Jonathan confirms Suleiman Abba as new IGP

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has approved the appointment of Suleiman Abba, an Assistant Inspector General of Police, as the new Inspector General of Police.

Abba, currently the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 7, comprising Abuja, Kaduna and Niger states, replaces the incumbent Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, who proceeds on statutory retirement from Thursday, having completed 35 years in service.

The incoming Inspector-General, a lawyer, hails from Jigawa State and is an alumnus of the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies.

Positions previously held by him in the Police include Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department, FCT Command; Deputy Force Secretary and Commissioner of Police, Rivers State.

His appointment, in acting capacity, is with effect from August 1, 2014.

The Eagle Online had earlier on Thursday reported that Abubakar had taken Abba to the Presidential Villa, Abuja for a meeting with Jonathan.

This signalled the fact that Abba would emerged Abubakar’s successor.

Nigeria’ll soon disintegrate – Asari-Dokubo

The leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, on Tuesday declared that he never believed in the Nigeria project, adding that the country will soon go the way of Soviet Union and the rest that have broken up.

This is even as the former warlord came down hard on President Goodluck Jonathan over his statement that Nigeria would have boiled if former Head of State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, General Muhammadu Buhari, had died in last Wednesday’s bomb blast in Kaduna.

Asari-Dokubo said the President’s statement was unnecessary, adding that placing the life of one Nigerian above another is wrong.

He said: “I do not work for Jonathan.

“What the President said was wrong.

“The life of Buhari is not more important than 87 people that died in that blast.”

Asari-Dokubo, who addressed newsmen in Abuja, also debunked the insinuation that he paid the alleged mastermind of the blast N5 million to kill Buhari.

He revealed that begin from next week, he will lead a protest in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, to demand and ensure that Buhari is arrested by the Department of State Security.

He said: “I did not pay anybody to carry out any assassination attempt on Buhari.

“I do not have anything against him.

“He is not a threat.

“He will fail in 2015.

“For the records, I do not operate a Twitter account and anyone saying I tweeted that there will be more attacks is only using my name.”

Asari-Dokubo raised the alarm that all the calculated attacks on him are geared towards shutting him up ahead of the 2015 presidential election.

He said: “They want to silence me because they know the role I will play in 2015.

“They have also sponsored reports in Benin Republic that I am the person financing Boko Haram.

“Another Islamic scholar also said I am the one sponsoring Boko Haram to destroy the North on behalf of President Jonathan.

“The deputy leader or deputy minority in the House of Representatives said I spoke on behalf of President Jonathan.

“That means Buhari is the commander-in-chief of Boko Haram in the North.

“His allies came out and made inflammatory statements during the 2011 elections.”

Boko Haram kills eight, blows off Yobe bridge

Eight people have been killed by suspected members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, who attacked Katarko town on the outskirts of Damaturu, the Yobe State capital.

Katarko is 22 kilometers south of Damaturu and a community in Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State, which is the state’s stronghold of the Boko Haram insurgents.

Residents say the insurgents stormed the town around 7:30pm on Monday and first attacked the military base in the town before having access to some houses, killing eight residents in an attack that lasted for over seven hours.

“They came here and launched an unsuccessful attack on the military base before embarking on some selective killings within the town, leaving us with eight casualties presently being prepared for burial,” a resident told Channels Television in Damaturu.

Residents say the insurgents carried out their attack until 2:30am without further resistance.

During the violence, the insurgents blew off the Katarko Bridge linking Damaturu to their stronghold, Buni Yadi, the capital of Gujba Local Government Area.

The bridge connects Yobe State and neighbouring Borno and Adamawa States.

This is the first time Boko Haram militants are attacking Katarko since the commencement of serious hostility by the insurgents in 2009.

Meanwhile, two Boko Haram suspects have been arrested in Damaturu metropolis in possession of Improvise Explosive Devises with the intention of causing havoc in the troubled northeast state.

Although authorities decline comment on the arrest, residents confirmed that the suspects were arrested at separate locations with the devices, with the first member of the sect arrested revealing the whereabouts of the second suspect.

16 die as soldiers rescue Cameroon’s Vice Prime Minister’s wife from Boko Haram

The abducted wife of Cameroon’s Vice Prime Minister, Amadou Ali, has been rescued from her Boko Haram kidnappers.

The lady was kidnapped on Sunday alongside a traditional ruler of Kolofata town in Cameroon.

The rescue operation was carried out by soldiers from Cameroon in an operation that was reported to have lasted several hours.

According to Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation, 16 people died during the rescue operation.

