Friday, 19 September 2014

President Jacob Zuma

The South African Government has sent a team of search and rescue and body identification experts to Nigeria to assist in the search for South African victims of the church building collapse in Lagos.

A six-storey building owned by the Synagogue Church of All Nations had collapsed on Friday, trapping a large number of people.

As of Wednesday, no fewer than 131 victims had been rescued, while the National Emergency Management Agency announced that the death toll had risen to 80.

The South African Government had said on Tuesday that five different South African church tour groups, comprising about 300 people, were staying in the guest house when it collapsed.

An online news portal, IOL reported on Wednesday that many South Africans remain unaccounted for.

The South Africa High Commissioner to Nigeria, Lulu Mnguni, said it was difficult to identify the remains of South African victims.

Mnguni said the embassy had deployed some of its officials in the scene of the six- storey building that collapsed.

The High Commissioner, who said he was in Lagos to monitor the rescue efforts, told one of our correspondents on the telephone on Wednesday that many South African citizens were unaccounted for.

Mnguni said, “I have dispatched some officials to the scene to monitor and identify some of our citizens that were involved and I am waiting for their report, but you know that rescue efforts are ongoing, so we don’t know when the report would come in. We can’t give a final figure on casualty for now.”

He stated that 20 South Africans who were treated for varying degrees of injuries had been discharged, while some of them had gone back to South Africa.

He explained that the families of those that had yet to be accounted for are preparing to visit Nigeria where they would be taken to the morgue to identify their relations.

He said, “The church gave us a list of some of those affected by the collapse, but there were some gaps and so we got back to them and they have today (Wednesday) filled in the gaps.

“The families of those that were affected in the collapse are also making arrangements to come to Nigeria and they would be taken to the morgue to identify their relations.”

However, authorities at SCOAN declined to state the number of South Africans present when the building collapsed.

Church officials on Wednesday promised to make a statement later in the day, but had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

But a member of the church, who spoke to Reporters on condition of anonymity, said the authorities of the church were in possession of the identities of the people that were in the building before it collapsed.

She said, “The building that collapsed used to be a guest house. Apart from being expensive, it is usually reserved for foreigners. The church takes proper documentation of its foreign visitors. They even go as far as collecting their passports upon arrival and they are given tags. So the church has the records of the people that were in the building before it collapsed.”

Meanwhile, some of the survivors have landed at OR Tambo International Airport just after 5am on Wednesday, according to a South African news website, www.ewn.co.za.

Clad in purple T-shirts with the church slogan, one of the passengers on the early morning flight said he felt blessed to be able to come home after the tragedy.

Also, NEMA said apart from the woman that was rescued on Tuesday morning, no other person has been rescued alive.

NEMA spokesman, Ibrahim Farinloye, said the death toll had risen to 80, adding that efforts were still ongoing to recover as many bodies as possible.

He stated that the agency did not know the number of the South Africans present at the time the building collapsed.

Farinloye said, “We don’t have the details or identities of the victims. The church has not provided us with that. Our major focus now is on the emergency phase. After that, we will begin the process of identification and investigation.”

Lagos will not seal Synagogue yet ─ Commissioner

The Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olutoyin Ayinde, says there was no plan by the government to take over the site of the collapsed building owned by SCOAN.

The commissioner, who reiterated the position of the ministry that the six-floor building did not have building approval, said the state was still conducting a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the collapse.

Ayinde said, “The government does not arbitrarily take over property when investigation is still ongoing. The government is conducting a preliminary investigation into the causes of the collapse and if there is any violation of relevant planning law, residents are assured that government would take appropriate action.

“A team of engineers from the ministry and other state government agencies have taken samples from the scene for detailed analysis and testing to ascertain the structural integrity of the building.”

On the airplane that allegedly flew low over the building 50 minutes before the collapse, Ayinde said the government had submitted the video clips, as provided by the Church, to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority for professional comment.

SCOAN building documents buried under debris – LASBCA

The documents of the collapsed building belonging to the church are buried under debris of the collapse, Lagos State Government has said.

General Manager of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, Mrs. Abimbola Animashaun, on Wednesday, added that investigations were still ongoing despite the inability of the church to provide approval documents.

She said, “The documents, according to the church, are buried inside the building, so we are looking at our records to see if there was an approval.

“If they had the number of the approval document, then we can trace it. We are also trying to retrieve the document here since they said it is buried under the debris.”

Jonathan’s wife commiserates

Presedent Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Patience, has commiserated with families of the victims of the collapsed building at the Synagogue Church.

Spokesman for President’s wife, Ayo Adewuyi, in a statement on Wednesday said she was moved by the news that majority of those who died were women and children.

She expressed sadness over the incident and offered her condolences to the families of the victims and the General Overseer of the church, Pastor T.B. Joshua.

“As the mother of the nation, my thoughts are with you and the entire congregation at this time of your grief,” the statement read in part.

$9.3m scandal: S’Africa insists on criminal probe

CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

There are strong indications that efforts of the Federal Government to ensure amicable settlement of issues surrounding the $9.3m seized by South Africa have failed.

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority, in an email to our correspondent in Abuja on Thursday, said that the matter was still under criminal investigations.

