Insurgency: Adamawa State To Close Down All IDPs Camps in January

The Adamawa state government is to close all Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the state, by January following the successful defeat of insurgents by the gallant Nigeria military.

UNDP Rekindles Boko Haram-Ravaged Adamawa Communities’ Hope Through Solar Energy Projects

Several months after Hong, one of the seven local governments in Adamawa State that was overran by armed insurgents was liberated, some of the communities are yet to return to full normal life. Olufemi Adeosun, in this report, writes on the efforts of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to bring succour to the people in those areas.

Independence Day Tragedy: Boko Haram Militants Attack Adamawa Community, Kill 5

As Nigerians elsewhere celebrate Nigeria’s 55-year independence anniversary, residents of Kirchinga, in Adamawa state, are marking the day in anguish following the attack on the village by Boko Haram terrorists, slitting the throats of five residents of the area in an early morning attack.

Scores Dead, 50 Houses Razed as Boko Haram Militants Invade Adamawa Communities

Suspected Boko Haram terrorists invaded three communities of Sabon Gari, Kafin Hausa and Bakin Dutse of Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State, leaving scores of people mostly returning farmers and herdsmen dead after setting ablaze their residential houses. The attacks were said to have lasted for three days and over 50 houses burnt.

[UPDATE] BREAKING NEWS! Bomb Blast Rocks IDP Camp in Adamawa, 7 Dead, Scores Injured

Latest report reaching us have it that at least 7 people were killed while about 20 sustained various degrees of injuries as a result of the bomb blast that went off at an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp at Malkoli in Adamawa State, North-East Nigeria.

Nigeria Army 'Recaptures Mubi From Boko Haram'

The Nigerian army has recaptured the north-eastern town of Mubi from militant Islamist group Boko Haram, the state governor has said.

A resident of the town confirmed this to the BBC, saying he had seen the bodies of many Boko Haram fighters.

Boko Haram Destroys 500 Houses In Adamawa State

No fewer   than 500 houses were destroyed in the Kubi and Watu villages in Michika Local Government Areas of Adamawa State as the suspected Boko Haram insurgents operated unchallenged in one of its recent attacks.

Gunmen Abduct German Citizen in Adamawa (North East), Nigeria

Gunmen riding on motorcycles, Wednesday morning, abducted a German in Gombi town of Adamawa State.
The incident occurred at about 7 a.m. at Anguwan Faransa area of the town, residents said.

The man, who is said to be the principal of a technical skill acquisition centre in the town, was abducted on his way to work.
A resident of the town, who asked not to be named for security reasons, informed newsmen that the man, whose name he gave as Mr. Nachi, is a very popular figure in the town.

“The abductors laid siege on his house, and they came on motorcycles. As soon as the man came out and was about to get into his car, two persons on foot
approached him and pointed a gun at him. They now called the two other sets of people on motorcycles who approached them and they carried him away on their motorcycle,” the witness said.
“Almost everybody in this town knows him because he helps us a lot, especially in the area of repairing the town’s water bore holes. Most of the time he uses his own money to buy equipment and repair our boreholes,” he added.
He also said Mr. Nachi trains students on technical and vocational skills free of charge.

The German Embassy in Abuja when contacted over the telephone said it was not yet aware of the incident.
“The press officer is not yet in, but at this end we are not aware of something like that,” an official of the embassy revealed on phone.
The embassy also promised to get back with information as soon as it is available.

The spokesperson of the police in Adamawa State, Othman Abubakar, who said he was in a meeting and could only communicate via text messages, is yet to respond to an inquiry at the time of this report.
Adamawa is one of three states under emergency rule due to the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents.

Courtesy:
NigerianEye

Boko Haram kills 2,053 Civilians in Six Months - Human Rights Watch

The Islamist insurgency Boko Haram in Nigeria killed no fewer 2,053 civilians in an estimated 95 attacks during the first half of 2014.
The figures are based on detailed analyses of media reports as well as field investigations. The killings and
other abuses were part of widespread attacks on civilians in over 70 towns and villages in northeastern Nigeria, in the federal capital, Abuja, and elsewhere that are apparent crimes against humanity.

There has been a dramatic increase during 2014 in the numbers of casualties from bomb blasts, including several apparent suicide bombings.
Since January, at least 432 people have been reported killed in 14 blasts in crowded marketplaces, a brothel, a
technical college, and, on two occasions, places where people were watching soccer matches.
Three of these attacks were in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital; two in Kano; two in Jos, the Plateau state capital; and three in Abuja, the federal capital.
The Abuja attacks may demonstrate a southward trend of Boko Haram operations, Human Rights Watch said.
“Boko Haram is effectively waging war on the people of northeastern Nigeria at a staggering human cost,” said Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Atrocities committed as part of a widespread attack on civilians are crimes against humanity, for which those responsible need to be held to account.”

The bulk of the attacks and casualties credibly reported and investigated by Human Rights Watch took place in
Borno State, the birthplace of Boko Haram, where 1,446 people died. Attacks killed 151 in Adamawa state and 143 civilians in Yobe state.

