Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,154,835 members, 7,824,476 topics. Date: Saturday, 11 May 2024 at 10:56 AM

Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East - Politics (5) - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Politics / Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East (21500 Views)

Chris Ubah, Annie Okonkwo n co Floor Andy Uba, Ekwunife and Stella Odua / Senator Annie Okonkwo Pulls Out 10,000 Apc Supporters For Comrade Tony Nwoye.... / War In Ngige's Camp As Annie Okonkwo Turns His Back On APC and Ngige's bid (2) (3) (4)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (Reply) (Go Down)

Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by PhockPhockMan: 1:04pm On Jul 01, 2014
Btruth: .......and have you gotten all your proof that APC is behind all the terrorism acts in Nigeria? or, you just been biased.

https://www.nairaland.com/1793786/boko-haram-detainee-mustapha-kolo

https://www.nairaland.com/1793736/proscribing-boko-haram-wrong-lai

https://www.nairaland.com/1794185/boko-haram-armed-wing-apc

Are you ok now, all these threads are all trending today.
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by Reference(m): 1:14pm On Jul 01, 2014
bootstrap:

People like you are usually failures in life. You fail because you cannot see beyond ur hate and myopic nature. You fail because u cannot think strategically. You fail because you think you knw, yet very foolish.

Did i mention anything about licking a*ss? YOU DISGUST ME! Mark my words this day, except the igbo man start being strategic and plan beyond their greed and foolishness, these same "cattle rearers" will continue to rule you.

#to the sensible once.....I repeat, strategic scheming, no permanent friend, no permanent enemies. Just permanent interest, interests that need to be represented strongly in every political party. A strong igbo caucus in every political party in Nigeria. Not running away when it gets hot. Know which region to align with and when to align, and all the time staying focused on ur goal.

But then again, who am i kidding? its not just in the Igbo mans nature. After all, every man in the east must have some funny title and wear some red cap.

PS: The moment you begin to look down on anybody or any region, or underestimate them, is the moment you begin to fail.


Oga, leave this matter. Even those doubters of long ago now know that the north looks down on every other region and considers political power its birth-right. Don't be naive. If the east decides it will not play second fiddle it has every right to. What do you think the insurgency in the north is all about. It is the APC that should prove beyond resonable doubt that it is a national party and that it is not tied to the wishes of a particular region or the aprons of certain individuals i.e. broad based for it to achieve absolute prominence (which I hope it does eventually). The age old civil war suspicions are rife in the north ad parts of the west and until other parts of Nigeria come to terms with easterners and accord them equal political rights they will continue to try to etablish an identity.

Remember this. Nigeria CANNOT move forward until there is social justice. It is not the Igbos walking out. It is the rest of Nigeria pushing them out time and again. Must they beg for it.

4 Likes

Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by todayguest(m): 1:15pm On Jul 01, 2014
Wants to remain active and relevant. Knowing the party's poor foundation in the SE.
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by HappyJoe: 1:16pm On Jul 01, 2014
For those of you threatening Ndigbo with "political irrelevance if they don't join APC" - I have these few questions:

1. How "politically relevant" have Ndigbo been since the end of the Civil War?
2. What have the Hausas done with their "political relevance"? (Hint: consider their literacy rates).
3. Obasanjo was head of state for 11 years, what did Yorubas accomplish with the "political relevance"?

Nigeria is f*cked up, either way. You people have spent the past 40 years trying to make life difficult for the Igbo man, without knowing that if you make life difficult for Igbo traders, they'll jack up the price of goods, making life difficult for everyone.

That has been the motivation behind denying Enugu an International Airport, refusing to dredge Calabar's port, refusing to build a Second Niger Bridge - all this was an attempt to frustrate Igbo business & direct economic activity outside the former Eastern Region.

Guess what? You didn't succeed, Igbos thrived regardless. Today you are threatening us with "irrelevance" if we "don't vote APC". My answer to this is a big middle finger.

You want us to vote for Buhari who built a refinery in Kaduna as petroleum minister, but couldn't find the money to build a Second River Niger Bridge as head of state or PTF chairman?

