TheNewsGuru

Tag: boko haram

  • NAF bombs Boko Haram hideouts in Sambisa, kills more insurgents

    The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said on Friday it has carried out more air strikes against the Boko Haram terrorists in the Sambisa general area in Borno State, killing scores of insurgents and destroying their hideouts in the process.

    The bombardment of the insurgents were conducted with four fighter jets and two helicopters after series of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions have been carried out on the target areas.

    The Director of Public Relations and Information of the NAF, Air Vice Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya, said the Air Task Force of Operation Lafiya Dole carried out the strikes in an operation code-named operation Ruwan Wuta III.

    He explained in a statement supported with a declassified video footage that “on December 12, 20 17, the Air Task Force of OP LAFIYA DOLE commenced an intensive bombardment of the hideouts of Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT) in Northern Borno and the Sambisa general area in an operation codenamed Operation Ruwan Wuta lll.

    “On the first day of the operation, an air interdiction mission was conducted on a BHT hideout in Kolaram, which is 37km East of Monguno.”

    According to AVM Adesanya, “Previous Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions by NAF platforms had revealed Kolaram to be an active BHT location from where the terrorists had launched attacks on our surface forces in Northern Borno.

    “Accordingly, two NAF helicopters were detailed for a pre-dawn attack on the settlement, followed by another wave of attacks from four fighter aircraft.

    “Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) showed that several structures were destroyed, causing fire within the settlement while some insurgents were killed in the process.

    “On the same day, one NAF helicopter and some fighter aircraft attacked an adjoining settlement Southeast of Kolaram, targeting structures that had been observed to host significant BHT activities. The targeted BHT structures were destroyed and engulfed in fire, killing the terrorists hiding in them.

    “During the attacks on Kolaram and Southeast of Kolaram, some escaping insurgents were tracked as they fled northwards to Jubilaram, which is 38km Northeast of Monguno.

    ” Accordingly, another wave of air interdiction was launched on the location, which was also found to be active with BHT activities. Four NAF fighter aircraft took turns to attack structures occupied by BHT elements in the settlement.

    “Subsequent BDA revealed that the attacks resulted in a large part of the settlement being engulfed in fire, thereby destroying the BHTs structures and neutralizing the fleeing BHTs.”

  • Govs approve $1bn from excess crude account to fight Boko Haram

    Governors from Nigeria’s 36 states have approved the withdrawal of $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account by the federal government to be used in the ongoing fight against Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east.

    This was revealed by the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki while briefing State House correspondents after the meeting of the National Economic Council which held inside the council chamber of the Presidential Villa Abuja.

    The meeting was chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    Mr. Obaseki said the approval was announced during the 83rd NEC meeting by the chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari.

    The Governor of Gombe State, who spoke earlier, said the Excess Crude Account had a balance of $2.317 billion as at December 13, 2017.

  • Troops repel Boko Haram attack in Borno community

    Troops of the Nigerian Army on Wednesday repelled a violet attack by the Boko Haram insurgents at Mainok community in Kaga Local Government area of Borno.

    The NewGuru learnt that the troops engaged the insurgents in gun battle at Mainok, about 73 kilometres drive from Maiduguri.

    Mainok is one of the liberated communities rehabilitated by the government.

    The town recorded high number of returnees due the relative peace in the area.

    The troops, according to witnesses, killed about 10 insurgents and wounded others when they tried to infiltrate a military unit in the town.

    Alhaji Lawal Wasaram, a former chairman of the council, confirmed the incident to TNG.

    Wasaram said that the incident occurred at about 6:00 p.m. when a group of insurgents, moving on two trucks and motorcycles, tried to infiltrate the town from a nearby bush.

    He said that troops deployed to the area intercepted and killed about 10 of them while many were wounded in gun duel.

    Wasaram added that the troops also destroyed the insurgents’ vehicles, a situation which prevented them from attacking the town.

    “The gallant troops successfully repelled the insurgent and protected the town from attack.

    “It is difficult to ascertain the causalities; about 10 insurgents were killed and several others wounded in the failef attempt to attack Mainok,” he said,

    Ha added that the locals and soldiers were currently celebrating victory in the town.

    The military authorities are yet to comment on the incident.

