NIGERIA GETS FOREIGN AID TO FIGHT BOKO HARAM..ACQUIRING HARDWARE

A Nigerian soldier mans a weapons onboard an Otokar Cobra APC in northeastern Nigeria

VOICE OF AMERICA
(30 May) ABUJA

While some Nigerian politicians are talking about negotiating with Boko Haram, the military is preparing for battle with the militant group.Seventeen countries have signed
on to help Nigeria increase security. The Nigerian military is acquiring new
boats and helicopters and is fixing up
fighter jets.

In a speech in Abuja, Minster of Defense Bello Haliru Mohammed said training and re-training military personnel is a top priority, considering the security threats in Nigeria.

The minister said Nigeria has signed military deals with 17 countries to help
quell attacks blamed on the Islamist
extremist group. The group is believed to have killed more than 1,000 people since it began violent operations in 2009, attacking churches, markets, schools,
security forces, the local U.N.headquarters and newspaper offices.

Seeking new solutions

Wole Olaoye, a political analyst with Nigeria’s Leadership newspapers, said foreign assistance could allow Nigeria to
benefit from lessons learned abroad.

He said this kind of clandestine insurgency is new to Nigeria and while the government looks at security approaches and the possibility of negotiations, they also should be looking at new solutions and a greater reliance on technology. Like many Nigerians, he makes a point of saying foreign assistance will not be welcomed if it threatens national sovereignty.

“I think that technology should be deployed there and it will help if those who were already on top of the situation in terms of technology offer advice, offer assistance. But if the cooperation is up to an extent where Nigeria will now play second fiddle to anybody – that I will not
accept,” said Olaoye.

Sense of urgency

Other analysts also say the longer Boko
Haram is able to carry out attacks, the
more reason the world outside Nigeria
has to be worried.

Political columnist Idang Alibi said if the group continues to operate inside Nigeria, it could branch out like al-Qaida. “If you allow a group like Boko Haram here it will become a base for the training of terrorists, they become more sophisticated and become a threat to other countries,” said Alibi.

Alibi said Nigeria also should be wary of
military aid because he believes the Boko Haram threat is a result of social
problems, like extreme poverty and
unemployment in Nigeria’s mostly-Muslim north. He said foreign assistance should not bring more weapons into Nigeria, but help the country’s economy grow.

NIGERIAN AIR FORCE ‘AIR EXPO 2012’ : MORE PHOTOS

NAF 465 – One of four recently-refurbished and upgraded Alpha Jet airframes

NAF 575 – a military-variant Agusta A109LUH

NAVY WEEK SPECIAL: NIGERIAN NAVY SPECIAL BOAT SERVICE OPERATIONAL CRAFT

A RHIB moves a team of Nigerian Navy SBS commandos and American seamen to board a NN Sea Eagle OPC

Navy SBS commandos in a RBS Defender boat with a .50 calibre HMG fore and a 40mm AGL aft

RENAMING THE UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS: A WELL-INTENTIONED MOVE GONE AWRY

During his Presidential Speech to commemorate the Democracy Day holiday at dawn today, President Goodluck Jonathan, by proclamation, renamed the University of Lagos. It is now to be known as the “Moshood Abiola University, Lagos”

Almost as soon as the announcement was made, staff and students alike shot down the idea and students took to the streets in demonstrations.

As an alumnus of the University of Lagos whose students, including yours truly, sacrificed blood and sweat to bear the torch against the criminal annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential elections which was unofficially won by Chief Moshood Abiola, it is a twist of supreme irony that the same university which fought the hardest to uphold his stolen mandate is now vehemently resisting the attempt at having it renamed in memory of the man. How so ironic. MKO OWNED Lagos in his day and these protests somewhat detract from the heroic stature which the memory of the man continues to enjoy in the megacity of Lagos.

The feelers on ground suggest that it is an unpopular move. Apparently, a well-meaning Federal Government took a cue from the fact that two of Nigeria’s A-List universities at Ife and Zaria are similarly named after the political titans that were Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Sir Ahmadu Bello.

But those were conceived as regional universities ab initio and are named after their worthy founders before they later got taken over by the FG whereas the Universities of Lagos and Ibadan were always federal government-owned.

Moreover, there is no rule in the book which states that national heroes can only have universities named after them. No Nigerian has as many edifices named in their memory as does General Murtala Muhammed – the foremost international airport, specialist hospitals, polytechnics, streets and so on BUT not any university and his memory looms largest across the land.

