Friday 4 October 2013

HOME OF LIVESCORE S

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Military kills scores in Boko Haram 
Yobe air raid

Military kills scores in Boko Haram Yobe air raid

Scores of suspected Islamic militants have been killed in Yobe State in air raids on a suspected terrorist camp.
The air raids were launched following the killing of 41 students and a lecturer of the School of Agriculture, Gujba.
The spokesman of the 3 Division Special Operation, Damaturu, Capt. Lazarus Eli, yesterday confirmed Mondays aerial bombardments in Majari forest.
Capt. Eli said 15 people, who were arrested in various locations in Gujba during the raids, were being interrogated.
The spokesman said the military was considering new strategies to confront the insurgency, led by the Boko Haram, which wants to abolish Western education and install an Islamic state in the North.
He said: “We have arrested 15 suspects in connection with the last attack on the school in Gujba. Most of the suspects were arrested at different locations in Gujba Local Government Area. Some were even arrested outside Gujba, but those locations cannot be disclosed because we are still trailing some of the insurgents in those areas.
“We also carried out heavy air raids where many of the insurgents were killed. The air raid was carried out the day after the attack. We have also strengthened patrols on the Maiduguri/Damaturu highway to ensure the safety of travellers on the roads.
“We are evolving strategies to ensure that schools in the state are safe for learning.”
The Amnesty International yesterday said about 70 teachers and 80 have been killed by Boko Haram in the last one year.
It also said 50 schools were burnt and over 60 forced to shut down.
The AI, in a new report on attacks on schools in the North between last year and today, claimed that school enrolment and attendance had dropped drastically in the Northeast.
In the report, which was released by Amnesty International’s Deputy Africa Director, Lucy Freeman, the group alleged that no one had been arrested or prosecuted by the authorities over the attacks.
The report said between July and September 2013, up to 80 school children and students were reportedly killed by unknown gunmen in two separate attacks in Yobe State.
It claimed that on July 6, 30 people, including at least 25 school children, were killed in their dormitories in Mamudo, Yobe State.
The report read: “Hundreds have been killed in these horrific attacks. Thousands of children have been forced out of schools across communities in Northern Nigeria and many teachers have been forced to flee for their safety.
“Attacks against school children, teachers and school buildings demonstrate an absolute disregard for the right to life and the right to education.
“According to the report on Education under attack in Nigeria, this year alone, at least 70 teachers and scores of pupils have been slaughtered and many others wounded. Some 50 schools have been burnt or seriously damaged and over 60 others have been forced to close.
“The Islamist group, commonly known as Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for many, but not all, of the attacks.
“Between 2010 and 2011, attacks were mostly carried out when schools were empty. However, since the beginning of 2013, they appear to have become more targeted and brutal. They frequently happen when schools are occupied and, according to reports received by Amnesty International, teachers and pupils are now being directly targeted and killed.”

Thursday 3 October 2013

Boko Haram: Fighter jets deployed in Yobe
Boko Haram: Fighter jets deployed in Yobe
Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade

Boko Haram: Fighter jets deployed in Yobe

Fighter jets have been deployed in Yobe State as part of the crackdown on Boko Haram insurgents who killed 41 students at the College of Agriculture in Gujba.
The Federal Government has also ordered the military, the police and other security agencies to protect all schools in the state.
There are indications that the state government may not close schools following the killings.
The Defence Headquarters has directed the Air Force and the Artillery Unit of the Army to join forces with the infantry troops, The Nation learnt.
For the third day running, the troops have engaged Boko Haram members in a battle in the forests between Yobe and Borno states, a source said.
The source, who pleaded not to be named, said: Air raid is a vital component of our manhunt for insurgents still lurking in some forests in this axis.
“And with the backing of the Artillery Unit, heavy bombardment has been going on in these forests in the last three days.
“So far, we have been able to dislodge the camps of the insurgents, most of which were just being established along the Borno-Yobe axis.”
The directive to protect schools covers day and boarding schools.
It was gathered that both the Federal and Yobe State governments believe that closing schools will amount to bowing to the wish of the insurgents to stop any form of Western education in the Northeast.
A government source said: “There are some suggestions that the schools should be closed in the state again, but we are not thinking along this line because this might be a defeatist approach. We know that parents and children may be disillusioned but we cannot give up to insurgency.
“We are, however, waiting for a comprehensive security plan from the military and other security agencies on how to provide adequate security in all schools.
“What we have done is to put all communities on the alert to notify the military and security agencies of any suspicious movement.
“The encouragement the state government is getting from all citizens of the state borders on the need to cooperate and resist the insurgents.”
Defence spokesman Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said: “We have a mandate from the Federal Government to protect all schools in Yobe State.
“We have mapped out plans to secure the schools and prevent a repeat of this dastardly act.”
On the combing of forests for insurgents, Gen. Olukolade said: “The operation is still on; we will let the public know accordingly.”