You want us to vote for Atiku who killed the Calabar port dredging proposal (& TINAPA) as VP, but cornered the entire Onne port complex in Port Harcourt due to his greedy interests?

You want us to vote for Kwankwaso, that fundamentalist who is busy using Hisbah (religious police) to harass Igbo traders in Sabon Gari & destroying their goods. (He made a show of destroying N48 million worth of "alchohol"wink?

There is no reason on earth why a right thinking Igbo man will vote for APC.

10 Likes

Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by Reference(m): 1:20pm On Jul 01, 2014
HappyJoe: For those of you threatening Ndigbo with "political irrelevance if they don't join APC" - I have these few questions:

1. How "politically relevant" have Ndigbo been since the end of the Civil War?
2. What have the Hausas done with their "political relevance"? (Hint: consider their literacy rates).
3. Obasanjo was head of state for 11 years, what did Yorubas accomplish with the "political relevance"?

Nigeria is f*cked up, either way. You people have spent the past 40 years trying to make life difficult for the Igbo man, without knowing that if you make life difficult for Igbo traders, they'll jack up the price of goods, making life difficult for everyone.

That has been the motivation behind denying Enugu an International Airport, refusing to dredge Calabar's port, refusing to build a Second Niger Bridge - all this was an attempt to frustrate Igbo business & direct economic activity outside the former Eastern Region.

Guess what? You didn't succeed, Igbos thrived regardless. Today you are threatening us with "irrelevance" if we "don't vote APC". My answer to this is a big middle finger.

You want us to vote for Buhari who built a refinery in Kaduna as petroleum minister, but couldn't find the money to build a Second River Niger Bridge as head of state or PTF chairman?

You want us to vote for Atiku who killed the Calabar port dredging proposal (& TINAPA) as VP, but cornered the entire Onne port complex in Port Harcourt due to his greedy interests?

You want us to vote for Kwankwaso, that fundamentalist who is busy using Hisbah (religious police) to harass Igbo traders in Sabon Gari & destroying their goods. (He made a show of destroying N48 million worth of "alchohol"wink?

There is no reason on earth why a right thinking Igbo man will vote for APC.

Thank you. These are real issues. As real as the fights the ACN had with the Obasanjo led PDP a few years ago. Real issues. Anyone who solves them gets the votes. Period. That is politics.

1 Like

Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by HappyJoe: 1:22pm On Jul 01, 2014
"There should be a strong Igbo presence in both parties"

That is bullshit and it is not "strategic", there is no point dissipating our energy in both political parties, when we can be of maximum impact in the ruling party.

Go and ask an Onitsha trader how he gains from having an international airport in Enugu, a few hours drive from Onitisha, or how much he saves on trips to China for that alone.

The Yoruba & Hausa leaders you want us to follow in APC would they have even considered giving Enugu international flights or building a Second Niger Bridge? Hell, no.

Even now they claim they want "Igbo votes", but they cant even MENTION A SINGLE PROJECT they will execute in the South East, should they get to power.

We have no time for them.

6 Likes

Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by x2lambo(m): 1:55pm On Jul 01, 2014
Take it or leave it the only party that can have something for for SE should be APGA but I doubt if that party still exist you all running to PDP can't help either PDP is run by the hausas if you like say boko haram . APC housa/yoruba party Boko haram party as everyone says now I will ask SE where do you belong cos I don't see much space for the SE in PDP all nah game by the Hausas if you like call them Boko haram but they are involve in both PDP and APC . Only the wise can see this . Gej is a president today under pdp this does not guarantee anything for SE after Gej tenure well SE should see to what favor them

2 Likes

Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by ibietela2(m): 2:02pm On Jul 01, 2014
Political Prostitutes
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by rhymz(m): 2:16pm On Jul 01, 2014
I have said before and I will keep saying it, the igbo voting populace has since grown from playing unrealistic politics to reality. Politics is all about interest and representation of that interest....who does that pales in comparison to the consideration of how to realize these interests. Many people from the SW like to talk about how sectarian our support for the ruling political party has been forgetting that Igbos are doing it exactly the way they should have been doing it long before now: who serves my interest the most, yes.

