Nigeria Ranks High in Global "Terrorism" Casualty Rate - Maplecroft Report

Nigeria has the world’s highest casualty rate from "terrorism'' with an average of 24 deaths per attack out of 146 recorded in the year through June, according to
risk consultancy Maplecroft.

The global average is two deaths per attack, the Bath, U.K.-based group said in a report released today titled
the Maplecroft Terrorism and Security Dashboard.

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, recorded 3,477 deaths in those attacks as violence by the Boko Haram
Haram Islamist militants grew in scale and sophistication, it said.
“The increased capacity of Boko Haram is likely to lead to a further loss of investor confidence,” Maplecroft
said in the report. The latest figures represent a doubling of the 1,735 deaths recorded in the previous year through June 2013, it said.

Boko Haram, whose name means “western education is
a sin,” is waging a five-year-old violent campaign that has killed thousands, to impose Shariah, or Islamic law,
in Africa ’s most populous country of about 170 million people. Nigeria, the continent’s biggest oil producer, is
roughly split between a mainly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south.

The group drew global outrage with its April 14 abduction of 276 schoolgirls from their dormitories in the northeastern town of Chibok. Though the U.S.,
France and the U.K. joined the search for the girls, most of them are yet to be rescued.
The militant group claimed three bomb attacks this year in Abuja, the capital, that killed at least 120 people.

Maplecroft ranks Nigeria fifth in its list of “extreme risk”.countries topped by Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Somalia. While more people have died in those countries due to more frequent attacks, the average death toll per attack has been lower than Nigeria’s,
according to Maplecroft.

Bloomberg

Boko Haram Abducts Politician’s Wife and Two Children in Borno State

Suspected members of Boko Haram have kidnapped the wife and two children of Alhaji Zaraye Mala Sheriff, a Councillor in Borno state who is reported to be a cousin of former Borno state, governor, Ali Modu Sheriff.

A source told Daily Trust that the men stormed the Ngala town residence of the politician in the early hours of Friday July 18th.
“The insurgents stormed the house of the councillor around 12:30am on Friday and asked the wife about her husband. They also asked her for the money he kept at home but she kept quiet.
Luckily enough, Zaraye was at the other side of the house and when he heard the conversation, he fled,” a source from Ngala said.
He said angered by her silence and the absence of their target, the sect members took her and her two children away.
“Up till now, nothing has been heard of the woman and her kids. We have not heard anything about the two businessmen either,” he said.

Two other politicians, Alhaji Annur Mohammed and Liman Alhaji Hussaini were also reportedly kidnapped by the sect men.
Meanwhile there are reports that Maiduguri metropolis and its environs have been without power in the last
three weeks following the destruction of electricity installations around Damboa town, 85 kilometers away from the state capital.

A senior official of the utility firm supplying the state with power, the Yola Electricity Distribution Company
(YEDC) said the attack by Boko Haram members in the last three weeks around Damboa caused “huge damage” to their 33KVA installations.
“The problem is aggravated by the security situation around Damboa which makes it difficult for our men to
effect repairs. The truth is that it will take time before electricity would be restored in Maiduguri and environs,”
he said.

Courtesy:
Nollywood Magazine

Suspected Nyanya Bombing Mastermind - Aminu Ogwuche Extradited From Sudan to Nigeria

Aminu Ogwuche, the suspected mastermind of Nyanya bombing, an Abuja suberb was today extradited aboard a Nigerian Air Force jet from Sudan where he was arrested  following a manhunt by Interpol.

He is currently been held in an undisclosed location pending further investigations and been charged to court.

His successful extradition to Nigeria has paid to rest, insinuations that the Sudanese authorities were bent on frustrating his repatriation to Nigeria.

Will keep you posted on developments in this regard.

Boko Haram Claims Responsibility for Abuja, Lagos Bomb Attacks

Leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has said that his group was responsible for the bomb attacks
on fuel depot on June 25 in Lagos and another in Abuja the same day.
Reuters reports Shekau as claiming that he ordered the attacks.
"A bomb went off in Lagos. I ordered the bomber who went and detonated it," the reports said Authorities said the blasts on Creek road were an
accident caused by a gas canister, but the security sources told Reuters that was a coverup meant to avoid panic in the southwestern city of 21 million people. At least two people were killed.