There were reports on Wednesday that $9.3m, which was seized from two Nigerians and an Israeli in Johannesburg, was meant for procurement of arms for intelligence agencies in Nigeria.

It was also reported that the Federal Government was aware of the move to procure arms.

Newspapers had reported that the Federal Government had begun diplomatic talks with South Africa to ensure resolution of the issue.

Government agencies in Nigeria, such as Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, kept mum over the seized fund.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority had said that it did not take the issue of money laundering lightly.

But South Africa’s NPA’s spokesman, Nathi Mncube, in a response to an enquiry by our correspondent, said, “The matter is under criminal investigations by the Directorate of Priority Crimes of Investigations unit at South African Police Services.

“NPA does not comment on pending investigations and therefore cannot comment any other than providing the information contained in our media statement.”

The NPA, in a statement sent to our correspondent on Thursday, said that its asset forfeiture unit had obtained “an order in the North Gauteng High Court freezing a cash amount of US$9.34m (about R102m).”

According to the agency, the money is currently kept safe by the South African Reserve Bank

Giving an insight into the seizure, it said, “The cash consisted of 90 blocks of $100, 000 each and was found in two black plastic suitcases.”

The NPA stated that the order freezing the money was granted in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act which “provides that property that is used to commit a crime can be frozen while the NPA applies for a final order to forfeit the money to the state.”

It stated that the money was initially detained by the South African Revenue Service as it was not disclosed or declared at customs, and was above the prescribed legal limit for the amount of cash that could be brought into the country.

According to the statement, the NPA also submitted to the court that, although various explanations about the money were given to the investigating officer, these explanations were riddled with discrepancies.

The jet bearing the money, Bombardier Challenger 6000, was said to belong to the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.

Monday, 15 September 2014

Lagos directs schools to resume Sept 22

France warns of global IS threat

Boko Haram: Military steps up search for missing jet

A Nigerian Air Force Alpha jet on an operation against the militant Islamic sect, Boko Haram, has been declared missing.

The Director of Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, in an electronic mail on Sunday, said the jet, marked NAF 466, disappeared from the radar on Friday.

Olukolade explained that the plane with only two crew members on board “left Yola at about 10:45am on September12, 2014 on a routine operational mission and was expected back by 12 noon same day.

“Since then, all efforts to establish contact with the aircraft have not yielded any positive result.”

He however stated that search and rescue efforts were ongoing to establish contact with the crew

It was, however, gathered that the defence authorities had reached out to neighbouring countries like Cameroun, Niger and Chad, for any information that could lead to the whereabouts of the jet.

Reporters also learnt that the military had deployed some jets, including Mi35 helicopter gunships, in the route taken by the missing aircraft as part of the search.

But shortly after Olukolade broke the news, speculations rose that the jet might have either been hijacked or shot down by the insurgents who are believed to have anti-aircraft guns.

Some who believe that the jet was hijacked were quick to point to the collapse of a building belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ikotun, Lagos on Friday.

The Founder and General Overseer of the SCOAN, T. B. Joshua, had during a service on Sunday morning, claimed that Boko Haram attacked the six-storey building with a mysterious jet.

He buttresed his claim by showing his congregation, the chronology of events shortly before and after the attack as captured by CCTV.

Joshua said, “There was a jet hovering over the mountain where I had just left…They said it was hovering at a close range and before I knew it, I received a phone call that the same jet was hovering over the building, passing around the building four times at a very close range before it collapsed.”

An eyewitness told Reporters that she sighted a military jet at about 11.45 am around Egbeda in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State on Friday.

The witness said the plane flew so low and hovered around the area for a long time before it disappeared.

She said the aircraft was green in colour and was also sighted around Iyana Ipaja market at about 12 noon.

“We first thought the plane was about to crash because it was making so much noise and flying too low but later we concluded that since it was in military colour, it was probably on surveillance, knowing there are security challenges in the country,’’ she explained.

Reporters gathered from a top security source that the military leadership had also contacted hunters in Adamawa and Borno states, which were the two areas of operations covered by the fighter jet.

The source said, “Efforts are on to unravel the issue of the missing planes; you won’t expect the authorities to go to sleep over such sensitive issue.

“The Air Force has carried out such flights from Borno to Adamawa with the Alpha Jet and even helicopters, but has not found any wreckage.

“You know, in this kind of situation, there are other possibilities; the authorities contacted our neighbours in case they have any report of a crash somewhere.

“Efforts are also being made within the country to contact the locals, especially the hunters in the search for the plane.

“On the issue of the pilots, what I can say is that these are very experienced personnel of the Air Force.

“There is no doubt about their commitment and integrity; these people have been involved in this operation since the counter terrorism operation started.

“These are very good hands; in fact, they are authorities in the handling of this machine. So you don’t start to cast doubts on people because this has happened. It is a fact that these things happen from time to time.

“So nobody is even considering the possibility that the aircraft could have been flown away, that is no option.

“You know that the movement of a jet is very fast; it is not like a normal aircraft; the Adamawa, Borno axis would not take the crew a long time to cover; you can take a look at the time of its deployment and the time it was expected back to base which was one hour thirty minutes.