As far as we know, APC is an unholy marriage whose sole purpose of formation was to wrestle power from the PDP and continue with what they accuse the ruling party of, at least this is evident in many of the states they have governors. Ideologically, lets be real here, the APC is not any different from the PDP, in fact, the PDP has proven to be more democratic than the so-called progressive opposition whose candidates have to either kiss Emperor Tinubu's @$$ or sulk up to Sheik Buhari to be anything in the party.

Nobody is in denial that the PDP is a corrupt cesspit but so is the APC. We need some real change, not cosmetic surgery of the polity. APC has continued to lose ground because they have nothing serious to offer besides cheap talk and propaganda, the states where they govern are pilot tests for onlookers like us, and trust me, nobody is impressed or hoodwinked by big talk and small work.

It is only strategic and a good political calculation that the Igbos continue to support JEG not just for the benefits that we have been seeing but also to forge a political synergy in the eastern region that can be used for the realization of political gains. The Hausa suffers today from the gradual death of the once monolithic North that had used in the past to not only bloat and influence elections but also control the whole of Nigeria.

The Yorubas can talk and pretend as if the APC is their way to show they love Nigeria more than everyone else but the fact still remains that in confines of regional politics, it is all about regional survival, tribal domination of the economy and benefits that accrues to them, Igbos are not fooled by the "let us help you through the APC by force" attitude of the Yoruba man.

Our strategy is very simple and basic, "permanent interest, no permanent friend", fix the dying APC first, position it like a national party and not the ownership of some tribal, clannish men against JEG. As far as I am concerned APC has shown potentials to be worse than PDP, it is too clannish in the way it handles its affairs, fix the damn party first, who knows tomorrow we might all dump the PDP and head straight to it if it shows signs of being truly democratic and nationalistic.

6 Likes

Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by slyzy(m): 2:46pm On Jul 01, 2014
customized13: And still this bastard called rochas is still flaunting the party.
Must u call him a bastard?
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by M4gunners: 3:35pm On Jul 01, 2014
Political prostitute
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by tonychristopher: 5:16pm On Jul 01, 2014
WE ALL KNOW THAT APC AINT IGBO THING...WE WILL KNOW HOW ROCHAS AND HIS NEIGHBOUR AMAECHI WILL FARE...APC...ITS SUCH A BAD PARTY
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by tonychristopher: 5:23pm On Jul 01, 2014
YOU JUST FINISHED THE WHOLE THING AND THAT IS A GOOD SUBMISSION I MUST SAY AND I CONCUR WITH YOU...FORGET YORUBAS WEAND SOUTH SOUTH CAN HANDLE THAT
rhymz: I have said before and I will keep saying it, the igbo voting populace has since grown from playing unrealistic politics to reality. Politics is all about interest and representation of that interest....who does that pales in comparison to the consideration of how to realize these interests. Many people from the SW like to talk about how sectarian our support for the ruling political party has been forgetting that Igbos are doing it exactly the way they should have been doing it long before now: who serves my interest the most, yes.

As far as we know, APC is an unholy marriage whose sole purpose of formation was to wrestle power from the PDP and continue with what they accuse the ruling party of, at least this is evident in many of the states they have governors. Ideologically, lets be real here, the APC is not any different from the PDP, in fact, the PDP has proven to be more democratic than the so-called progressive opposition whose candidates have to either kiss Emperor Tinubu's @$$ or sulk up to Sheik Buhari to be anything in the party.

Nobody is in denial that the PDP is a corrupt cesspit but so is the APC. We need some real change, not cosmetic surgery of the polity. APC has continued to lose ground because they have nothing serious to offer besides cheap talk and propaganda, the states where they govern are pilot tests for onlookers like us, and trust me, nobody is impressed or hoodwinked by big talk and small work.

It is only strategic and a good political calculation that the Igbos continue to support JEG not just for the benefits that we have been seeing but also to forge a political synergy in the eastern region that can be used for the realization of political gains. The Hausa suffers today from the gradual death of the once monolithic North that had used in the past to not only bloat and influence elections but also control the whole of Nigeria.

