Boko Haram insurgents who have
annexed some towns and villages in Northern Senatorial zone of Adamawa
State have suffered set back as local hunters pounced on them killing
over 75 of the insurgents Local sources reveal.
The insurgents have recently been launching audacious attacks on the border towns of Michika and Madagali local government areas of the state as they sent thousands of residents packing and hoisted their flags as they took control of the areas.
Reports indicated that the insurgents met their waterloo when after they ran short of ammunitions following encounter with Nigerian troops and after series of aerial bombardment by the jet fighters.
It was gathered that as a result of the development, normalcy have started returning to Michika as Nigerian troops are gradually taking control of the annexed areas as the insurgents beat a retreat.
Security sources told this reporter that normalcy have started returning to the area as local hunters have dealt a serious blow to the
A resident of the town who simply identify himself Vandi said that the insurgents have been demystified when they run short as hunters capitalized on that to kill many of them.
“As I am speaking to you our youths and vigilante ambushed and killed over 75 insurgents today,” he said.
Also a local hunter who claims to be part of the operation said they killed many of the insurgents who beat a retreat to nearby villages as the insurgents flee to nearby villages.
‘Blame NSAs for growth of Boko Haram’
If some past national security advisers from the time of former president Olusegun Obasanjo till the late General Aziza had not dismissed security reports which alerted them to the existence of insurgents in the north, the ongoing terror attacks would have been nipped in the bud.
The controversial Australian negotiator, Dr Stephen Davis, who made this known in an interview granted TheCable, an online newspaper, also disclosed that the Central Bank had been a channel used by the sponsors of the Boko Haram terrorists to fund their activities.
According to him, his first involvement in the security challenges in the country was in 2004 when he was invited by the then president, Obasanjo, to intervene in the Niger Delta crisis.
“I specialise in negotiation. It may interest you to know that I have been involved in peace negotiations in Nigeria since 2004 when President Olusegun Obasanjo invited me to intervene in the Niger Delta crisis. With a local Nigerian colleague, I spoke with Asari Dokubo and took him to Obasanjo at the Presidential Villa in Abuja,” he said.
When he submitted a security report to Obasanjo over some young Moslem fundamentalists in the north who could be a threat to the security of the country, the security managers dismissed his claim, he stated.
“Because Asari is a Muslim, the Muslim boys in the north heard about me and warmed up to me. I did a report in 2005 on the threat of extremism among young northern Muslims. Obasanjo’s security chiefs dismissed the report with a wave of the hand. They said no such thing existed. In 2007, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who desired to end the militancy in the Niger Delta, invited me and made me presidential envoy.
“I toured all the northern states. I went to the country’s borders. I came back with a report that there were some budding sects in the north. The national security adviser (NSA) at the time, Gen. Sarki Mukhtar, dismissed the report. He said they didn’t exist. A succession of NSAs dismissed all these reports and allowed the groups to flourish.
“By the time President Goodluck Jonathan came to power in 2011, these groups had spread all over the north. They had cells and commanders in 16 out of the 19 northern states. President Jonathan called me and sought my opinion on the best way to tackle the militancy and bring it to an end. I knew many of the leaders. I spoke with them. They trusted me. They initially wanted to kill me. They thought I was an American but I told them I was not.”
When asked if the outlaw Boko Haram sect named their sources of funding, he said, it was the CBN that has been helping them through two of their top officials. One is out of the place while the other is still there, he said.
“They named the man who lives in Cairo. He is of the Kanuri tribe. He passes arms, ammunition and uniforms to them. The CBN official who handles the funding (name withheld by TheCable for legal reasons) is an uncle to three of those arrested in connection with the Nyanya bombings. The three boys lived with him.
“They were arrested by the SSS (Department of State Services) after the bombings but they are yet to be interrogated about their uncle. The official still works with the CBN. He is still there. He works in currency operations. He knows how to handle the transaction in a way that it can never be traced. Western countries are frustrated that they cannot trace the funding. How can they when it is passed on legally, through the gatekeeper, through the CBN?
