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Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Friday, June 22, 2012
JTF captures Boko Haram leader Bama in gun battle
US puts Shekau, two others on ‘terrorist’ list
After a three-month search, the Joint Task Force (JTF) has arrested a Boko Haram leader, Habib Bama, who is believed to be the architect of some key bombings.
Bama, a dismissed Army Private, allegedly coordinated bombings in Mogadishu Barracks, the Police Headquarters, the UN Building, St Theresa’s Catholic Church at Madalla and many in Jos.
The JTF, comprising the State Security Service (SSS), the military and the police, stormed Bama’s operational base in Damaturu, it was learnt. There was a shoot-out in which he was fatally wounded. Bama was being interrogated, as at press time, in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.
He may be moved to Abuja, if his condition improves, source said.
Bama’s arrest came on a day the United States put the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau and two others on the “terrorist” list.
A top JTF source said: “One of the cell-leaders of Boko Haram in the Federal Capital Territory, Suleja-Jos axis, was shot this afternoon in Damaturu by the Joint Task Force (JTF).
“He was critically wounded. We are still extracting words from him.
“He was declared wanted by security agents after the Madalla church bomb blast.”
The manhunt for Bama started on February 15 when the SSS declared him wanted.
A statement by the SSS Deputy Director, Ms Marilyn Ogar, said the suspect committed crimes against the state.
The statement said: “Habibu Bama is hereby declared wanted by the Federal Government in connection with crimes against the State.
“Bama is an ex-soldier, Kanuri by tribe and hails from Bama, Borno State . He is also known by the following names;( i )Habib Bama; (ii) Shuaibu Bama; and (iii) Habib Mamman.
“Members of the public with any information that could lead to his arrest are hereby implored to immediately contact the nearest Police Station, Military formation or any other security agency, please.”
There was no official reaction from Boko Haram as at press time on the arrest of Bama.
Bama was captured at the market, dependable military sources said.
The source said Bama, apparently affected by the curfew, was at the market and bought food items like Irish Potatoes and yam when he was captured along with two of his boys, by soldiers on patrol.
The source said the arrest of Bama was accidental because a soldier who was Bama’s neighbor during his military days saw him at the market while on patrol.
Bama was reported to have attempted to collect the gun from one of the soldiers but four soldiers overpowered him after shooting him in the leg.
It was gathered that his boys, who were guarding his car took to their heels and escaped.
Other sources said he was arrested after a fierce gun battle with operatives of the Joint Task Force when he was trying to sneak out of Damaturu town.
Top military sources said he was badly hit by bullets.
Damaturu residents who were coming out of their houses after the relaxation of the 24 hours curfew, were forced to return home as security operatives discovered an un-detonated bomb near First Bank Plc branch office along Gashua road.
The police anti-bomb squad immediately cordoned the area and got the lethal device de-wired.
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Culture icon Segun Olusola dies at 77
Culture icon Chief Segun Olusola passed on last night in a Lagos hospital. He was 77.
The late Olusola was Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Ethiopia.
Renowned artist Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya described Olusola’s death as a huge loss to the culture sector and the nation at large. He said his exit would create a big vacuum in the creative industry.
“We are going to miss him very much. In fact, the artists’ community has been rocked by his death,” he said.
Literary scholar and poet-activist Odia Ofeimun said Olusola was one of the few voices that were knowledgeable about the Nigerian arts and artists. He described the late ambassador as a man who stood up for the arts at all time. “It is sad and we are going to miss him,” Ofeimun added.
Executive director of CBAAC, Professor Tunde Babawale, said Olusola’s death would create a big vacuum in the sector because he was a cultural icon and an institution. “Olusola lived art, believed in it, and gave all to its development. We will miss him as a reservoir of wisdom, fountain of cultural knowledge, and as a reference personality. But our solace is that Baba left a legacy that will outlive him. His contributions to the sector will remain indelible in the annals of history.”
Prince Yemisi Shyllon described Olusola’s death as a monumental loss. He said until his death he was a friend of everyone in the sector and attended almost every art event. He said Olusola believed in the nation’s culture and did a lot to propagate it. “A leader in his own right and very artuiculate in his position,” Shyllon said.