"You said it was a fire incident. Well, if you hide it from people you can't hide it from Allah," Shekau says in the
video, which according to AFP shows him next to at least 10 gunmen in front of two armoured personnel
carriers and two pickup trucks.
A confirmed attack by Boko Haram would be a cause for concern. Lagos is both an international business
hub and a usually peaceful but at times uneasy melting pot of ethnicities from the mostly Christian south and Muslim north that have fought street battles in the past.

The target of the Lagos bombs was a fuel depot. Had it gone up, it could have caused a massive chain
explosion and disrupted Nigeria's mostly imported fuel supply.
Security sources say it may have been the work of a group or individual inspired by Boko Haram. Shekau
has been known to claim attacks suspected to be the work of another Islamist group or a criminal gang.
Shekau gets the Governor of Lagos State wrong, taunting Adams Oshiomole, who is in fact the Governor the southern Edo State, the agency reported.

Courtesy:
ThisDay Newspaper

Boko Haram: Nigeria Immigration Service Deports 182 Illegal Aliens

Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Lagos
State command has deported not fewer
than 180 illegal immigrants from different African nations to their various countries.
LEADERSHIP Weekend investigations
revealed that the immigrants were
apprehended from different parts of
Lagos, following incessant threats by
terrorists in some parts of the country.

The controller in charge of Lagos State
command, Comptroller Julius Ogbu said
community leaders from various parts of African nations were told to advise their nationals to go to their countries and obtain all the necessary documents that could qualify them to stay in Nigeria.
Ogbu said, “Few weeks ago we had a
meeting with heads of the non-Nigerian
nationals intimating them on the need to
adhere strictly to the ECOWAS protocol
which requires that non-Nigerians must
come in through the recognised gateways and obtain ECOWAS travel certificate in their countries. By recognised routes, we mean the places where you have immigration, customs and all those security agents who are to screen you and ensure that you have good intentions before you come into the country.

Courtesy:
Leadership Newspaper

Security Agencies Want To Set Us Up, Say BringBackOurGirls Campaigners

The BringBackOurGirls campaigners yesterday alleged that security agencies, who accused them of being on “franchise”, planned to set them up.
They said the “plot” might be the climax of incessant harassment and intimidation of the group in the last
two months.
They however said in spite of threats from security agencies, they would not give up the agitation for the rescue of the 219 Chibok girls, who were snatched off their dormitory on April 15.
The group, in a statement in Abuja by two of its coordinators, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and Mrs. Hadiza Bala
Usman, asked the military and security agencies to take action against terrorists who have abducted the girls instead of hounding its members.

The statement said: “For over two months, security agencies have harassed and sought to intimidate our movement incessantly. The latest was the statement yesterday accredited to the Deputy Director of Department of State Security, Mrs. Marilyn Ogar, who described the #BringBackOurGirls campaign as a
franchise.
“She made the comment in Abuja while responding to questions from journalists at the press briefing of the National Information Centre (NIC).
“This is a dangerous and unprecedented attack because as is well known in security circles, the term ‘franchise’ is used to refer to inter-related terrorist cells. She is reported to have said that if indeed our movement was a protest group, it would not need to force members to register and wear tags.
“Mrs. Ogar also affirmed security forces know about all the activities of the group. We know that they have a bank account,” she said.
“We know that they visit prominent individuals to solicit funds; we know that they have split themselves into
groups; we know that they want to simulate a protest march in Abuja to make it look like they went to Chibok.”
“There is a clear attempt to smear our work with a link of our work with Chibok and Sambisa forest. It is clear
from these comments that the security agencies are setting up the movement for a crackdown based on trumped up accusations.
“Our activities are open and our meetings are in a public space, the Unity Fountain. There is no compulsion to membership and our symbols, such as the red t-shirts, fez caps and pins are donated voluntarily by members.
“We are motivated by empathy and the need to search and rescue these girls. We are shocked that all we get from our security agencies is harassment, vilification, innuendoes and threats. This must stop.
“Security agencies have the responsibility to protect rather than intimidate citizens trying to do a good turn.

