President Jonathan To Leave For France

President Jonathan and Mr. Mark Simmonds at the Presidential Villa in Abuja today

President Goodluck Jonathan said today he is looking forward to this weekend’s summit on the Boko Haram insurgency which is being hosted by France.  

Welcoming to the Presidential Villa the British Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr. Mark Simmonds, Mr. Jonathan reiterated Nigeria’s appreciation of the support being given by Britain and other countries in the efforts to locate and rescue the schoolgirls abducted by the militants in Chibok.  

According to a government press statement, Mr. Jonathan told Mr. Simmonds his government will also welcome international support for Nigeria’s plans for the socio-economic rehabilitation of the North-Eastern States after the Boko Haram insurgency has been substantially curtailed.

The Boko Haram summit was first mooted by the French President François Hollande last Sunday.

“With Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, I have proposed to hold a meeting with the countries bordering Nigeria,” Mr. Hollande said during a visit Baku, Azerbaijan.  

His aides told the press that the leaders of Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger might attend the summit, and also that Britain, the European Union and the United States were likely to be represented.  The discussion will focus on how Nigeria and relevant countries can strengthen and intensify collaboration against Boko Haram and other criminal organizations.

Mr. Jonathan told Mr. Simmonds:  “If we all collaborate more, it will easier to eradicate Boko Haram and terrorism.”

Mr. Simmonds reassured President Jonathan of Britain’s commitment to giving Nigeria the assistance required to find and safely rescue the abducted girls.

“We are keen to support Nigeria in every possible way and help you overcome present challenges,” he declared.

The press statement said Mr. Jonathan also on Wednesday received solidarity calls from the Prime Minister of Algeria, Abdelmallek Sallel and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan, and later received the United Nations’ Secretary-General’s Representative in West Africa, Ambassador Saidi Jinit.

Mr. Jonathan told Ambassador Jinit that the Federal Government will welcome help from the United Nations for the coordination of  a planned victims support programme and a Victims Support Fund.

One month today following the abduction of the girls, it is unclear how much progress is being made in the search for them.  The Nigerian government does not offer any briefings to the public or to the parents of the girls. SOURCE

Shettima said that the State of emergency is useless,

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima said yesterday that the state of emergency declared in his state along with Yobe and Adamawa because of the Boko Haram insurgency is “useless”.

He is unbothered by the extension which President Goodluck Jonathan is requesting the support of the National Assembly for.

To him, the state of emergency which has been in place in the last one year has been largely ineffective in addressing the security challenges in the Northeast. The proposed extension has already been rejected by the Yobe and Adamawa state governments.

Speaking in an interview aired on the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) monitored in Kaduna, Shettima accused the military of being ineffective in carrying out their responsibility. He recalled that during the Boko Haram attack on Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri, it was the civilian JTF that confronted the terrorists and not soldiers.

The governor expressed regret over the worsening condition of life in his state which he described as bad. He said residents were wallowing in poverty because the insurgents had made it impossible for businesses to thrive and had rendered farming impossible.

He said: “This state of emergency is useless; these wicked people had a field day when they annexed Giwa Barracks; the civilian JTF confronted them; many of them died.”

The governor said he was willing to sacrifice his life, if need be, for peace to be restored in his state. He said rather than be afraid of an extension of the state of emergency, his major concern was to rescue the girls from Chibok.

He said: “This state of emergency is nonsense; our major concern is to find our Chibok girls alive,I can sacrifice my life for that, wallahi, wallahi (I swear by Allah).”

Shettima dismissed claims in some quarters that the state government was not cooperating with the military and wondered if the Civilian JTF members descended from heaven. He said at Nganzai, 34 civilian JTF men were killed and 50 were killed in Munguno.

President Goodluck Jonathan To Visit Chibok Town In Borno State Friday

Some security personnel have arrived in Maiduguri, the state capital of Borno, late today, and more are expected to arrive later tonight, Thursday evening. The arrival of federal security officers in the state capital, has not gone unnoticed. The federal personnel is usually linked to the presidential security detail, and it has caused quite a stir even outside Maiduguri. Their arrival has sparked rumors among local residents, civic leaders, and elected officials of possible actions to be taken in the coming days.
SaharaReporters has learned that President Goodluck Jonathan will visit with the families of the abducted schoolgirls on Friday, in a highly publicized appearance. The appearance of the so-called ‘advance men’ has drawn attention to the sometimes-mysterious movements of a president who has come under fire, and increased scrutiny, since the April 14th kidnapping.
It is Jonathan’s first visit to Borno state after 31 days of the abduction of nearly 300 school students, all female, in a story that has captured world attention.
The Boko Haram, in a daring late night raid on the small village, kidnapped over 200 girls at the Government Girls Secondary School, in Chibok last month. The kidnapping, which has drawn the attention of the international community, has placed unwanted focus on Jonathan’s beleaguered leadership.

Ini Edo offered scholarship to study Law at National Open University

She made the announcement on her instagram page this afternoon. Congrats to her! 

