President Jonathan Withdraws From 2015 Presidential Elections?

Less than a year before the Nigerian presidential elections, President Goodluck Jonathan has assured Nigerians that a different government and leadership would be installed in the country come 2015.
President Jonathan made this statement while delivering a speech at a “Democracy Day” church service held on May 25, Sunday, in Abuja, a statement many believe would catch his allies, foes and watchers of his administration by surprise.
Prior to Jonathan’s speech, the head of the Nigeria Pilgrims Commission, Reverend John Kennedy Opara, had told the gathering that this year's Democracy Day would be the last to be celebrated by Mr. Jonathan.

* President Jonathan may have withdrawn his candidacy for next year's presidency
Sahara Reporters reports that when it was the president’s turn to speak, he assured Nigerians that the Democracy Day event was the last for his current administration.
A PDP official who was at the event told newsmen that he was mystified by the statements. He said he had no advance notice about the president’s remarks, and so was in no position to interpret its political meaning.

It is still unknown if the two statements are indications that the Nigerian president had decided not to seek a second term in office in general elections scheduled for next year.
Mr. Jonathan continues to face criticism both in Nigeria and abroad for his dismal performance since he assumed office more than five years ago.
Among those that attended the church service included the Senate President David Mark, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, and some military chiefs. The president’s wife, Patience Jonathan, as well as his mother were also in attendance.

- See more at: http://gistpage.com/p/2094/just-in-president-jonathan-withdraws-from-2015-presidential#sthash.QZuvhQ1L.p9UpNAPC.dpuf

Boko Haram kills another 24 in Borno

No fewer than 24 people were reportedly killed on Sunday in an attack carried out by suspected Boko Haram insurgents in Kamuyya village, Biu Local Government Area of Borno State.

Boko Haram militants have recently intensified bloody attacks in the rural areas as over 100 villagers have reportedly lost their lives within the last one week.

The latest incident occurred in the afternoon on Sunday when dozens of the insurgents, armed with assault rifles and explosives, invaded a weekly market in Kamuyya village, and killed 24 persons.

Residents said the insurgents had visited the town about two months ago and asked the village head to mobilise his subjects to contribute N250,000 for them to execute God’s work.

The villagers, most of them peasant farmers and petty traders, had only managed to raise N70,000, a situation which angered the insurgents.

They reportedly threatened to return and collect the balance, warning the community to either heed their demand within a stipulated period or face deadly attack.

A resident, Bukar Umar, said: “Actually, when they issued such threat, we all took it lightly and nobody bothered to make any extra effort to raise the amount they requested for.

“Maybe that was what ignited this bloody attack because we were unable to meet their demand.”

Umar said over 20 insurgents stormed the Kamuyya weekly market, when traders were conducting their businesses and opened fire into the crowd before setting shops and vehicles on fire.

According to him: “The militants, armed with sophisticated weapons, raided the area and proceeded to the major market. They began to shoot sporadically into the crowd, killing 24 people on the spot and burnt most of the shops in the market.”

He said the people were taken unawares as the town had not come under such heavy attacks for a long time.

He expressed dismay that innocent people were killed without the intervention of the security forces.

He said: “Throughout the onslaught, which lasted over five hours, there was no single security personnel to confront the invaders as they had a field day.

“The invaders snatched several vehicles and loaded them with bags of foodstuff before fleeing the area.

“They destroyed everything we had, carted away our foodstuff and burnt down the remaining ones.

“The most painful thing is that they did not spare even the fleeing residents as they trailed and killed anybody who attempted to escape.”

Another resident, who preferred anonymity, claimed that over 100 houses were burnt after the attackers killed 24 people, leaving several others wounded.

Umar decried the absence of security operatives in the area, even as they alerted relevant authorities on the need to deploy troops to safeguard the community.

He said: “Immediately after the last week attack in Kimba village, where scores of people were murdered, we urged the security agents to deploy their personnel, but our appeal fell on deaf ears.”

The resident further explained that after wreaking havoc in market, the hoodlums proceeded to the main town and set houses and vehicles on fire.

“After the carnage in market, the militants moved into the main town as they set ablaze several houses and vehicles,” Umar said.

Vanguard.

Boko Haram kills 30 vigilantes in Borno

Militants in Nigeria have raided three villages and killed those they accused of being anti-Boko Haram vigilantes, residents have told the BBC.

More than 30 people were killed in the attacks overnight into Friday in north-eastern Borno State, they said.

The raids took place as the UN Security Council approved sanctions against the Islamist group.

It is five weeks since Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls, prompting international outrage.

Nigerian officials say President Goodluck Jonathan is due to travel to South Africa for discussions with other African heads of state on combating terrorism in Africa following on from last weekend’s summit hosted by France.

Earlier his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, said African presidents should take responsibility for their failures and resolve their own conflicts together.

“I find that our leaders, who should have been working together all along to address these problems that only affect their countries, wait until they are invited to go to Europe. Why does anybody wait for that? What image does it even give about Africa?” he said.

Residents from two of the villages that came under attack said militants had arrived in a convoy and gathered the men of the community together.

They accused them of being members of vigilante groups and killed them all, one villager from Moforo in Marte district who escaped across the border to Cameroon told the BBC Hausa service.

They then burnt down all the shops in the market, leaving the villagers destitute, he said.

Correspondents say that most villages have formed vigilante groups to try to protect their communities from militant attacks.

