paying lip service to it while some of us continue to remain in our comfort zone as our society is overtaken by violence, crime and extremism.

"There is no doubt that as traditional and political leaders, we have a great opportunity to make the much needed difference. But we must remember that opportunity come with responsibility. We really need to properly define lasting peace – could it be merely bringing about an end to violence and conflicts in our communities and the nation or doing more".

The governor said further that "we have a responsibility to act decisively to conquer poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, diseases and extremism of all forms before can genuinely hope to achieve desirable lasting peace and stability.

"We cannot drag our feet any longer. We can’t continue to double speak in our handling of the issues, saying one thing in the open and acting differently in private. We must categorically say no to the recurring wave of bombing, terrorism and crime in our communities.

"But our responsibility does not end there. We need to go beyond that to address the underlying causes of these symptoms, to take practical steps to cure the diseases and to move forward. To secure our future and forestall violence, crisis and conflicts, we must create the space and opportunities for people to realize their potentials and aspirations".

[Description of Source: Port Harcourt The Port Harcourt Telegraph in English -- Rivers State owned daily]

Nigeria: Boko Haram Threatens More Attacks

AFP20111109606008 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]

Nigerian Rights Group Says Islamic Sect Killed 5,000 Minorities in North

AFP20111109497005 Dakar PANA Online in English 08 Nov 11

[Unattributed report: Boko Haram Death Toll Put at 5,000]

The Islamic insurgent group Boko Haram has killed 5,000 people, mostly ethnic and religious minorities in the predominantly-Muslim north, according to Nigerian rights group Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA).

HURIWA said in a statement that Boko Haram was carrying out ''selective genocide'' and challenged the UN and the Federal Government to act urgently to protect northern minorities

It said the attacks had also destroyed ''religious and habitable structures'' of the minority Christians and hundreds of thousands of ethnic and religious minorities forced to abandon their traditional homes.

HURIWA expressed regret that the federal government and concerned state governments had done nothing to bring perpetrators of the "dastardly acts of brutality, bestiality and mass killings."

[Description of Source: Dakar PANA Online in English -- Website of the independent news agency with material from correspondents and news agencies throughout Africa; URL: http://www.panapress.com/english/index.htm]

Nigeria: Northern Group Calls On Government To Hold Dialogue With Islamic Sect

AFP20111109565015 Abuja Daily Trust Online in English 0400 GMT 09 Nov 11

[Report by Isa Sa'idu: "ACF Urges Boko Haram To Sheath Swords"]

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday pleaded with members of the Boko Haram to sheath their swords and take the path of peace.

The Publicity Secretary of the Forum, Anthony Sani, who made the call in statement yesterday said, "The ACF wishes to appeal to the religious group to sheath their swords. This is because wars and ethno-religious violence have never brought any good. Only constructive dialogue brings about genuine reconciliation.

To resort to endless killings of innocent people in the name of revenge or perceived injustice is against God's injunction that we forgive each other as He forgives our transgressions. It is therefore the position of ACF that the sect should embrace dialogue.

After all, in human affairs, there is a time to make compromise and there is time to let go for collective good. Our great leader, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna, was not wrong when he said in 1952, that our achievements were due to our ability to make compromises".

The ACF called on the Federal Government to engage the members of the Boko Haram in a constructive and sincere dialogue in order to restore peace in Maiduguri and other parts of the North and the country in general.

[Description of Source: Abuja Daily Trust Online in English -- Website of the independent pro-North daily; URL: http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php]

Nigeria: Northern Leaders Beg Islamic Sect over Killings

AFP20111109686007 Port Harcourt The Tide in English 09 Nov 11 p 6

[Unattributed report: "Northern Leaders Appeal to Boko Haram to Stop Bombings"]

The apex northern socio-cultural organization, the Arewa Consultative Forum [ACF], has appealed to members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect to stop killings and embrace dialogue for the unity and peace of the country. ACF said that war and ethno-religious carnage being perpetrated by the sect could not solve injustice and that only dialogue could bring true reconciliation.

In a statement by the national publicity secretary of ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani, the body called on the sect members to forgive and forget injustices they are fighting against. It would be recalled that the Islamic sect was involved in further bomb attacks and killings just before the Eid-el-Kabir festivities in Borno, Yobe States and other parts of the north.

The ACF said: "As regards the threats of planned attacks on hotels and public places in Abuja by Boko Haram and following warnings by the United States; ACF wishes to appeal to the religious group to sheath their swords. This is because over the long history of the nation and humanity generally, wars and ethno-religious violence have never brought about peaceful coexistence. Only constructive dialogue brings about genuine reconciliations that go with genuine forgiveness. To resort to endless killings of innocent people in the name of revenge of perceived injustice of the past ignores Gods injunction that we forgive each other as He forgives our transgressions".

In an electronic mail by Sani and sent to journalists yesterday in Kaduna, the body said: It is therefore still the position of ACF that the sect should embrace dialogue by shelving further violence. This would address any perceived injustice and bring about peace for national interest and common good, it said.