Saturday 7 September 2013


PDP crisis: Jonathan tells elders to shun Obasanjo
PDP crisis: Jonathan tells elders to shun Obasanjo

PDP crisis: Jonathan tells elders to shun Obasanjo

Even before it got off the drawing board, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s plan to lead the peace moves in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has collapsed.
The meeting of elders to resolve the party’s crises was slated for today in Abuja.
It was “technically” called off last night at the Presidency’s prompting, The Nation learnt.
President Goodluck Jonathan, it was said, advised the elders to shun the meeting, following intelligence reports that Obasanjo was behind the crises.
The former President could not be reached last night.
Among the elders expected at the meeting are former chairmen and notable leaders.
A pre-meeting session of some governors at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge went on for hours last night.
It was not clear what was discussed, but the news about the Obasanjo mission may have been broken.
“All was well, until this evening when we learnt the President was opposed to Obasanjo presiding at the meeting,” a source said, adding: “He believes that Obasanjo is the architect of the crises; he shouldn’t be called to settle it and be seen as a peacemaker.”
The meeting slated for next Tuesday will hold. President Jonathan will preside.
Brickbats continued to fly yesterday amid shaky efforts to rescue the PDP.
A group loyal to President Jonathan also accused Obasanjo of being the architect of the crises. He should call his associates in the Kawu Baraje faction of the party to order, the Media Network for Transformation (MNT) said.
The group said Obasanjo could not continue to be the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob at the same time.
In a statement in Abuja, signed by its Coordinator, Mr. Goodluck Ebelo, the MNT urged Obasanjo to either renounce his associates in the New PDP or be treated like those rated as rebels by the party.
The group said “no arbiter, who is the guiding light of the rebels can make peace”.
To the President’s camp, Obasanjo is the unseen hand pulling the string of crises in the ruling party. There is suspicion in the Presidency over his peace mission.
Some governors were meeting last night at the Rivers Governor’s Lodge in Abuja ahead of today’s meeting.
National Chairman Bamanga Tukur yesterday described members of the Kawu Baraje faction as “prodigal sons” who would be accepted back into the fold, if they retraced their steps.
But the Baraje faction told Tukur that his “time is up”.
The statement said: “We call on former President Olusegun Obasanjo to call his associates to order. Apart from being their sponsor, the rebel governors draw their inspiration from him.
“Apart from numerous clandestine meetings, former President Obasanjo started his public romance with the rebel flank when he became unavoidably absent at this year’s Democracy Day celebration in Abuja, but vigorously participated in the day’s activities in Dutse, Jigawa State. That was followed by the rebel governors’ visit to his Abeokuta home.
“Then came last Saturday, and Chief Obasanjo’s mischief literarily flew over the Eagle Square venue of the Special Convention. Unavoidably absent, again, he was to turn up the next day in church, at the Presidential Villa, made a few platitudinous remarks on the need for a peaceful resolution of the crisis and thereafter called a meeting . His meeting failed and will continue to fail.
“Obasanjo cannot continue to be hands of Esau and the voice of Jacob at the same time. No arbiter, who is the guiding light of the rebels, can make peace. Peace, in this matter, will continue to elude President Obasanjo because his activities are the very antithesis of the conditions precedent to peace.”
The group said it suspected that Obasanjo cannot resolve the crisis in the party with alleged partisan interest.
The statement added: “Unfortunately, his eight years in office provides no road map to resolving a political dispute. All that can be gleaned from the debris of his time in power are abuse of institutions of State in shutting down dissent, hounding political opponents into prison and forcing a party chairman to resign …. Little wonder that such baleful legacy dogs his attempt at making peace.
“President Obasanjo has to come out publicly to renounce his ties with the seven governors who are trying to impose their will on the remaining 29 states and the Federal Capital Territory or acknowledge them and be treated like them.”
President Jonathan is yet to speak on his political future, but MNT said he is free to run again. It said: “The governors are welcome to contest the PDP primaries, individually or present a candidate. That’s democracy. But for persons, who themselves, stood for elections for their second terms to demand that Mr. President cannot avail himself such amenity is not only rude but feudal.”
Obasanjo’s media aide Vitalis Ortese declined to comment on the statement credited to the group last night.
“I cannot speak on what a faceless group is saying”, he told our reporter on the telephone.