“It will be recalled that on 8th May, the Director of Defence Information of the Defence Headquarters had alleged that we distorted the report of what was for us constructive engagement with them two days previously. He claimed that we were trying to pitch public opinion against the armed forces and to project the Nigerian military in bad light and further heat up the polity.”

Courtesy:
The Nation Newspaper

United Nations Adopts New Strategy Against Boko Haram

The United Nations (UN) said yesterday that it has adopted a new strategy for assisting Nigeria in tackling the menace constituted by the Boko Haram sect.
This was disclosed by the special
representative of the United Nations
secretary-general for West Africa, Mr Said Djinnit, at the opening of the 45th ordinary session of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, and a two-day summit in Accra, the Ghanaian capital.

President Goodluck Jonathan left Abuja on Wednesday evening to Accra where he is also attending the ECOWAS summit.
Djinnit, who said the support of the sub-regional body to the counter-terrorism efforts of the federal government in tackling the Boko Haram scourge was satisfactory, noted that the strategy known as integrated support package was targeted at complementing ongoing
efforts by Nigeria which can only achieve results through a multi-dimensional approach.
According to him, the current support
from ECOWAS was also a reflection of the solidarity of the countries of the region and their legitimate concern about the spread of violent extremism.
The UN Envoy said, “The United Nations has adopted an integrated support package to complement Nigeria’s efforts, since we are convinced that only a multi-dimensional approach can bring lasting solution to the crisis.
“Our primary and immediate concern is the plight of children including in
particular those that are being held in
captivity by the terrorists, Boko Haram group, as well as the fate of the civilian population in the north-east where human rights and humanitarian conditions are distressing.”

Also, the heads of state and governments of the ECOWAS have promised that they would not rest on their oars in supporting Nigeria to combat the excesses of members of the sect. Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, who is currently chairman of the authority of heads of state and government of ECOWAS region, commended the establishment of peace operations in Cameroon and Chad to defeat the Boko Haram sect in north-eastern Nigeria. He said great opportunities lie ahead of the region for creating prosperous life for citizens but only when its leaders can achieve peace and security.
He said, “Less than two months ago,
precisely on 30th May, 2014, we met at this same venue for an extraordinary summit. The main purpose of that gathering was to review the security situation in our sub-region, specifically in northern Mali and some parts of northern Nigeria.
“Let me take the opportunity to thank all who are involved in the efforts to bring peace to our sub-region. We welcome the role of Algeria and Mauritania and others to bring peace to Mali. We acknowledge the peace operation from Cameroon and Chad to defeat the Boko Haram in north-eastern Nigeria.”

Other issues discussed at the opening
session of the meeting included the
proposed biometric identity cards for
ECOWAS citizens to aid easy identification and movement for trade purposes.
The lingering difficulty in doing business by citizens in the region was one of the concerns raised by the leaders.
At the meeting, they identified Illegal
checkpoints, unnecessary documentation requirements, substantial informal payments at borders and transit fees as some of the huddles inhibiting free trade.