The Yorubas can talk and pretend as if the APC is their way to show they love Nigeria more than everyone else but the fact still remains that in confines of regional politics, it is all about regional survival, tribal domination of the economy and benefits that accrues to them, Igbos are not fooled by the "let us help you through the APC by force" attitude of the Yoruba man.

Our strategy is very simple and basic, "permanent interest, no permanent friend", fix the dying APC first, position it like a national party and not the ownership of some tribal, clannish men against JEG. As far as I am concerned APC has shown potentials to be worse than PDP, it is too clannish in the way it handles its affairs, fix the damn party first, who knows tomorrow we might all dump the PDP and head straight to it if it shows signs of being truly democratic and nationalistic.
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by Anaskie(m): 6:23pm On Jul 01, 2014
HappyJoe:

This is brain dead analysis.

1. Igbos have allied with the North severally in the past: Zik/Balewa, Ekwueme/Shagari etc & have gotten practically nothing out of it. Ekwueme couldn't even deliver the Second Niger Bridge (when the Hausas built a refinery for themselves in Kaduna). So if Yorubas want to go on a wild goose chase with the Hausas, that is their problem, not ours.

2. Igbos have nothing in common politically with Hausas - Hausas want Sharia, they don't want devolution of powers, they don't want resource control, they don't want any changes to the exclusive list - we have absolutely NOTHING to gain by being politically allied with them.

3. APC as a party doesn't have any Igbo interests at heart. The will select an Hausa man as President & a Yoruba man as VP, what it means is:
a. The Hausa guy will rule from 2015 - 2023.
b. His deputy (a Yoruba) will rule from 2023 - 2031.
c. Another Hausa man will rule from 2031 - 2039.

That means that under APC, we'll have 24 years of Hausa/Yoruba rule until an Igbo man is even considered. In PDP it will be quicker.

4. We are NOT interested in the presidency at this point in time. After we saw what happened to Ekwueme in Jos in 1999, we realized that there is a pathological hatred of Igbo in all parts of the country. (Obasanjo with zero support from his fellow Yorubas got the nomination). So we are better off facing our business & using influence to get what we need.

5. Control of the presidency doesn't mean jack - go to Northern Nigeria, they've ruled Nigeria for almost 38 years - immunization rates in parts of the North are as low as 5%. Many aren't going to school, under-aged marriages etc. Those people have NOTHING to offer. If you like, follow them for 100 years.

6. APC will not win the next presidential elections, so these permutations are meaningless.

7. In 1967 - 70, we learned an important lesson, fighting against the Hausa-Fulani Oligarchy is the same thing as fighting against Britain. We'll fight against them when we are ready to fight Britain, not before then.

So please continue to entertain your Lagos-based fantasies, don't travel outside Lagos, continue to believe that Tinubu-funded APC propaganda reflects Nigeria's realities.
Wow! Best comment I've read in a looooong while.
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by dazangel11(f): 6:40pm On Jul 01, 2014
Anaskie: Wow! Best comment I've read in a looooong while.

You can say that again.

The yorubas and hausas should know that the average Igbo man is only concerned about his business. I can assure you that they don't even care if an Igbo man becomes president.

Even if there is no second niger bridge or no bridge @ all an igbo man will get his goods across the river one way or another.

The only reason they are supporting GEJ is to piss off the supporters of APC nothing more.

3 Likes

Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by Nobody: 7:05pm On Jul 01, 2014
rhymz: You are an out and out ediot that should not be given the pleasure of any serious intellectual debate cos you obviously are a kid blinded by tribal hate, instead you should be told your place in the scheme of things. To begin with, Yorubas have nothing to tell any igbo person about Nigeria's politics or political might, we all saw how GEJ demystified the so-called Yoruba political genius based on the full support of not just his own people but the entire Igbo regions and tribe. The Igbo man is known for saying what he means and backing it with action, am sorry to say but Yorubas are not known for supporting their loud mouth braggadocio political gragra with the same concerted effort and actions as they talk. We were all witnesses to what the Yoruba political Messiah, Tinubu did to the likes of Ribabdu at the last presidential elections, the voting pattern of the Yoruba obviously was informed by the usual bi-partisan considerations they are known for...go and sit your ignorant @$$ down and let us lecture you little fvcktard from a broken home. Igbos will continue to burst your bubbles and empty claim to non-existent political genius that has increased the mud houses in SW cities like Ibadan, Osun and the likes...You lot gloat about how advance the SW is and all you have to show is Lagos that is a product of every Nigerian person living there... abeg abeokuta, oshogbo, Ado ekitit all those cities looking like ugly brides are Yoruba cities that we never hear about.....make una talk about those two....scheeew