  • Yuletide: US, UK warn citizens, insists Boko Haram may bomb Abuja, 12 northern states

    The United States and the United Kingdom have issued stern warnings to its citizens in Nigeria, especially those resident in the North and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to avoid crowded places as dangerous insurgent group, Boko Haram may carry out its bomb threats during the yuletide.

    The two missions in their security advice cautioned their citizens against all but essential travels to Bauchi, Zamfara, Kano; Kaduna; Jigawa; Katsina, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, and Yobe states during the Yuletide.

    The two countries stated that the risk of terrorist attacks was still high in the run-up to and throughout the Christmas and New Year holiday period.

    “Terrorist groups have threatened to conduct bombings and attacks in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) area during this period. You should avoid places where crowds gather, including religious gatherings and places of worship, markets, shopping malls, hotels, bars, restaurants, transport hubs and camps for displaced people,” the UK mission said in the updated travel advisory on its website.

    The same security warning was also echoed by the US mission, which asked Americans to review their personal security plans and avoid the states listed in the travel advisory.

    The two countries had issued the security advice ahead of the December 1 Id el Maulud holiday, which passed without any eventualities. This had made some members of the public assume that the threat was over.

    However, the US Embassy Information Officer, Russell Brooks, said the warning would stand till the end of the year, adding that it was not limited to the last public holiday in the country.

    The embassy had issued a warning thus: “The US Mission remains concerned about potential attacks in the states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, and Yobe; travellers are urged to avoid those states through the end of the year.”

    “If you construed the warning as referring to last Friday’s holiday (December 1), you are mistaken,” Brooks stated.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the police had also on Friday said the plot by Boko Haram to bomb Abuja and other states was real. The FCT Commissioner of Police, Sadiq Bello, however, said the police would work with other security agencies to make sure that the threat was not actualised.

    It was gathered that the police had deployed undercover operatives in strategic locations in the FCT to foil any terrorist plot.

    Security sources stated that agencies were also stepping up intelligence gathering and surveillance of dark spots which suspected Boko Haram members might infiltrate to carry out their dastardly act.

    The police, however, warned Nigerians to avoid extravagance and any act capable of exposing them to unnecessary attacks during and after the festive season.

  • Boko Haram: Buhari praised as CSO hails Buratai

    President Muhammadu Buhari has earned accolades over the administration’s conquest of Boko Haram and other rising insurgencies threatening the stability of peace and unity of the country in recent times as it also hailed the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai for his leadership and sportsmanship.

    President Muhammadu Buhari has earned accolades from a critical segment of the Nigerian society, over the administration’s conquest of Boko Haram and other rising insurgencies threatening the stability of peace and unity of the country in recent times as it also hailed the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusufu Buratai for his leadership and sportsmanship.

    This was made known at a peer review gathering of the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations For Tranparency and Good Governance [CCSOTGG] which held in Abuja to appraise the administration’s efforts on security.

    The group while commending the Nigerian Army’s decisiveness in dealing with both rising and existing insurgency , affirmed that Boko Haram is only able to attempt showing its presence in a limited geographical area where it exploits the vulnerability of soft targets, which says a lot about how the Nigerian Army, under the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General TY Buratai, has been able to degrade the terrorists.

    In the statement signed by the convener Nkechi Odoma, the group condemned all terrorist attacks describing them as a gross violation of sanctity of human life and an attack on the society and humanity at large.
    Attributing the recent wave of peace in the nation to the military’s action, the coalition specifically applauded Buratai’s commitment to the cause, attributing it to the recent Global Terrorism Index which scored Nigeria high.

    “The combination of these achievements has revived our hope that Nigeria will step into 2018 as a more secured country with the space available to terrorists continually shrinking until they become a relic of history whose only mention would not be in the daily news bulletins but in the archives, that tell of a gallant era of Nigeria’s Armed Forces. We dare say that the Global Terrorism Index 2017, which showed that terrorists are not able to kill as many people as they use to, is a testimony to the victory that Nigeria will ultimately score over the enemies of humanity.

    “It is a confirmation that the Nigerian Army under Lieutenant General Buratai has contributed greatly to improvements and the success recorded by the country’s defence architecture in the last two years especially in responding to both internal and external threats.

    “This coalition commends President Muhammadu Buhari as the Commander-in-Chief under whom these achievements were recorded”. It read in part.

