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Tag: boko haram

  • Boko Haram releases video, threatens to behead Cameroonian President, Biya

    The deadly terrorist group, Boko Haram has released a new video threatening to cause mayhem and behead Cameroonian President Paul Biya.

    “I would behead you Paul Biya, it’s me that would behead you with the left hand, be ready,” a Boko Haram commander said in French displaying Biya’s picture in a news magazine.

    The man later drops the magazine and crushes Biya’s face with his leg, saying “I would behead you, imbecile, sluggard!”.

    He said he would decapitate Biya with the left hand, and called him a bigger Christian.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Biya is a catholic who regularly attends church service in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.

    The terrorist warns residents of other parts of Cameroon that the Boko Haram members were on their way to invade the country.

    He warned residents of Maroua, Cameroon’s far north capital, and those in the northern region capital of Garoua, and Ngaoundere that fighters were coming.

    Shooting could be heard in the background of the 6-minute clip.

    The Boko Haram commander shows shoes, helmets and other military items he claimed belonged to Cameroonian soldiers.

    “These are their shoes they left behind, these are their helmets they left behind, these are their mats for prayers they left behind.


    “We are ready to arrive. We are on our way to Maroua, Garoua and Ngaoundere,” he said, naming three capital in northern Cameroon.

    “We are on our way to Ebolowa, Yaounde, we will arrive in God’s name,” he added, mentioning the capital of President Paul Biya’s region in the South and the country’s capital itself in Yaounde.

    The man displayed identity cards belonging to Cameroonian citizens.

    One of the identity cards he placed closer to the camera, in his words, belongs to the minister of defence.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that no fewer than 150 Cameroonian soldiers and policemen have been killed by Boko Haram while over 2000 civilians have lost their lives since 2014 in several attacks, including suicide bombings.

    In Nigeria, more than 30,000 people have been murdered by members of Boko Haram and over 2million civilians in Northeastern region displaced.

     

  • How Top Boko Haram leader surrendered to Army

    The Nigerian Army has confirmed that a high ranking member of the Boko Haram terrorist group, Mr Bulama Kailani Mohammed Metele surrendered to 145 Task Force Battalion, 5 Brigade troops at Damasak.

    Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, Army spokesman made this known in a statement on Saturday in Maiduguri.

    Usman said that Metele, from Tumbun Bera in Borno, belonged to Mamman Nur’s faction of the terrorists group under the leadership of Abu Mustapha.

    He said that Metele was of serial number 253 on the Nigerian Army’s wanted Boko Haram terrorists poster produced recently.

    “He is currently undergoing further interrogation,’’ he said.

    Meanwhile, Usman said that two suspected Boko Haram terrorists carrying out surveillance on Kareto and Dangalti villages had been arrested by troops of 158 Task Force Battalion of 5 Brigade based on information.

    According to him, preliminary investigation shows that they are on reconnaissance mission to facilitate possible attack on the communities.

  • Army, DSS arrest 3 suspected foreign Boko Haram members

    Army, DSS arrest 3 suspected foreign Boko Haram members

     

    The Nigerian Army in conjunction with the Department of State Service (DSS) has arrested three Chadians in Gome State, suspected to belong to the Albarnawi faction of the Boko Haram terrorists group.

    Army spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, said in a statement that the suspects were arrested on Sunday after a painstaking tracking.

    Usman identified them as Bilal Muhammed Umar, Bashir Muhammed and Muhammed Maigari Abubakar, adding that they were arrested at Arawa and Mallam Inna areas of Gombe.

    “They were reported to be members of Albarnawi faction of the Boko Haram that operates in Chad and mostly northern part of Borno but came to Gombe State for another heinous assignment.

    “During the operation, one of them, Bilal Muhammed Umar attempted to escape and was shot in the leg. He was, however, apprehended and is receiving medical treatment,” he said.

    He said the the terrorists were arrested with Improvised Explosive Device (IED) materials that they could have put together to attack parts of the state.

    “The suspects are in custody undergoing preliminary investigation,” Usman added.

     

  • Recent Boko Haram attacks, confirms AI’s support for dissident elements – CSO

    Recent Boko Haram attacks, confirms AI’s support for dissident elements – CSO

    A Human rights advocacy group, the Africa Arise for Change Network has said the recent report by Amnesty International which claimed that Nigerian security operatives are engaged in extra judicial killings has emboldened the Boko Haram terrorists

    Addressing a press conference in Abuja, Executive Director of the group, Okoli Stella Esq, said Amnesty International should be held responsible for any further unrest in the country.