The idea of renaming the University of Lagos after him merely serves to localise the impact of a man who touched lives around the country. During the June 12 Polls and as against the nationwide acceptability criterion which required that the victor garner a minimum of 25% of the total votes cast in two-thirds(20) of the then thirty states of the federation, MKO garnered a minimum of 25% of the total votes cast in twenty eight of Nigeria’s 30 states!

So why make a local champion of a national hero by renaming a federal university in a region after him rather than at the centre of federal power – Abuja? Why allow people to go out on street protests against an idea meant to immortalise the memory of Moshood Abiola? Students are threatening total action, lecturers are threatening a fight to the finish which could involve litigation?

To save us this unsettling sight of seeing people protest over what is supposed to be an honour done a national hero, can the FG please reconsider its stand and rename the Abuja National Stadium in memory of the man instead? He was after all, known as the PILLAR OF SPORTS in Africa. Is that not a more fitting national monument to be named after him?

Again, a monument in ABUJA, the national capital, named after the great man represents a more fitting tribute to the memory of a man who was well-liked across Nigeria and who impacted lives across the federation with his unequalled acts of philanthropy.

BETTER STILL, proclaim June 12 our National Democracy Day and make it a work-free day. Let the May 29 date merely be observed the same way we do our Armed Forces Remembrance Day san a work-free day on January 15th.

JSTF ARREST SUSPECTED MILITANT COMMANDER IN KANO

Nigerian defence and security forces at the scene of a bomb attack

VANGUARD
May 29, 2012
By AbdulSalam Muhammad
KANO

The Joint Military Task Force, JTF,Tuesday morning, arrested a man suspected to be a top militant commander during an early morning raid at Karkasara quarters by Malam Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano Municipality.

JTF sources told Vanguard that the arrest was a product of “intelligence
gathering and painstaking effort” by
the security operatives, stressing that
“there was no casualty during the
operation that lasted for about an hour. Vanguard learnt that Karkasara and
other adjourning quarters had long
been identified as dark spots by
security agents in the state.

The security source however, refused
disclosed the identity of the suspect.
According to the source, “what I can
only tell you is that the guy we picked up
this morning is a top commander that
has been on our wanted list.”

Confirming the arrest in a telephone
chat with Vanguard, the JTF spokesman in Kano, Lt Ikediche Iweha stated that; “I can confirm to you that we carried out a very successful operation today and the suspect we are looking for was apprehended without resistance. “But I cannot divulge other details about the suspect at this point because we have commenced robust investigation to establish what we think we have at hand”, Iweha stated.

POLICE ANTI BOMB SQUAD DETONATE IED IN KADUNA, GOVERNOR YAKOWA ASSURES ON SECURITY

Men of the Nigeria Police Anti Bomb Squad watch as an Otokar Cobra APC drives past

PM NEWS
May 29, 2012

Few hours after the police detonated a
bomb in the state today, Kaduna State
Governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, has
reiterated his commitment to ensuring
that the state is secured and habitable for citizens and investors.

Speaking at a media chat/breakfast
organised by the state government to
mark this year’s Democracy Day in the
state, Yakowa, who identified security as the biggest challenge militating against progress of the north and the state, promised to work closely with security agencies to ensure a lasting peace in the state.

“If we secure the state and ensure unity
amongst the people, I can assure
everyone that development would be
faster and sustained,” he said. He also used the occasion to inform the media that he had to set up a peace and
reconciliation committee to reconcile
aggrieved persons as a result of the 2011 post-election violence and sectarian crises that rocked the state in the past.

US SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS BRAINSTORM TODAY ON BOKO HARAM

President Barack Obama of the United States

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Tuesday, 29 May 2012

AS debates rage on the classification of Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation in the United States, top security and intelligence experts will today (Tuesday) gather in Washington, United States, to brainstorm on the challenges posed by the sect to Nigerian and United States security.

The panel’s discussions with the theme, “Threats to Nigeria’s Security: Boko Haram and Beyond,” will be held at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, under the sponsorship of Jamestown Foundation. Details of the discussions showed that the panelists will discuss such sub-themes as domestic factors of instability in Nigeria, instability in Northern Nigeria, the rise of radical/militant/extremist Islam in Nigeria and Cameroon, nexus among central African militant movements and the Niger Delta and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Other themes of the discussions include Nigerian security issues and the US- Nigeria relations, the United States’ response to Boko Haram, the political basis for demilitarisation and dialogue in Nigeria and Nigeria’s counterterrorism strategy or lack of one.

