Many killed as Boko Haram strikes again in Yobe

Members of the dreaded sect, Boko Haram, struck again on Friday in Yobe State. This time around, it was in Damagum, a town about 70km from Damaturu, the Yobe State capital. The dreaded sect last struck in Yobe State in Damaturu about a month ago.

Damagum is located in Funne Local Government Area. Sources in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, told The Eagle Online that residents of the town were fleeing into the bush for safety as the dreaded sect struck at about 6pm. Some of those who succeeded in fleeing into the bush called their relatives in other parts of the state, especially Damaturu, to inform the military of the attack and the need for prompt intervention. Damagum was also attacked in 2012.

It came under attack at about 7pm on March 28, 2012. Explosives were used on that occasion.

Reports as at press time on Friday were sketchy. But many residents of the state were reported killed by members of the Boko Haram sect as those fleeing awaited the intervention of the military.

Boko Haram to Emir of Kano in new video: You’re a dead man

Abubakar Shekau, the leader of the extremist Islamic sect, Boko Haram, has threatened to attack the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, for mobilising support against the sect.

In well publicised statements, Sanusi asked Kano State residents as well as vigilantes to arm and defend themselves against future terrorist attacks following a recent attack on the Kano Central Mosque.

The latest threat was contained in a video posted on youtube and viewed on Wednesday by our correspondent.

Shekau condemned Sanusi and adherents of most Islamic sects, describing them as infidels who have abandoned the Islamic doctrine.

He said they should be ready to repent and practise Islam as preached by his sect, or be ready to face the consequences.

Shekau said: “Before I start talking to my brothers who believed in me and the religion of Allah, not the religion of democracy, not that of western education, those who believed in the religion of the Quran not that of the constitution and not religion of the Emir of Kano.

“We do not practise the religion of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, not the religion of Jonathan, not the religion of Obasanjo, not the religion of Atiku, not the religion of Babangida, not the religion of Obama, not the religion of Bush, not the religion of Clinton, but the religion of Allah.

“Now listen to me Emir of Kano. I am talking to you and only you because of your recent utterances. Let me inform you now that you are late (dead), you should know that you are only the King of Kano, King of Central Bank, King of money, you are only Sanusi Lamido.”

Shekau said his group would continue to fight and kill local vigilantes, hunters, and all those who oppose the teachings of the sect.

He also said: “Emir of Kano Sanusi, you are late, that our triumph is just for a period of time so you said. Even your predecessors who are renowned idol worshippers in Islamic history like ‘Abujahal’ could not succeed in fighting Islam.

“Yes, you can say that our success is for a period of time, because you are a king of Bank and a loyal citizen of your country.

“Because you are made the Emir of Kano, that is why you got angry and was calling on the vigilante groups and hunters to attack us. Let me tell you that the hunters and the vigilante groups will fail and you will also fail.”

Shekau condemned all other Islamic sects in the country, calling them pagans.

He said the Izala, Tijjaniyya, Qadiriyya and Shiite Islamic groups were pagans and his group would continue to kill their followers.

The Boko Haram leader also condemned the government of Saudi Arabia, saying that all infidels would perish in hell.

“We will kill you people, we will capture hostages and keep selling them,” he said.

The Boko Haram leader said he (Shekau) was human, adding: “It is Allah that is supreme and even if there is no war, members of my sect and I will die.”

He said they were ready to die and go and rest in heaven.

Over 100 people died in the Kano Central Mosque attack which was believed to have been targeted at the Kano emir.

The Emir, who had travelled out of Nigeria at the time, visited the mosque on his return, and re-affirmed his vow that the Kano people would not bow to the Boko Haram’s threats.

Emir Sanusi to Boko Haram: You can’t kill me

The Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, has said the members of dreaded sect, Boko Haram, do not have the capacity to kill him.

Sanusi said this in reaction to a statement by the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, that he should consider himself as dead following his condemnation of the activities of the group.

Sanusi said he remains protected against any evil attack and that nothing was going to happen to him except the will of Allah, his creator.

Speaking on Friday during the weekly special prayer session at the Kano City Central Mosque (Masallachin Sarki), Sanusi said: “I am protected and nothing is going to happen to me.”

He urged Nigerians to continue to protect themselves against the attacks of the Boko Haram sect.

Five policemen detained for killing, burying cyclist

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested and detained five policemen over the alleged murder of a commercial bike rider who was killed and secretly buried in a shallow grave to conceal the crime.

The deceased, Aondona Tavershima, 24, was said to have been shot and killed by policemen attached to Maroko Police Station after he allegedly refused to stop when flagged down in the Lekki area of Lagos State. The policemen however quickly rushed his body to Lekki Beach and buried him.

Tavershima was killed around 11am. The police shot him after he refused to obey and stop. The policemen, it was alleged, further shot him repeatedly after he had fallen off his motorbike on receiving the first bullet. He died on the spot. The policemen would have gotten away with the murder of Tavershima, but for a fellow cyclist, who witnessed the murder and raised the alarm.