    She said the organisation’s attempt to blackmail the Nigerian security agencies has further incite citizens against the state

    She said it is not surprising that an already defeated Boko Haram terrorists have resurfaced and escalated its attack coinciding with the release of the amnesty report.

    She said, “The recent attacks being launched on military positions by Boko Haram vindicate our position as a civil society that Amnesty International is out to embolden terrorists to attack the Nigerian state and its citizenry.

    “what Nigeria requires at the moment is a permanent solution to the humanitarian crisis fueled by the likes of Amnesty International in the north east of the country.

    Nigerians will not hesitate to adopt home grown solutions to salvage the situation if the world chooses to believe a compromised entity like Amnesty International over brave people that toil and sacrifice daily to correct the mess created from abroad.”

    According to Stella, Amnesty reports attempts to protect violent groups like IMN, IPOB, MASSOB, Armed robbers as well as Boko Haram terrorists.

    She said the reports by AI are meant to incite the citizens against themselves in the hope that Nigeria can through this process become a failed state or a nation in intractable crisis.

    She said, “The world’s most deadly terrorist group that has displaced millions of people, killed several thousands and destroyed an entire region. These terrorists abduct and rape children who they then sell off as child-brides while converting the males into child-fighters.

    Since the fall of their last camp in Sambisa Forest they have turned ten year olds into suicide bombers and also force women with babies strapped on their backs to carry out suicide bombings.

    The group’s original goal was to deny all other Nigerians the right to freedom of religion through the forced implementation of Sharia across board. Amnesty International is campaigning for the killers in this group to be invited for talks over sumptuous lunch as pre-condition to issue a certificate that they have been treated humanely.

    “The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), a fanatical militarized Islamic group that the Kaduna state government had to outlaw after its violent confrontation with the military left several persons dead, also enjoys the patronage of Amnesty International.”

    She described officers and soldiers of the Nigerian military as true heroes, assuring that no amount of blackmail should deter them from saving the country from separatist and insurgents who thought Nigeria is a conquered territory.

  • Group worried over France role in combating Boko Haram

    A coalition of stakeholders committed to restoring peace in the north east under the aegis of Concerned Statesmen and Patriots In Nigeria (COSPIN) have expressed concern over what they described as the role of France in the activities of Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria.

    Addressing a press conference in Abuja, convener of the coalition,

    Professor Emmanuel Ome said the concern is neccessitated by the silence of French authority despite the arrest of its nationals during the raid on ground zero in Sambisa forest by the Nigerian Army.

    He said France also owes Nigeria and the world an explanation regarding the sighting of its aircrafts just across Nigeria’s borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger on numerous occasions by IDPs and victims of Boko Haram attacks.

    According to Ome, the Nigerian government must conduct further investigations into the roles being played by France and other countries in its internal affairs using Boko Haram as an occupation force with a view to fashioning corresponding diplomatic responses to these threats.

    He expressed surprise that despite the huge presence of French troops in neighbouring countries, Boko Haram terrorists have been receiving training as well as freely moving weapons across the borders of those countries which he said are mainly Francophone countries.

    He said, “The fact that Boko Haram fighters that are fleeing suddenly have access to superior firearms that are even more sophisticated than what they had before they were chased out of Sambisa Forest. Who is supplying these weapons? How are these weapons being shipped? Why are the neighbouring countries to Nigeria’s north-east, all Francophone, not been able to flag deliveries of weapons to the terrorists?

    “Why has France not come out to declare its position on the several fighters of French origin that were apprehended with Boko Haram fighters in Sambisa Forest?

    The fact that these terrorists’ instructors were declared as French nationals should have provoked diplomatic fallout but France maintained a deafening silence in the matter.

    “French President François Hollande has hosted, or caused to be hosted, several summits on Boko Haram only for things to get worse. He would have to prove that these conferences are not the cover he uses to make our security and intelligence community to share sensitive operational information which he in turn hand over to the monsters that he bred.

    “The worrisome pattern that Boko Haram always kidnap expats of French origin each time it is broke and the government of their countries is always in a hurry to pay ransom in millions of dollars. This is nothing short of creating a legitimate front to pass money to Boko Haram in the public glare. Each time Boko Haram seals such transactions it is able to pay its fighters and buy new equipment.”