Boko Haram Militants Wreck Another Borno Community

A little boy walking past the ruins in Gamboru-Ngala after Boko Haram attacked a public market killing some 300 people

Suspected Boko Haram terrorists today stormed Alau, a small town in Konduga local government area of Borno State, leaving a trail of death and destruction.
Two sources in the besieged community, which is near the Borno State capital, Maiduguri, told our local correspondent that the Islamist terrorists razed down all the houses in Alau, killed at least two persons, and wounded 18 people.

One source, Malam Adamu Ibn, said the Boko Haram militants could have killed more residents if a local vigilante had not mobilized quickly to fight back.
A security source told SaharaReporters that the Islamist terrorists arrived in the community on bikes and shot sporadically in the air, scaring resident, before embarking on their mission of setting homes on fire.
Alau, the scene of the attack, is about 15 kilometers from Maiduguri. source

Who agrees with Alibaba?

Are we a tribalistic nation?

Bomb scare in Lagos: Photos

There was panic yesterday morning in Lagos Island after some people in the area spotted three wrapped parcels abandoned on a street. And trust Lagosians, they assumed it was a bomb & started panicking. The police was eventually called and they removed the abandoned parcels from where it was placed. See more pics after the cut...

What created the bomb scare wrapped in black cloth

Boko Haram Militants Routed By Vigilante In Northern Borno

A vigilante group made up of residents of Kalabalge, a town in Borno North, today mounted a fierce resistance to a siege by members of Boko Haram, inflicting severe casualties on militants from the fringe Islamist sect.

“We killed many of them [Boko Haram members] today,” one of the residents of the town who took part in the battle told a correspondent of SaharaReporters.

Several other residents disclosed that the members of the community had received advance information that Boko Haram’s death squads were on their way to wreak havoc in the community. “Once we got the information, we gathered many of our young men and positioned ourselves in surrounding bushes and forests. We were armed with bows and arrows, Dane guns and pump action rifles,” said one source.

The sources added that some 400 Boko Haram militants wearing army uniforms arrived in Kalabalge around 5 a.m. in two armored tanks, eight Hilux pick-up vehicles, and seven sports utility vehicles (SUVS), all painted in Nigerian army colors according to eyewitnesses.

The sectarian terrorists however received the shock of their lives from the ambush of the community’s vigilantes. The Boko Haram attackers were overwhelmed by the residents’ surprise firepower.

A security agent confirmed to SaharaReporters that the villagers killed several of the attackers and captured many of them, even though the rest of the terrorists scampered off into the bush and forests, some of them with injuries. The security source disclosed that some village vigilantes lost their lives while a few sustained gunshot wounds.

Kalabalge community is a few kilometers from Gamboru-Ngala where sect members killed at least 300 people last week Tuesday.

Our security source said Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State is expected to visit Kalabalge later this week:  SOURCE

State of Emergency extention in the north: are you for or against it?

Do you think extending a State of Emergency in the northern states where Boko Haram attack is very high, is necessary?

Shettima gave us misleading information: Boko Haram

The Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen Chris Olukolade during an interview with African Independent Television(AIT) alleged that the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima and Senators representing the state provided wrong intelligence reports to the security forces on the missing girls. Maj. Gen. Olukolade said the Shettima provided misleading information in order to waste their resources. He said, “I think, what you were saying was in retrospect. Like I said, we want to avoid engaging him(governor) in public. There was a piece of information he gave sometime which was about the movement of 60 vehicles. “Immediately that information came, aircraft went on air instantly. The whole of the environment he gave was searched, up till the points he said  was the destination of those vehicles. They were searched thoroughly and  nothing was found. “And this is one issue about information in this operation, which seem to have been, most of the time, unhelpful because it tends to just want to  wear us out and  expend resources. By the time aircraft go on air, you can imagine the resources involved. We have a series of that experience. “One problem with the situation right now is too many pieces of information that are of no value at the end of the day. But it is a resolve that no information would be despised, whosever is giving it whether it is the governor or the man on the street. Once the information comes, a lot of action goes into place instantly. He said. “The same with the senators. In fact, most of the time the Senators speak, it gives us the impression they were in close contact. And many times perhaps, they also mislead.” SOURCE

Video: “Boko Haram Is A Plot By America” – Pastor Tunde Bakare

Pastor Bakare of Latter Rain Assembly goes tough on foreign intervention in attempt to free abducted Chibok girls in his sermon on Sunday 11th May, 2014

FOA gave a summary of the 22:31  Minute Video, you can watch below.

According to Bakare, CNN media crew coming to Abuja a few weeks ago to cover the Chibok girls story took him back to a vision God showed him during a conference he had in 2005 at Adebola House in Lagos. He said in the vision, he rode on God’s back into former US President Bush’s war room and saw the former president plotting on how to destabilize Nigeria. He said he immediately started praying at the conference declaring that Nigeria is not Iraq and that Bush would be burnt in the bush while Condolezza Rice would end up in the cooking pot. He played the video of his preaching in 2005 where he shared the vision to the conference attendees.