“Efforts are on to locate it. But that is not to say that the Air Force would not respond if a need for air support operation comes up now…

“In the Air Force, there are so many people who are good; nobody is indispensable; If there is any need for the services of the Air Force, the response will come.”

But the Aviation authorities said in Abuja that they were not aware that any aircraft hovered around Egbeda before the collapse of the SCOAN six storey building.

The Coordinating General Manager (Public Affairs) of Aviation parastatals, Mr. Yakubu Dati, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday, said, “I am not aware of the aircraft. Each aircraft is run by an operator. If anyone has information on the operator, they should mention it. It is from there that we can take it up.”

A senior military officer who confided in our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said that all NAF helicopters were painted in military colour and were easily identifiable.

The source said that no air force helicopter was in operation in the Lagos axis on Friday when the building collapsed.

The source wondered how a building could collapse if a helicopter hovered above or around it.

He said, “All our helicopters are painted in our colours; by the way we don’t have any helicopter in operation in Lagos. I think the man (Joshua) should stop whipping up sentiments unnecessarily. By the way, even if a helicopter flew over a building, will that make it to collapse?

“The man said while showing the footages that there were no signs of attack. Is there a journalist who does not know the colour of a military aircraft?

“Is it today that buildings have been collapsing in Lagos. When you use sub-standard materials, buildings will surely collapse.”

But a top official of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency said the plane that was seen hovering around Egbeda was on a special training of some Air Force personnel on the use of a newly acquired landing equipment called Instrument Landing System.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity explained, “I wonder why people just say what they don’t know. When I heard that a mysterious helicopter was hovering over Synagogue church building, I just laughed. It was actually an Air Force helicopter that was undergoing a special training that hovered around that area several times on Friday morning till some minutes before noon.

“The Air Force personnel were being trained on our new equipment called ILS. We deployed the plane in the Ikotun-Egbe area because there was no much traffic there that time. The aircraft did not hover around Synagogue church building alone. It was around the entire area.”

Adamawa State Acting Governor Ahmadu Fintiri has however sympathised with NAF over the missing jet.

Fintiri, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Solomon Kumangar, said the prayer of Adamawa people was for the safe return of the crew to their families.

There were however strong indications in Yola on Sunday evening that the missing Jet crashed in Lala, Gombi LGA.

An Air Force source said the plane was found through the help ofsome villagers.

The Air Force has since September 1, 2014 deployed its fighter jets in Borno and Adamawa states against the insurgents.

The jets’ pounding of towns such as Bama, Gulak and Gwoza, which were seized by Boko Haram, had assisted in incapacitating the insurgents.

The military had on July 21, 2014 said that a NAF Mi-35 helicopter crashed while “on a training mission.”

The helicopter’s co-pilot, Flight Lt. N. M Halilu, and the technician, Warrant Officer Augustine Nwanonenyi, survived the crash, while the pilot, Flight Lt. Onyeka Nwakile, died in the accident.

Jonathan needs our backing to end terrorism –Reps

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives said on Sunday that the National Assembly “must give all legislative backing” to President Goodluck Jonathan in order to win the war against terrorism.

It described the rate of killings in the country as “alarming”, saying that all the arms of government must take extra measures to stop the “unsavoury trend.”

The Deputy House Majority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, who gave the position of the House in Abuja, disclosed that insecurity would be a major issue for consideration when the lawmakers reconvene on Tuesday (tomorrow).

Both chambers of the National Assembly had embarked on a 60-day annual recess on July 17 .

Ogor, who spoke exclusively with reporters, added, “Security is the primary purpose of government. The events in the country in the past few weeks call for serious concern.

“Some people have taken it upon themselves to ensure that there is no peace in this country.

“As lawmakers, we should not allow them to have their way; we have a collective responsibility to safeguard the lives and property of Nigerians.

“Therefore, as we reconvene, we have to look at all the issues and see to it that Mr. President gets all the necessary legislative backing to combat these insurgents.”

Jonathan had, shortly before the lawmakers proceeded on the break, requested their approval for a $1bn foreign loan to equip the nation’s armed forces and train personnel.

Almost two months after the request was made, it has not been approved, as the Senate and the House were already set for vacation before it came.

The President too has not asked the lawmakers to reconvene as a matter of urgency to treat his request.

Soyinka talks on Jonathan

Prof. Wole Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on Saturday lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan for embracing corrupt politicians and failing to prosecute the sponsors and members of Boko Haram.

Soyinka stated that he had no doubt about the Boko Haram sponsorship allegation against a former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff, by an Australian negotiator, Stephen Davis.

He expressed his resolve to back a human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), to seek Sheriff’s prosecution, saying security agencies had enough evidence to prosecute the ex-governor.

The Nobel Laureate said if Sheriff was prosecuted, “it is certain he will also take many others down with him.”

In a statement entitled, ‘The wages of inpunity’ made available to the media on Saturday, Soyinka challenged Jonathan to investigate the claims that Davis made about Boko Haram and its sponsors.

He said, “I am, therefore, compelled to warn that anything that Stephen Davis claims to have uncovered cannot be dismissed. It cannot be wished away by foul-mouthed abuse and cheap attempts to impugn his integrity — that is an absolute waste of time and effort.

