Military Performance Against Boko Haram Unimpressive!

After a meeting in Kaduna, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) today said the military's performance in the crackdown against Boko Haram is unimpressive.

The forum challenged Federal Government and the military to rise up and dislodge the sect from areas it seized from Nigeria.

The forum, in a press statement signed by its national publicity secretary, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim, and sent to SaharaReporters' New York office stated:

The meeting discussed exhaustively the security challenges in the North, especially the capture of some towns and villages by the Boko Haram insurgents in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states. 

According to reports, the meeting resolved to issue the following statements, and expressed deep concern about the rapid escalation of the security challenges in the North-East, particularly the capture of large portions of the territories of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states by the Boko Haram insurgents, despite the state of emergency and the heavy presence of the military.

Reports indicate that the Boko Haram insurgency appears to be on an unstoppable advance to over run more territories of Nigeria. Our military effort to checkmate the advance of the insurgents in their quest to conquer more parts of Nigeria, especially in the North East, is not yielding the desired result. 

The performance of the military and other security agencies in combating the insurgency is therefore unimpressive, considering the past performance of our military and the police in peacekeeping operations outside the country, like in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan etc., and recently Mali. Why is our military now failing to quell such a rebellion by a band of insurgents?

The ACF calls on the Federal Government to, as a matter of extreme urgency, investigate and unravel the actual reason for the failure of the military to live up to their past performance. ACF urges the Federal Government to quickly take all necessary measures to reclaim the territories captured by the insurgents and restore the territorial integrity of Nigeria.

Source: Sahara Reporters

A Knock on the Door, a Stranger, Then a Killing at a Rural Summer Home!

A woman is alone at her home on a quiet country road. It is early morning when there is a knock on the door. A man, a stranger, is on her porch asking for help. He has run out of gas, he says. He needs to use a phone. The woman, in an act of kindness, obliges. 

The woman was Mary E. Whitaker, 61, an accomplished violinist who lived in Manhattan and spent her summers in her home in far western New York, near Lake Erie. 

The man was a homeless drifter, Charles Sanford, 30, according to law enforcement officials. And he was not alone last Wednesday morning when he knocked on Ms. Whitaker’s single-story home at 8448 Titus Road, on the Westfield-Sherman town line in Chautauqua County. Hiding nearby, the authorities said, was his accomplice, Jonathan Conklin, armed with a .22-caliber rifle and a plan. Mr. Conklin, the authorities said, wanted to rob Ms. Whitaker so he could live like a “rock star,” using whatever they stole to buy drugs and other goods. 

But the plan, as laid out in court documents, quickly turned bloody. By the time the deadly robbery was finished, Ms. Whitaker had been shot twice, stabbed in the neck once, and left to die bleeding in her garage. Mr. Sanford and Mr. Conklin, 43, fled in her car, with little more than some checks and her credit cards, the authorities said. 



They drove to Pennsylvania, where they were arrested on Friday. The court documents filed in United States District Court in Buffalo offer a graphic and disturbing account of what the police believe happened. For her friends and loved ones, Ms. Whitaker’s violent end remains incomprehensible. 

Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf posted a tribute on Facebook to her friend that seemed to capture the general sentiment. “Going to speak from my heart,” Ms. Dorman-Phaneuf wrote, calling Ms. Whitaker “a very, very rare and gentle human, who thought deeply and carefully about what mattered, and made you feel like she saw who you truly were when you were near her. 
“She was killed yesterday with a gun. She has a family and scores of friends and colleagues who are completely at a loss for how to process her being taken.” According to court documents, Mr. Sanford and Mr. Conklin met in a homeless shelter in Erie, Pa., several months ago. 



Early last week, Mr. Sanford told Mr. Conklin he was looking for a new place to stay, and Mr. Conklin told him he had an idea. Late on Tuesday, a mutual acquaintance drove the pair to Sherman.  “Conklin and Sanford slept for a few hours in a clearing near an old railroad trestle,” according to an affidavit filed in federal court. Before dawn, the two set off to an apartment near a bar in downtown Sherman. Mr. Conklin told Mr. Sanford that the person who lived in the apartment owed him money, and they robbed the place, taking multiple shotguns and a .22-caliber rifle, the affidavit states. It was around 5 a.m. when the pair set off again. 