Courtesy:
Leadership Newspaper

Maimalari Barracks Mutiny: Nigerian Army Court-martials 18 Soldiers

The Nigerian Army has court–martialed 18 soldiers for attempted murder and mutiny in Maimalari cantonment, Maiduguri.
In an internal memo seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the Commander, Army Headquarter Garrison, B.T Ndiomu, ordered the General Court Martial, GCM, to be presided by C.C Okonkwo, a Brigadier General.
Mr. Ndiomu, who is also a Brigadier General, had ordered that a GCM be assembled at the garrison’s conference hall on June 26.
The GCM is made up of seven members, two waiting members, a judge advocate and two prosecuting officers.
Others include: a liaison officer, a contact officer, two officers authorized to sign any amendment convening officer and eight other soldiers who form a court secretariat.
The 18 soldiers are to be court-martialed for an incident that occurred in May at the barracks On May 14, some soldiers, angered by the death of 12 of their colleagues in a Boko Haram ambush, opened fire on the vehicle of the
General Officer Commanding, GOC, 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Ahmadu Mohammed.
The soldiers blamed Mr. Mohammed for the death of their colleagues killed in the ambush.
Sources had told PREMIUM TIMES that the soldiers were ambushed while on a special operation in Kalabalge Local Government Area where locals on the Tuesday morning killed about 150 insurgents and arrested 10 others.
After the operation, during which some military equipment were recovered from the insurgents, the soldiers who had arrived the council, at night were asked to return to Maiduguri.
The soldiers reportedly pleaded to be allowed to return to Maiduguri the next morning, as the night trip would be too risky.
Their request was allegedly turned down and the troop had to drive to Maiduguri at night.
“Those commanding the troop declined their request to pass the night in one of the villages on the grounds that the top ranks at the headquarters of the 7 Division would not be pleased if they don’t go back to Maiduguri that night,” said a ranking soldier, who sought anonymity.

The 7 Division, recently formed, is located in Maiduguri, the capital of the troubled Borno State.
But half way through their journey, they ran into a Boko Haram ambush and 12 of them got killed while some others were injured, sources said.
The military later claimed that only four soldiers died in the ambush, before it increased the figure to six.
The survivors, in what seemed a vengeance mission, opened fire on their commander, Mr. Mohammed, when they eventually arrived in Maiduguri.
Mr. Mohammed, a Major General, was immediately redeployed to another command which the military did not reveal.

However, in its version of the attack on the GOC, the military said the soldiers did not shoot at their commander.
“The fact of the matter is that troops on patrol around Chibok were ambushed by insurgents yesterday. Troops engaged the insurgents in a fierce combat and extricated themselves from the ambush killing several insurgents.
“Four soldiers however lost their lives during the ambush.
“On evacuation of the remains of the fallen troops, the General Officer Commanding addressed the troops who registered their anger about the incident by firing into the air,” the military spokesperson, Chris Olukolade, a Major General, had said in a statement.
The Nigerian Army, however, instituted a military board of inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the conduct of soldiers who fired some shots.
In a charge sheet signed by Mr. Ndiomu on June 28, it was specified that 11 of the soldiers are being charged with criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny among others.

These eleven soldiers are facing a six-count charge of committing mutiny, criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny, attempted murder, disobedience to particular orders, insubordinate behaviour contrary to and punishable under the law, and false accusation.
The charge sheet read that the soldiers inspired other military personnel of the 101 battalion to commit mutiny and also accused E. Azenda, a Lieutenant colonel who is the Second in Command of the 101 battalion of conspiring with other officers to kill the soldiers.

One of the charges read “that you between 13 and 14 May 2014 at Maimalari cantonment in Maiduguri fired sporadically with the intent to incite other personnel of 101 battalion against the authority of 7 Division.”

Punishment for the offences under the Armed Forces Act include; death, imprisonment, dismissal with ignominy from the Armed Forces, a fine of a sum not exceeding the equivalent of three months’ pay among others.
The accused soldiers are entitled to a defence counsel of their choice. However, the convening officer must be informed of the defence counsel 24 hours before trial commences.
The convening officer is also expected to appoint a counsel if the accused persons fail to secure one.
The president of the GCM is expected to submit six bound copies of the proceedings of each case to Mr. Ndiomu not later than six weeks after the end of the trial.

