President Barack Obama Makes Surprise Afghan Visit

President Barack Obama has told US troops in Afghanistan that America's longest war will come to "a responsible end" at the end of 2014.

Mr Obama was cheered by soldiers during the unannounced visit to Bagram Airfield outside Kabul.

It comes on the eve of Memorial Day, when Americans commemorate troops who have died in service.

Foreign combat troops are due to withdraw from the country by the end of the year.

The US is seeking to keep a small number of troops there to train Afghan security forces. But that plan depends on the next Afghan president - due to be elected next month - signing a bilateral security agreement that incumbent Afghan President Hamid Karzai has refused to authorise.

President Obama had invited his Afghan counterpart to the base but Mr Karzai refused, saying he would only meet Mr Obama at his palace in Kabul, officials said.

Instead, Mr Obama called the Afghan leader from Air Force One on his way back to the US, officials said, saying he would be in touch before announcing any decision on the planned US troop presence after 2014.

Mr Obama praised US troops for reversing the momentum of the Taliban
"By the end of this year... Afghans will take full responsibility for their security and our combat mission will be over. America's war in Afghanistan will come to a responsible end."

Mr Obama said the US would remain committed to Afghanistan provided the incoming president signed the security agreement.

Both of the candidates who will face each other in the second round of the Afghan election next month are committed to signing the security deal with the US that would allow a small force of some 10-15,000 US troops to remain next year.

Afghanistan was at a pivotal moment, he said, with US forces having decimated al-Qaeda, reversing the momentum of the Taliban, and leaving a legacy of better health and education and strong Afghan forces.

"After all the sacrifices we've made we want to preserve the gains that you have helped to win and we're going to make sure that Afghanistan can never again, ever, be used again to launch an attack against our country," he said.

Source:
BBC

Nigerian Immigration Officer Confesses To Being High Profile Boko Haram Member, Names Other Security Personnel

An officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Ahmed Grema Mohammed, has confessed to being a high profile member of the Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram.

In his confession, Mohammed named some security personnel whom he said are members of the sect.

He was arrested by the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital in August 2012 while on his way to kill a former special adviser to the immediate past governor of the state.
Before his apprehension, Mohammed, was attached to the Nangere office of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Yobe State, he was involved in many terrorists attacks including hits on primary schools in Damaturu.

A statement by the JTF signed by its spokesman, Lt. Col Sagir Musa, gave the news of Mohammed’s arrest:
“Mohammed confessed to be actively involved in the killings of some senior civil servants, security agents, and politicians in Damaturu who spoke against the activities of Boko Haram, particularly the former chairman of Damboa Council, Alhaji Lawal Kawu.

“He also took part in the attack on the old Police Headquarters in Damaturu, where some policemen were killed and large quantity of arms and ammunition carted away.
“In addition, he was among the terrorists that attacked Damaturu Prison, burnt some primary schools, the State CID office and the Police Safety Vehicle, among others.

Source:
metronaija.com

Football Viewing Centre In Jos (Plateau State) Narrowly Missed in Fresh Bombing

Barely five days after an explosion rocked the ever busy Jos Main Market and its environs, there has been another explosion.

The nature of the explosion is yet to be ascertained., however, the explosion reportedly hit Bauchi road area of the state.

According to NTA, the explosion occurred near a football viewing center and has been confirmed by a Police spokesperson, Felicia Anselm.

The explosion was reportedly set off by a suicide bomber. Premium Times reported that a resident said the suicide bomber died 20 metres from a viewing centre where football fans gathered to watch the ongoing final of the UEFA Champions League between Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid. That could not be independently verified at this time.

Other than the suicide bomber, no other casualty has been reported.

More details ...

Source:
Nigerian Bulletin

MASSOB Raises Alarm Over Purported Plot to Bomb Onitsha Market

THE Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, yesterday raised an alarm over what it called a plot by members of the Boko Haram sect to bomb the popular Onitsha main market and some other markets in the South-East geo-political zone.
It therefore warned that MASSOB would resist any attempt to perpetrate such terrorism in any part of Igbo land which is also regarded as Biafra land, by all means and with the last drop of their blood.

Speaking to newsmen yesterday in a telephone chat, MASSOB’s National Director of Information, Comrade Uchenna Madu, said the Boko Haram’s plot was discovered by the MASSOB intelligence and security groups, adding that it is even possible that some of the Nigerian security agents would have equally perceived such an information.