“Also, a senior official of CBN, who recently left the bank, was very close to Sadiq Aminu Ogwuche, the mastermind of the Nyanya bombings who also schooled in Sudan. Ogwuche’s wife used to visit this official in his office at the headquarters in Abuja before the bombings. They were very close. Don’t forget that the CBN official who handles the transactions also used to report to his superior, the official who recently left the bank.”
But he disclosed a politician and others who could not be arrested now for political reasons.
“Also, there is a politician who was supplying operational vehicles for the suicide bombers. He gave them Hilux vans. He is a prominent politician. If the president goes after these guys, they will say it is political. That is part of the problem. Everybody will say the president is going after his political opponents, especially as there is a general election next year. The militants also named the former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff. In 2003 and 2007, Sheriff was very close to them. He used them for his elections. They worked for him.”
He reiterated his position that former governor of Borno State Sheriff and former chief of army staff were some of their supporters. He shed light on the relationship between Sheriff and the terrorists: “However, in 2007, the leader of the group, Muhammed Yusuf, collected money from Sheriff in return for support. Yusuf’s mentor, Ja’afar Mahmud Adam, exposed and criticised him for collecting money from Sheriff, and Yusuf ordered his killing in April 2007. But eventually, Yusuf and Sheriff fell out. However, it is acknowledged that Sheriff was and is a major financier of the group. He pays for young men to go for lesser hajj. From there they are recruited into the group. They interact freely with the Al-Shabbab militants from Somalia.
“They are trained by Al-Shabbab. Some of them go to Mali for training. These guys are in touch with the ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which now simply calls itself Islamic State and controls parts of Iraq). They are deadly. They share the same philosophy. The militant commanders I spoke with also named a former army chief as one of their sponsors. You have senior military officers who are benefiting from the insurgency because of the security budget. It pays them to keep the insurgency going so that they can continue to make money. I asked them several times who the army chief was and they told me it is…”
NOA urges united support
The director-general of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr Mike Omeri, has called on all Nigerians to be united in the fight against insurgency.
Omeri, who made the call while receiving the president of the Market Women Association of Nigeria, Mrs Felicia Sani, and leadership of market associations from across the country in his office in Abuja, said unity was necessary for peaceful growth and development of the country.
He said the cardinal mandate of the agency was to mobilize support for the security forces, especially the armed forces, in the campaign against insurgency in the country.
According to him, the agency is encouraged by the new outpouring of show of solidarity by Nigerians for the soldiers involved in the military effort to end insurgency and instability in some parts of the country.
I did not relocate to Yola – Emir of Mubi
Meanwhile, the Emir of Mubi, HRH Alh Abubakar Isa Ahmadu, has debunked media reports which indicated that he fled his kingdom for fear of being attacked by Boko Haram insurgents.
The royal father debunked insinuations that he abandoned his people and relocated to Yola, adding that an Emir can never abandon his people in times of distress let alone relocate to Yola for fear of Boko Haram insurgents.
The Emir, who spoke through one of the kingmakers “Danruwatan Mubi” Chief John Babani Elias, said that the reason behind his visit to Yola was for official reasons as he was the Amirul Hajj of the state.
Elias said that the Emir was in Yola for a meeting of members of the delegation as the Amirul Hajj for the 2014 Haji operation for Adamawa State to make adequate preparation for the pilgrims.
“Let me put the record straight here that the Emir did not leave Mubi for Yola as an escape from the insurgents but rather for a meeting with members of the 2014 pilgrimages delegation committee which he is the leader, and he would return back to Mubi immediately the meeting is over.”
The royal father however cautioned rumour peddlers to desist from spreading information that has no source and creating panic among the people of Mubi.
He explained that there was no insurgent activities in Mubi and no Boko Haram casualty was recorded anywhere in Mubi North, Mubi South and Maiha local government areas of the state. As such, he said, the Emir need not panic let alone relocate to Yola.
According to him, the insurgents’ attack affected Michika and Madagali local government areas of the state. Security personnel are also doing their best to curb the activities of the insurgents in the affected local government areas, he stated.
Stephen Davis: Borno NBA suspends dissenting members, deny division
For rising against the leadership’s call for the prosecution of former chief of army staff Azubuike Ihejirika and ex-Borno State governor Ali Modu Sheriff over alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) yesterday slammed an indefinite suspension on 14 lawyers.