Chief Segun Olusola will be remembered from four fronts. First is the Arts and Culture (he was an actor, playwright and a founding member of The Players of the Dawn, an amateur theatre outfit that held sway until 1959, prior to the emergence of the 1960 Masks, a more professional theatre outfit established by Prof. Wole Soyinka. He was an art connoisseur whose family gallery, Ajibulu-Moniya Gallery transformed into a full-blown commercial gallery open to public till date. In Broadcasting, he became the first African television on the Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) debuted in Africa with its first transmission. In Diplomacy, he was the longest-serving Ambassador of Nigeria to Ethiopia (1987 - 1993). He was reputed as a Culture Ambassador who employed the instrumentalities and functionalities of arts and culture to drive Diplomacy. In Humanitarian circle, he was moved by his experiences as a diplomat when he dealt with many critical refugee issues, to eventually found the African Refugees Foundation in 1993.
Ambassador Olusola hailed Iperu-Remo in Ogun State. He attended St. John’s Catholic School and Wesley School, Iperu-Remo from 1941 to 1947. He did his secondary school education at Remo Secondary School , Sagamu between 1941 to 1947. He proceeded to the United States and attended Pittsburgh Universities.
He is survived by his wife, Chief Mrs. Beatrice Fehintola Olusola; his children: Ms. Aderonke Ajibulu-Moniya, Mr, Jimi Olusola III, Mrs.Toyin Laditi, Mr. Sabitu Olusola, Mrs. Toyin Adejumo and Mr. Samuel Olusola; his immediate younger sister, Chief Mrs. Biodun Kehinde and others.
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Who is who in Boko Haram
Abubakar Shekau
He is the leader of Boko Haram.
He is said to be a fearless loner, a complex, paradoxical man - part intellectual, part gangster.
Fondly called imam or leader by his followers, Abubakar Muhammad Shekau was born in Shekau village in Yobe State.
Some say he is 34 or 35, others that he may be 43 - the uncertainty adds to the myths surrounding Nigeria’s most wanted man.
Shekau was once thought to have been killed by security forces in 2009 - only for him to reappear in videos posted on the internet less than a year later as Boko Haram’s new leader. He has not been seen in public since. Instead, still images and video clips of him are released from time to time, mostly online, by the group’s faceless “public enlightenment department”.
He is said to have met his predecessor in Maiduguri, capital of Borno State through a mutual friend, Mamman Nur, who is said to have masterminded the August 2011 bombing of the UN office complex in Abuja.
Under Shekau, Boko Haram has become more radical and carried out more killings. He is fluent in his native Kanuri, Hausa and Arabic languages - he does not speak English.
He is said to have married one of Mohammed Yusuf’s four wives and adopted their children.
Shekau does not communicate directly with the group’s foot soldiers - he is said to wield his power through a few select cell leaders, but even then, contact is minimal.
He is nicknamed “Darul Tawheed”, which translates as a specialist in Tawheed. This is an orthodox doctrine of the uniqueness and oneness of Allah, which is the very cornerstone of Islam.
Kabiru Sokoto was arrested in February by the State Security Service (SSS). He was earlier arrested by the police, and ‘allowed’ to escape. His escape led to the dismissal of Deputy Commissioner of Police Zakari Biu. He was declared wanted, with a N5million ransom on his head before the SSS re-arrested him at Mutum in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State. He has been with the SSS. He is believed to be giving vital information which has been helping understand how the Boko Haram sect works.
His real name is Kabiru Abubakar Dikko. The 29-year-old was born to the family of Umaru Jabbi of Gagi village in Sokoto South Local Government Area on May 9, 1983.
After the death of his father, his uncle, Abubakar Dikko, adopted him and gave him his name. He completed his secondary education in 2003 and was admitted to the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Sokoto, where he was said to have been a truant with extremist tendencies.
Abu Qaqa
The SSS is also holding a man it said was the spokesman of the sect, Abu Qaqa. But Boko Haram has insisted that the man in the SSS custody is Abu Darda, its head of public enlightenment. He was arrested in February and has been with the agency since then.
