Security Alert! Boko Haram 'Twin' Known As "Yanlabaiku" Springs Up In Kebbi State, Nigeria

A new Sect known as “Yanlabaiku” with membership of about 100 followers which is also preaching against Western education has emerged at Gwadangwaji, the outskirts of Birnin Kebbi, capital of Kebbi State. The Sect members share their wives and lays claim to Islam.

Niger Army Kill 15 Boko Haram Militants, Take 20 Prisoners

NIAMEY (AFP) - Niger's army killed 15 Boko Haram militants in the course of land and air operations against the armed Islamist group, the defence ministry announced Wednesday.

Suspected Kidnappers Kill Two Policemen, Kidnap Two Lebanese Expatriates In Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers on Wednesday killed two policemen and abducted two Lebanese nationals in Bayelsa State.

Revealed! The Secret Behind Boko Haram's Winning Strategy - Vanguard Investigation

This extensive investigation by Vanguard Newspaper reveals the high-level sabotage and intrigues on how Nigerian military officers are led to their death in the fight against Boko Haram. 

Is The U.S Tactically Soft-pedalling On Paying Ransom for ISIS Hostages?

Obama Administration Set To Loosen US Hostage policies. The White House will announce looser restrictions on private ransoms for hostages, while appointing a special envoy to lead the government’s contacts with foreign nations on hostage matters.

Boko Haram Militants Slit Throats Of 20 Villagers In Borno

Boko Haram militants attacked and killed at least 20 people including women in Borno Village; a fleeing resident has told Saharareporters.

The notorious group stormed the village of Debiro on motorcycles and pick-up vans burning down homes and shooting indiscriminately at the villagers.

The militants then rounded up at least 20 villagers and slit their throats.
Debiro is in Hawul Local government area of Borno state.

’’It was in the afternoon time when we started hearing gunshots and people were running helter-skelter, there was confusion everywhere, some were shot dead and many had their throats slit. We were helpless as our foodstuffs were carted away by the rampaging militants who later burnt down most of the houses in our village.''

''I can't say tell you the correct number of people killed, but at least 20 people including women had their throats slit.''‎ the fleeing resident told SaharaReporters.

Luka Yakubu, a resident in Kworjafa village near Debiro, told SaharaReportersby phone that after Boko Haram attacked Debiro village in the afternoon some people fled to Kworjafa, he said an unspecified number of villagers were killed. Debiro is a remote village located in southern part of Borno state; it's about 246 kilometers from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.

Culled from:
SaharaReporters

Nigeria 'Consistently In Top Two' For Trafficking In UK - Anti-Slavery Commissioner

Hundreds of people from Nigeria are being illegally trafficked to the UK, where they face sexual exploitation or being forced into domestic servitude.

Withdrawal of Military From Checkpoints: Buhari Rescinds Decision, Okays Military Checkpoint In The North-East And 'Frontline States'

A day after ordering the dismantling of military checkpoints nationwide, President Muhammadu Buhari has relaxed the rule.

Why Every Organization Must Have A Business Continuity, Emergency Preparedness Plan

Food for thought:

True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information’’. – Winston Churchill

Meaning and Scope of a Business Continuity Plan

Business Continuity Planning (BCP) also known as Business Continuity and Resilience Planning (BCRP) is a process of identifying potential threats, risks or worst-case-scenarios that can possibly undermine the day-to-day operation of an organization while also ensuring that Staff and assets are protected and able to function in the event of unforeseen circumstances.

United Kingdom Spy Oversight Court (IPT) Rules That GCHQ Acted Unlawfully Once Again

The U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), the judicial oversight body which handles complaints relating to domestic intelligence agencies, has ruled that GCHQ acted unlawfully in the handling of intercepted communications data in another case brought by civil liberties groups, including Liberty, Privacy International and Amnesty International.

The IPT judged that GCHQ acted unlawfully and breached its own internal policies on interception, examination and retention of emails from two human rights organizations — the Egypt­ian Ini­tia­tive for Per­sonal Rights (EIPR) and the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in South Africa — thereby breaching their human rights.

The court ruled only that “error” and “technical” failures led to the spy agency to break its internal interception policies.

In the case of the EIPR, the tribunal writes:

… the time limit for retention permitted under the internal policies of GCHQ, the
intercepting agency, was overlooked in regard to the product of that interception,
such that it was retained for materially longer than permitted under those policies.
We are satisfied however that the product was not accessed after the expiry of the
relevant retention time limit, and the breach can thus be characterised as technical

In its ruling pertaining to the LRC it writes that “the procedure laid down by GCHQ’s internal policies for selection of the communications for examination was in error not followed in this case”.

These internal policies are not detailed — with the IPT reiterating its “general duty” to avoid disclosing information that might be “contrary to the public interest or prejudicial to national security … or the continued discharge of the functions of any of the intelligence services”. Which of course has the convenient by-product of making it impossible to judge their judgement.