Last week, the chairman of the NBA, Maiduguri branch, Barrister Abdulwasiu Alfa, had led a small group of the association’s officials in granting a press conference during which he gave a 21-day ultimatum for the federal government to commence trial of the immediate past army chief and ex-governor Sheriff for being sponsors of Boko Haram as alleged by the controversial Australian national, Stephen Davis.
Days later, a splinter group of the lawyers’ union in Borno State led by one of association members, Barrister Audu Muhammed Hassan, came out in a separate press conference to question the decision of the union’s leader without calling the congress first.
The splinter group had described the action of the NBA executive as meddling in the politics of the state.
Rising from a meeting attended by 119 of its members yesterday, the state NBA executives resolved to suspend 14 of the members for what they termed as “gross misconduct and going against the bye-law” of the association to address a press conference under the name of the association to counter a position already taken by the union in the state.
The NBA congress said it had set up a special committee to investigate the14 members in order to ascertain what actually inspired their action.
“The 14 members have been suspended pending the determination of the committee set up to investigate their activities. All the 119 members of the conference are with us, that is to say, 90 per cent of the congress is with us, and I still stand by what I said because it is a reflection of the view of the members,” Alfa said.
The NBA chairman added that his action last week did not in any way negate the laws of the union because it was clearly spelt out that section C6 sub-section 3 gave him the powers as chairman to speak on behalf of the association.
The lawyers said the 14 suspended members’ case was even made worse by the point that the lawyer that spoke on behalf of them was an “infant lawyer” by the virtue of the fact that he was not yet qualified to speak officially for the association because “he was just three years old since he was called to the bar”.
“Even the person that addressed the press has only spent three years in the bar and is not qualified for any post in the association. It is only the chairman that has the mandate to address the press; what they did contravenes the law; they can only call for an emergency meeting,” he added.
“I want to assure members of the public that NBA Maiduguri branch is intact. We are never divided. Those that collected money and want to bring the association into disrepute have been sanctioned appropriately.
“The view expressed by them is not the view of NBA Maiduguri branch. The early statement made by the chairman is the valid statement of the chairman. There is no crack in NBA Maiduguri branch,” said Alfa.
The insurgents have recently been launching audacious attacks on the border towns of Michika and Madagali local government areas of the state as they sent thousands of residents packing and hoisted their flags as they took control of the areas.
Reports indicated that the insurgents met their waterloo when after they ran short of ammunitions following encounter with Nigerian troops and after series of aerial bombardment by the jet fighters.
It was gathered that as a result of the development, normalcy have started returning to Michika as Nigerian troops are gradually taking control of the annexed areas as the insurgents beat a retreat.
Security sources told this reporter that normalcy have started returning to the area as local hunters have dealt a serious blow to the
A resident of the town who simply identify himself Vandi said that the insurgents have been demystified when they run short as hunters capitalized on that to kill many of them.
“As I am speaking to you our youths and vigilante ambushed and killed over 75 insurgents today,” he said.
Also a local hunter who claims to be part of the operation said they killed many of the insurgents who beat a retreat to nearby villages as the insurgents flee to nearby villages.
‘Blame NSAs for growth of Boko Haram’
If some past national security advisers from the time of former president Olusegun Obasanjo till the late General Aziza had not dismissed security reports which alerted them to the existence of insurgents in the north, the ongoing terror attacks would have been nipped in the bud.
The controversial Australian negotiator, Dr Stephen Davis, who made this known in an interview granted TheCable, an online newspaper, also disclosed that the Central Bank had been a channel used by the sponsors of the Boko Haram terrorists to fund their activities.
According to him, his first involvement in the security challenges in the country was in 2004 when he was invited by the then president, Obasanjo, to intervene in the Niger Delta crisis.
“I specialise in negotiation. It may interest you to know that I have been involved in peace negotiations in Nigeria since 2004 when President Olusegun Obasanjo invited me to intervene in the Niger Delta crisis. With a local Nigerian colleague, I spoke with Asari Dokubo and took him to Obasanjo at the Presidential Villa in Abuja,” he said.
When he submitted a security report to Obasanjo over some young Moslem fundamentalists in the north who could be a threat to the security of the country, the security managers dismissed his claim, he stated.