  • Yuletide: Boko Haram’s threat to bomb Abuja, Adamawa, Bauchi, others real – Police

    …Promises to work hard to foil threat

    The Police have said that threats by the deadly insurgent group, Boko Haram to bomb Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and six other states is real.

    The FCT Commissioner of Police, Sadiq Bello, said the Police would work with other security agencies to ensure that the threat is not actualised.

    The United States and the United Kingdom missions in Nigeria had, last week, warned of possible attacks on soft targets in FCT, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, and Yobe states by Boko Haram insurgents.

    They warned Americans and Britons in Nigeria to avoid crowded places, including shopping malls, gardens and hotels which could be targeted by the terrorists.

    Following the warning, the Inspector-General of Police directed Commissioners of Police, Assistant Inspectors-General of Police and personnel in the states to be on red alert.

    The IG also directed the CPs in the states to hold stakeholders’ meetings with the people in order to proffer possible ways of tackling the threat.

    Speaking during a stakeholders’ forum on Thursday in Abuja, Bello said that security agencies were working hard to thwart the Boko Haram plot, adding that various strategies were being executed to keep the states safe from terrorists’ attacks.

    The CP said, “The threat to attack the city is real; however, we want to assure members of the public that we are working in collaboration with other sister security agencies to ensure that we all enjoy a peaceful Yuletide.”

    He added, “We are doing a lot, but we don’t want to mention the strategy so that the men of the underworld don’t take advantage of it.

    “We are doing a lot, especially with our sister security agencies. We have already mapped out strategies and we have already commenced that.

    “It may involve massive raids, massive visibility policing, vigorous stop-and-search and we would also embark on intelligence gathering.”

    Bello also urged members of the public to volunteer useful information that could assist the security agencies to prevent the attack.

    He said, “Police work is not magic, we depend on members of the public to make contribution and that is why we are urging members of the public to come up with useful information that would help us nip crimes in the bud.

    “If they see people of questionable character and suspicious movement, they should come to us quickly because we want to take necessary measures to prevent the actualisation of the threat,” the commissioner added.

  • Six-year-old Boko Haram victim returns to Nigeria after successful surgery in Dubai [Photos]

    A six-year-old victim of Boko Haram violence, Ali Ahmadu, has returned to Nigeria after undergoing a surgery in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, UAE.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Ahmadu had earlier survived a corrective surgery in his spinal cord after spending 14 days in a Dubai hospital.

    He was flown to Dubai on September 10 for the surgery. However, while travelling to Dubai for the surgery, all little Ali could mutter repeatedly in Hausa was: “Ina so insake tafiya da kafana…Don Allah ataimakamu…Don Allah. Ina so in je makaranta”. (“I want to begin to walk with my legs again. For God’s sake, assist me. I want to go to school”).

    The surgery was facilitated under the umbrella of GIPLC, a non-governmental organisation that coordinated the appeal for help to enable the young boy walk again, after he was attacked and maimed by insurgents.

    Following the appeal, the Dickens Sanomi Foundation provided over N17 million for the hospital fees as well as transportation and other services in Dubai.

    Ali returned to Abuja aboard Ethiopian airline accompanied by his aunt and Nuhu Kwajafa, the coordinator of GIPLC, who were by his bedside during the period of treatment and rehabilitation.

    An official of the foundation, who received Ali at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Goodluck Hayi, in a brief address to journalists said the foundation will be working with Ali’s family through GIPLC to support his post-surgery life.

    “I am authorised to announce that an educational scholarship will be provided for Ali until he gets to University by the Taleveras Foundation.”

    Mr. Hayi recalled that about three months ago, “we all witnessed at the same airport Ali Ahmadu being taken away on a wheel chair, today to the Glory of God we are here to receive Ali Ahmadu, walking handsomely into our arms.”

    He said what started as ”a painful journey for Ali after the Boko Haram attack in Chibok, four years ago that confined him to a wheel chair”, has transformed into a ”journey of hope, love and care.”

    “Dickens Sanomi Foundation is backed by the principle of love and care, one that was practised and preached by the late assistant inspector general of police, Mr Dickens Sanomi. Today, we demonstrate these principles by being our neighbours keepers and teaching love by showing it,” he said.

    The coordinator of GIPLC, who also spoke upon arrival from Dubai said young Ali “suffered excruciating pains all over his body, brought upon him by the senseless marauders,” when they invaded his village of Chibok in 2014.