As regards the legality of intercepting emails from human rights groups, the IPT deems the communications in question were “lawfully and proportionately intercepted and accessed” — citing section 8(4) of RIPA.

However the recent independent review of U.K. surveillance legislation, conducted by David Anderson, condemned the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act as an incomprehensible patchwork — calling for new oversight legislation to be drafted “from scratch”. The U.K. government has also said it intends to “modernise” surveillance legislation in a forthcoming Investigatory Powers Bill.

“A comprehensive and comprehensible new law should be drafted from scratch, replacing the multitude of current powers and providing for clear limits and safeguards on any intrusive power that it may be necessary for public authorities to use,” wrote Anderson in his review.

The shape of RIPA’s replacement remains to be seen. In the meanwhile the extent of law breaches by U.K. domestic intelligence agencies operating under a problematic patchwork of legislation and, prior to Snowden’s whistleblowing, without parliamentary scrutiny in a climate of near perfect secrecy, is still being determined.

Commenting on the latest IPT ruling in a statement, James Welch, Legal Director for Liberty, said: “Last year it was revealed that GCHQ were eavesdropping on sacrosanct lawyer-client conversations. Now we learn they’ve been spying on human rights groups. What kind of signal are British authorities sending to despotic regimes and those who risk their lives to challenge them all over the world? Who is being casual with human life now?”

It’s the second time the IPT has ruled against GCHQ in a matter of months. Back in February the court judged that data-sharing activities between the NSA and GCHQ had breached European Human Rights law, again after a challenge by civil rights groups.

Despite that ruling the IPT deemed data-sharing activities to have been put on a legal footing since December 2014 — owing to their disclosure (post-Snowden), and the subsequent yielding of details about data-sharing policies and how legal compliance is achieved (not that those details have been made public, of course).

The IPT has previously also ruled that mass surveillance is compatible with human rights principles — although civil rights groups are challenging that position at the European level, in the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The U.K. government has generally taken a far more hawkish stance on surveillance than European institutions, post-Snowden. Earlier this year Europe’s top rights body, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, adopted a resolution against mass surveillance, characterizing it as a threat to democracy and human rights. And last year the European Court of Justice struck down blanket data retention powers as disproportionate.

The U.K. government responded to the ECJ ruling by fast tracking emergency surveillance legislation. A new Conservative majority government is also now pushing to legislate to expand data capture investigatory powers, even as the NSA’s domestic surveillance capabilities are being curtailed over the pond in the U.S.

The latest IPT judgement confirms GCHQ intercepted the communications of human rights groups — something that U.S. intelligence agencies have also done, according to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who provided details last year in his testimony to the Council of Europe during their enquiry into mass surveillance.

Also last year Snowden spoke out against the ‘anything goes’ privacy intrusions of GCHQ — characterizing U.K. intelligence agencies as having “really no limits on their capabilities”. And when a domestic spy agency is found to have broken its own laws by its own oversight court in multiple instances it seems pretty clear that better limits are needed.

Culled from:
Tech Crunch

Niger Delta Ex-Militants Threaten To Restart Hostilities Over Lawmakers’ Jumbo Wages

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has threatened to resume hostilities in the region in protest of the huge salaries and allowances of federal lawmakers.

Last week, media reports had alleged that federal lawmakers would receive N9 billion wardrobe allowance this week. But Bukola Saraki, senate president, refuted the reports, stating that each lawmaker would only get a wardrobe allowance of N506, 600 per annum in line with the stipulation of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

But Mend looks dissatisfied with the clarification and its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, according to the an online news medium, TheCable, has threatened fire and brimstone.

“These wicked individuals appropriate to themselves huge and absurd salaries and allowances at the expense of the millions of hapless Nigerians, who have not been paid for months, their salaries, pensions and other benefits they deserve,” Gbomo said.

“The Niger Delta region, where the bulk of revenue that sustains the nation comes from, continues to suffer neglect, environmental degradation and lack, made worse by the very corrupt and visionless past government of Goodluck Jonathan and his cronies, some of who still shamelessly parade themselves on national television and other media platforms as ‘Niger Delta Activists’.

“Nigerians refuse to tolerate this ostentatious lifestyle of our lawmakers, whose main objective, it seems, is to enrich themselves and carelessly spend scarce resources.

“The Niger Delta people refuse to pamper and cater for the needs of these thieving Assembly rogues to their detriment. “If the lawmakers refuse to make the necessary adjustments needed to accompany the needs of the masses and the Niger Delta region, it may lead to the resumption of hostilities.”

Source:
ThisDay Newspaper

Female Suicide Bomber Kill 9 At Baga Market, Maiduguri

A female suicide bomber on Monday evening killed at least nine people at the famous Baga Market in Maiduguri, Borno State.

The incident happened around 4pm, witnesses said.

Sources said the woman targeted worshippers who were observing Asr prayers in front of some shops and succeeded in killing no fewer than nine people, including herself.