    Ome urged the United Nations to intervene and stop what he described as undue interference and sabotaging of Nigeria whether by France or by any other foreign interest.

    According to him, the damage done by the insurgency has unleashed unthinkable humanitarian crisis that is already a blot on the collective human conscience and the situation must not be made worse by this policy of foreign interference.

     

     

     

     

  • Boko Haram recruited over 2,000 child soldiers in 2016 – UN

     

    The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said the deadly terrorist group, Boko Haram recruited about 2,000 children in 2016 as child soldiers.

    This was revealed by UNICEF’s Executive Director, Anthony Lake during a meeting of global leaders in Paris, on the anniversary of the Paris Commitments to end the use of children in conflict.

    According to Lake, it was difficult to ascertain the number of children used and recruited, because of the unlawful nature of child recruitment.

    In Lake’s words: “For instance, since 2013 an estimated 17,000 children have been recruited in South Sudan and up to 10,000 have been recruited in the Central African Republic (CAR).

    “Similarly, nearly 2,000 children were recruited by Boko Haram, in Nigeria and neighbouring countries, last year alone, and there have been nearly 1,500 cases of child recruitment in Yemen since the conflict escalated in March 2015.

    “We cannot give up the fight to end child recruitment.”

    The Paris Agreement helps with the release of child soldiers and their reintegration.

    “There has also been progress: since it was adopted, the number of countries endorsing the Paris commitments has nearly doubled from 58 countries in 2007 to 105 at present, signalling an increasing global commitment to end the use of children in conflict.

    “Globally, more than 65,000 children have been released from armed forces and armed groups, including 20,000 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

    “Nearly 9,000 in the Central African Republic; and over 1,600 children in Chad. But more needs to be done,” the UNICEF chief said.

    “It is also calling for increased resources to help reintegrate and educate children who have been released, and urgent action to protect internally displaced children, child refugees and migrants.

    As long as children are still affected by the fighting, we cannot give up the fight for the children,” Lake added.

     

     

  • UN condemns Boko Haram attacks in Borno

    The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) has condemned the attacks on Maiduguri by suspected female suicide bombers on Thursday night and Friday in which at least eight persons reportedly lost their lives.

    The Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Mr Farhan Haq, said the UN OCHA “is alarmed by the reported terrorist attacks on vulnerable displaced people in two locations in Maiduguri in north-eastern Nigeria that took place on Thursday.

    “While the number of dead and injured among civilians is not yet clear, Boko Haram reportedly launched a major attack using guns and explosives targeting the Custom House site that hosts more than 9,000 internally displaced people and the Muna Garage Park area where displaced people have gathered to return to their homes.

    “These are not the first attacks affecting the most vulnerable people in the area.

    “The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reminds all parties to the conflict in Nigeria to ensure the safety and security of all civilian populations as required under international humanitarian law and international human rights law”.

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said eight suspected female suicide bombers were involved in the attack on Maiduguri-Gamboru road, according to NEMA spokesman Sani Datti.

    Datti said that the suspected Boko Haram members, who came through Mafa- Dikwa road along Muna community on Thursday at around 11.00 p.m, attempted to attack Maiduguri.

    He said the suicide bombers came in a Volkswagen Golf car, carrying eight suicide bombers most of whom were female teenagers.

    According to him, a few bombers detonated their explosives around Muna Dalti community, injuring seven local vigilantes, known as ‘Civilian Joint Task Force’.

    Datti further said that some of the suicide bombers found their way to a place where people gathered with their trucks loaded with goods for onward movement to Mafa, Dikwa and Ngala local government areas of the state.

    He said that no fewer than 14 trucks were burnt by the bombers, adding that the injured had been taken to University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital for treatment.

    He said that only the suicide bombers were killed in the attacks.

  • Stop fueling Boko Haram for economic gains, group urges stakeholders

    Arewa Youth Leaders Forum has urged stakeholders in the north east who it accused of deliberately sabotaging the federal government’s efforts at restoring peace to the region for personal gains to desist from doing so in the interest of peace.

    Youth Forum urged the stakeholders to instead recommit themselves to the war against Boko Haram and terrorism. It said once the remnants of the Boko Haram fighters and intellectual wing no longer get financial and political lifelines from sympathizers and backers, the war will end once and for all.