“Of the complicity of ex-Governor Sheriff in the parturition of Boko Haram, I have no doubt whatsoever, and I believe that the evidence is overwhelming. Femi Falana can safely assume that he has my full backing — and that of a number of civic organisations — if he is compelled to go ahead and invoke the legal recourses available to him to force Sheriff’s prosecution.

“The evidence in possession of security agencies — plus a number of diplomats in Nigeria — is overwhelming, and all that is left is to let the man face criminal persecution. It is certain he will also take many others down with him.”

The literary icon also alleged that the name of a top Central Bank of Nigeria official who has major links with the sect had been forwarded to President Jonathan.

He said, “In the process of our enquiries, we solicited the help of a foreign embassy whose government, we learnt, was actually on the same trail; thanks to its independent investigation into some money laundering that involved the Central Bank.

“That name, we confidently learnt, has also been passed on to President Jonathan. When he is ready to abandon his accommodating policy towards the implicated, even the criminalised, an attitude that owes so much to re-election desperation, when he moves from a passive ‘letting the law to take its course’ to galvanising the law to take its course, we shall gladly supply that name.”

Concerning Davis’ allegation that a former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, is a sponsor of the sect, Soyinka proposed that an international panel be set up to examine “all allegations, irrespective of status or office of any accused.”

The professor also condemned the #BringBackJonathan2015 electoral campaign, a clone of the campaign of the #BringBackOurGirls global campaign for the release of the schoolgirls

Soyinka said, “Goodluck Jonathan has brought back into limelight more political reprobates — thus attested in criminal courts of law and/or police investigations — than any other Head of State since the nation’s independence.”

He berated the Presidency for turning the case of the over 200 abducted Chibok girls into a stand-up comic material.

“Spurred by electoral desperation, a bunch of self-seeking morons and sycophants chose to plumb the abyss of self-degradation and drag the nation down to their level.

“It took us to a hitherto unprecedented low in ethical degeneration,” Soyinka stated.

The famous author stated that while Jonathan had since disowned all knowledge or complicity in the political campaign, “the damage has been done, the rot in a nation’s collective soul bared to the world.”

Soyinka proposed that Davis should be invited to a roundtable for further talks.

The professor, who backed the Australian’s investigations, claimed to have worked with him when the late President Shehu Yar’Adua was making efforts to resolve the insurrection in the Niger Delta.

Soyinka said, “While awaiting the Chibok girls, and in that very connection, there is at least an individual whom the nation needs to bring back, and urgently. His name is Stephen Davis, the erstwhile negotiator in the oft aborted efforts to actually bring back the girls.

“Nigeria needs him back — no, not back to the physical nation space itself, but to a Nigerian induced forum, convoked anywhere that will guarantee his safety and can bring others to join him.”

The Nobel Laureate lamented that several alarms previously raised on the activities of Boko Haram had been ignored, while stating that stiffer actions should have been taken against the sect.

He further criticised Jonathan for attending a meeting with the Chadian President, Idris Deby, in company with Sheriff.

He faulted the Presidency’s defence that Sheriff, as friend of the host President, had travelled ahead to Chad to receive Jonathan as part of Deby’s welcome entourage.

In his reaction on Saturday, Sheriff challenged Soyinka to make public whatever evidence he had linking him to the sect.

The ex-Borno governor also challenged the Nobel Laureate and those he claimed were privy to other shreds of evidence to go to court.

Speaking through the Commissioner of Information and Home Affairs under his administration, Mr. Inuwa Bwala, in a telephone interview with reporters, Sheriff said Soyinka was only entertaining Nigerians with his mastery of the English language.

He stated that Soyinka’s statement lacked any form of merit.

Sheriff said, “As the ‘cultist’ we know him (Soyinka) to be, being the founder of a confraternity for which the world is still waiting for answers from him, he is the least morally qualified to speak on the alleged involvement of any Nigerian in whatever crime.

“We challenge him to name this person he says he knows as a sponsor of Boko Haram in the Central Bank, if he is as patriotic as he claims to be. We also challenge him to prove to Nigerians that he is not the cultist we have always known him to be.

“No security agency anywhere or an individual who claims to have investigated this matter independently can dictate to Nigerians or our security personnel what to do about this Boko Haram menace. Therefore, this needless diversion is unwelcome.”

The Presidency was not available for comments on Saturday. Efforts to get the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, were not successful. He did not pick calls made to his telephone or reply the text message and electronic mail sent to him.

Boko Haram attacked our building ─ T.B. Joshua

TB Joshua

The founder and General overseer of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet T. B. Joshua has said Boko Haram may be responsible for the collapse of a six-storey building in the church premises.

Joshua, who told members of his church on Sunday not to be afraid, said the attack was targeted at him and not at them.

The prophet made it clear that the collapse of the six-storey building at around 11.45am on Friday which led to the death of no fewer than 16 persons was a Boko Haram attack.

Joshua buttressed his claim by showing to his congregation on the Emmanuel TV the chronology of events shortly before and after the accident as captured by the church’s CCTV.

He said, “I received a phone call immediately I got here, just 10 minutes later when I was in the church, that there was a jet hovering over the mountain where I had just left. They said it was hovering at a close range. Before I knew it, I received another phone call that the same jet was now at the church hovering over the building, passing it four times at a very close range before the building collapsed.”