After walking for a while, they arrived — at random, the authorities believe — at Ms. Whitaker’s home, a green ranch-style house atop a hill and opposite a sunflower field. Investigators said Mr. Sanford had told them that Mr. Conklin said he intended to rob the house so he could “live like a rock star.” The plan was for Mr. Sanford to ring the buzzer and ask to use the phone, saying he ran out of gas. Mr. Conklin, with the rifle at the ready, hid. When Mr. Sanford first rang the buzzer, around 7 a.m., there was no response. So he pounded on the door. Ms. Whitaker eventually answered and gave her phone to Mr. Sanford, who made two calls. Mr. Conklin burst out of the shadows, announcing, “This is a robbery.” Ms. Whitaker screamed. Mr. Conklin fired. The gunshot hit her in the chest, according to the account provided by Mr. Sanford. 
She then lunged for the gun, grabbing it by the barrel. Another shot rang out. She was hit in the leg. But she was still alive. Mr. Sanford dragged her into the garage, he told the authorities, adding that Mr. Conklin ordered him to use his knife to finish the job. 

Mr. Sanford told investigators that he tried to cut her throat but could not get the blade to penetrate deeply. She was left bleeding on the floor, where she died. (Her body was found later that day by a fellow musician who was concerned when she could not reach Ms. Whitaker. Mr. Sanford and Mr. Conklin scoured the home for valuables, found some credit cards and a checkbook, and then fled in Ms. Whitaker’s gray Chevrolet. The next day, after returning to Erie, they set about on their shopping spree. They called a woman who they knew to be addicted to crack and offered her drugs if she posed as Ms. Whitaker to shop at a local Walmart. She bought a large flat-screen television for the two men. Mr. Sanford and Mr. Conklin were arrested on Friday after they were recognized on surveillance video using Ms. Whitaker’s credit cards at a convenience store, the authorities said. They were charged with federal crimes related to the home invasion and robbery and are being held without bail in the Chautauqua County Jail in Mayville. As the state continues to investigate the killing, Ms. Whitaker’s friends remain devastated. 

For more than two decades, Ms. Whitaker played with the Westchester Philharmonic and toured widely, including once with Barbra Streisand. In the summers, she played with the Chautauqua Institution's Orchestra. Her last concert there was the night before she was killed. Jason Minter, 44, a neighbor of Ms. Whitaker’s in the Inwood section of Manhattan, said that “everyone is in shock.” Mr. Minter called the crime “the most random awful thing anyone can imagine,” adding that her killing was “confusing, bizarre and disturbing all at the same time.”
Source: The New York Times

Chibok Parents to Nigerian Government: Tell Us if Our Daughters are Dead!

Parents of the schoolgirls kidnapped from a secondary Chibok in Nigeria’s North-East state of Borno have urged the Nigerian government to confirm if their daughters were already dead, and hand over their bodies for burial.

The parents said they would rather welcome such news and prepare for the funeral than wait endlessly for update on the fate of their children abducted by Boko Haram April 14.

The solemn call came Friday, more than four months after armed insurgents stormed Government Secondary School in Chibok, loaded more than 200 girls on to trucks, and drove them away in the dead of the night.

For weeks, officials of the Nigerian government denied the abductions took place, and accused critics of sponsoring the reports to embarrass the government.

While the government failed to rescue the abducted girls, security operatives clamped down on protesters in Abuja demanding more action from the government.

President Goodluck Jonathan acknowledged the kidnappings only three weeks after, sparking international outrage. Mr. Jonathan later met with some parents of the abducted girls July, more than three months after the attack.

At least 200 of the girls have remained in captivity despite a multinational support from the United States, United Kingdom, France and Israel. The four countries have provided intelligence and specialist support to assist the Nigerian military search and rescue the girls.

On Friday, marking 130 day of the girls’ abduction, over 50 protesters marched from the Unity Fountain to the National Secretariat demanding that the girls be returned alive.

The demonstrators distributed flyers and stickers. They chanted: “What are we demanding for? Bring our girls back and alive” as they marched.

One of the leaders of the march, Hadiza Bala-Usman, told PREMIUM TIMES that the parents of the abducted calls were asking the Federal Government to bring back the bodies of their children if they were dead already.

“The parents said they would rather know that theirs daughters are dead and their bodies brought back and buried so as to put an end to this endless wondering about the status of their children” she said.

“They are calling on the Federal Government to help them search for the bodies of their children; that’s if they are dead. It’s better for them to know that their kids are dead and the bodies are brought back.”

Ms. Bala-Usman said the march was aimed at promoting continued awareness around the girls’ abduction.

An official of the Centre for Democracy and Development, Jibrin Ibrahim, who was also at the protest ground, said the march was to remind the Federal Government of its responsibilities.

“Today is 130 days since the abduction of the girls. Since they were abducted, our government promised us swift action, to search and rescue them; that, has not happened. We are therefore out on the street to remind the government that they have a responsibility to rescue these girls and return them to their parents and homes,” Mr. Ibrahim said.

President Jonathan back from Germany!