The sect said: “The person that was arrested was Abu Darda and not Abu-Qaqa. I am Abul Qaqa, the spokesman for the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnati Lidda’awati Wal Jihad. Abu Darda is the head of the Lagina (Dept) of public enlightenment and not the spokesman.
“The arrest of Abu Darda is an outright deception and betrayal by the Nigerian government and security agents. They proclaimed dialogue and are doing the opposite. His arrest has proved to us that they were waiting for us to avail ourselves so that they can arrest us.
“We purposely sent Abu Darda to Kaduna to discuss with some key government functionaries on the issue of dialogue. Indeed, he had started talking to them but unknown to him, they (had) directed some security agents to trail him and arrest him.
“This is exactly what happened. He volunteered to present himself for the dialogue but was betrayed. Everybody knows our capability and tactics of operation. It is evidently clear that none of our members could be caught on a platter of gold and without confrontation.”
In May, his father was reported killed by the sect in Maiduguri because of his alleged revelations on the group to the SSS.
Suleiman Mohammed
He was arrested in May along with his wife and five children in the Farawa, Kano.
His arrest came hours after blasts and gunfire rocked Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Mohammed has been described as Boko Haram’s head of operations in Kano under the group’s suspected leader, Abubakar Shekau.
Three pistols, a rifle, 1,000 rounds of ammunition and 10 Improvised Explosive Devices (IDEs) were recovered from his house.
Ayuba Usman
He was arrested in May at his shop in a market in Kano following information from suspected Boko Haram members arrested in raids.
High profile suspects allegedly said Usman was providing combustible chemicals used in the manufacture of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) for attacks on innocent people in the city.
Thirty-five drums of chemicals of 240 litres each and a dozen bags of combustible items were recovered during the raid on his shop in one of the markets in Dala Local Government Area of the state.
Ibrahim Mohammed Ali
A prime suspect in the coordinated attacks on Christian worshippers at the old campus of Bayero University, Kano in which 20 persons, including 2 professor, were killed. He was arrested in May.
Ali, a diploma holder from Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri, Borno State, was nabbed by security operatives who had been on his trail.
The JTF arrested him after surrounding a house located at Bubugaje, Sharada Phase III Industrial Layout in Kumbotso Local Government Area, where he was hiding.
There was a three-hour shoot-out between the JTF and suspected members of the sect before he was arrested.
Courtesy Of: The Nation
Adegbite urges US not to tag Boko Haram as terrorist group
The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (SCIA) chief Lateef Adegbite yesterday urged the United States not to be in a haste in tagging Boko Haram as a terrorist group.
He also urged governors in the North to work with the security agencies and the Federal Government in resolving the security challenges.
Adegbite spoke yesterday during a visit to the State House where he met with Vice President Namadi Sambo alongside other members of the leadership of Jama’atul Nasrul Islam (JNI).
Adegbite, who was reacting to the US listing Boko Haram leader Ibrahim Shekau and two others as terrorists, told State House correspondents that such a declaration would have wider implication on the people.
He said since Nigerians are doing all things necessary to address the matter through dialogue, the US should hasten slowly.
“How do they know who are Boko Haram and those who are not? The implication will be very serious. They may see someone like me with my long beards and think I am Boko Haram; so the implication will be very serious.
“ We are appealing to them to give Nigeria more time to dialogue with our people and we hope we will reintegrate them into our fold.
“They should hasten slowly. We must see all these that are happening as a total challenge and war against all Nigerians - Muslims, Christians and none believers.”
In Adegbite’s view, the security situation “is beyond religion and against the people of this country and the people of this country must ensure that it does not degenerate into the situation like that of Afghanistan, Somalia and Mali now.”
“ We are too sophisticated for that and, therefore, we must stop the drift and arrest it . The government is doing its best because these are faceless people. They engage in a kind of mutiny against the people. So, they are not easy to identify.”
Adegbite urged Nigerian to cooperate with the security agencies by identifying Boko Haram’s operatives and backers who live among the people.
“The people know them. They are neighbours of the people. The people must be security conscious and point out these evil doers among us to security agencies,” he said. He urged the government to urgently address poverty and unemployment.