Madu warned that should the insurgents attempt to execute the plot, whether successful or not, MASSOB would have no other option than to remove its non-violence posture and wear the violence garb for a revenge mission.

Reacting to the speculations, the Police Area Commander for Onitsha, Mr. Benjamin Wordu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP, told newsmen on phone that although he had not heard of  plot by the insurgents to attack Onitsha or any part of Igbo land from any authentic source, there is every tendency that rumour mongers would have cashed in on the recent concentration of attacks by the insurgents on major markets and motor parks in the North to nurse the fear of possible attacks on major markets in the South East region.

Source:
Vanguard Newspaper

Soldiers Intercept Arms in Nsukka Bound For Boko Haram, Arrest Retired DSP, Corporal

Three persons, including a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP, and a corporal, Abu Haruna, Solomon, respectively have been arrested for illegal trafficking of arms and ammunition.

The third suspect, Onuwa Attaka, is the driver of the arms laden vehicle.

DailyPost gathered that their confession showed alleged involvement in supplying of arms to insurgents in the Northern Nigeria.

The three suspects, who were heading to the North from Imo State, were intercepted in Nsukka by officers and men of the Nigerian Army while traveling in a bus.

Items recovered from them include- 40 AK47 magazines, 4 boxes of AK47 live ammunition, 100 pieces of live cartridges, one piece of Denin Mopol khaki and charms concealed in a cap.

One of the army officers who spoke to DailyPost under anonymity disclosed that a police corporal serving in Imo State Police Command was also involved in the arms running.

He said, “When we asked the occupants of the vehicle to come down, we discovered a police corporal in uniform among them. The corporal on getting down pretended to be pressed; he later ran away”, he said.

It was gathered that the suspects were taken to Nsukka Police Division before their transfer to the state CID.

The retired DSP, Abu Haruna, confessed that he had been in the business of arms dealing since he retired from the police.

He said their mission was to supply the ammunition to their buyer in Taraba State.

Our source said Haruna further confessed that they decided to go on the supply after the buyer complained that the first batch was incomplete.

The Police corporal’s identity has been traced to Imo State Police command; his name was simply given as Solomon, even as efforts are still being made to effect his arrest.

Meanwhile, the Nsukka Police Area Commander, ASP. Ros-Amson Haladu has praised the gallantry of the soldiers in combating crimes in the area.

“I want to commend the Army Officers for their vigilance in tracking down these illegal arms dealers.

“At the same time, I warn criminals to leave this vicinity or risk being apprehended by security operatives”, he said.

Source:
Daily Post

Boko Haram Not Islamic Sect, Says Sultan of Sokoto

The Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Abubakar Sa’ad, on Friday, urged Nigerians to be united in their condemnation of terrorism in all ramifications rather than placing religious tag on the terrorists’ insurgency as either Islamic or Christian.

The religious leader, who insisted that members of the Boko Haram sect are not Muslims, spoke at the commissioning of Mosque and Islamic Centre built by Bodija Estates and Environs Muslim Community in Ibadan.

The Sultan said their deeds and actions were contrary to Islamic tenets, while lamenting the dastardly act of the Boko Haram insurgents.

The Islamic and traditional leader said: “There is nothing Islamic in the activities of the group and I feel bad when people ascribe them to Islamic religion which is why I’m charging all of us, irrespective of our religious belief, to rise in total condemnation of the sect.”

He charged Muslims to see themselves as one, stressing; “There is no tribe, language or colour in Islam. We are one, brothers and sisters and that’s how we should see ourselves and relate.

“There is no compulsion in Islam; everybody is free to practise his or her religion. What is expected of us as Islamic faithful is to, through our relationship with others, bring people to light and peace, which Islam is all about. That should be our concern to make Islam progress”, Sultan added.

The community’s chairman, Tiamiyu Giwa, condemned the bombing, abductions and killings in some northern states in the last couple of years.

While condoling with the victims of the insurgency and sharing the grief of the affected families, he said: “Islam is a religion of peace which abhors violence in any form.”

“We urge all to be more security conscious so as to protect public institutions from terrorist attacks,” he said.

Source:
Daily Independent Newspaper

Nigerian Army Denies Purported Second Mutiny In Maimalari Barracks

Director, Defence Information in the Army, Major-General Chris Olukolade, in a press statement on Friday said “the online report titled ‘Second Mutiny in Maimalari Barracks as Soldiers Manhandled Commander’ is not true.”