Sani added: Afterall, in all human affairs, there is time to stay the course, there is time to make compromises and there is time to let go for collective good. Our great leader, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna was not wrong when he once said way back in 1952 that our achievements were results of our ability to make compromises and our capacity to make friends of former foes, we can still do so now.

And yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to the current violent uprising perpetuated by the Boko Haram elements, even as American security think-tank, STRATFOR called for a military clampdown on members of sect, which has been responsible for many bombing incidents in the country.

The Pope made the comments on the heels of Friday’s attacks in Yobe and Borno States, which left more than 200 people dead. According to the Vatican Radio, "the attacks targeted churches, police stations and military barracks. I am following with concern the tragic incidents that have occurred in recent days in Nigeria. As I pray for the victims, I call for an end to all violence, which never solves problems, but only increases them, sowing hatred and division even among believers, the Pope said.

Also speaking on the Rome-based radio station, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos Diocese, who is also the Vice President of the Nigerian bishops’ conference, condemned the attacks, saying that the group targets both Muslims and Christians.

They attack Christians and Muslims indiscriminately. Our police are Christians and Muslims, they are even targeting other Muslim leaders. Boko Haram are not anti-Christian, they are anti-civil society, Archbishop Kaigama told Vatican Radio.

He praised religious leaders of both faiths for working toward peace but also urged the federal government to help eliminate violence through the education of young people. "Many of the young people caught up in this extremist activity are illiterate; they have no education and no hope for the future.

The government must give them the tools to become a constructive and not destructive force for the good of society, the archbishop said.

Bishop Oliver Doeme of Maiduguri said one of the churches affected was a Catholic church in Damaturu. He said he talked to the parish priest, who did not say whether any of his parishioners were among those killed. Bishop Doeme said the causes of the violence are social, economic, political and religious.

"In particular, there are some powerful people in our society who are losing their importance and use religion to incite the minds of uneducated youth to sow violence", the bishop said. "In fact, these young people are exploited by greedy politicians who are losing relevance and want to still remain in power to continue to improve their finances". The bishop also spoke of a strong level of indoctrination based on the belief that if one dies fighting for the cause, he will go to heaven.

Meanwhile, American security think tank, STRATFOR has called for a military clampdown on members of Boko Haram sect which have been responsible for many bombing incidents in the country. Mark Shroeder, the outfits head, said other options will render President Jonathan powerless and will leave him open to attacks from his political adversary. For domestic political purposes, they do need to use a strong hand and have the military do what they can up there.

If they do not, it is going to come back to Jonathan being seen as if he does not do that, his political enemies are really going to throw down on him. , said Mark Schroeder, the director of the sub-Saharan Africa unit for the U.S. security think tank.

The last major government attempt to eradicate Boko Haram in 2009 from this region at the crossroads of Cameroon, Niger and Chad led to hundreds of deaths and wound up fueling the groups resurgence.

The military efforts to rein in the fighters this year also have prompted complaints of brutality and civilian deaths. A Kenyan-based analyst for the International Crisis group, however disagreed with Shroeder as she said the governments clampdown on the Islamic fundamentalists will only exacerbate the situation.

"The government has increased its military presence in northern states and the capital and its clamping down, but this has also fueled tensions and I think the government needs to review its own actions to ensure its not exacerbating the situation any further, said Comfort Ero, a Kenya-based analyst for the International Crisis Group. Ero also added that the Nigerian government is left responding to attacks rather than preventing them.

[Description of Source: Port Harcourt The Tide in English -- Daily owned by the Rivers State Newspaper Corporation]

Nigeria Presidency Reportedly To Release List of Islamic Sect's Alleged Sponsors

AFP20111110565008 Ibadan Nigerian Tribune Online in English 10 Nov 11

[Report by Taiwo Adisa and Hassan Ibrahim: "Boko Haram: FG To Publish Names of Sponsors; NLC Accuses US of Complicating Nigeria's Security Challenges"]

The presidency appears to have given the nod to investigators and security operatives to release the list of possible sponsors of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, which unleashed violence in the northeastern states of Borno and Yobe last week.

No fewer than 100 persons were mowed down in separate but related attacks by the sect in Maiduguri and Damaturu last week.

It was, however, gathered that the government, which got details of the operations of the sect and some alleged financiers in August, had kept the list to itself up till now.

Initially, a source said that the list was meant to be used for the political resolution of the crisis but sources told the Nigerian Tribune on Wednesday that the new thinking favoured the release of the names of alleged sponsors.

Sources had confirmed that the cash transfer system perfected by the group had kept the financial transactions secret for a long time until some operatives made a breakthrough recently.

A source confirmed that the arrest of a chieftain of the sect in Minna, Niger State, led to some discoveries and breakthrough about the sect's financial.

While security operatives were studying the details recovered from the Lagos-based Boko Haram kingpin, who was arrested in Minna in August, it was gathered that some recovered documents also pointed the finger at some bigwigs in the polity as allegedly sponsoring certain activities of the sect.