 Rivers political crisis: Amaechi, CP Mbu’s face-off deepens  

Rivers political crisis: Amaechi, CP Mbu’s face-off deepens
Amaechi

Rivers political crisis: Amaechi, CP Mbu’s face-off deepens

The face-off between Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, and the Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, deepened yesterday after the governor accused Mbu of putting up lame and unsatisfactory argument about Thursday’s sudden redeployment of his (governor’s) Escort Commander.
The governor, who spoke through his Commissioner for Information and Communications, Ibim Semenitari, described Mbu’s excuse as an after-thought.
However, the police commissioner, responding through the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Angela Agabe, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), insisted that the escort commander’s redeployment was ordered by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar.
The CP said he is simply a professional police officer and not a politician.
Amaechi and Mbu have been at loggerheads since February this year when the governor asked for the CP’s immediate redeployment, which he described as the only condition for peace in the Niger Delta state.
He accused Mbu of taking sides in the state’s political crisis.
On Thursday, Amaechi said that Mbu redeployed the escort commander because he refused his (Mbu’s) directive to furnish him with prior information on the governor’s movement.
The NGF chairman noted that the escort commander was not in charge of his protocol and would not have prior knowledge of his movement, especially in the prevailing circumstances regarding security in the state.
The governor pointed out that after redeploying the escort commander, Mbu also requested the Camp Commandant of Government House, Port Harcourt, to give him prior briefing of his daily movement, which he said in practice, would be difficult to comply with, unless the camp commandant gets prior knowledge of his movement. This the CP denied.
Irked by Mbu’s defence, Amaechi, through his information commissioner, said in Port Harcourt yesterday that the excuse now given by Mr. Mbu was not “the reason given, when both the Escort Commander and the Camp Commandant were invited to the Police Headquarters (in Port Harcourt).
“This excuse was also not offered when the governor personally called Mr. Mbu to complain about the removal of his escort commander.
“Matters of personal security of government functionaries and especially top officials like the governor of the state are discussed and agreed with these officials.
“Even if for the purpose of argument, it is indeed factual that the IGP ordered the redeployment of Governor Amaechi’s Escort Commander, wouldn’t the courteous thing be for the Commissioner of Police and the police high command to inform and explain this to Governor Amaechi?
“On matters of his personal security, a governor reserves the right to reject or accept security details, as he may be comfortable with. The Rivers State Government, therefore, is reluctant to accept what it considers a lame and unsatisfactory argument by the Rivers State Police Command.”
On September 2, the Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to the Rivers State Governor, Debeware Semeikumo, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), was declared a deserter by Mbu, over the July 9 fracas in the state’s House of Assembly and also removed him (Semeikumo) as the ADC to Amaechi.
Semenitari described the CP’s action as another mischief, stating that the Rivers police command was aware that Semeikumo sustained injuries and had been away for better medical treatment.
The Rivers police commissioner maintained that the ADC to Rivers governor was declared a deserter, following his alleged failure to honour all lawful directives to see him and the IGP since July 10, 2013.
Mbu said: “The decision to declare Semeikumo a deserter followed Section 398 (1) of the Police Act and the Regulation Cap 359 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990.
“The whereabouts of Semeikumo remain unknown to the police. IGP Abubakar has approved his declaration as a deserter.”

Wednesday 28 August 2013

Suntai may arrive Jalingo today


Taraba State Governor Danbaba Sunatai
Governor Danbaba Sunatai of Taraba State will on Sunday (today) arrive Jalingo, approximately 10 months after he was flown abroad for treatment following an air crash involving his private jet in Yola.
Sources close to the governor told our correspondent that Suntai arrived London from New York on Saturday. He was scheduled to leave London for Jalingo on Saturday night or early hours of Sunday.
Suntai reportedly left New York for London on a chartered flight on Saturday due to the lack of seats on commercial flights.
Our source, however, declined to name the flight, airport and time of departure from London as well as the time of arrival in Jalingo, but said the  governor’s wife, Hauwa, had left for home to prepare ahead for the arrival of her husband.
The governor’s wife had in a telephone interview on August 20, said that her husband was expected to depart the Sea View Hospital Rehabilitation Centre and Home, New York, on August 25.
Suntai spent four months at the rehabilitation centre after spending about six months in a German hospital.
Barely 48 hours after he was transferred to the National Hospital, Abuja, following injuries sustained in the plane crash, the Taraba governor was flown to Germany for medical treatment.
Suntai was the pilot of his jet Cessna 208, 5N-BMJ Jet that crashed in Yola, Adamawa State on October 25, 2012.
He was taken to an Abuja hospital around 10:57am on October 26, 2012, in a state ambulance. He was reported to have been in coma when he was flown out of the country. The governor, his aide-de-camp and chief security officer were all onboard the crashed plane.
Suntai, who graduated as a pilot from the Aviation College in Zaria last year, flew the crashed plane. That was the second time he survived a plane crash.