The Nigerian Military has been under fire in recent times for a seeming incapability to bring the Boko Haram insurgency to an end.

A media platform online had reported a second mutiny in Maimalari Barracks, but according to Olukolade, “what the online outlet garnished and dubbed as ‘mutiny’ was just a presentation of complaints by representatives of personnel families who wanted the ban on motorcycles as a means of public transportation in the barracks reversed.”

The statement further read that “soldiers were not involved and there was no single shot fired by soldiers throughout the period as claimed in the report.”

The Major-General explained that the ban was part of security measures put in place for the safety of the soldiers and their families.  “The Acting General Officer Commanding obliged their request and directed a suspension of the ban pending when the planned alternative transportation arrangement is put in place.  He was not insulted or manhandled as reported.”

“The imputation of mutiny was concocted by the online medium ostensibly to raise false alarm and create the impression of disquiet in the military.  It is very obvious that a section of the media is feasting on the current security challenges and is desperate to sustain the tempo of the crisis through sensational reportage.  Mutiny is a very grievous breach that attracts severe sanctions in the military and should not be trivialized by those who do not understand its ramifications.”

“The general public is therefore requested to discountenance the rumours as no such incident took place. The mass media is again requested to beware of lifting stories on the military from online media as this has become the main channel of disseminating falsehood on happenings in the system.”

Source:
Channels TV

Presidency, Military Authorities Bar Soldiers From Escorting Politicians

The Federal Government has decided to stop the use of soldiers and other personnel of the Armed Forces as escorts by political office holders in the country.

A security source in the Presidency said the Federal Government would no longer allow soldiers to be in the entourage of governors and members of the National Assembly, among others.

The source said that the “men of the Armed Forces would henceforth serve the purpose for which they were recruited.”

It was stated that it was the position of the top security chiefs in the country that the Army was being saddled unnecessarily with responsibilities that could not be said to be essential.

It was further gathered that all soldiers in the escort of politicians would be withdrawn and deployed to duties in consonance with their statutory responsibilities of defending the territorial integrity of the country.

The source added that the security leadership was of the opinion that the deployment of the troops of the Nigerian Army in 32 out of the 36 states of the Federation had foisted the traditional responsibilities of the police on the Army.

He said, “A decision has been taken that there would be no more military escorts for politicians in the country.

“These involved governors, senators, and other persons who move about with soldiers in their entourage.

“The government is withdrawing all such troops because they are not essential services; they have to use the troops for their statutory services, they have to be used for the services for which they were recruited.

“Anything that has to do with policing should be handled by the police. You know that they have imposed a lot of police responsibilities on the Army and it is affecting performance.

“How can you apply for soldiers to be in your entourage, You use them and you end up vilifying them.

“These people are fighting in many fronts; they are supposed to be used for the purpose of defending the territorial integrity of the country.”

But the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen Olajide Laleye, said that the service had always ensured that soldiers were released to those who were constitutionally entitled to them.

He stated also that it was the duty of the Army to protect movement of people that could come under attack in operational areas

“Well, at no time in the past or in the present has the Nigerian army ever given soldiers to anybody apart from those constitutionally empowered to have them

“Like I said, I know that the military cannot be in the entourage of anybody that does not have the constitutional entitlement.

“It is our duty to provide escort to important personalities and indeed anybody if they could come under attack by the insurgents in line with the orders of the President.”

Source:
Punch Newspaper

Is this the Sudanese University Radicalising Nigerian Militants?

Security agencies are getting worried about the possible role of Sudanese universities in the radicalisation of Nigerians linked to Boko Haram.

The most recent example is that of Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, who allegedly masterminded the April 14 Nyanya bombing which claimed 75 lives.

Ogwuche studied Arabic at Sudan’s International University of Africa, which has also trained over 1,000 Nigerians in the last 10 years.

“Increasingly, many Nigerians are travelling to Sudan for education ─ some of them sponsored by northern state governments. There is a serious cause for worry,” a top security chief told TheCable.

The official said there is yet no “concrete evidence” linking radicalism with the universities “but there are high possibilities that they are serving as recruitment points for al-Qaeda agents”.

A case in point is that of “Mujahid Abu Nasir”, believed to be the pseudonym of a top commander of al-Qaeda-linked Ansaru ─ a Nigerian militant group that broke away from Boko Haram but still works closely with the Abubakar Shekau-led insurgents.

Nasir  told an American newspaper last year that he also attended the university in Khartoum where he ─ like Ogwuche ─ studied Arabic.