Cameroon’s Minister of Information, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, confirmed the freedom of the vice prime minister’s wife.

Bakary said government was still investigating the number of casualties.

Boko Haram abducts Cameroon’s Vice Prime Minister’s wife

Boko Haram militants attacked Kolofata, a town in Cameroon’s Far North Region near Nigeria, on Sunday and seized several people including the wife of Cameroon’s Vice Prime Minister, Amadou Ali, a military commander in the region said.

“The situation is very critical here now, and as I am talking to you the Boko Haram elements are still in Kolofata town in a clash with our soldiers,” said Colonel Felix Nji Formekong, the second commander of Cameroon’s third inter-army military region (RMIA3) based in the regional headquarters Maroua.

“Some of them have already taken away the wife of Vice Prime Minister Ahmadou Ali and her house help while the bodyguards of the Vice Prime Minister have succeeded in taking him out of the town to Mora,” Formekong said, adding that there could be more casualties.

16-year-old girl suicide bomber among six killed in Kano blasts

No fewer than six persons lost their lives following two explosions which occurred in Kano on Sunday.

The first blast went off at Kofar Nasarawa, near the North-West University, while the second explosion happened at St. Charles Catholic Church on Zungeru Road in Sabon Gari.

The state Commissioner of Police, Aderenle Shinaba, who confirmed the incident while briefing newsmen in Kano, said 13 other persons sustained injuries.

Shinaba said the attack at Kofar Nasarawa was carried out around 12.05pm by a 16-year-old girl suicide bomber who wanted to cross over to the university.

He said: “The girl loaded herself with explosives and her target was the university and in the course of preventing her from going to the university, she detonated the bomb and injured five policemen.

“Five out of the security personnel stationed at the place sustained injuries, while the girl blew herself off instantly.”

Shinaba added that in the case of the second blast at Zungeru Road, the bomb was detonated within the vicinity of the church.

Shinaba said this had led to the killing of five persons, while eight others were injured.

He said: “The attack, which was carried out around 1pm, claimed five persons and injured eight persons.”

The Commissioner of Police said three suspects, including a cripple, had also been arrested at Sabon Gari, while all the injured are now receiving medical attention in the hospital.

He said investigation had already commenced to unravel the circumstances and those behind the attacks.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the affected areas.

Abubakar’s successor: Mbu, two DIGs, two AIGs make list

As varied news continue to filter in that the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, is lobbying for an extension of his stay as the number one policeman in the country, indications emerged on Thursday that the Police Service Commission has submitted the files of two Deputy Inspectors General, two Assistant Inspector Generals and a Commissioner of Police to the Presidency for study as replacement.

The submitted names are the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Intelligence, Solomon Erase; Suleiman Abba, the AIG in charge of Zone 7, Abuja; the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Administration, Suleiman Fakai; the DIG in charge of Operations, Michael Zokumuor; and the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Mbu Joseph Mbu.

A source said: “President Jonathan is still studying the files and may make a pronouncement any moment from now.

“But everything right now depends on him.”

Abubakar is due for retirement on July 31.

He would be expected to embark on compulsory leave towards the end of July and hand over to who will eventually be picked by President Goodluck Jonathan.

In a situation where a new IGP has not been picked before Abubakar leaves office, a DIG will most likely take over the mantle of leadership.

It was gathered that at least about 60 senior officers would be retiring by July.

Another source said: “I don’t think the President is reconsidering Abubakar or why would he request for five names from the PSC?”

Among the DIGs being considered, Zokumuor, who is from the same Balyesa State as the Pesident, would be retiring next year, while Fakai has about seven years to stay in service.

Fakai is from the North West.

Sources disclosed that Zokomuor, aside from his retirement date, which is dodging his footstep to the leadership position, may not be favoured because the Chief of Army Staff, Kenneth Minimah, is from that zone and his choice may mess things up for Jonathan.

He is also said to be a loyalist of a former military dictator from the North.

Of the two AIGs that were shortlisted, Erase is believed to be highly educated and an exposed detective who has served as Principal Staff Officer to three past IGPs.

He is from Edo State and said to be highly favoured among all those shortlisted.

“Abba on the other hand is from Niger State in the North Central zone and had served as Commissioner of Police in Rivers State and was also in Lagos State at a time as the supervising CP during 2007 general elections,” said a source.

The sources said the only Commissioner of Police on the list is former controversial Rivers State CP, Mbu, who is currently the CP of the FCT.

He is said to enjoy the support of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.

However, the odds against him are that if he is picked as the new IGP, over 200 senior police officers would be retired from the force.