-Kills 4 policemen in Kano, Niger
-As US offers support to Nigeria

Written by James Bwala, Kola Oyelere and Adelowo Oladipo, With Agency Reports Friday, 24 February 2012

A primary school situated at Abaganaram ward of Maiduguri metropolis was set ablaze on Wednesday night by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect, residents of the area alleged.

When Nigerian Tribune went to the area at about 4.00 p.m., it was discovered that the fire started at about 12.00 p.m until the morning on Thursday.

A resident, who spoke to Nigerian Tribune on the incident, said people were alleging that the fire was set by members of the Boko Haram sect.

“We saw the smoke and we began to wonder because earlier, there were gunshots around here and people locked themselves in their homes. Later, somebody said there was fire on a building. We were all afraid to go out but this morning, they were saying it was Boko Haram, so, we did not know whether it was Boko Haram or those boys that always smoke Indian hemp at the school,” Maman Bala told Nigerian Tribune.

According to her, some young men are in the habit of smoking Indian hemp at the primary school, adding that the police had come on many occasions to arrest them but they would be released later and they would return to the school to smoke.

She wondered why Boko Haram would set a school ablaze when there was nobody in the school.

“I don’t think this was Boko Haram. They always say Boko Haram for everything now, but I think those boys smoking were responsible for the burning.’’

The police, on Thursday, again fell victim to the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect in Kano and Niger states, as members of the sect killed four policemen while two others sustained varying degrees of injury.

The police command said 15 suspects had subsequently been arrested.

However, there were conflicting report as to the actual location where the four policemen were killed. A source said that the attack was very close to the new Inspector of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, a police source disclosed that the incident occurred on the Bayero University Kano (BUK) road, after Gidan Murtala in Kano metropolis.

According to a statement issued and signed by the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Magaji Musa Majiya and made available to the Nigerian Tribune, gunmen killed two policemen, injured two others who were on patrol on the Bayero University Kano (BUK) road.

He said: “Today, Thursday, February 23, 2012, at about 08:30hrs, on BUK road by Island after Gidan Murtala, unknown gunmen on four motorcycles attacked our policemen on foot patrol.

‘’As a result of the attack, two died on the spot, while two were injured and are now receiving treatment at Hospital.’’

ASP Majia added that military helicopter was sighted hovering over the area, while the road is also jampacked with heavy traffic due to through search and check by the combined team of the policemen and soldiers.

The spokesman for the Joint Task Force in Kano State, Lieutenant Ikedichi Iweha, confirmed the arrest, saying the security operatives searched the area and arrested four suspects.

He disclosed that the suspects were arrested during a gun duel at Hotoro General area and declined to give further details of causalities during the attack.

In a related development, an unconfirmed report said that on Wednsday night, at Naibawa park, on the outskirts of Kano, four gunmen killed a civilian and went away with his Toyota Camry car.

An eyewitness said the four gunmen shot the owner of the car while he was about to open the door of the car.

He said that immediately they shot the man, he fell and the suspected gunmen drove away the car.

However, all efforts to confirm the incident proved abortive.

In Niger State, tragedy struck in Minna, on Wednesday night, following the killing of two policemen attached to the state police command by suspected members of Boko Haram sect, while the slain policemen were on a stop and search duty at the city gate on the Minna-Paiko/Suleja expressway on the outskirts of the state capital.

The killing of the two policemen occurred barely one week after a similar incident occured in the state capital, when some fleeing gunmen suspected to be members of the sect killed three policemen, including an Inspector of Police and a police sergeant, at the General M.I Wushishi Housing Estate, at the Eastern bye-pass area of the state capital and a police corporal at Maje community, in Suleja Local Government area of the state.

Nigerian Tribune investigation further revealed that the attack on Wednesday had caused apprehension among the residents in the state.

Nigerian Tribune further learnt that the two policemen, whose identities were unknown at the time of filing this report, were killed by some fleeing gunmen at about 9.30 p.m. at a police nipping point in Minna.

Meanwhile, when contacted by telephone, the spokesman for the state police command, Mr Richard Oguche (ASP), confirmed the attack but declined to give further details.

He said: “Please, I will call you back. I am going to see my commissioner. Two of our men have just been killed at Tunga. I will call back to give details.’’

Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria said, on Thursday, that his country was offering support for the Nigeria’s fight against the Boko Haram sect, but ruled out sending troops into a region vital to American oil supplies.

Ambassador Terence McCulley said the United States (US) was encouraging Nigeria to reach out to residents in the North while using security forces to target and apprehend terrorists.

He said the US was also considering opening a consulate in Kano, the biggest city in Nigeria’s North, to burnish America’s own image in a region where many people were still suspicious of the Western influence.

However, he was unequivocal when asked in an interview with the Associated Press whether US troops should be deployed in Nigeria.

“That’s not on the table. No, absolutely not.

“It’s of a great concern to us. We’ve seen an increase in sophistication, we’ve seen increased lethality. We saw at least a part of the group has decided it’s in their interest to attack the international community.

“It’s not going to be solved exclusively by treating it as a security issue,” McCulley said, adding that “it needs a holistic solution. Government needs clearly to have a targeted approach on security that targets the bad guys that target perpetrators of these horrible attacks and don’t injure innocent civilians or damage property.”