In a very revealing interview, Nasir said he first attended an Islamic college in Kano, and then “for the zeal of seeking knowledge”, he went to Khartoum, Sudan, where “al-Qaeda propagators initiated me into the clique”.

He said the recruiters took him to the southern deserts of Algeria and then to Mauritania for a “rigorous training course” by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

AQIM has been linked to terror activities in Nigeria and Somalia.

Nasir said he trained directly under Abu Zeid, a key commander of AQIM who was eventually killed by French forces in northern Mali last year.

He said although five of them left Sudan for the AQIM training, two died in the process because of the rigour involved.

Nasir returned to Nigeria in 2008, spent some time “underground” in Lagos before launching out with the militants who say they want to impose Islamic law on Nigeria.

He also said there are thousands like him in Nigeria, some of whom he said were working in government, “some businessmen, some teachers”.

The International University of Africa was founded as the Islamic African Centre in 1977 but was upgraded to a university in 1992.

It has six faculties: Sharia, engineering, medicine, education, economics and political science, and arts.

It  is owned by the government of Sudan, a country once classified by the US as a sponsor of international terrorism.

Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda, was resident in the country for five years in the 1990s. He set up construction and trading companies there, and built bridges and roads all over the country.

But the attraction of Sudan is not mainly religious ─ according to a father whose son is also studying in that country.

“They have a stable education system. There are no strikes, the campuses are conducive to learning, and the fees are far cheaper than what Nigerian, European or American universities are charging,” he told TheCable. “And their standards are quite high.”

The annual tuition fee is $400 for economics and political science, and sharia; $500 for education and arts; $2500 for engineering; and $5000 for medicine.

Source:
The Cable

Boko Haram Kills 34 in Fresh Attacks in Bornu State

TERRORISTS have raided three villages and killed those they accused of being anti-Boko Haram vigilantes in Borno State, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.

While the BBC reported that more than 30 people were killed in the early hours of Friday, other sources put the casualty figure at 34.

Residents from two of the villages that came under attack said militants had arrived in a convoy and gathered the men of the community together.

They accused them of being members of vigilante groups and killed them all, one villager from Moforo in Marte district who escaped across the border to Cameroon told the BBC Hausa Service.

They then burnt down all the shops in the market, leaving the villagers destitute, he said.

Correspondents say that most villages have formed vigilante groups to try to protect their communities from militant attacks.

A resident of Kimba village in Biu district said the villagers contacted the security forces to alert them to their attack, but were told it was not an area under military control so they could not be helped.

The military has not commented on the allegation.

A local Mallam Umar Kimba told Saturday Tribune in Maiduguri, on Friday, that everybody in the village had fled to seek refuge in Sabon Gari while others fled to Mandara, Girau and Biu. According to him, the attackers,who came on motorcycles on Thursday night started firing sporadically before setting the town ablaze.

He added that, as they were firing, they were calling on youths in the village to come out and join in the jihad against the government of infidel and corrupt politicians. “When nobody went out to meet them they started burning the houses and those who hide in their houses started coming out and running to safe heaven, but the attackers fired at the people. I left Sabon Gari this morning but we have taken the wounded to hospital in Biu before I left.”

He also said what baffled them was that, there were military formation around that area but wondered how the insurgents managed to bypass all the military and attacked the village.

“They did not touch the house of the village head and security operatives came only when they had burnt everything and chased everybody out of the village.” he said.

About 25 men were killed in Moforo, another eight men in Kimbi. It is not known if there were casualties from a raid early on Friday on Kabrihu village near the Sambisa forest.

Source:
Nigerian Tribune

Nigerian Army Claims Discovery Of Facility For Rocket Launchers In Kano

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) says it has uncovered a rocket launcher production facility in Kano State.
According to Director of Defence Information, Major-General Chris Olukolade, the facility was discovered at Dorayi District in Kumbotso Local Government Area of the state, after a cordon-and-search exercise.

“The discovery followed the arrest of a prominent member of the terrorist group,” Olukolade said, adding that locally-made anti-aircraft gun and mortar accessories and rocket-propelled grenade tubes and launcher along with accessories were recovered.
“Also seized were three AK47 rifles and hundreds of rounds of assorted ammunitions, as well as drilling machines and other fabricating equipment.”

Olukolade urged the public to always report suspicious persons to security agencies in their localities to prevent unwholesome act by terrorists.