Trader Jafar Aliyu said the woman disguised as if she wanted to buy something.

"Like other women, the woman was seen near the Juma'at mosque where worshippers also observe daily prayers but she could not get access to the facility.

"She then went into the market and targeted worshippers, nine bodies have been taken away and many others sustained injuries," he said.

Another lady, who also strapped herself with explosives died before she reached her target near the Baga Market, also in Maiduguri.

"She was targeting some civilian JTF near the Dewak (old company) but the bombs in her body exploded," a vendor, who sells newspapers close to the scene, said.

Details will follow...

Source:
Dailly Trust Newspaper

Buhari Orders Dismantling of Military Check Points Across Nigeria

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday ordered immediate removal of military check points nationwide.

This was disclosed to State House correspondents by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Ismail Aliyu, after about five hours defence briefing to the President at the State House, Abuja.

He said the police will take over internal security.

Aliyu maintained that the Boko Haram insurgency will soon be over.

He said the Lake Chad Basin Commission nations are coming up with strategies to tackle the problem of insecurity.

He said: “The President has instructed the Chief of Defence Staff to get the Chief of Army Staff and Inspector General of Police to remove all the military men along the road across the country.

“The Nigerian Armed Forces are very ready, we have briefed him. One most interesting thing about it is that we are going out much happier because he has shown to us that he is still a soldier, he has updated and enriched our strategic plans.

“The second item that was discussed is the movement of the command centre to the Northeast. We have briefed him on how far we have reached on that and he has given us some additional assignment, but very soon the centre will be on.

“I also want to assure Nigerians that with what we have come out with from this meeting we are very enthusiastic that the issue of Boko Haram will soon be over.  He has given us hope that we will see peace and security in the very near future.

On what will be done differently, he said: “Now we have come as a united front, we have Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Niger. We have all strategised and we are coming out with one type of strategy that we are going to address the Boko Haram with, unlike before.”

He said discussion on change of service chiefs did not come up at the meeting.

 Source:
The Nation Newspaper

Niger Delta Militants Are Taking Up Arms - Intel Report

Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh on Friday revealed that intelligence reports available to the Armed Forces showed that the Youths from the Niger Delta region have started taking up arms and engaging in criminal activities along the creeks and the water ways of the region.

Air Mashal Alex Badeh, who made the revelation during the inauguration ceremony of the permanent complex of the Headquarters of the Joint Task Military Force, Operation Pulo Shield, along Igbogene/ Okolobiri road in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said the increase in illegal arms and ammunition possession by youths of the Region has led to an increase in cases of oil theft, kidnapping and other criminal activities in the region.

Badeh said though the Nigerian Armed Forces entered into an agreement with the Niger Delta youths and former militants to disarm and partner with the Federal Government on empowerment and development initiatives,the recent cases of criminality may force the military to review such agreement and turn its arsenal on the region.

According to Badeh, “Criminalities in the Niger Delta, we thought, have stopped but now they are on the rise again. But I know that our gallant men and women are equal to the task. We are after the bad men, we are good men and darkness can never overtake light. No nation can develop in the presence of so much criminality.”

Source:
Leadership Newspaper

Crude Oil Theft: NSCDC Set To Deploy Drones, Aircrafts For Aerial Surveillance

Dr Ade Abolurin, Commandant-General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), says the Corps had concluded plans to deploy about 500 drones and aircraft for proper surveillance of oil installations in the country. Abolurin disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a meeting with senior officers of the Corps as part of efforts to strengthen its operational strategy.

He said that the move was in line with the new administration’s resolve to tackle the issue of oil theft headlong to boost the economic revenue accrued to the country. The NSCDC boss, who decried the spate of pipeline vandalism and oil theft in the country, said the corps was working round the clock to stem the tide.

He said the corps was exploring new ways to monitor and protect the pipelines, especially the use of technology and sophisticated gadgets to track down the vandals. “I can assure you that we are already exploring new approaches which will include the massive deployment of technology as opposed to the outdated conventional approach you are use to,’’ he said.

He said that some drones had already been deployed on a test run basis in some areas in the Niger Delta region such as Bayelsa, to test its efficacy. Abolurin also said that officers of the corp’s anti-vandalism unit had also undergone refresher training in line with international best practice to deal with the menace.

He said that so far this year about, 250 vandals had been directly arrested, while another 100 were arrested by other security agencies and handed over to them for prosecution, with 35 successfully convicted. He said the corps had also stepped up its protection of other critical infrastructure in the country such as power installation, telecommunication masts and equipment so as to ensure better service delivery to Nigerians.

The commandant-general called on the media, host communities and other stakeholders to cooperate with the NSCDC and other security agencies to tackle the challenge of oil theft and pipeline vandalism. On the issue of the recent promotion exercise in the corps, he said the process was done transparently and in line with due process as opposed to insinuations in some quarters.

He assured that the NSCDC would continue to do its best to ensure the security of lives and property in line with its mandate.

Source: Vanguard Newspaper