Information revealed that President Goodluck Jonathan arrived the country on Monday from Germany after a four day trip, where he was said to have gone to for "a private visit."

It was gathered that the President, whose jet touched down at the Presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 4:32pm local time, was received by his chief of staff, Brig.-Gen. Jones Arogbofa (retd.); minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Muhammed, and the acting Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba.

Clad in a pair of navy blue suit, a white shirt and his trademark Niger Delta hat, Jonathan went directly into his official residence where he was also received by family members and some close aides on arrival at the Presidential Villa.

He is expected to lead the Federal Government delegation to a service of songs being organised in honour of the late former Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili, at the Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Pro-Cathedral, Garki, Abuja on Tuesday.

It was reported that President Jonathan left the country last Friday, a day after his special adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, had issued a terse statement to the effect that he would be back in the country early this week after a private visit to that country in the company of few of his aides.

News had gone round that the President travelled to Germany to treat an undisclosed illness.

While a dinner for members of the just-concluded 2014 National Conference on Thursday was reportedly cancelled due to the president's illness, effort to reach the President's media team to confirm the said report was futile.

However, speaking to Newspaper on Sunday night, Presidential Spokesman, Abati, allegedly described the report of the president's ill-health as "the figment of the writers' imagination."

According to him, President Jonathan had the right to go on private visits and that was not only hale and hearty but also treating files in his hotel room.

He said, "Before leaving Nigeria, I issued a statement that the president will be embarking on a private visit to Germany with a few of his aides. On Saturday, I sent out a statement that the president spoke with the Falconets on the telephone. I also sent out the video and audio of his conversation with the players where he promised to stay awake and watch the final match.

"The NTA and some other broadcasting stations aired the video and audio. There are also photographs out there showing the president when he was leaving Nigeria and when he was arriving in Germany. The president is hale and hearty. In fact, he is treating files in his hotel room.

"Are these not enough proofs that Mr. President is not sick as they want Nigerians to believe?"

Abati further recalled that a similar private visit embarked upon by the President to Germany last December had sparked reports that he had gone "in search for treatment for ill health.

Well, what matters now is that the President is back, and he is hale and hearty, contrary to reports.

NCDC- Nigeria Can Eradicate Ebola By September!

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said that Nigeria can eradicate the deadly Ebola epidemic from the country by September if it sustains its current efforts at tackling the disease.

This was disclosed by the project director of the centre, Prof. Abdulsalami Nasidi, during his presentation at a workshop organised by the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) on Molecular Diagnosis and Treatment for Hemorrhagic and Zoonotic Viral Diseases, yesterday in Abuja.

He said, "Let me say here that if the current efforts at tackling the disease are sustained, we should be able to defeat Ebola on or before September 6, 2014. But, that is not say the threat of reappearance will no longer be there."

Prof. Nasidi, who said Ebola was already on its way out of the nation, urged Nigerians to stop panicking over disease, saying it was not as deadly as it is being painted, adding that the virus is not easily contactable until the living host becomes visibly sick.

He commended President Goodluck Jonathan, Governor Babatunde Fashola and Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, for the support given to health workers to confront the virus.

"The president should be commended because he came back from a trip when the virus landed in the nation and swiftly went into action by championing the cause of containing the disease, and made funds available to that effect. The minister and governor are excellent people; their performance was excellent because they acted swiftly and decisively to bring the situation under control," he said.

He further condemned the call by some embassies for intending travellers to present an Ebola-free certificate, describing it as unnecessary.

According to him, "You only need to screen (the blood of) those who have come in contact with an infected person, not everybody. Asking everybody to screen their blood for Ebola is out of WHO's recommendation."

The federal government, he added, was already taking it up with embassies that now put this as one of the requirements for visa processing.

But NABDA DG Prof Lucy Agabadu said "the agency can now quickly detect Ebola before it blow to a full disease because we now do a molecular laboratory diagnosis of any sample."

She said researchers from the agency "made the breakthrough in collaboration with scientists from South Korea."

Earlier, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Abdu Bulama, urged experts at the workshop to explore treatment options for Ebola.

He said his ministry would continue to collaborate with ministry of health in finding lasting solution to the Ebola scourge.

School Holiday may be extended to check Ebola spread!

As a precautionary measure to check spread of the Ebola Virus Disease, the Nigerian Minister of Education Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau is expected to meet with state Education Commissioners today on the possibility of extending the current school holiday which is supposed to end next Monday.

Spokesman to Shekarau's, Sule Ya'u Sule, reportedly told  newsmen that participants at the meeting would deliberate on the matter before the government makes any pronouncement on it.

"The minister has got the mandate of the president to meet with all education commissioners from the 36 states of the federation to discuss the issue and come up with a stand," he said.

