President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said he was disturbed after realising the link between the Boko Haram sect and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).According to Garba Shehu, spokesman of the president, Buhari said this at a joint press conference he held with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey after their talks in Ankara.The Nigerian leader reportedly said [...]
Tag "boko haram"
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Mohammed Mamu, former chief of administration of the Nigerian air force, says the office of the national security adviser under former President Goodluck Jonathan hired Ukrainian mercenaries to fight Boko Haram.Boko Haram held a swathe of territories and carried out fatal attacks in the federal capital territory (FCT) in the early days of the Jonathan administration.But in the third quarter [...]
Kashim Shettima, Borno state governor, says President Muhammadu Buhari's meeting with Jim Kim, president of the World Bank Group, was witnessed by three southern governors.Shettima said it was at the meeting that the president asked the World Bank chief to focus on "the northern regions".Kim said on Thursday that Buhari asked him to focus the intervention efforts of the bank [...]
The federal high court in Kainji, Niger state, has convicted 45 Boko Haram members to between three to 31 years in prison.The insurgents were convicted following the conclusion of the first phase of the trial during which 575 Boko Haram suspects were arraigned.In a statement on Friday, Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, said the court also discharged 468 suspects who [...]
Chad has withdrawn hundreds of its soldiers from Niger.According to NAN, the troops had been helping local forces fight Boko Haram insurgents in the region.The development comes after the US slammed a travel ban on its citizens.Chad defence officials have not given a reason for this action, but it is believed that it could weaken the fight against the insurgents.Residents [...]
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says 1.8 million persons displaced by Boko Haram insurgency are unwilling to return to their communities in the north-east.Jan Egeland, NRC secretary-general, said this on Wednesday while presenting the report on the situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs), in Maiduguri, Borno state.He said the IDPs are still concerned about security in their communities, getting new [...]
The federal government has commenced a secret trial of suspected Boko Haram insurgents.Last month, Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation, said prosecutors had been appointed to handle the cases involving over 1,600 suspects.He also said four judges have been appointed by chief judge of the federal high court to sit on the cases and dispose of them “expeditiously”.BBC quoted sources [...]
The army says it has released 760 suspected Boko Haram members to the Borno state government.Onyema Nwachukwu, deputy director, army public relations, theatre command of Operation Lafiya Dole, said this in a statement on Friday.Nwachikwu said the suspects were handed over to the government at the Bulunkutu state rehabilitation centre, Maiduguri for reintegration into the society.He said they were arrested [...]
Mohammed Bashir, a suspected member of Boko Haram, says the insurgent group was planning to carry out attacks in Ondo state before he was arrested.Speaking while he was paraded on Thursday by the police, Bashir who was arrested in Akoko south-east local government area of Ondo, described himself as an "officer in Boko Haram" and said "killing means nothing to [...]
John Tsoho, justice of the federal high court, Abuja, has withdrawn from the trial of eight Boko Haram suspects.Tsoho announced his decision to "recuse himself" from the trial on Tuesday.This followed an application filed by one of the suspects - Abu Musab Al-Barnawi - asking the judge to withdraw from the case for alleged bias.The suspects are facing trial for [...]
Boko Haram, the dreaded insurgent group, has used kidnapping as one of its atrocious instruments of war since 2009.However, the sect gained opprobrious notoriety for the crime of Kidnapping when it abducted 276 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state, on April 14, 2014.The government of Goodluck Jonathan dilly-dallied in responding to the abduction. There were speculations in [...]
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Cameroon has deported 100,000 Nigerian refugees in the hope of stemming the spread of Boko Haram.In a report on Wednesday, HRW)said the deportation defied a plea by UN refugee agency to not return anyone to north-eastern Nigeria, where Boko Haram killed thousands of people, "until security and human rights situation improved considerably”.The HRW report [...]
The military authorities have announced the arrest of Idris Babawo, a suspected top commander of the Boko Haram sect.According to Sani Usman, army spokesman, the Ondo police command captured Babawo in the state.Usman said Babawo, who also goes by the name Idoko or Nagada, is number 156 on the list of wanted Boko Haram members released by the army.“The Ondo state [...]
The federal government will begin the prosecution of over 1,600 Boko Haram suspects in October.This was contained in a statement issued by Salihu Othman Isah, media aide to Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), on Sunday.Isah said Malami had approved a list of prosecutors to handle the cases and the legal aid council has also released a list counsels [...]
Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, has described the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) as an internal threat that can be handled by federal government.Speaking to journalists at the UN headquarters in New York, Onyeama said Nigeria does not require any international help to curb the threats posed by the activities of IPOB.He said IPOB is different from Boko Haram which [...]
Aminu Masari, Katsina state governor, has warned against ignoring the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).He gave the warning while reacting to pockets of crises that have occurred in various parts of the country following clashes between IPOB members and soldiers of the Nigerian army in Abia state.Speaking with state house correspondents in Abuja on Friday, Masari said [...]