Joshua read to the church a letter which he said was addressed to him by a Boko Haram member, confessing how he had attempted to plant a bomb inside the church.

Joshua said his church was being attacked to scare away members.

“This environment at Ikotun Egbe, we have never witnessed an accident of a building collapse. This is a very stable terrain. I have been here for the past 30 years. I am pregnant with words, but we have left the security agencies to do their job. Let us believe and educate our people and be alive.”

Assuring his congregation that God would bring the perpetrators of the attack to book, Joshua said that the decision of the insurgents to focus on his church might be the end of the Boko Haram’s activities in the country.

He said,“I know you will ask why the church? It is because of the spiritual blessings that God has bestowed upon us. A big head wears a large hat.

“Don’t forget about the Ebola issue too, it was God that rescued the church. Probably they would have dropped an Ebola patient inside the church, so that they would said, ‘there is an Ebola patient in the church, don’t go there.’

“They are trying to scare you from coming to church. Don’t be scared, you are not the target, I’m the target. I know my time has not yet come. I have not yet finished my job.

“I want to assure you that our God will get back at them and you will know when he gets back to them. May be this would be the end of the whole thing.”

Meanwhile, the death toll had officially risen to 44, while 130 people were said to have been rescued alive.

The National Emergency Management Agency on Sunday said that 44 dead bodies had been recovered, while 130 people trapped in the collapsed Synagogue building had so far been rescued.

The Public Relations Officer of NEMA, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, confirmed this via a text message to our correspondents.

Farinloye, however, told reporters that 80 per cent of people rescued from the collapse building were women.

He said that two female children, aged four and eight years, were among those rescued from the building.

Wages of Impunity, By Wole Soyinka

on September 15, 2014 / in Remembering Adadevoh, Special Report, Viewpoint 10:13 am / Comments

The dancing obscenity of Shekau and his gang of psychopaths and child abductors, taunting the world, mocking the BRING BACK OUR GIRLS campaign on internet, finally met its match in Nigeria to inaugurate the week of September 11 – most appropriately. Shekau’s danse macabre was surpassed by the unfurling of a political campaign banner that defiled an entry point into Nigeria’s capital of Abuja. That banner read: BRING BACK JONATHAN 2015.
President Jonathan has since disowned all knowledge or complicity in the outrage but, the damage has been done, the rot in a nation’s collective soul bared to the world. The very possibility of such a desecration took the Nigerian nation several notches down in human regard. It confirmed the very worst of what external observers have concluded and despaired of – a culture of civic callousness, a coarsening of sensibilities and, a general human disregard.

It affirmed the acceptance, even domination of lurid practices where children are often victims of unconscionable abuses including ritual sacrifices, sexual enslavement, and worse. Spurred by electoral desperation, a bunch of self-seeking morons and sycophants chose to plumb the abyss of self-degradation and drag the nation down to their level. It took us to a hitherto unprecedented low in ethical degeneration.
The bets were placed on whose turn would it be to take the next potshots at innocent youths in captivity whose society and governance have failed them and blighted their existence? Would the Chibok girls now provide standup comic material for the latest staple of Nigerian escapist diet? Would we now move to a new export commodity in the entertainment industry named perhaps “Taunt the Victims”?
As if to confirm all the such surmises, an ex-governor, Sheriff, notorious throughout the nation – including within security circles as affirmed in their formal dossiers – as prime suspect in the sponsorship league of the scourge named Boko Haram, was presented to the world as a presidential traveling companion. And the speculation became: was the culture of impunity finally receiving endorsement as a governance yardstick?
Again, Goodluck Jonathan swung into a plausible explanation: it was Mr. Sheriff who, as friend of the host President Idris Deby, had traveled ahead to Chad to receive Jonathan as part of President Deby’s welcome entourage. What, however does this say of any president? How come it that a suspected affiliate of a deadly criminal gang, publicly under such ominous cloud, had the confidence to smuggle himself into the welcoming committee of another nation, and even appear in audience, to all appearance a co-host with the president of that nation?
Where does the confidence arise in him that Jonathan would not snub him openly or, after the initial shock, pull his counterpart, his official host aside and say to him, “Listen, it’s him, or me.”? So impunity now transcends boundaries, no matter how heinous the alleged offence?