A resident of Kimbi village in Biu district said the villagers contacted the security forces to alert them to their attack, but were told it was not an area under military control so they could not be helped.

The military has not commented on the allegation.

About 25 men were killed in Moforo, another eight men in Kimbi. It is not known if there were casualties from a raid early on Friday on Kabrihu village near the Sambisa forest.

The latest attacks came after another deadly village raid in Borno and twin bombings which killed 122 in the central city of Jos on Tuesday. The authorities also suspect Boko Haram of being behind those attacks, but there has so far been no claim of responsibility from the group.

Boko Haram was added to the UN Security Council’s al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee’s list of designated entities on Thursday at the request of Nigeria.

US envoy Samantha Power said it was an “important step” in support of efforts to “defeat Boko Haram and hold its murderous leadership accountable”.

BBC.

Graphic Photos: Genocide Committed In Borno State? OMG!

I cannot verify the authenticity of what you are about to read and see but according to a popular Muslim cleric, Dr. Ahmad Abubakar Mahmu Gumi, who shared the photos on his Facebook page, he claims the men lined up are young Almajiris who were executed without trial as Boko Haram members in Borno state. He claims vigilante groups would move into the villages, pick up young men, take them to the field and kill them. He said this is how some innocent people are killed in the name of fighting Boko Haram. He shared four photos...find them after the cut...but viewer discretion advised. It's quite graphic...

ACF, Jang decry Jos bomb blast

The Arewa Consultative Forum has described the twin bomb blasts that rocked Jos, Plateau State on Tuesday as “wicked and gruesome”.

The National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim, said this in a statement on Wednesday in Kaduna.

Ibrahim added that the act was condemnable considering the huge destruction of property and loss of lives it left behind on its trail.

“The Northern part of Nigeria has witnessed and experienced too many bomb blasts in the last six years, distorting its economic life and undermining its socio-economic development,” the statement said.

The ACF also described the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect in the North as most unfortunate, adding that it had led to the death of innocent people.

The forum appealed to the perpetrators of crimes against the country to embrace the civilised way of addressing their grievances.

It said: “Killing innocent people through bomb blast and gun attacks is not a solution to the grievances of the perpetrators.

“ACF finds it agonising and traumatic to always condemn such barbaric acts by insurgents and gunmen.

“The forum therefore calls on government to take proactive measures that will halt the occurrence of these dastardly acts.

“ACF further extends its heartfelt sympathy to the families of those killed and injured in this unfortunate incident.”

The forum also called on the National and State Emergency Management Agencies to immediately provide rehabilitation facilities to the injured and displaced persons in the incident.

In a related development, the Plateau State Governor, Da Jonah Jang, has described those behind the blast as “enemies of humanity and democracy”.

“The sponsors of these attacks on humanity stand condemned now and in the hereafter. We must all mobilise to check the carnage,” Jang said on Wednesday in a statement signed by James Mannok, the Director of Press Affairs.

Jang, who was reacting to the twin explosions that hit Terminus Market, Jos on Tuesday afternoon, condemned the “headless destruction of lives and property by these elements”.

He urged the security agencies to fish out the attackers.

He advised Nigerians to see the war against terrorism as a collective challenge that must be tackled collectively.

The governor said that government was assessing the situation and would take prompt actions thereafter.

17 killed as Boko Haram invades village close to Chibok

The Islamist group Boko Haram is accused of killing 17 people in an attack on a village in Borno State, close to Chibok, where hundreds of schoolgirls were seized.

It comes a day after 118 people died in a twin bomb attack in the central city of Jos, Plateau State, also blamed on Boko Haram.

In the latest attack, Boko Haram fighters reportedly spent hours killing and looting in the village of Alagarno.

Alagarno is near Chibok, from where the schoolgirls were abducted last month.

The abductions caused international outrage and have put pressure on the Nigerian authorities to deal with the threat from Boko Haram.

People in north-east Nigeria are extremely vulnerable to attacks because many areas are no go zones for the military and the insurgents operate freely, the BBC’s Will Ross reports from the country.

Witnesses in Alagarno said the suspected Boko Haram fighters arrived close to midnight, and killed and looted for hours before leaving in stolen vehicles.

One survivor told the BBC that every single building in the village had been torched.

Meanwhile in a fresh indictment on the poor maintenance culture in the country, the surveillance drones which Nigeria bought from Israel years ago that might have been used to hunt for the more than 200 girls held by Islamist rebels, have been left grounded due to poor maintenance, two official sources and the aircraft’s manufacturer have. Said.

“To the best of our knowledge, these systems are not operational,” Tsur Dvir, Marketing Officer for Aeronautics Defence Systems, a firm based south of Tel Aviv that supplied Nigeria with Aerostar unmanned aerial vehicles, said Tuesday.

Adopted Son Of General Buhari Arrested Over N20million Scam

Mohammed Buhari, an adopted son of former Military Head of State and APC Chieftain Mohammdu Buhari has being arrested by men of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for allegedly defrauding a businesswoman, Mrs Florence Nwokocha, to the tune of N20million, Sahara Reporters reports. 

According to SR, Mohammed, who was introduced to Mrs Nwokocha through his account officer at Ecobank, had promised Mrs Nwokocha 10% of annual profit from a supposed oil deal which she was made to invest N20m into. After receiving her money, Muhammed reportedly disappeared. When he was eventually arrested by the EFCC, Muhammed claimed he ran into trouble after losing bank guarantee which he secured from another new generation bank. He is currently in the custody of the EFCC.