“Because Asari is a Muslim, the Muslim boys in the north heard about me and warmed up to me. I did a report in 2005 on the threat of extremism among young northern Muslims. Obasanjo’s security chiefs dismissed the report with a wave of the hand. They said no such thing existed. In 2007, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who desired to end the militancy in the Niger Delta, invited me and made me presidential envoy.
“I toured all the northern states. I went to the country’s borders. I came back with a report that there were some budding sects in the north. The national security adviser (NSA) at the time, Gen. Sarki Mukhtar, dismissed the report. He said they didn’t exist. A succession of NSAs dismissed all these reports and allowed the groups to flourish.
“By the time President Goodluck Jonathan came to power in 2011, these groups had spread all over the north. They had cells and commanders in 16 out of the 19 northern states. President Jonathan called me and sought my opinion on the best way to tackle the militancy and bring it to an end. I knew many of the leaders. I spoke with them. They trusted me. They initially wanted to kill me. They thought I was an American but I told them I was not.”
When asked if the outlaw Boko Haram sect named their sources of funding, he said, it was the CBN that has been helping them through two of their top officials. One is out of the place while the other is still there, he said.
“They named the man who lives in Cairo. He is of the Kanuri tribe. He passes arms, ammunition and uniforms to them. The CBN official who handles the funding (name withheld by TheCable for legal reasons) is an uncle to three of those arrested in connection with the Nyanya bombings. The three boys lived with him.
“They were arrested by the SSS (Department of State Services) after the bombings but they are yet to be interrogated about their uncle. The official still works with the CBN. He is still there. He works in currency operations. He knows how to handle the transaction in a way that it can never be traced. Western countries are frustrated that they cannot trace the funding. How can they when it is passed on legally, through the gatekeeper, through the CBN?
“Also, a senior official of CBN, who recently left the bank, was very close to Sadiq Aminu Ogwuche, the mastermind of the Nyanya bombings who also schooled in Sudan. Ogwuche’s wife used to visit this official in his office at the headquarters in Abuja before the bombings. They were very close. Don’t forget that the CBN official who handles the transactions also used to report to his superior, the official who recently left the bank.”
But he disclosed a politician and others who could not be arrested now for political reasons.
“Also, there is a politician who was supplying operational vehicles for the suicide bombers. He gave them Hilux vans. He is a prominent politician. If the president goes after these guys, they will say it is political. That is part of the problem. Everybody will say the president is going after his political opponents, especially as there is a general election next year. The militants also named the former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff. In 2003 and 2007, Sheriff was very close to them. He used them for his elections. They worked for him.”
He reiterated his position that former governor of Borno State Sheriff and former chief of army staff were some of their supporters. He shed light on the relationship between Sheriff and the terrorists: “However, in 2007, the leader of the group, Muhammed Yusuf, collected money from Sheriff in return for support. Yusuf’s mentor, Ja’afar Mahmud Adam, exposed and criticised him for collecting money from Sheriff, and Yusuf ordered his killing in April 2007. But eventually, Yusuf and Sheriff fell out. However, it is acknowledged that Sheriff was and is a major financier of the group. He pays for young men to go for lesser hajj. From there they are recruited into the group. They interact freely with the Al-Shabbab militants from Somalia.
“They are trained by Al-Shabbab. Some of them go to Mali for training. These guys are in touch with the ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which now simply calls itself Islamic State and controls parts of Iraq). They are deadly. They share the same philosophy. The militant commanders I spoke with also named a former army chief as one of their sponsors. You have senior military officers who are benefiting from the insurgency because of the security budget. It pays them to keep the insurgency going so that they can continue to make money. I asked them several times who the army chief was and they told me it is…”
NOA urges united support
The director-general of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr Mike Omeri, has called on all Nigerians to be united in the fight against insurgency.
Omeri, who made the call while receiving the president of the Market Women Association of Nigeria, Mrs Felicia Sani, and leadership of market associations from across the country in his office in Abuja, said unity was necessary for peaceful growth and development of the country.
He said the cardinal mandate of the agency was to mobilize support for the security forces, especially the armed forces, in the campaign against insurgency in the country.