Below are names of the accused soldiers, their ranks and service numbers:
96NA/ 42/6235 Cpl Jasper Braidolor
96NA/ 43/ 10277 Cpl David Musa
05NA/ 57/ 3451 LCpl Friday Onun
09NA/ 64/ 4905 LCpl Yusuf Shuaibu
09NA/ 62/ 1648 LCpl Igono Emmanuel
09NA/ 64/ 4214 Pte Andrew Ngbede
10NA/ 65/ 8344 Pte Nurudeen Ahmed
10NA/ 65/ 7084 Pte Ifeanyi Alukhagbe
13NA/ 69/ 2898 Pte Alao Samuel
13NA/ 69/ 2907 Pte Amadi Chukwudi
13NA/ 69/ 2898 Pte Allan Linus

The other seven soldiers also court-martialed but yet to be charged are:
93NA/ 36/ 1542 Cpl David Luhbut
97NA/ 45/ 7423 Cpl Muhammed Sani
03NA/ 53/ 816 Lcpl Stephen Clement
09NA/ 62/ 1648 Inama Samuel
09NA/ 64/ 5858 Iseh Ubong
10NA/ 65/ 6912 Ichocho Jeremiah
10NA/ 65/ 7343 Sabastine Gwaba

Courtesy:
Premium Times

Scores of Nigerian Soldiers Ambushed, Killed In a Failed Bid To Recapture Damboa Barracks From Boko Haram

Nigerian soldiers deployed to recapture Damboa military base suffered huge casualties as Boko Haram militants ambushed them, killing at least 15 soldiers, a security source has disclosed to SaharaReporters.

The source stated that 200 soldiers had been sent on the operation to reclaim the base from the Islamist insurgents who overran it and took it over a few days ago. Our source stated that the militants, who had hoisted their flag on the base, had dug a trench where many of their heavily armed gunmen lay in ambush awaiting what they knew would be the inevitable arrival of a contingent of soldiers to retake the base.

As soon as the soldiers approached, the Islamist militants surprised them by opening fire from their trenches, killing as many as 15 soldiers and wounding many more, said the source. “Some of the injured soldiers said that they lost 15 soldiers, but the full extent of those who died is even unclear now,” he told our correspondent.

“I went to the MRS Hospital in Maimalari barracks in Maiduguri. The hospital is filled to capacity with injured soldiers,” said the source. He added that the hospital was so stretched that some of the wounded soldiers were on the bare floor to receive treatment. “There’s a lack of space and facilities to accommodate the injured victims.”

Our source said the injured soldiers were enraged that they were sent on such a high-risk operation without enough firepower and troops to take out Boko Haram insurgents. “They are very angry and the atmosphere is tense,” said the source.

Courtesy:
SaharaReporters

Exclusive: Iraq Tells U.N. that 'Terrorist Groups' Seized Nuclear Materials

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Insurgents in Iraq have seized nuclear materials used for scientific research at a university in the country's north, Iraq told the United Nations in a letter appealing for help to "stave off the
threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad."
Nearly 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of uranium compounds were kept at Mosul University, Iraq's U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the July 8 letter obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.
"Terrorist groups have seized control of nuclear material at the sites that came out of the control of the state," Alhakim wrote, adding that such materials "can be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction."
"These nuclear materials, despite the limited amounts mentioned, can enable terrorist groups, with the availability of the required expertise, to use it separate or in combination with other materials in its terrorist acts," said Alhakim. He warned that they could also be smuggled out of Iraq.

A U.S. government source familiar with the matter said the materials were not believed to be enriched uranium and therefore would be difficult to use to manufacture into a weapon. Another U.S. official familiar with security matters said he was unaware of this development raising any alarm among U.S. authorities.

A Sunni Muslim group known as the Islamic State is spearheading a patchwork of insurgents who have
taken over large swaths of Syria and Iraq. The al Qaeda offshoot until recently called itself the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
"The Republic of Iraq is notifying the international community of these dangerous developments and asking for help and the needed support to stave off the threat of their use by terrorists in Iraq or abroad," Alhakim wrote.

Iraq acceded to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material on Monday, said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The convention requires states to protect nuclear facilities and material in peaceful domestic use, storage and transport.
"It also provides for expanded cooperation between and among states regarding rapid measures to locate and recover stolen or smuggled nuclear material, mitigate any radiological consequences of sabotage, and prevent and combat related offences," according to the IAEA.

Courtesy:
Reuters