Nigeria News
Failed Peace Efforts
Past and present efforts to reconcile Boko Haram with the Federal Government remain a mirage
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in January this year, challenged the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, to reach out to the Boko Haram sect. He told the Cable News Network: “To deal with a group like that, you need a carrot and stick. The carrot is finding out how to reach out to them. When you try to reach out to them and they are not amenable to being reached out to, you have to use the stick.” He added that Jonathan was “doing one aspect of it well, but the other aspect must not be forgotten”.
In September 2011, Obasanjo started the reconciliation efforts with the terrorist group when he paid a secret visit to the family of the founder of the Boko Haram sect, Mohammed Yusuf (killed in the 2009 uprising by policemen after soldiers had arrested and handed him over to cops) in Maiduguri, Borno State. What ended that effort was the fact that Boko Haram killed Babakura Fugu, representative of Yusuf’s family, who hosted Obasanjo.
In June 2011, Boko Haram, in a statement by one Usman Al-Zawahiri, who claimed to be the spokesman of the group, gave strict conditions for truce. “We demand for the strict enforcement of Sharia legal system in the Muslim-dominated states in the North as part of conditions for dialogue with the government,” the group said in the statement. It demanded for the prosecution of the immediate past governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff for the killing of its leader as well as the release of all its detained members.
“If the government meets these conditions, we will agree to a ceasefire and enter into dialogue with them,” the statement added.
On 17 March 2012, a former ally of Yusuf, Datti Ahmed, attempted to establish links. But that effort failed. Ahmed, a medical doctor and a Muslim cleric, abandoned the peace moves because of what he called government’s insincerity after officials leaked details of their meetings to the media.
Another development was that Abu Qaqa, the sect’s spokesman, denied the report published by a United States newspaper that Nigerian government officials had met a Boko Haram commander, called Abu Mohammed, in Saudi Arabia. Qaqa warned: “We’ve heard about those who go about using our names in order to collect huge sums of money from the government. We are warning you.” Qaqa added that ever since that attempt at dialogue (Datti Ahmed’s) was aborted, there has not been any “move for dialogue that we agreed till date.”
Boko Haram, on 22 August 2012, abandoned its truce meetings with representatives of government after the arrest of one of its senior commanders, Abu Dardaa, whom it had sent for talks.
There was also the 28 January peace deal, brokered after a marathon meeting between some leaders of Boko Haram and the Borno State Government, led by Governor Kashim Shettima.
That day, Sheikh Abu Mohammad Abdulazeez Ibn Idris, a commander of Boko Haram in-charge of North and Central Borno, said his group had decided to “lay down our arms.’’
But it gave a condition that government must release all Boko Haram members from custody unconditionally and “re-build our places of worship”. However, Shekau disclaimed the peace agreement.
The Northern Governors’ Forum which, on 22 August 2012, inaugurated a 41-man panel, headed by Amb. Zakari Ibrahim, submitted its report in March this year. It recommended unconditional amnesty for Boko Haram members and immediate release of all detainees “against whom there is no established case of criminal involvement”.
The committee further recommended that President Jonathan visit Borno, Yobe and Kano states and should meet with not only governments of these states “but also with a cross-section of the elders of the various communities”.
Thinking that these would work, Jonathan visited Borno after which he set up the Amnesty Committee on 4 April 2013 to look at the feasibility or otherwise of the programme, collate clamours arising from different interest groups who want the apex government to grant clemency to members of the religious sect and recommend modalities for the granting of the pardon, “should such step become the logical one to take under the prevailing circumstance.” The committee would work hand in hand with the National Security Adviser, NSA.
However, Imam Shekau, on 10 April 2013, issued a Youtube message saying: “Surprisingly, the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you pardon.”
This means that Boko Haram still draws a big line in the sand for the Jonathan government!
—Ademola Adegbamigbe
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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: PM News
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Nigeria News
Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic
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
Nigeria News
COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container
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
Nigeria News
Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request
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.
Tribune
Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs
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