    Mr. Kwajafah said Boko Haram terrorists “crushed everything/everyone in their path, severely damaging his still-forming vertebral column in the process but the hand of God preserved Ali, so we may give glory to His name.”

    He added that since that incident, the little boy never accessed any form of orthodox medication.

    “He was at the mercy of traditionalists, in highly unpredictable and perilous times. Obviously, during this period, access to education, nutrition, psychosocial tuning, water, sanitation or hygiene, was very limited, if not non-existent.

    “He was immobile and fast detoriating, physically and mentally, from that period until the 1st quarter of this year, 2017, when GIPLC made contact with him,” he said.

    He also said the organisation facilitated the relevant examinations & digital/lab tests, for assessment and proper medical attention.

    “After duly assessing the various options open to us, from all over the world, we resolved to take him to the UAE. After almost 6 hours of extremely delicate surgery, about a week in ICU and a month in recovery, Ali took his first steps into a brighter future,” he said.

    Mr. Kwajafah said GIPLC is committed to Ali’s post-surgery well-being and have received confirmation from Dickens Sanomi Foundation to support his settling in the society, while the Taleveras Foundation will provide him with a scholarship.

    Mr. Kwajafah said GIPLC will also organise an end of year party for orphans and vulnerable children, targeting over 3,000 of them.

  • I supported your administration in fight against Boko Haram despite your open hatred for me, Shettima tells Jonathan

    I supported your administration in fight against Boko Haram despite your open hatred for me, Shettima tells Jonathan

    …challenges ex-President to make findings of committee public

    Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State Governor has said he willingly supported ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency while it was at its highest ebb in 2014.

    The governor said “he single-handedly approved the funding of Civilian JTF without any support from the Federal Government even when Jonathan himself repeatedly acknowledged the roles played by Civilian JTF in whatever success his administration recorded in fighting the insurgency.”

    Shettima also challenged former president to reveal the findings of the committee he (Jonathan) constituted to investigate the abduction of Chibok schoolgirls.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Shettima was reacting to a press release by former President Jonathan’s media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, where he accused him (Shettima) of deliberately endangering the lives of the Chibok girls by flagrantly disobeying the then Federal Government’s directive to relocate the girls to a safer zone.

    Eze in the statement also asked Shettima to tell Nigerians whatever he knew regarding the April 14, 2014 abduction of over 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram after the terror group’s attack on Government Secondary School, Chibok.

    However, in a swift reaction, state Commissioner of Education, Hon. Musa Kubo, in a statement he signed and released in Maiduguri on Saturday said: “Nigerians should ask Jonathan why he concealed report of his own fact-finding committee.”

    Kubo, who was amongst those interrogated by the Jonathan’s Fact-Finding Committee on Chibok schoolgirls abduction, said: “Rather than direct spurious allegations against Governor Kashim Shettima on controversies surrounding abduction of Chibok schoolgirls, the media aide should ask his principal, President Goodluck Jonathan, why he deliberately concealed report of a Presidential Fact-Finding Committee he constituted and inaugurated on Tuesday, 6th of May, 2014 and which submitted report of findings to him on Friday, 20th of June 2014.”

    Kubo said: “For the purpose of records, Eze and his colleagues are pointing towards the wrong direction, they should ask their principal, President Goodluck Jonathan, why he deliberately refused to make public, the report of a committee he constituted, inaugurated and received their findings on facts surrounding the Chibok abduction and who is to blame for it.

    “To refresh their minds, on Tuesday, the 6th of May, 2014, President Jonathan had inaugurated multi-agency/stakeholder fact-finding committee under the chairmanship of Brig. General Ibrahim Sabo (rtd), a one-time Director of Military Intelligence, and secretary of the Committee was from the Niger Delta. President Jonathan singlehandedly selected all members of that committee which included representatives of the UN, ECOWAS, retired and security officers from the Army, DSS and Police; representatives of the Chibok community, local and international civil rights organisations, representatives of the National Council of Women Societies, the Nigeria Union of Journalists and some of his highly trusted associates.

    “For nearly two months, the committee undertook thorough investigation that included forensic assessment of all documents on the entire issues, held meetings with parents of the schoolgirls, visited Chibok, met with the then Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, the Director General of the DSS and the Inspector General of Police, all of whom were appointees of President Jonathan.