Ya'u said the matter concerns all the country, hence the need to allow stakeholders in the sector to analyze the situation and decide on it.

"The stakeholders will at the end of the meeting come up with a recommendation upon which government will decide whether to extend the summer holiday or not," he said. 

Defense Headquarters Denies Troops Fleeing Allegations, Says soldiers Pursued Fleeing Boko Haram Terrorists Past International Boundaries!

Following allegations that hundreds of troops in Gamboru Ngala and Banki towns reportedly fled their duty posts into Cameroon, after they ran short of ammunition in their encounter with Boko Haram terrorists who stormed the two communities with sophisticated weapons in search of security operatives.

The Defence Headquarters, clarified the story, saying that the 480 Nigerian soldiers found on Cameroonian soil actually pursued fleeing Boko Haram terrorists past international boundaries of both countries against international law, hence they needed to surrender to Cameroonian authorities as required by law to show they were not on a hostile mission.

Gamboru Ngala and Banki towns share boundaries with Cameroon Republic which have been witnessing series of deadly attacks in recent times, including the massacre of over 300 traders in Gamboru Main Market in May.

The attacks on the communities came barely 24 hours after leader of the sect, Abubakar Shekau released a new video proclaiming an Islamic Caliphate in Gwoza town which was taken over by the insurgents.

Gamboru Ngala is North-East and about 180 kilometres, while Banki town in Bama Local Government Area is South-East and about 120 kilometres from Maiduguri, the state capital.

A source said many of the terrorists were killed by troops in Gamboru-Ngala before the troops ran out of ammunition and had to cross over the border into Cameroon to join forces with their Cameroonian counterparts to repel the attacks.

According to a BBC Hausa programme, the insurgents invaded Banki town on Sunday, and stormed Gamboru-Ngala, at about 5am, yesterday.

It was gathered that while in Banki, the insurgents overpowered the troops on ground by deploying rocket-propelled launchers, and improvised explosive devices, IEDs on the duty posts of the troops who managed to escape and fled towards Amhide villages before they entered Cameroon for safety.

It was also revealed that some of the troops in Banki fled to Marwa through Gazawa, another community bordering Borno and Cameroon Republic. It was not clear whether there was any casualty on both sides. However, sources said many casualties were recorded including terrorists, security operatives and civilians who were caught up in the crossfire.

400 soldiers escape to Cameroon

Also in Gamboru-Ngala, it was discovered that more than 400 of the troops managed to escape during the attack on their facilities, and reunited with their Cameroonian counterparts who made frantic efforts to repel the attackers. As residents said, the exchange of gunfire was ongoing between the terrorists and the military around the border communities of Cameroon and Nigeria.

A resident of Gamboru, who fled to Maiduguri yesterday evening, told our correspondent that "the insurgents who occupied the area were not after civilians, and asked residents not to flee, saying they were not in the town to attack civilians but military operatives.

"Some of us who could not withstand the sounds of gunshots and explosions between the insurgents and the military had to flee for safety, while others managed to stay based on the terrorists' assurance that they were not after residents. Unfortunately, as I am speaking to you, I have seen corpses of civilians and that of terrorists on the streets of Gamboru-Ngala, suspected to have been caught up in the crossfire or stray bullets".

A top military source in Maiduguri, who is not authorized to speak to the press confirmed the attacks in the border communities, insisting that the fighting was ongoing, but couldn't give the number of casualties.

The position of things, by Defence HQ

The Defence Headquarters in its reaction to Nigerian troops found in Cameroon explained that military authorities of both countries have discussed the issue and resolved it while the Nigerian soldiers have returned to their base.

A report posted on the Defence Blog regarding the incident said: "The Nigerian troops that were found in Cameroon was as a result of a sustained battle between the troops and the terrorists around the borders with Cameroon which saw Nigerian troops charging through the borders in a tactical manoeuvre.

"Eventually they found themselves on Cameroonian soil. Being allies, the normal protocol of managing such incident demanded that the troops submit their weapons in order to assure the friendly country that they were not on a hostile mission.

"Following necessary discussions between Nigerian and Cameroonian military authorities, the issues have been sorted out. Subsequently, the troops are on their way back to join their unit in Nigeria.

"The reference to the incident as a defection is therefore not appropriate considering the discussion between the two countries' military leadership and the series of contacts with the soldiers who have confirmed that they are safe.

Adamawa acting gov imposes curfew

Meanwhile, following the escalating insurgent attacks on Madagali, Gulak and other adjoining villages in the border between Adamawa and Borno states, Acting Governor of Adamawa State has declared a 24-hour curfew in the areas.
Source: vanguard news