The panelists are drawn from the United States military services, State Department, the American Congress and the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

UNITED NATIONS MISSION IN LIBERIA(UNMIL): NIGERIAN CONTINGENT

Nigerian UNMIL troops standing in front of an Otokar Cobra APC disarm a trigger-happy Liberian cop

A Nigerian UNMIL soldier instructs a Liberian security officer during the November 7th, 2011 polls

JTF – OP PULO SHIELD ACCUSE NNPC, OIL FIRMS OF AIDING ILLEGAL OIL BUNKERING

DAILY TRUST
Written by Bashiru Abdullahi
Port Harcourt
Tuesday, 29 May 2012

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other oil companies are frustrating the fight against oil theft in the Niger Delta, the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) said yesterday.

The Commander of the JTF Operation Pulo Shield and Commander, 2 Brigade Nigerian Army Port Harcourt, Brigadier General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, who said this while interacting with journalists on the achievements of the JTF, alleged that about 56 oil bunkering sites recently discovered belong to some oil companies which the NNPC is a shareholder. Buratai said, “I want to say that the major stakeholders in the oil industry are not quite sincere in the approach toward fighting oil theft in the Niger Delta. You have heard(about) our achievement which is just within one month. If you go back to our previous achievements, it triples this present one.

“Oil theft is a major issue. It is an issue of national concern. If all the oil companies and indeed the NNPC will cooperate and work together, I want to assure you that we are going to completely stamp out oil theft in the Niger Delta,” he said. “We had an assessment (some)times back on all the pipelines. We discovered over 56 of those illegal bunkering sites and they belong to an oil company and the NNPC is a major shareholder in that oil company. Unfortunately as I talk to you, I have not been told that even one has picked. So where will you get the solution to oil bunkering?”

Responding to allegations from some quarters that the Army also connive with oil thieves to siphon crude oil, the JTF commander, said that his men cannot be involved is such act pointing out that the Chief of Army Staff and that men of JTF are all committed in the fight against oil theft. “If you talk of the connivance of the Army,I will tell you that we are not involved in oil theft,” he said.

JTF-OP PULO SHIELD REPEL EX-MILITANTS AFTER GUN BATTLE AT NIGER DELTA FLOWSTATION; ‘THIRD PHASE AMNESTY’ SUSPECTED

JTF Amphibious Forces patrol in a gunboat in the Niger Delta

VANGUARD
May 28, 2012
By Emma Amaize
YENAGOA

A flow station belonging to Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNEPCO, in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, was Sunday night, the battle ground between soldiers of
Joint Task Force, JTF, on the Niger
Delta, codenamed, “Operation Pulo
Shield” and a cluster of ex-militants,
who invaded the oil facility with explosives.

At the end of the hostilities, the ex-
militants,who came in a 200-horsepower fibre boat to blow up the
Benisede Flow Station, belonging to
SNEPCo, succeeded in destroying two
oil wells that were suspended on water, but it was not known if there
was any casualty. An account said the ex-militants struck at 8 pm, while another version had it that they stormed the flowstation, between the boundary of Delta and Bayelsa states at 10.30pm.

Spokesman, Shell, Mr. Precious Okolobo, told Vanguard when contacted, yesterday, that he had no information on the attack. JTF spokesman, Lt-Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, said he was in a meeting and could not confirm the story, but promised to get back to this reporter.

A dependable military source,however, said the task force was hunting for the leader of the group that attacked the flow station. Apparently, the invading ex-militants did not know that soldiers were on guard at the flow station and were confronted by the JTF operatives,
resulting in a gun battle.

According to a source, “the ex-militants met soldiers in the yard and a shoot-out ensued. Both sides exchanged gunfire for some time before the ex-militants, numbering about eight, blew up two wells. “Gunshots echoed from the direction of the flow station, we don’t know those who were shooting, but we
knew it was a serious battle,” an
indigene of the neighbouring Ojobo
community in Delta State told Vanguard on phone.

The source added: “The ex-militants
came to sink the entire flow station,
but when they got there, they met to
their chagrin, men of JTF, who repelled
the incursion. However, they destroyed
two oil wells.” A community leader, Mallam Yusuf Eregbene, told Vanguard that villagers of Ojobo community reported that there was bomb blasts in the area on Sunday.

The gunmen, suspected to have been
led by an ex-militant leader, identified
as “Commander” Cairo, were said to
be protesting their non inclusion in
the amnesty programme. They claimed to be members of the third phase of the amnesty programme, though chairman of the Amnesty Programme and Special
Adviser to the President on Niger-
Delta, Mr Kingsley Kuku, had said that there was no provision for a third
phase in the amnesty programme and
that only President Goodluck Jonathan
could order the enlisting of more
persons into the programme.