    “The committee also met with officials of Borno Government including myself and the school principal, the committee held meetings with heads of different security agencies in Borno State including security formations in charge of Chibok and after compiling their findings, the committee submitted it’s report directly to President Jonathan on Friday, the 20th of June, 2014 in Aso Rock. The question anyone should ask is why President Jonathan deliberately refused to make that report public.”

    Kubo asked: “What was he hiding from Nigerians? Here is another question, if the findings had indicted Governor Shettima or the Borno State Government in anyway, does anyone really think Jonathan would have concealed that report given his open hatred for Shettima and the fact that the governor was in the opposition party?”

    The Borno Commissioner of Education noted that, “if there was one Nigerian that assisted Jonathan in the fight against Boko Haram it was Governor Shettima who single-handedly approved the funding of Civilian JTF without any support from the Federal Government even when Jonathan himself repeatedly acknowledged the roles played by Civilian JTF in whatever success his administration recorded in fighting the insurgency.”

    He said Shettima supported Jonathan by funding security agencies and mobilising community intelligence as publicly attested to by the then Director of Operations at the Defence Headquarters, Major General Lawrence Ndugbane.

    Kubo, however claimed that Jonathan’s main anger with Shettima was when the governor spoke out of frustration by telling the world that the Nigerian military was not being equipped.

    He said the governor’s claim had since been proved by former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, and by the discovery that the huge funds meant for arms were shared under Jonathan’s watch.

    The commissioner noted that President Jonathan’s decision to constitute that committee was a miraculous intervention by God to preserve the innocence of Governor Shettima and his administration.

    He said that, “if Jonathan wasn’t the one that constituted a fact-finding committee and received a report, no administration on earth would have upheld Shettima’s innocence because Jonathan’s men would have questioned the report of any other fact-finding committee.”

    He called on President Jonathan’s media team to find something more important to do with their time rather than making baseless allegations in order to confuse Nigerians.

  • Air Force raids degraded Boko Haram insurgents – COAS

    Air Force raids degraded Boko Haram insurgents – COAS

    The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, on Friday said the service had carried out air raids causing heavy damage to the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East.

    Sadiq told newsmen in Maiduguri that several air raids were conducted under the Operation Ruwan Wuta II, designed as a final onslaught on the insurgents.

    “The whole idea is to further degrade the capacity of the Boko Haram insurgents and to make sure that we get them where they are hiding.

    “And in the last few days it has been very successful, we have been able to substantially effect the necessary damage and frustrate any effort for them to re-group in certain areas of Sambisa Forest”.

    Sadiq disclosed that the Federal Government had procured aircrafts and helicopters to enhance air operations in the campaign against the Boko Haram insurgents as well as protect lives and property.

    He said that the newly acquired jets and helicopters would soon be deployed to the front line to enhance the counter-insurgency operation in the region.

    The Chief of Air Staff added that the service had constructed residential accommodation and upgraded the apron at 105 Composite Group, Maiduguri to accommodate the increasing number of war planes.

    Sadiq explained that the projects were designed to provide enabling environment and decent accommodation to improve the wellbeing of the servicemen.

    “The Federal Government has approved more aircraft for us and we are thinking ahead to see that we have the accommodation for those coming with these helicopters and aircrafts the government has procured for us.

    “With more aircrafts you have to expand the parking space; we have reactivated a quite a number and more are coming, what we thought was to quickly expand the apron so that we have enough space for the aircrafts that are coming to be able to park.

    “For us in the Air Force; we are always working, training, expanding infrastructure, building capacity for both the pilots, technicians and engineers”.

    While lauding the government’s gesture, Sadiq also commended the servicemen for their dedication and gallantry in the counter-insurgency operation.

     

    NAN

     

  • Panic as suspected Boko Haram insurgents attack Yobe village

    Suspected members of Boko Haram sect on Tuesday attacked Sasawa village in Damaturu Local Government Area of Yobe.

    The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Abdulmaliki Sumonu, confirmed to newsmen that the village was attacked on Tuesday night.

    “The attack happened on Tuesday night; we are still working on the details,” Summonu said.

    The attack came after a long time of relative peace enjoyed across the state.

    Most people displaced by the insurgency had returned to their communities and engaged in agricultural activities to boost their resettlement and rehabilitation.

     

    Details later…