Source:
SR

Bomb Scare in Kubwa, Abuja Cause Panic

The Police in Kubwa, one of the most populated  satellite towns in Abuja, yesterday afternoon, foiled a bomb attack by suspected Boko Haram members as residents, market women scampered for safety.

A Volkswagon Golf car filled with gas cylinders and jerrycans of petrol was said to have been parked near ElRufai Bus Stop by Channel 8 Junction in Kubwa around 7 AM yesterday morning, Vanguard learnt.
According to eye witnesses, many residents and passersby took to their heels upon noticing the car which they suspected could have been parked to bomb the area. Eventually the area was cordoned off by the police anti-bomb squad  invited by the Chief Imam of Kubwa Central Mosque,  Sheikh Abdulmumini Ahmad Khalid and other residents of the area.

The Spokesperson for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Police Command, DSP Altine Daniel told newsmen later, however, that no explosive device was found in the said car. She said the vehicle had been towed by the police of the Kubwa Division, noting that the owner of the vehicle could be a cylinder seller who left the vehicle there after it might have developed a fault.

Daniel further addd that the Commissioner of Police for the FCT, Joseph Mbu had ordered all abandoned vehicles in the area to be scanned.  The Divisional Police Officer, DPO, of the police Zonal Command Headquarters, Phase 4, Agabi Godiri said that normalcy had returned to the area.

Source:
Vanguard Newspaper

Corruption Stalls Nigeria’s war Against Boko Haram –United States

The United States Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, Sarah Sewall, has said that corruption is hindering Nigeria’s efforts at ending   insurgency in the North-East.

Sewall, who appeared before a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, alongside a Pentagon top Africa official, Amanda Dory, added that the military must overcome entrenched corruption and incompetence for it to rescue the over 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram on April 14.

She said that despite Nigeria’s $5.8bn security budget for 2014, “corruption prevents supplies as basic as bullets and transport vehicles from reaching the front lines of the struggle against Boko Haram.”

Sewall, according to the New York Times, also told the committee that morale was low and that desertions were common among soldiers in the 7th Army Division fighting the insurgents.

She sidestepped a question from one lawmaker asking for an update on the abducted girls’ location and welfare, saying, “Given time, I am hopeful that we will make progress.”

Sewall had on May 13 clarified the level of involvement of US personnel in the rescue of the abducted girls, saying it   would not be combative.

She told select journalists   in Abuja that it was up to Nigeria to accept or reject the prisoners exchange offer made by Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau.

In her testimony, Dory said that Pentagon believed that the girls might have been dispersed into multiple smaller groups.

“They may or may not all be in Nigeria,” she added, stressing that Nigerian military’s heavy-handed tactics with Boko Haram risked “further harming and alienating local populations.”

The Chairman of the Committee, Ed Royce, said being trained by the global terrorist sect meant greater terror for Nigerians, and greater challenges for the security forces.

The committee’s hearing on the menace of insurgents was tagged: “Boko Haram – The Growing Threat To Schoolgirls, Nigeria And Beyond.”

Washington had on Wednesday said that 80 US troops were currently in Chad to support the growing international effort to   rescue the abducted schoolgirls.

The military personnel are not ground troops. They are mostly Air Force crew members, maintenance specialists and security officers for unarmed Predator surveillance drones .

“These personnel will support the operation of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area,” the White House said in a statement formally notifying the US Congress about the deployment.

Culled From:
Punch Newspaper

United Nations Security Council Brands Boko Haram a Terror Group, Slam Sanctions on Sect

The U.N. Security Council has officially declared Boko Haram a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida on Thursday and imposed sanctions against the Islamist extremists who have carried out a wave of deadly attacks and the recent abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power welcomed the council's action, calling it "an important step in support of the government of Nigeria's efforts to defeat Boko Haram and hold its murderous leadership accountable for atrocities."
Nigeria, which is serving a two-year term on the council, asked the Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against al-Qaida to add Boko Haram to the list of al-Qaida-linked organizations subject to an arms embargo and asset freeze.

The 14 other council members had until 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) on Thursday to object and none did. The group was then added to the U.N. sanctions list under the name Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunna Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, with Boko Haram as an alias.
Quinlan said there's "very clear evidence" that Boko Haram members have trained with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, particularly in developing improvised explosive devices "one of the main weapons of modern-day terrorism and particularly al-Qaida." There is also evidence that a significant number of Boko Haram members have fought alongside al-Qaida affiliates in Mali, he said.
Quinlan said Boko Haram's current leader, Abubakar Shekau, also made "very, very strong statements of ... terrorist solidarity with al-Qaida in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia" and other places in November 2012.