The deceased’s elder sister, Linda, alleged that the police offered her N10 million settlement to ensure the matter was not taken further.

The Divisional Police Officer in charge of Moroko Police Station offered the bribe, cajoling Linda to go home and think about the money. But rather than think about the money, Linda and other family members contacted a lawyer, demanding justice.

The Police Public Relations Officer for Lagos State, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, who confirmed the incident, said that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, ordered for the immediate arrest of the suspected policemen.

Nwosu said: “Five policemen are currently being detained, while the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, has since commenced an investigation. “If found guilty, the officers will be made to face the wrath of the law.”

Court orders Police, DSS, Customs to confiscate Obasanjo’s book

An FCT High Court on Wednesday ordered the Inspector General of Police, the Director-General of the Department of State Service and the Controller General of Nigeria Customs Services to confiscate former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s book from public vendors.

Justice Valentine Ashi gave the order after Obasanjo allegedly went ahead to publish his book titled: “My Watch” in spite of a court order made on December 5 restraining him from making the publication.

Ashi said: “I am of the view that the defendant having gone ahead to publish the book, he should therefore show cause within 21 days of the order served on him on why he should not be punished for contempt of court.

“The Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of State Security Services and the Controller General of Nigeria Customs Services are hereby directed to recover the book from sales vendors.”

Ashi directed that the book should be kept with the registrar of the court pending the determination of the suit.

Ashi also restrained the defendant from further printing, publishing or circulating the book: “My Watch,” which, he said “touches on the subject matter of the suit before the court”.

Earlier, counsel to Obasanjo, Realwan Okpanachi, told the court that the book was published before the order was granted.

Okpanachi argued that the book had been in circulation since November and the order was made on December 5.

The Counsel to Buruji Kashamu, Alex Izinyo (SAN), submitted that the defendant’s application was a calculated attempt to deceive the court.

Izinyo argued that the defendant admitted in his motion papers that the book was published on November 10 and in another paragraph, it was also stated that the book was published on November 2.

“My lord, the burden of proof lay with the defendant to show the court three volumes of the book,” he said.

Ashi adjourned to January 13 and 14, 2015 for hearing of the substantive case.

Kashamu had earlier dragged Obasanjo before the court for libel.

Kashamu alleged that Obasanjo addressed him as ex-convict in the letter he wrote to President Goodluck Jonathan titled: “Before it is too late.”

Governors behind my third term bid – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday for the first time opened up on the third term agenda in the twilight of his two-term presidency, accusing some Peoples Democratic Party governors of being behind the third term project because they were going to benefit from it.

At the launch of his autobiography titled: “My Watch,” at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja, Obasanjo denied seeking a third term but admitted he knew about it.

Obasanjo, who said he was not afraid of telling the truth, insisted that everything he wrote in the book was true.

According to him: “People say that it was obvious that I wanted a third term and I ask those who say I was behind the third term to bring concrete evidence to prove that I spearheaded it.

“I have presented evidence in my book that proves that I was not behind it, even though I knew about it.

“Some governors were the ones behind it because they felt the governors would benefit from it.

“If people say that it was obvious that I wanted a third term, they should present concrete evidence to the public that I am telling a lie.

“I have evidence to prove that everything I wrote is true and anyone that feels otherwise should present concrete evidence to prove his point.

“Third term was not my agenda or intention although I would not say I didn’t know about it.

“I didn’t mastermind third term.

“Those who were telling me to go on were the governors that were going to benefit from it.”

The former president also said he had no regrets in his involvement on how both late President Umaru Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan became presidents saying: “I don’t regret bringing in Yar’Adua and Jonathan.

“If they don’t do well, those coming from behind should learn from me and do better.”

Obasanjo added that he was not infallible and people should learn from his action.

He also said that he had sought avenues to ventilate his observations and positions with President Jonathan but had to resort to writing open letters to him because his efforts were frustrated.

He also commented on the injunction restraining him from publishing his autobiography.

He said: “I had given the book to my editors and to the publisher.

“As far as I am concerned, my job is done.

“I had written the book and printed before the court injunction.

“In a normal judiciary, the judge should be sanctioned and I hope something will be done.

“We are here legally and lawfully and we will continue to act lawfully and legally.”

Yar’Adua deceived me on his health – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has accused his late successor, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, of deceiving him before he became the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2007 about the seriousness of his illness, which he never recovered from till he died in office.

In his yet-to-be-released three-part volume of his memoirs titled: “My Watch,” which was exclusively obtained by an online journal, The Cable Alert, Obasanjo revealed how late Yar’Adua gave him the impression that he had overcome his health challenges and did not act responsibly when he eventually became terminally ill.

Obasanjo was instrumental to late Yar’Adua picking the PDP presidential ticket but frequently fell ill after his election and eventually died in May 2010, paving the way for President Goodluck Jonathan, who was then vice-president to become acting president. Obasanjo was thereafter accused of deliberately installing a terminally ill Yar’Adua, a Northerner, as president, in order to eventually return power to the South through the back door.