    Addressing journalists National President of the youth group, Adamu Adamu said the military and the relevant security agencies should get the marching order to expand the scope of operations in the northeast to include the identification, investigation, arrest and prosecution of sponsors and beneficiaries of Boko Haram’s violent acts.

    He said the youths in the course of interaction with highly placed stakeholders have learnt that the people behind the attempts at resurgence by Boko Haram see themselves as protecting their economic interests.

    He said, “It however leaves us wondering if the embezzlement of money meant for IDPs camps or money for brokering negotiations with terrorists is worth killing other people for. This is utterly condemnable and Nigerians should unite in condemning it.

    “Equally condemnable are those that are exploiting terrorism to further their political interests. People must be made to realize that it is better to make themselves politically acceptable to the electorate as opposed to sponsoring killers to destabilize an entire regions and wantonly waste human life.”

    According to Adamu, the Federal Government must at this point take off the gloves and openly take on “these sponsors of terrorism since they have shown that they are not likely to voluntarily have a change of heart and allow the country live in peace.”

    He expressed joy that youths and non-governmental players have taken the initiative to win the peace in the region as evident in the recent North East Mega Rally for Peace.

  • Over 100,000 people killed, 2m displaced by Boko Haram crisis – Shettima

    Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State has said that the Boko Haram crisis in the North East has claimed over 100,000 lives and displaced two million others, mostly women and children.

    Shettima disclosed this in Abuja on Monday.

    According to the governor, “The Boko Haram insurgency has led to deaths of almost 100,000 persons going by the estimates of our community leaders over the years.

    “Two million, one hundred and fourteen thousand (2,114,000) persons have become internally displaced as at December 2016, with five hundred and thirty seven thousand, eight hundred and fifteen (537,815) in separate camps; 158,201 are at official camps that consists of six centres with two transit camps at muna and custom house both in Maiduguri.

    “There are 379,614 IDPS at 15 satellite camps comprising of Ngala, Monguno, Bama, Banki, Pulka, Gwoza, Sabon Gari and other locations in the state. 73,404 persons were forced to become refugees in neighbouring countries with Niger having 11,402 and Cameroon having 62,002. We have an official record of 52,311 orphans who are separated and unaccompanied. We have 54,911 widows who have lost their husbands to the insurgency and about 9,012 have returned back to various communities of Ngala, Monguno, Damboa,Gwoza and Dikwa.

    “Based on the post insurgency Recovery and Peace Building Assessment (RPBA) Report on the north-east which was jointly validated by the World Bank, the European Union, the presidency and the six states of the north-east, the Boko Haram has inflicted damages to the tune of 9 billion US dollars in the region.”

    He noted that “hundreds of well-known rich farmers and transporters, among many others of the mercantile class, have become thoroughly pauperised and rendered dependent on food aid”.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East has lingered for over

  • Modu Sheriff responsible for spread of Boko Haram in North East – Shettima

    Modu Sheriff responsible for spread of Boko Haram in North East – Shettima

    Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State has said his predecessor, Senator Ali Modu Sherriff contributed in no small measure to the spread of Boko Haram insurgency in the North East by refusing to settle the differences between the armed forces and members of Yusuffiya movement when it was a simple stage.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the governor’s reaction is coming at a time when his predecessor stated that under his leadership as governor of the state, no territory was under the siege of the terror group.

    Shettima spoke on Monday (today) while delivering a paper titled: “Managing the Boko Haram crisis in Borno state, experiences and lessons for a multi-party, multi ethnic and multi religious Nigeria,” at the annual lecture in honour of the late Head of State, Murtala Mohammed, in Abuja.

    The governor claimed that the failure of Sheriff to provide leadership in the state, led to the then Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf declaring a jihad that later spread through the North East region.

    Recalling that Yusuf was a constant critic of the Sheriff’s administration, Shettima said in July 2009, some armed security agencies clashed with members of the sect over the use of helmets and shot 17 of them and the then governor did nothing.

    According to Shettima, “The fact is that Sheriff allowed his ego to overcome his action and failed to settle the differences between armed forces and members of Yusuffiya movement at the time.

    “A governor should have at least visited victims of the shooting to lay foundation for peace and he should have set up a commission of inquiry just like what Governor El Rufai did in Kaduna recently.

    “He chose to mismanage the incident. He did not send anyone or settle the medical bill of anyone and he played into their hands. That gave Yusuf an opening to declare jihad.”