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By EVELYN USMAN LAGOS — Emotions ran high, yesterday, at the 81 Division Headquarters of the Nigerian Army, Victoria Island, Lagos, as widows of military personnel killed by members of the Boko Haram sect last month in Maiduguiri, Borno State were presented a cheque of N1 million each. The widows, numbering 12, majority of whom were between 20 and 30 years, including their children,  broke down in uncontrollable tears, [caption id="attachment_411984" align="alignnone" width="412"] Widow of Captain E. I. Oshoga and son receieving a cheque from Major-General Umahi.[/caption] Presenting the cheques, General Officer  Commanding, GOC, 81 Division, Major General Abel Umahi, said the compensation was from the Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, as part of  succor to cushion the effect of the loss on their next-of-kin. Describing the moment as a solemn one, he said the deceased soldiers from the 174 Battalion died in active service so that majority of N...

BY NDAHI MARAMA, MAIDUGURI Atleast 57 people including 24 vigilante youths (Civilian JTF), 16 Shuwa Arab herdsmen and 17 civilians were killed by suspected Boko Haram terrorists in three different Local Government Areas of Monguno, Damboa and Nganzai in Borno state. This ugly development is coming barely one week after the withdrawal of Joint Task Force ‘Operation Restore Order’ which was replaced by a Military Division. It was also observed that Governor Kashim Shettima on Saturday afternoon had a marathon meeting with security chiefs and traditional rulers in which the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai Elkanemi was in attendance. Although, Journalists were prevented from the meeting, it was gathered that the meeting dwelled extensively on how to review the security challenges currently going on in villages, towns and Council areas of the state, in which, all the affected local government chairmen used the opportunity and briefed the governor on the recent Boko Haram attacks ...

By Bilesanmi Olalekan Senator Muhammed Ndume - Borno South - was the Minority Leader in the House of  Reps as an ANPP lawmaker before he moved to the PDP and then became a senator.  His political career took a twist when he was accused of sponsoring the Boko Haram Islamist group. In this interview, he hails the onslaught against Boko Haram by the military forces but says the insurgency by the sect festered after government took it for granted that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau died during a raid on his hideout in 2012. Ndume warns that same mistake should not be made in the wake of the current claim that the sect leader has been killed. The senator also speaks on some other national issues. Where were you and what was your reaction when you heard that the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, was dead? First of all, I was not very sure since his body was not shown and there was no categorical statement from the military that he was dead, like the American military told the world a...

MAIDUGURI  (AFP) - Gripping a machete he claimed was stained with blood, a 24-year-old civilian manned a checkpoint in one of Nigeria's most dangerous cities, looking for members of a violent Islamist group. Vigilante groups have emerged with the encouragement of the military in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the original home base of Boko Haram Islamists, and their arrival has been both welcomed and fraught with potential trouble. [caption id="attachment_406641" align="alignnone" width="412"] A female vigilante frisks two women passengers of a motorized rickshaw on July 19, 2013 in Maiduguri, where Boko Haram has carried out most of its deadly attacks.[/caption] The city has been devastated by insurgent attacks and military raids that are estimated to have claimed hundreds of civilian lives. An unregulated, untrained and crudely armed civilian force may prove to be the last thing the city's imperilled residents need. Civilian gangs have in t...

Washington - The members of the Christian Association of Nigerian-Americans (CANAN) on Thursday embarked on a rally in U.S. to demand that the Boko Haram group in the country be designated as Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). The members, who were led by the Chairman of the association, Pastor James Fadele, and its Executive Director, Mr Laolu Akande embarked on the rally outside the White House in Washington.  The group wondered why the U.S. State Department had refused to pronounce the entire Boko Haram as a terrorist group instead of referring only to its leader. Earlier at a news conference held at the National Press Club, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, also faulted the U.S. government over its delay to classify the group as terrorist body. Oritsejafor added that in addition to non-recognition of the plight of Nigerians, the U.S. has not offered  humanitarian assistance to victims of Boko Haram. ``America’s ambivalence over ...

KANO (AFP) - A girl and a policeman died in an attack in Bauchi Monday which the army blamed on the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram. The attack at the home of a Muslim cleric in Darazo, Bauchi state, was the first attributed to the extremist separatists since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. "The gunmen came on motorcycles and headed straight to the home of the cleric and opened fire indiscriminately, killing a girl and a policeman living in the area," local resident Baffale Sanusi told AFP by telephone. A military source confirmed the deaths and said two more people were wounded in the attack which took place at the time of Muslim evening prayers. "We have received reports of shootings in Darazo this evening and we have mobilised troops from nearby military to the town to deal with the situation," a senior military source in Bauchi told AFP. "We strongly suspect Boko Haram gunmen are behind the shootings," the source said. Another local ...