While McCulley declined to give details, he said that “adequate systems” were now in place to receive such warnings and that the US maintained “robust relations” with Nigerian intelligence agencies.

ibide:

Pls boko haram should tell F G what the realy need what is their problem with primary school ? Or did the school refuse to give them primary school result or they fail while the were schooling there

mkmyers45:

Even if tire bust now na Boko Ram

achi4u:

yes,let the killings continue untill somthing drastic, emh! infact somthing unimaginable happend.am begining to enjoy the killings, just that the numbers of victims are falling, abeg high am to about 200 to1000s.igbos abeg come back home, enough land dy, even here in Abakaliki.

patriot2:

Look the people who are going to suffer the most is the northerners, because the way things are going we will soon split this country into 2 and thr north will starve to death. And I think that would be justified for northerners like you. Wait till you see your family members starving to death or being attacked by mobs looking for food.
Then you people will start begging the south for help.
____________________________
confused parrot,which one u dey sef?
, now i see your not from the east,yet you bighead refuse to read meanging into what i've post.which part of south are you throwing own bomb from?
, eneke nti oba, oke nkita ji isi anya oku.

Sect assassinates District head, Islamic cleric

Members of the Boko Haram sect were also reported to have assassinated the District Head of Geidam, in Yobe State, Mustapha Geidam as well as a 60 year-old Islamic cleric in Konduga, a town near Maiduguri. Sheik Saina Alhaji Ajiya. The killings occurred on Sunday night.

The district head, Mustapha Geidam, was a former protocol officer to Senator Bukar Ibrahim.

He was assassinated in front of his residence after the Maghreb prayers.

Confirming Mustapha’s assassination, Tanko Lawan, Yobe’s Police Commissioner, said the district head was relaxing in front of his residence when he was attacked and killed, adding that the Boko Haram had sent him a letter, alerting him that he had been marked for death and would be killed unless he relocated from his palace.

Also, confirming the killing of the Sheik Ajiya, Borno State Police Spokesman, Mr. Samuel Tizhe, said he was killed after Boko Haram hit men forcefully entered his residence and fired several fatal shots into his head and chest in front of his family. No arrests have been made following the assassinations.

achi4u:

confused parrot,which one u dey sef?
, now i see your not from the east,yet you bighead refuse to read meanging into what i've post.which part of south are you throwing own bomb from?
, eneke nti oba, oke nkita ji isi anya oku.

patriot2:

this is our problem in the south: no unity. This is why the northerners can continue killing us.

Yeske!:

Just one school, mstcheew these BH guys dey fall my hand i swear.

Da infamous:

Boko Haram is an indigenous Salafist group which only turned itself into a Salafist Jihadist group in 2009. It propagates a version of Islam that not only forbids any interaction with the Western World but IT IS ALSO AGAINST THE TRADITIONAL MUSLIM ESTABLISHMENT AND THE GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA. The group publicly extols its ideology despite the fact that its founder and former leader Muhammad Yusuf was himself a highly educated man who lived a lavish life and drove a Mercedes Benz.



THE MEMBERS OF THE GROUP DO NOT INTERACT WITH THE LOCAL MUSLIM POPULATION AND HAVE CARRIED OUT ASSASSINATIONS IN THE PAST OF ANY ONE WHO CRITICISES IT, INCLUDING MUSLIM CLERICS.

In a 2009 BBC interview, Muhammad Yusuf, then leader of the group, rejected scientific explanation for natural phenomena, such as the sun evaporating water being the cause of rain, Darwinian evolution, and the Earth being a sphere "[i]f it runs contrary to the teachings of Allah". Before his death, Yusuf reiterated the group's objective of changing the current education system and rejecting democracy.



From the above, you will agree with me that Boko Haram, from inception was fighting against westernization. Its objective was to change the current education system and to replace democracy with sharia system of government. The group first became known internationally following sectarian violence in Nigeria in 2009, but was brutally confronted by Nigeria’s security formations. Their leader was captured and killed extra judicially. Boko Haram, afterwards went underground and our security details forgot about them. That is where we made a mistake. Some one should have kept tabs on them but this didn’t happen. Our policemen were busy collecting N20 on the highways while the military men were occupied in JTF operations. Our politicians were busy fanning the embers that portrayed us as a nation without one mind and spirit.



During the 2011 elections it became obvious to the International Community that Nigeria had a problem. The Northern part of the Country refused to accept Jonathan’s nomination to run for President. This was after he was humiliated when Yar ‘Adua became incapacitated. At that point it became clear that there was an invisible line that divided Nigeria. A line, that only Ojukwu saw but has become very visible to a whole lot of people now. It was clear in 2011 that Nigeria had to divide.



In January 2012, Jonathan acting on wrong advice removed the subsidy on fuel without putting palliative structures on ground. The NLC strike that followed would have been hijacked by certain elements and the Government prevailed on Labour to call off the strike. Government knew that nefarious elements wanted to hijack the strike so they sent in soldiers.



While all these were happening, Boko Haram was being positioned as a tool to be used to achieve the division of Nigeria. When the attempt to cause a Christian/Muslim war failed, boko haram resorted to their original plan of attacking the Government only that this time they have become more deadly and elusive. The same Government that crushed Boko Haram in the past is now helpless. Do you not think that something bigger than Nigeria is the force behind Boko Haram. I have a hunch that the Government knows this force but may not have any evidence. The same source of the prediction that come 2015 there will be no entity called Nigeria has kept quiet all these while. It is possible that the entity called Nigeria has become unprofitable to Western powers and they may be bent on using Boko Haram to break up Nigeria. After the break up, the northern part of the country will be labeled a terrorist state and Boko Haram will be crushed because it would have served its purpose and would have become a threat to the oil in the southern country.

We need to start thinking in this direction. We need to start looking beyond our borders for the force behind Boko Haram. There is no way Boko Haram can be thriving without external help and funding.


DA INFAMOUS