About Isha Sesay of CNN, pastor Bakare said she’s been very disrespectful to Nigerian Government officials who she has been interviewing since she came into the country, making a whole Minister of Information Labaran Maku look like a school boy and showing no regard for his office or even the government he represents. He said to some extent we would say yes she should give it to him because all of a sudden it appears we have no government.

He called out the First Lady for her recent media frenzy saying her actions made her expose her lack of education using the word sharing instead of shedding. He says one of the judgment upon a nation is that low quality people would rule over you. He said that is how low we have fallen.

He said we should chase away the foxes before we focus on the chickens. He titled his message War on Terror, War on Terrorist and War on their sponsor. He took a swipe at Pres. Jonathan for saying to the media that they knew more than him. He expressed his sadness at the President’s remark during his media chat that we should not compare stealing with corruption. He said however Pres. Jonathan is still doing his best. He said Ekiti state coming 34th in the just concluded West African Examination Council (WAEC) is an indication that we have fallen, saying that the pride of Ekiti before now was an avalanche of Top academicians.

He said members of the National delegates clamoring for new states are missing the point and that creation of new states is not our problem.

On Boko Haram and the bombings that have been associated with them, he said he doubts that the men are able to assemble a bomb together. He said boko haram men are not the ones behind the sporadic bombings in Kano, that they don’ have the sophistication. He said there is a foreign orchestration of evil against Nigeria. He said the whole Chibok girls kidnapping is all conspiracy. He wondered how two hundred girls could be kidnapped, the school burnt down and no one could stop it. He wondered why the Sambisa forest cannot be invaded by the military right in our country.

According to him, this is the same Nigeria who sent military forces to Liberia. He wondered if this is not the same Nigeria when Chad citizens invaded Nigeria and killed 5 soldiers during Shagari days and Buhari rolled tanks and pursued the Chad people even into their territory and whole world pleaded that we stop.

He said Americans are angry because Nigerian government had the guts to invade Liberia which is an American territory and they say they would teach us a lesson that we would never forget and said that is the terror that we are experiencing now. He wondered with the videos Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau is releasing, he cannot be traced with the mast or live feeds of the videos. He said the West just wants to ridicule Nigeria before the world and in the end force us to do their bidding. He expressed anger in our government asking for international help saying where was the international community when we fought our civil war.

He prayed for all those sponsoring terror in Nigeria- that their economies would fall, that God would also start trouble in their lands, they would reap multiple terror and that their youngmen and women would rise up against them. He prayed that any Nigerian ruler – Obi, Oba, Emir or politician working in support of terror in Nigeria, that the wrath of God would fall upon them and their children wherever they are and that their families shall be terrorized.

He said we the citizens should not panic and that God has preserved us including the Chibok girls that were kidnapped.

Over 200 Boko Haram terrorists killed by local Borno State villagers in fightback

ORDINARY Nigerians have started the process of taking on terrorist sect Boko Haram with residents of Rann town in Borno State attacking the insurgents and killing 200 of them in an angry reaction to their reign of terror.

Up until now, Boko Haram had cowed the local population in Borno State and residents of northeastern Nigeria, freely using the area as its base. Local people had turned a blind eye to the sect's reign of terror and been indifferent to it running training camps in the area but following the abduction of the Government Girls Secondary School Chibok schoolgirls, the mood has changed.

Exasperated with the endless terror unleashed upon then, local people have finally had enough and decided to take direct action to rid themselves of the menace. Early this morning, armed with just traditional fighting equipment and charms, the residents of Rann, the headquarters of Kala-Balge Local Government Area in the north eastern part of  Borno State, repelled a Boko Haram attack and killed 200 of them.

Apparently, about 300 insurgents stormed Rann and adjoining villages around 4am today but met resistance from the people who had knowledge of the impending attack. This is the second attempt by Boko Haram to attack Rann after trying it about month ago but were equally repelled then.

This time around, Boko Haram is believed to have succeeded in entering Rann where they killed some people and burnt some houses. However, the counter offensive was ferocious as locals were determined not to allow their town become a terrorist haven.

One local source said: "The people in Rann and its environs used traditional fighting equipment and charms to repel the attacks. They really confronted the attackers who were equally ready for fight.

“The villagers succeeded in protecting their dwellings from the attackers, killing about 200 members of the sect and many others escaped with serious wounds. Our people also recovered over 70 motorcycles that the attackers came with and collected two Hilux vehicles and an Armoured Personnel Carrier, while some of the attackers were captured alive.”

A state legislator from Central Borno State, confirmed the attack, pointing out that the locals had successfully repelled Boko Haram. At the Gamboru Motor Park along the Customs area in Maiduguri, some people that came from the area, also confirmed that the insurgents were defeated in Rann during the battle that lasted for several hours.

Kala-Balge lies along the shores of the Lake Chad and is few kilometres away from Gamboru town where suspected insurgents killed nearly 400 people last week. In that attack, Boko Haram destroyed over 300 vehicles, 650 motorcycles, dozens of residential houses, public buildings and the biggest market in the town.

SOURCE