“We should give those who are unemployed annual grant and encourage them to work. When they have better work, nobody wants to be a beggar. So social security system is a must,” Adegbite said.
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US puts Boko Haram leader Shekau, 2 others on ‘terrorist’ list
The United States yesterday named three alleged leaders of the Islamist group Boko Haram as “foreign terrorists”.
The State Department identified the three as Abubakar Shekau, who it called the “most visible” leader of the group, Abubakar Adam Kambar and Khalid al-Barnawi, who it said were tied both to Boko Haram and to al Qaeda’s north African wing.
“Under Shekau’s leadership, Boko Haram (western education is a sin) has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks in the North, its primary area of operation. In the last 18 months, Boko Haram or associated militants have killed more than 1,000 people,” the State Department said in an announcement.
“These designations demonstrate the United States’ resolve in diminishing the capacity of Boko Haram to execute violent attacks,” it said.
The action by the State and Treasury departments, first reported by Reuters on Wednesday, follows growing pressure on the Obama Administration to take stronger action against Boko Haram, which has stepped up attacks on Christian places of worship this year in its drive to establish an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria.
U.S. officials say the decision to list individual Boko Haram members, rather than apply the more sweeping “Foreign Terrorist Organisation” label to the group as a whole as some U.S. lawmakers have demanded, reflected a desire not to elevate the group’s profile.
The action freezes any assets the three men have in the United States, and bars U.S. persons from any transactions with them.
The United States has signalled growing concern over Islamist extremist groups operating in Africa, particularly al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has expanded its influence in the lawless Sahel region and funds operations by collecting kidnap ransoms or siphoning off the drug trade.
The United States has also sought to curb the influence of al Shabaab, the militant group which has seized control of large areas of south and central Somalia and has been blamed for attacks elsewhere in East Africa.
Both AQIM and al Shabaab are already on the official U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations, which makes them key targets in the U.S. anti-terrorism campaign.
The State Department has been under pressure to act against Boko Haram for months.
In January, Lisa Monaco, the Justice Department’s top national security official, sent a letter to the State Department arguing that the Nigerian group met the criteria for a “foreign terrorist” listing because it either engages in terrorism that threatens the United States or has a capability or intent to do so.
Boko Haram increasingly is seen as a potent threat to Nigeria, Africa’s most populous state and major oil producer, and as part of growing arc of Islamist extremist groups stretching across northern Africa.
Republican senators led by Scott Brown of Massachusetts have introduced legislation requiring the State Department to determine whether Boko Haram should be designated as a terrorist group.
Republican Representative Patrick Meehan, who chairs a Homeland Security subcommittee in the House, also introduced an amendment that would force the administration to add Boko Haram to the terrorism list or explain why it was not doing so.
But a group of academic experts on Africa sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month, urging her not to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist group, saying such a move could backfire by enhancing the group’s reputation among potential recruits and other militants.
Courtesy Of: The Nation
‘Akingbola not responsible for transactions EFCC accuses him of’
A Lagos High Court, sitting in Ikeja, yesterday heard that the former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank (now Access Bank), Dr. Erastus Akingbola, did not carry out the transactions for which he is being tried by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).
A defence witness, Mrs Ayoola Akande, spoke during cross-examination by counsel to the prosecution, Mr Emmanuel Ukala (SAN).
Dr. Erastus Akingbola and his associate, Mr. Bayo Dada, are facing charges of allegedly stealing N4.7 billion belonging to the defunct Intercontinental Bank.
Mrs Akande said Dr Akingbola did not benefit from the money transfer.
She told the court that contrary to the EFCC allegation, the $8.54 million and the 3.1million pounds were not made from the Domiciliary Account of the bank or that of its former chief executive officer.
Mrs Akande said: “It was Regal Investment that provided funds for the US dollars we purchased. The US dollars were not purchased for the use of Regal Investment.
“It was not my original statement that the US dollars were purchased by Regal Investment and not by the bank or by the first defendant, Akingbola).
“I also said that cash was lodged into the account for the transfer. There were no cash lodged into the account of the first defendant for the transfer.”
Justice Habeeb Abiru fixed further hearing in the matter till July 25.
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