By John Amoda THE Vanguard of Monday May 13, 2013 carries a story titled, "Terrorist may over-run Nigeria". In it, the Senate President, David Mark "warned ... that unless everybody comes together to tackle the security challenges, the perpetrators might over run the country… The Senate President who expressed grave concern over the continued killings and wanton destruction of property in the country argued that foreigners who might be accused of being sponsors of members of Boko Haram sect currently terrorizing some parts of the country could not succeed if Nigerians were not involved internally as willing tools for the deadly act". In the Sunday Vanguard May 12, 2013, Lt Colonel Sagir Musa wrote on the "Proliferation of small arms and light weapons" and observed that arms trafficking "is increasingly and dangerously becoming a transnational organised crime in Nigeria with Boko Haram's insurgency, re-emerging Niger Delta crises and escalating k...

*They were not sect members —JTF *50 sect members arrested in Borno BY NDAHI MARAMA MAIDUGURI — Three suspected Boko Haram members who allegedly came from Bama council area, Saturday evening, and stormed the El-Amin Daggash Mosque in Government Reserved Area in Maiduguri, Borno State with the intention of killing Islamic cleric, Modu Mustapha, while preaching during Tafsir (Ramadan preaching), were lynched by angry mob. Our correspondent gathered that the terrorists came in a Golf Saloon car and one tricycle armed with AK47 rifles and a pistol before they met their untimely death. A source told our correspondent that the incident happened at about 4pm, when the Tafsir programme was going on. The source said someone sighted one of the terrorists with a pistol sitting among the congregation, and alerted others who apprehended him. [caption id="attachment_391326" align="alignnone" width="412"] Officers of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) patrolling in Mai...

By Clifford  Ndujihe, Dapo Akinrefon & Luka Binniyat LAGOS — The Presidential Committee on the Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts in Northern Nigeria, came under severe criticisms, yesterday, from across the country following denial by Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau that the sect had entered into a cease-fire agreement with the Federal Government. The Committee came under attack on a day the Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Restore Order II in Borno State, said that it has succeeded in killing a top commander of Boko Haram sect, Bulabulin Nganaram, who was on the wanted list of the JTF with a N10m bounty. The sect commander who was killed in a shootout with the taskforce was said to be responsible for the killing of a teacher and three students of Sanda Karami Secondary School, Ruwan Zafi Maiduguri. Chairman of the Committee and Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki, had on a Hausa service programme of Radio France International monitored in Kano, July 8, ...

KANO - The head of Boko Haram Islamists said he supported a July 6 attack on a school that killed 42 people, but did not claim responsibility for the massacre, in a video obtained by AFP Saturday. "We fully support the attack on this Western education school in Mamudo," in northern Yobe state, Abubakar Shekau said in the 10-minute video speech. The mostly Hausa language message shows Shekau, designated a global terrorist by the United States, kneeling on mat with a Kalashnikov resting on his left shoulder. He speaks in English for several seconds towards the end of the video, something he has not done in recent public messages. The early morning gun and bomb attack at a boarding school in the Mamudo district of Yobe saw assailants round up students and staff in a dormitory before throwing explosives inside and opening fire, according to witnesses. Almost all of those killed were students. It was the third school attack in recent weeks and the second in Yobe. On June 16, gunme...

Abuja - Kabiru Umar, a terrorist suspect, accused of masterminding the bombing of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger State, on Dec. 25, 2011, opened his defence at the Federal High Court on Monday in Abuja. Giving evidence, Umar, alias ``Kabiru Sokoto’’, who assumed the status of a witness, said the police and the State Security Service (SSS) extracted statement from him. [caption id="attachment_244238" align="alignnone" width="412"] Kabiru Abubakar Dikko, alias Kabiru Sokoto[/caption] ``I am aware of the charges brought against me; but, My Lord, I was tortured and mistreated several times to confess. ``All through the period of the investigation, I could not confess to the offence because I did not commit any offence. ``One of the operatives of the SSS asked me whether I knew one Habib Bama and I said no. ``He said to me that Bama was the actual mastermind of the bombings in Madalla. ``I was afraid of being killed, that was why I ran away from...