Human Rights Watch compiled the figures by analyzing credible local and international media reports, and the
findings of human rights groups, as well as interviewing witnesses and victims of numerous attacks. The media reports generally quoted villagers, hospital and morgue workers, police and military officials, and local leaders who had observed, registered, counted or buried the dead. In the vast majority of cases, Boko Haram forces appeared to deliberately target civilians.
Since 2009, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal- Jihad, Nigeria’s Islamist insurgency popularly known as Boko Haram, has waged a violent campaign against the government to impose its authority under Sharia (Islamic) law. Widespread poverty, corruption, security force abuses, and longstanding impunity for a range of crimes have created a fertile ground in Nigeria for militant armed groups like Boko Haram.
The pace of attacks has dramatically intensified in remote villages since May 2013, when the federal government imposed a state of emergency in the northern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe.

In many of the attacks Boko Haram gunmen fired on civilians, such as people gathered in busy marketplaces, places of worship, and residential neighborhoods. In three villages in Gwoza Local Government Area, Borno State, in early June, Boko Haram fighters impersonated military personnel to round up hundreds of villagers, then opened fire on them, media reports said. Two local chiefs from Attagara, one of the villages, told journalists they had buried 110 people killed in the attack.
On May 6, Boko Haram fighters allegedly killed 336 villagers in the twin towns of Gamboru-Ngala during an attack in which they used two armored personnel carriers they had stolen from the Nigerian military several months earlier. Residents reported that the villages had been burned to the ground.
Boko Haram’s kidnapping of 276 girls from a school in Chibok in April was not its only attack on schools in the
northeast. In February, Boko Haram militants locked the doors to a boys’ dormitory of the Federal Government
College of Buni Yadi, a secondary school near Damaturu, Yobe State and set the building on fire, killing 59.

Boko Haram forces have abducted and otherwise abused hundreds of women and girls during the attacks.
Human Rights Watch will release a report in coming weeks on abuses by Boko Haram against girls and women, based on interviews with victims and witnesses in June. The report will also examine the deficiencies in the Nigerian government’s response to these abuses.
The killings and other abuses by Boko Haram appear to rise to the level of crimes against humanity. The Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which Nigeria is a party, defines crimes against humanity as
various criminal offenses, including murder, torture and rape that are “committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.” Such crimes can be committed by a government or a non-state group. They must be widespread or systematic, but need not be both. “Widespread” refers to the scale of the acts or number of victims. A “systematic” attack indicates “a pattern or methodical plan.”

Since 2009, and increasingly since mid-2013, Boko Haram has carried out several hundred attacks against
civilians and civilian structures in schools, marketplaces, and places of worship in villages, towns and even cities.
The nature and frequency of the attacks indicate the actions of an organized movement. This is evidenced by the presence of convoys of trucks, motorbikes, and occasionally armored personnel carriers with well-armed gunmen; the fashion in which gunmen were seen deploying in and around the target or setting up checkpoints; and the planning required to infiltrate the
cities in which attacks took place.
Human Rights Watch and other national and international human rights groups have also documented abuses by the Nigerian Security Forces since 2009 as they responded to the attacks by Boko Haram.
These include excessive use of force, burning homes, physical abuse, and extrajudicial killings of those suspected of supporting Boko Haram.

Amnesty International found that following a March 14 Boko Haram attack on Giwa Barracks that led to the escape of hundreds of detainees, the security forces executed hundreds of the unarmed recaptured detainees.
Security forces have rounded up hundreds of men and boys suspected of supporting Boko Haram, detained
them in inhuman conditions and physically abused or killed them. Many others have been forcibly disappeared. The Nigerian government should account for the “disappeared” and ensure that all law enforcement operations are conducted in full accordance with international human rights standards.
“No matter how egregious the violence, Nigerian security forces engaged in operations against Boko Haram may not operate outside the law,” Dufka said. “The Nigerian government should recognize that it needs to protect its population both from Boko Haram and from abusive members of its own military and police.”

Courtesy:
The Nation

Nigerian Troops Arrest Three Suspected Female Terrorists in Adamawa

Soldiers have arrested three suspected female terrorists who have been secretly recruiting ladies into the female wing of the terrorists group, Boko Haram, the Defence Headquarters said in a statement. 

The statement, issued in Abuja on Friday, was signed by Col. Onyema Nwachukwu for the Director of Defence Information.

It said their arrest was an aftermath of a failed suicide bombing attempt on a military facility by a female terrorist, who blew herself up in Gombe recently.

It said the suspects, Hafsat  Bako, Zainab Idris and Aisha Abubakar, were intercepted  while traveling to Madagali  in Adamawa from where “they were to transit to the forest to reunite with their cohorts.

“Investigations revealed that the suspects, led by Hafsat, have the mission to recruit members into the female wing of the terrorist group as well as conduct espionage for the group.

“Hafsat’s link with the terrorists group had been a subject of investigation since 2012 when security agents on a man-hunt for one Usman Bako, her husband, who was identified as a terrorist, stormed their residence in Jimeta,” it said.

The statement said that the man-hunt resulted in the discovery of an AK- 47 rifle and two loaded magazines

It added that Bako later died in an encounter with troops in Sokoto where he had relocated to continue his terrorist activities.

The statement said that Hafsat continued with the terror group, specialising in surreptitious recruitment of members into their fold.

“The three female suspects were luring ladies, especially widows and young girls, by enticing them with male suitors who are mainly members of their terror group for marriage.

“Before their arrest, they were on a mission to take additional briefing from the leadership of the terror group.

“The trio have been operating together as members of the intelligence team of the group and their arrest has yielded information still being verified by security agencies,” the statement said.

Courtesy:
Punch Newspaper