The Nigerian president however appeared totally at ease. What the nation witnessed in the photo-op was an affirmation of a governance principle, the revelation of a decided frame of mind – with precedents galore. Goodluck Jonathan has brought back into limelight more political reprobates – thus attested in criminal courts of law and/or police investigations – than any other Head of State since the nation’s independence. It has become a reflex.
Those who stuck up the obscene banner in Abuja had accurately read Jonathan right as a Bring-back president. They have deduced perhaps that he sees “bringing back” as a virtue, even an ideology, as the corner stone of governance, irrespective of what is being brought back. No one quarrels about bringing back whatever the nation once had and now sorely needs – for instance, electricity and other elusive items like security, the rule of law etc. etc. The list is interminable. The nature of what is being brought back is thus what raises the disquieting questions. It is time to ask the question: if Ebola were to be eradicated tomorrow, would this government attempt to bring it back?
Well, while awaiting the Chibok girls, and in that very connection, there is at least an individual whom the nation needs to bring back, and urgently. His name is Stephen Davis, the erstwhile negotiator in the oft aborted efforts to actually bring back the girls. Nigeria needs him back – no, not back to the physical nation space itself, but to a Nigerian induced forum, convoked anywhere that will guarantee his safety and can bring others to join him. I know Stephen Davis, I worked in the background with him during efforts to resolve the insurrection in the Delta region under President Umaru Yar’Adua. I have not been involved in his recent labours for a number of reasons.
The most basic is that my threshold for confronting evil across a table is not as high as his - thanks, perhaps, to his priestly calling. From the very outset, in several lectures and other public statements, I have advocated one response and one response only to the earliest, still putative depredations of Boko Haram and have decried any proceeding that smacked of appeasement. There was a time to act – several times when firm, decisive action, was indicated. There are certain steps which, when taken, place an aggressor beyond the pale of humanity, when we must learn to accept that not all who walk on two legs belong to the community of humans – I view Boko Haram in that light.It is no comfort to watch events demonstrate again and again that one is proved to be right.
Thus, it would be inaccurate to say that I have been detached from the Boko Haram affliction – very much the contrary. As I revealed in earlier statements, I have interacted with the late National Security Adviser, General Azazi, on occasion – among others. I am therefore compelled to warn that anything that Stephen Davis claims to have uncovered cannot be dismissed out of hand.
It cannot be wished away by foul-mouthed abuse and cheap attempts to impugn his integrity – that is an absolute waste of time and effort. Of the complicity of ex-Governor Sheriff in the parturition of Boko Haram, I have no doubt whatsoever, and I believe that the evidence is overwhelming. Femi Falana can safely assume that he has my full backing – and that of a number of civic organizations – if he is compelled to go ahead and invoke the legal recourses available to him to force Sheriff’s prosecution. The evidence in possession of Security Agencies – plus a number of diplomats in Nigeria – is overwhelming, and all that is left is to let the man face criminal persecution. It is certain he will also take many others down with him.
Regarding General Ihejirika, I have my own theories regarding how he may have come under Stephen Davis’ searchlight in the first place, ending up on his list of the inculpated. All I shall propose at this stage is that an international panel be set up to examine all allegations, irrespective of status or office of any accused. The unleashing of a viperous cult like Boko Haram on peaceful citizens qualifies as a crime against humanity, and deserves that very dimension in its resolution. If a people must survive, the reign of impunity must end. Truth – in all available detail – is in the interest, not only of Nigeria, the sub-region and the continent, but of the international community whose aid we so belatedly moved to seek.
From very early beginnings, we warned against the mouthing of empty pride to stem a tide that was assuredly moving to inundate the nation but were dismissed as alarmists. We warned that the nation had moved into a state of war, and that its people must be mobilized accordingly – the warnings were disregarded, even as slaughter surmounted slaughter, entire communities wiped out, and the battle began to strike into the very heart of governance, but all we obtained in return was moaning, whining and hand-wringing up and down the rungs of leadership and governance. But enough of recriminations – at least for now. Later, there must be full accounting.
Finally, Stephen Davis also mentions a Boko Haram financier within the Nigerian Central Bank. Independently we are able to give backing to that claim, even to the extent of naming the individual. In the process of our enquiries, we solicited the help of a foreign embassy whose government, we learnt, was actually on the same trail, thanks to its independent investigation into some money laundering that involved the Central Bank. That name, we confidently learnt, has also been passed on to President Jonathan. When he is ready to abandon his accommodating policy towards the implicated, even the criminalized, an attitude that owes so much to re-election desperation, when he moves from a passive “letting the law to take its course” to galvanizing the law to take its course, we shall gladly supply that name.
In the meantime however, as we twiddle our thumbs, wondering when and how this nightmare will end, and time rapidly runs out, I have only one admonition for the man to whom so much has been given, but who is now caught in the depressing spiral of diminishing returns: “Bring Back Our Honour.”

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/09/wages-impunity-wole-soyinka/#sthash.lxc6QZcU.dpuf

Saturday, 6 September 2014

I was not appointed by anyone,so I don't need to report to nobody-Australian Negotiator-Davies

Amid the dust raised by his allegation linking a former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, and an erstwhile Chief of the Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika, with the sponsorship of Boko Haram, an Australian negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, at the weekend, gave insight into how Abubakar Shekau hijacked the Islamist group.
“The Boko Haram we see today is not the Jama’atu Ahlul Sunnah Lih Da’awa wal Jihad (JAS) that was operational under Yusuf – former JAS leader killed by the police in 2009”, Davis told Sunday Vanguard in an interview.
In the interview conducted online, the negotiator said: “Shekau formed Ansaru which he used for kidnapping and beheading victims. This behaviour was a major departure from the original mandate of the JAS which was to purify Islam and return it to the exemplary life of the Prophet. Many among the JAS leadership are no longer active and others have been killed. This has allowed Shekau to take the JAS to a more extreme action and expand the frontiers of kidnapping, bombing and slaughtering. The Boko Haram we have today is a much expanded Ansaru. What we see now is not the Yusufiya which wanted very much to settle a score with former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff. It is Boko Haram as a partner to ISIS and Al Shabaab”.
Davis admitted that he came to Nigeria in April to facilitate the release of the Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram, but denied that he was engaged by any party and therefore had no obligation to report to anyone.
He claimed to have interacted with former commanders of JAS and others close to Boko Haram during his visit to Nigeria.
Davis didn’t speak with real Boko Haram leaders – Nigerian negotiator
Meanwhile, a Nigerian negotiator claimed, yesterday, that Sheriff and Ihejirika could not have been Boko Haram sponsors as the two men were actually sworn enemies of the Islamist group.
The negotiator, who didn’t want to be named for security reasons, told Sunday Vanguard that neither Sherrif nor Ihejirika was a sponsor of the sect.