Before Boko Haram's addition, the al-Qaida sanctions list included 62 entities and groups, and 213 individuals who are also subject to travel bans.
Quinlan said it's hard to say what the practical impact of sanctions against Boko Haram will be. One possible problem in tracking their finances, he said, is that large parts of the group work in the jungle and probably use cash rather than "substantial or sophisticated financial arrangements for banking but you never know."
He urged all 193 U.N. member states to focus on Boko Haram as a violent al-Qaida related group, ensure that it is included in any national terrorist lists, and check their own country's financial and arms dealings to ensure that the organization isn't getting money or weapons.

Nigeria's U.N. Ambassador, Joy Ogwu said Wednesday "the important thing is to attack the problem, and that is terrorism."

According to the sanctions committee, Boko Haram is responsible for attacks and kidnappings in Nigeria and Cameroon and has also been active in Chad and Niger.
At a summit in Paris on Saturday aimed at hammering out a plan to rescue the 276 girls, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said Boko Haram was acting "clearly as an al-Qaida operation." He only reluctantly accepted outside help after years of insisting that Boko Haram was a local problem.
French President Francois Hollande told the summit that Boko Haram is armed with weapons that came from Libya following the ouster of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, and the training took place in Mali before the ouster of its al-Qaida linked Islamist leaders. As for the money, Hollande said its origins were murky.

Source:
The Buffalo News

Breaking News: Nigerian Military Sights Abducted Chibok School Girls in 3 Boko Haram Camps

Nigeria’s Special Forces from the Army’s 7th Division have sighted and narrowed the search for the more than 250 abducted Chibok schoolgirls to three camps operated by the extremist Boko Haram sect north of Kukawa at the western corridors of the Lake Chad, senior military and administration officials have said.

“It has been a most difficult but heroic breakthrough,” one senior military official said in Abuja.
That claim was supported by another senior commander from the Army’s 7th Division, the military formation created to deal with the insurgency in the Northeast. The 7th Division is headquartered in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

The breakthrough comes at a critical moment for the Nigerian military that has faced cutting criticism over its handling of the kidnapping of the girls more than a month ago.

Nigerian military officials coordinating the search and other officials in Abuja said Boko Haram insurgents split the girls into batches and held them at their camps in Madayi, Dogon Chuku and Meri, all around the Sector 3 operational division of the Nigerian military detachment confronting the group’s deadly campaign.

Another source said there is a fourth camp at Kangarwa, also in Borno State. That claim could not be independently verified.
“Our team first sighted the girls on April 26 and we have been following their movement with the terrorists ever since,” one of our sources said.
“That’s why we just shake our heads when people insinuate that the military is lethargic in the search for the girls.”
The location of the abducted girls – north east of Kukawa – opens a new insight into the logistic orientation of Boko Haram, responsible for thousands of deaths in a five-year long insurgency.
But the details established by the military shows that while the world’s attention is focused on the Sambisa forest reserves, about 330 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the terrorists mapped a complex mission that began at Chibok, and veered north east of Sambisa, before heading to west of Bama and east of Konduga.
With the sighting, officials fear that Boko Haram militants may be seeking to create new options of escape all the way to Lo-gone-Et Chari in Cameroon to its Southeast, Lake Chad to its east and Diffa in Niger Republic to its north, providing a multiple escape options in the event of hostile ground operations against it.

Notwithstanding the sighting, the government is said not to be considering the use of force against the extremists, a choice informed by concerns for the safety of the students.
But with growing local and international pressure, a likely option may be for the authorities to enter into talks with the group, whose leader, Abubakar Shekau, in a May 12 video broadcast, called for dialogue and “prisoner” swap with the government.
The government has ruled out that option in the open but know Defence spokesperson, Chris Olukolade, a Major General, told PREMIUM TIMES he would not comment on the ongoing rescue operation.
“You don’t expect me to tell you that the girls have been sighted or have not been sighted,” Mr. Olukolade said. “I will only say our team are working hard and taking note of every information provided to ensure that our girls are rescued without delay.”
Civic leader Shehu Sani who fired a letter to the Sultan of Sokoto and leader of Nigeria’s Muslim, however told PREMIUM TIMES that what must be done urgently is for the Sultan to summon all the influential Islamic clerics with credibility in the north and use them to reach out to the insurgents to release the girls.

Source:
Premium Times