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Curbing Boko Haram Attacks

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Last week, the Boko Haram sect that has wreaked havoc on the country, grabbed the headlines again for its bloodletting prowess. The sheer scale of its latest offensive caught many by surprise given that in recent times, the northeast states where the group operates and indeed the entire country has witnessed some reprieve following a lull induced by the state of emergency declared by the federal government, and the subsequent deployment of platoons of soldiers to restore law and order in that part of the country.

In keeping faith with its morbid hatred for western education, a cause it has vigorously pursued, the Islamists invaded Government Secondary School, Mamudo in Potiskum Local Government Area of Yobe State, killing 29 pupils and a teacher. Some of the victims were burnt alive. Besides the fatalities, buildings and instructional materials were set alight.

As expected, Boko Haram has invited a barrage of public angst on itself. Among those who have spoken in unmistakable terms against the fundamentalists’ attack on the school is Manuel Fontain, the West African Director of the United Nations Children Emergency Fund, UNICEF. The diplomat was quoted as saying the attack should be condemned absolutely by all communities, because there can be no justification for the deliberate targeting of children and those looking after them.

This captures the general mood of those who feel that innocent children shouldn’t be wasted on the altar of religious fanaticism, given that over 48 students have been killed by the group since 16 June this year.

Gainful as the military operations have been in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States, the recent weight pulled by Boko Haram calls for a re-jig of strategy. That this band of disaffected Islamists could carry out such dastardly act despite the heavy presence of the army in the state implies that something is wrong with the current military manual from which the commanders are gleaning their methods.

Terrorism, everywhere in the world is fought through spooks. An effective tracking system led by spies plays a cardinal role to rein in the enemies of state. Brandishing guns and amour on the streets only frightens innocent civilians while the insurgents plan ahead in their hide-outs. Using ciphers to infiltrate the enemies, sniffing the ground for their passage and counter-assaulting them at the slightest opportunity is the better method to forestall these massive attacks that Boko Haram has carried out in recent weeks.

Similarly, while infiltrating the group is useful, there should also be emergency response system in place. This will call for effective airlift and sealift to achieve. True, a retired senior military officer once said that the Nigerian Army lacks the requisite sea and airlifts to counter Boko Haram. We think that the officers at the Defence Headquarters should think in this direction to fix this problem, if it truly exists. Since the group is extremely familiar with the ground terrain, and operates with ease in the desert areas, the option for the military is to tackle them on both ends – land and air.

Now that most of the attacks are now carried out nocturnally, the army should device a means of squaring up against the enemy during the night. This implies that helicopters with night navigational equipment should be deployed to trouble spots. In other climes, where terrorist operate at unholy hours, this technique has helped to repel many of their attacks.

A rapid response system should also be installed. With regular communication facilities in a bad shape in the city, the bet for this military operation will be to rely on its men who are specifically trained to handle signals. Agreed that the army can’t be everywhere at the same time, but if there is a lot more of community relations, security breaches can be reported faster and assistance sought by linkmen in those areas. The army can’t do this alone. They need to win the confidence of the civil populace. This implies that they must operate with caution, imbibing the best counter insurgence practices.

Moreover, schools, hospitals, mosques and churches should be adequately protected. This is because at one point or another, a large population of people congregates in those places. These lives deserve to be protected. War is won through strategy, not by sheer cache of arms or the number of officers and men deployed to trouble spots.

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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