Shekau in the video released to AFP. Photo: AFP.
The source, who has been assisting the government to find a lasting solution to the insurgency in the North-east, pointed out that Sheriff was even one of the three most wanted enemies of the sect. He did not say who the other two were.
“The statement credited to advise that Sherriff and Ihejirika are sponsors of Boko Haram is far from the truth because, as at today, the former Borno governor remains one of the three worst enemies of Boko Haram”, he stated.
“I can tell you that the group has not forgiven Sheriff over the killing of its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, who was arrested and killed during his tenure as governor”.
Confirming the claim by Davis that he was not hired by the Nigerian government to broker peace with the sect, the source said that the Australian came on his own to secure the release of the Chibok girls.
He said that while in Nigeria, Davis never met the real commanders of Boko Haram but depended on information from a member of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Amnesty for information on the activities of the sect.
The source blamed what is now playing out on the issue of Boko Haram sponsorship on the information given to Davis by the member of the presidential committee.
He said,”We can say with all amount of seriousness that Davis did not meet the leadership and main commanders of Boko Haram during his visit to the North-east.
“If Davis insists that he met with any senior commander or leader of the sect, we challenge him to mention their names and ranks”.
Excerpts of Davis interview.

Boko haram flees Bama after intensive bombardment from Nigerian army

Insurgent fighters from the Boko Haram Islamic sect were in full retreat from the strategic town of Bama, in Borno State, at the weekend following a fierce aerial onslaught by the Nigerian Air Force, military sources confirmed yesterday. They said the aerial attack aimed at knocking off Boko Haram’s weapon installations in the town it had recently overrun, had been effective and yielding the desired results.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has also confirmed that over 50 terrorists were killed yesterday afternoon as troops raided their hide out in Kawuri shortly before setting out on a planned attack on Konduga.

This was disclosed in terse statement through the DHQ twitter account @DefenceInfoNG.
The Defence authorities said "one fabricated artillery gun, two Anti Aircraft gun, an armoured vehicle and assorted types of ammunition were recovered in the process.

"Some hardware, weapons food items, and personal belongings were also destroyed in the raid".
However, one officer and two soldiers were said to be seriously wounded. But Boko Hram opened another front in the antiterrorism war on Friday after an attack on Gulak town, the headquarters of Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State. The Secretary to the Government of Adamawa State, Professor Liman Tukur, who confirmed the attack in a statement, said insurgents had taken over the town.

President Goodluck Jonathan had on Friday, reportedly, ordered a full-scale war against Boko Haram.

NAF intensified its bombing campaign at the weekend to rid Bama of the terrorists, pockets of which were still said to be holding out in the town and its environs. But the battle took a heavy toll on civilian lives and property as the insurgents were said to be embedded with residents, locals said.

A source said, “The first attacks didn't really make the expected impact but the second round of bombardment really injured those Boko Haram boys, which is why they are retreating now. They are no more deep into Bama, while our people are advancing and gaining territory. The Boko Haram boys are right now retreating.

“We are now dislodging them. You know, Air Force have intensified their efforts; they brought F-7 and different kinds of aircraft. They really bombarded them.”

Another military source confirmed the advances of the Armed Forces in the battle of Bama but cautioned that it was no time for celebration yet, as the operation was still ongoing in several parts of Borno State. He said the situation was “still very volatile” with Gwoza far from being liberated from the terrorists’ siege.

“We don't want to say anything official but there are still fights going on in different places and on different scales, especially by air. This is a critical and unusual time,” the senior military officer said.

A senior Air Force officer, who spoke from Borno State, said apart from the aerial campaign in Bama, NAF had been effective in support of the ground forces with the launch of air attacks with different aircraft types, including helicopter gunships.

He said, “We are very deeply involved. You know what we are having here is a joint operation of the services, even though the Navy may not be involved right now because of the terrain.

“First and foremost, apart from the airlift, we are equally supporting the ground forces; in most of the cases we even take the initiative. In modern warfare, Air Force normally does the first dirty job, clear the road for the Army to do the mop up operations.

“Like I said, all our platforms are participating fully here. We have Alpha Jets, we have F7, Beechcraft, Mi35, which is the gunships, and then all our transport planes: C-130, the G TripleT. So we are participating fully and playing a significant role in that place.”

The Defence Headquarters had vowed in a statement by Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, that it will not allow any violation of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by terrorists. The statement was in apparent response to a growing sense of apprehension among citizens and foreigners following recent reports about the gain of territories in Borno State by Boko Haram.