According to him, the agency is encouraged by the new outpouring of show of solidarity by Nigerians for the soldiers involved in the military effort to end insurgency and instability in some parts of the country.
I did not relocate to Yola – Emir of Mubi
Meanwhile, the Emir of Mubi, HRH Alh Abubakar Isa Ahmadu, has debunked media reports which indicated that he fled his kingdom for fear of being attacked by Boko Haram insurgents.
The royal father debunked insinuations that he abandoned his people and relocated to Yola, adding that an Emir can never abandon his people in times of distress let alone relocate to Yola for fear of Boko Haram insurgents.
The Emir, who spoke through one of the kingmakers “Danruwatan Mubi” Chief John Babani Elias, said that the reason behind his visit to Yola was for official reasons as he was the Amirul Hajj of the state.
Elias said that the Emir was in Yola for a meeting of members of the delegation as the Amirul Hajj for the 2014 Haji operation for Adamawa State to make adequate preparation for the pilgrims.
“Let me put the record straight here that the Emir did not leave Mubi for Yola as an escape from the insurgents but rather for a meeting with members of the 2014 pilgrimages delegation committee which he is the leader, and he would return back to Mubi immediately the meeting is over.”
The royal father however cautioned rumour peddlers to desist from spreading information that has no source and creating panic among the people of Mubi.
He explained that there was no insurgent activities in Mubi and no Boko Haram casualty was recorded anywhere in Mubi North, Mubi South and Maiha local government areas of the state. As such, he said, the Emir need not panic let alone relocate to Yola.
According to him, the insurgents’ attack affected Michika and Madagali local government areas of the state. Security personnel are also doing their best to curb the activities of the insurgents in the affected local government areas, he stated.
Stephen Davis: Borno NBA suspends dissenting members, deny division
For rising against the leadership’s call for the prosecution of former chief of army staff Azubuike Ihejirika and ex-Borno State governor Ali Modu Sheriff over alleged sponsorship of Boko Haram, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) yesterday slammed an indefinite suspension on 14 lawyers.
Last week, the chairman of the NBA, Maiduguri branch, Barrister Abdulwasiu Alfa, had led a small group of the association’s officials in granting a press conference during which he gave a 21-day ultimatum for the federal government to commence trial of the immediate past army chief and ex-governor Sheriff for being sponsors of Boko Haram as alleged by the controversial Australian national, Stephen Davis.
Days later, a splinter group of the lawyers’ union in Borno State led by one of association members, Barrister Audu Muhammed Hassan, came out in a separate press conference to question the decision of the union’s leader without calling the congress first.
The splinter group had described the action of the NBA executive as meddling in the politics of the state.
Rising from a meeting attended by 119 of its members yesterday, the state NBA executives resolved to suspend 14 of the members for what they termed as “gross misconduct and going against the bye-law” of the association to address a press conference under the name of the association to counter a position already taken by the union in the state.
The NBA congress said it had set up a special committee to investigate the14 members in order to ascertain what actually inspired their action.
“The 14 members have been suspended pending the determination of the committee set up to investigate their activities. All the 119 members of the conference are with us, that is to say, 90 per cent of the congress is with us, and I still stand by what I said because it is a reflection of the view of the members,” Alfa said.
The NBA chairman added that his action last week did not in any way negate the laws of the union because it was clearly spelt out that section C6 sub-section 3 gave him the powers as chairman to speak on behalf of the association.
The lawyers said the 14 suspended members’ case was even made worse by the point that the lawyer that spoke on behalf of them was an “infant lawyer” by the virtue of the fact that he was not yet qualified to speak officially for the association because “he was just three years old since he was called to the bar”.
“Even the person that addressed the press has only spent three years in the bar and is not qualified for any post in the association. It is only the chairman that has the mandate to address the press; what they did contravenes the law; they can only call for an emergency meeting,” he added.
“I want to assure members of the public that NBA Maiduguri branch is intact. We are never divided. Those that collected money and want to bring the association into disrepute have been sanctioned appropriately.
“The view expressed by them is not the view of NBA Maiduguri branch. The early statement made by the chairman is the valid statement of the chairman. There is no crack in NBA Maiduguri branch,” said Alfa.
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