Apparently in an attempt to fault insinuations that he knowingly installed a sick president, Obasanjo in his autobiography revealed how he was kept in the dark on Yar’Adua’s illness and the extent he went to find out the truth.

Obasanjo wrote: “As can be expected, I was heavily involved in the transition and exit process that saw me leaving office for my successor, Umaru Yar’Adua, as recounted in Chapter Thirty-seven, the ninth chapter of the second volume of this book. The unprepared and unplanned transition from Yar’Adua to Jonathan was a more difficult exercise in some respects. One reason was the ‘cloak and dagger’ manner in which Yar’Adua’s illness was handled.

“The illness of a President cannot be regarded as private. His health has implications for the security and well-being of the nation. For the president and those around him to have attempted strenuously to keep the fact of the severity of his illness from the public smacks of ignorance of the enormity of what the job entails and the level of provinciality of their understanding, attitude, and approach.

“I remember that in 1978 or 1979, Chief Awolowo visited me while I was military Head of State and shared with me how he would always stay at home to attend to the work at hand and only make a private visit to the UK once a year for health reasons if he became president of Nigeria. I made it clear to the chief that once he became president of Nigeria, he could have no private visit to anywhere as such. Wherever he would be, he would be on duty, and the totality of his life would be public. I jokingly added that the only privacy he might lay claim to would be when he was at home with Mama Chief H.I.D., and that even then his security staff would be on twenty-four-hour duty.

“That was part of the nature of the job. In the case of Umaru’s illness, it took me by surprise because I had concluded that all was well, judging from his medical report that I requested and he submitted to me and the specialist advice I received from it. The report said that once he was off dialysis it would mean that he had had a transplant or treatment that had caused his kidneys to work as normal.

“Before he went to Germany, after being rushed to the National Hospital in Abuja, he phoned to tell me that he was going out of the country for medical reasons. What he did not reveal was the nature of his illness. I, however, became somewhat apprehensive when I learned that he was placed on dialysis that night. The persistence of the illness, and the cover up, caused me more apprehension especially when he abandoned Germany for Saudi Arabia. I never heard anything from him after that. The story I heard about his visit to Saudi Arabia was awkward. He did not inform his deputy as to how to manage things in his absence.

“On arrival in Saudi Arabia he was wheeled into the Intensive Care Unit, and for at least forty-eight hours nobody was in communication with him as far as the governance of Nigeria was concerned. What it meant was that for that period of time, Nigeria had no government. What a great pity! I wanted to know more about the exact medical condition of Yar’Adua, the president of Nigeria.

“I realised that a number of countries would know for sure; among them would be Germany, the US, Saudi Arabia, the UK, France, Israel and maybe Russia. I decided to indirectly check with the ambassadors of these countries. What I heard did not allay my fears. One said, ‘Your President is surely not too well’. Another said, ‘We believe he would be able to cope.’ Both were diplomatic answers, but one was more so than the other.

“At that point, I was left in no doubt that the arrangement made was shoddy, tardy, unpatriotic, selfish, and reckless. No nation should be left hanging in such a manner. I subtly campaigned for the emergence of Jonathan as acting president to take the country out of tenterhooks.

“I also publicly made the point that if you accept responsibility for a job and, due to no fault of your own but due to circumstances beyond your control, you are incapacitated to the extent that you can no longer perform to your own satisfaction or to the satisfaction of those you are supposed to serve, morality, duty, responsibility, honour, good sense, and patriotism demand that you act appropriately.

“At the same time, as debates were going on in the media as to what should or should not be, I was consulting genuine and objective leaders of thought regarding the way to go. At that stage, almost everybody realised the position of the constitution and recommended that we stuck to its provisions. Jonathan became acting president by the action of the National Assembly.”

Impeachment threat: Presidency jittery, begs Senate

Apparently jittery about the impeachment threat looming in the Senate, the Presidency has enjoined members of the Upper Chamber to give priority attention to issues of national importance rather than spending valuable time planning to impeach President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to the President, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in a statement on Wednesday, opined that important issues like terrorism and dwindling oil revenues should be the priority of the lawmakers at this trying period.

Okupe contended that the issues between the Senate and the Presidency are normal in Executive/Legislature relationships that could be resolved without resorting to impeachments.

His words: “The recent purported attempt by some Senators to prepare impeachable offences against the President, as reported in some section of the media, is seen by us in this light.

“We strongly trust and believe in the leadership of the present Senate and the unwavering patriotism and commitment that have been shown by the distinguished members and we trust that ultimately it is this tendency towards true Nationalism that will prevail in the Senate.

“It is our view that there are at present, serious fundamental issues of National importance such as winning the war against terrorism and stabilizing the economy in the face of dwindling oil revenue which requires the full attention, commitment and swift action of distinguished members of the Senate.

“We are of the opinion that all matters political can and will be resolved politically in the overall interest of our democracy and the well being of our people.”