“While welcoming all the concerns shown by Nigerians and a section of the international community following the increased menace and activities of terrorists, it is necessary to reassure all that the Nigerian Armed Forces is more than ever determined and committed to the defence of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria, regardless of any odd,” Olukolade stated. “We therefore urge our citizens not to lose hope or be disenchanted but to remain steadfast and supportive of the military as all steps are being taken to ensure the success of the counter-insurgency operations, especially at this crucial time when our sovereignty is being challenged.”
But a military intelligence source said, “Gwoza is still a no-go area, I must tell you the truth, as the town is firmly in hands of the Boko Haram terrorists. We are currently focusing on Bama before advancing to other areas.”

However, the senator for Borno Central senatorial district, Ahmed Zannah, said the military might be playing right into the enemy’s hands by focussing on Bama. He said the reported retreat of Boko Haram from Bama might be a ploy to draw out the military from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, before launching a heavy onslaught on the town.

The warning came against the backdrop of recent Boko Haram seizure of towns that are just few kilometres from Maiduguri, which is already swarming with internally displaced persons said to be numbering over 100,000 who are housed in different camps.

With the recent attacks on Gwoza and Bama, those displaced since January in the North-east are estimated to have risen to over 500,000, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.

Zannah said in an alert to the military, “At present, there are pockets of insurgents in Bama, men who are mainly indigenes of the town but left behind by their leaders to continue to terrorise the town. The leaders have left for their hideouts in Sambisa.

“It is believed that those left in Bama are to draw the military out of Maiduguri and when they are reclaiming Bama, the large number of insurgents in Sambisa will sneak into Maiduguri to take control of the town.”

Zannah said Maiduguri, from where the insurgents had been driven about a year ago, remained their ultimate target, saying there are indications that the sect is arming for a battle to capture the ancient town.

Sources within the military blame some of the difficulties being encountered in the fight against Boko Haram on what they term indiscriminate retirement of experienced officers.

One officer said, “The problem we are also having now is that the military retired the very ambitious and brave people from the service for the fear of coup without knowing that this kind of thing will arise. Some of these military officers, very courageous ones, should have still been in the system and by now they could have given the guidelines on how we can go about this.

“They could have acquired enough skills on how to manoeuvre to deal with these guys. If we succeeded outside the shores of this country, in Liberia, Sierra Leone and other places, how much more back home here. The fact is that this is not like a conventional war.”

The opening of another key battlefront in Adamawa State by the insurgents marked a major escalation in the anti-terror war. Tukur said the insurgents killed and displaced many people in Gulak during the attack on the town.

The Adamawa State SSG said in a release at the weekend, “It has come to the attention of the Adamawa State Government that insurgents are now in Gulak, the headquarters of Madagali Local Government Area, and had killed and displaced scores of people.

“On behalf of the people and government of Adamawa, his Excellency deeply sympathises with the people of Gulak and other surrounding villages and towns whose areas had been overran by insurgents.

“The concomitant effects of the insurgency, like displacement of whole villages and towns, create multitudes of internally displaced persons whose management and welfare the government is left to bear.”
Residents of some villages in Michika Local Government Area, which borders Madagali local government, were said to be fleeing to Uba, Mubi, and Yola for fear of possible attacks.

Chief Press Secretary to the acting governor of Adamawa State, Mr. Solomon Kumangar, also confirmed the attack on Gulak town by insurgents and said several people were killed.
Kumangar, however, denied reports that the residence of the acting governor, Alhaji Umaru Fintiri, in Gulak had been torched by the Boko Haram terrorists.

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima, in a state broadcast on Friday, lamented the siege and plunder of communities in the state by Boko Haram, saying the attempt to predicate the attacks on religion is despicable.

Shettima stated, “In recent days and weeks, we have come under renewed and augmented attacks, waged against all of us by an armed minority that seeks to impose on us a doctrine that is completely at variance with the religion of Islam, which they claim to promote; a doctrine that negates the dignity and existence of humanity on earth, despite Allah’s decree in the glorious Quran that He has dignified the human creature, prohibited unjust killings and made the religion of Islam that which does not sanction compulsion in a multi-faith society like ours.

“Several innocent communities in Gwoza, Damboa, Askira/Uba, Marte, Chibok, Konduga, Dikwa and the most recent, Bama, have had young and old amongst them children, weak old men and women, killed in cold blood, their homes destroyed and thousands forced to flee, with some trekking over hurtful distances to become refugees within and outside Borno State.

“Our capital city of Maiduguri is today facing a heavy influx of refugees from the local government areas in Borno. Borno citizens have been forced to take refuge in parts of Gombe and Adamawa states mainly on account of man’s inhumanity to fellow man in the gratuitous name of religion. These acts are absolutely condemnable in the strongest of terms.”

However, the governor said in the history of Borno State since the 19th century, the latest insurgency was “not the first threat to our existence as a people. We had faced and survived threats in years past and we shall survive this, insha Allah.

“We are confident of victory through a reinforcement of our Armed Forces and the collective will of all of us, citizens, who are committed to defeating the Boko Haram scourge.”