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Monday 29 July 2013

Boko Haram kills 20

Boko Haram kills

Suspected Boko Haram members at the weekend shot dead more than 20 civilians in northern Borno State, a military spokesman said yesterday.
“The suspected sect members came armed and fired sporadic shots that killed over 20 innocent civilians,” Lt. Haruna Mohammed Sani, spokesman for the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) said.
The violence took place on Saturday in Dawashe village, the army lieutenant said in a statement.
He said men from the Civilian Joint Task Force, a vigilance group formed in Boko Haram’s bastion Maiduguri, to combat the Islamist gunmen who have been terrorising the region for many years, entered Dawashe to search for suspects.
The suspected Boko Haram members subsequently opened fire in the village, the spokesman said, adding that the 20 victims were mostly fishermen and traders.
Sani said a dozen other civilians sustained gunshot wounds during the incident but provided no information on casualties among the belligerents.
The toll and circumstances of the incident could not be immediately verified independently.
Among those killed were five members of the “Civilian JTF” who were on a manhunt for Boko Haram in Mainok town, 58km west of Maiduguri.
The attack on the “Civilian JTF” was the first since the group took courage to hunt down Boko Haram in the state in the last two months.
It was also confirmed that a heavily armed Quick Reaction Squad from MNJTF had been deployed to ensure the safety of lives and property in the area.
Dawashi, Daban-Masara and Malan karanti villages are believed to be the stronghold of the insurgent.
The MNJTF said: “As part of the excellent Civil-Military Relations and humanitarian gesture demonstrated by Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), a dozen of Boko Haram victims affected by the attack in Dawashe District of Kukawa Local Government, got medical treatment in the Headquarters Field Ambulance in Baga town”.
Some members of the “Civilian JTF” also confirmed to reporters in Maiduguri that five of their members who were killed are from Ajilari, Ngomari Airport and Bulumkutu Ward of Maiduguri Metropolitan.
A member, Aliko Musa said: “it was a huge loss to us, some of our brave colleagues were killed yesterday by the outlawed Boko Haram; they paid the supreme price when we visited Mainok village in search of the terrorists but we shall not relent”, he added.
Spokesman for the JTF, Lt Col Sagir Musa however denied the figure even as he confirmed the Mainok attack. According to him, only one of the Youth Volunteers died while another sustained injuries.
The MNJTF, a joint military force set up in 1998 to combat border crimes, consists of troops from Nigeria, Chad and Niger.

UK £3,000 visa bond to begin in Novemer
UK £3,000 visa bond to begin in November

UK £3,000 visa bond to begin in November

Despite British Prime Minister David Cameron’s assurance that he will not sanction the controversial 3000 pounds visa bond, his government last weekend insisted it would begin the trial this November. The visa is to restrict some visitors from India, Nigeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
They will have to pay the cash bond in return for visitor visas that allow them to stay in the UK for up to six months.
At the height of the controversy, David Cameron’s administration assured that he would not sanction the policy. But last weekend, FT said: “Britain is pressing ahead with its trial of a scheme to make visitors from six countries pay a £3,000 bond, despite an international backlash and complaints from businesses. The government said it would begin a pilot in November to impose visa restrictions on six Commonwealth nations, including India and Nigeria, even though David Cameron poured cold water on the scheme in June after it provoked uproar in Delhi.”
“The Prime Minister has not cleared this policy. He doesn’t want to do anything that cuts across the message he took to India,” an ally of Mr. Cameron had told The Financial Times at the time.
The British government has reportedly decided to go ahead with it though the Home Office insisted that it was meant to target only “high-risk” applicants.
An official told media that the scheme would be “highly selective”, targeting only “suspicious” applicants.
Under a “pilot” scheme, to be introduced in November, first-time visitors from six non-white Commonwealth countries, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, will be required to deposit a cash bond of £3,000 for a British visa. It will apply only to those seeking a six-month visitors’ visa.
According to the government, these six countries pose the “most significant risk of abuse’’ of visas by their citizens.
“In the long run, we are interested in a system of bonds that deters overstaying and recovers costs if a foreign national has used our public services,” the Home Office said.
The move comes barely weeks after Mr. Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg were reported to have refused to clear the scheme in its present form, fearing that the backlash in India and Nigeria threatened to damage bilateral relations at a time when Britain is desperately trying to woo Indian investors and tourists.
Cameron was reported as saying that he would “not sanction’’ any policy that was likely to undermine his push for investment.
The Financial Times said that the u-turn had provoked anger in Britain’s business circles, who described the plan as an “insulting deterrent” to wealthy tourists from countries like India and Nigeria.
“They are urging the government to drop the pilot, saying the restrictions will damage their business if Commonwealth tourists, particularly Nigerians, now the sixth biggest spenders on luxury goods in Britain, are put off,” it said.