Why are you talking about Yoruba here? Give me one good reason or we assume you have a bug inside your skull.
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by Nobody: 9:39pm On Jul 01, 2014
HappyJoe: "There should be a strong Igbo presence in both parties"

That is bullshit and it is not "strategic", there is no point dissipating our energy in both political parties, when we can be of maximum impact in the ruling party.

Go and ask an Onitsha trader how he gains from having an international airport in Enugu, a few hours drive from Onitisha, or how much he saves on trips to China for that alone.

The Yoruba & Hausa leaders you want us to follow in APC would they have even considered giving Enugu international flights or building a Second Niger Bridge? Hell, no.

Even now they claim they want "Igbo votes", but they cant even MENTION A SINGLE PROJECT they will execute in the South East, should they get to power.

We have no time for them.

its true o, Dem Neva even tell us Wetin we will gain from the party sef?
Those ppl are naive, and to think our own rochas is there ......
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by Nobody: 10:11pm On Jul 01, 2014
apolonius: Senator Okonkwo has always been in the PDP even though he has always called himself APC chair in the South East.

He lost his value in the APC when he allowed his fight for the control of the party's soul with Ngige to make him mobilize for the PDP candidate in the last governorship election against Ngige his own party man.

He also fought Ngige hard for the control of the party structures in the East during the last election and failed.

As usual,most Nigerians are very stupid and too dumb to remember these things and to remember that this same man has repeated told the whole Ndigbo that the APC is their best hope.

Most of those from the South-be it East of South-are always quick to condemn the APC even without looking at the specific circumstances of the departure of each of these opportunists and very corrupt politicians.


Of course,una don condemn APC tire,yet has Jonathan provided security amid very many dying daily?Has he created jobs for many of these emorons who are his senseless apologists even as pitiably unemployed as they are?Is Nigeria not worse than it has ever been under this clueless,visionless and incompetent guy?

One thing I have always known is that most of those who unreasonably critique the APC and these guys on premises of empty sentiments and ignorant bigotism do not even have voter's cards.

Let Jonathan lead Nigeria forever;your poverty status and hunger will remain worse if you don't get killed by the urchins and bastards killing our people everywhere soon!

Go and sit down .
Igbos have been providing jobs for themselves, no political party has ever done it for them even post civil war.
To think igbos will join APC for jobs is a case of mental laziness on ur part,
y will we expect gej to give us jobs in the first place?
u are not talking of good roads, airports n power supply which he improved sef but jobs.
job creation is the preserve of the ppl cos there is a limit to the number of ppl the FG can absorb.
In fact, u don't have points.
FYI, APC governors owe salaries a lot, is that how they will rule us?

1 Like

Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by cbrass(m): 11:51pm On Jul 01, 2014
dazangel11:

You can say that again.

The yorubas and hausas should know that the average Igbo man is only concerned about his business. I can assure you that they don't even care if an Igbo man becomes president.

Even if there is no second niger bridge or no bridge @ all an igbo man will get his goods across the river one way or another.

The only reason they are supporting GEJ is to piss off the supporters of APC nothing more.

Hmmm....so who is now the real COWARDS wink
dazangel11:

You can say that again.

The yorubas and hausas should know that the average Igbo man is only concerned about his business. I can assure you that they don't even care if an Igbo man becomes president.

Even if there is no second niger bridge or no bridge @ all an igbo man will get his goods across the river one way or another.

The only reason they are supporting GEJ is to piss off the supporters of APC nothing more.

Hmmm....so who is now the real COWARDS
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by Nobody: 11:55pm On Jul 01, 2014
Many more APC members to go b4 2015 cool
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by cbrass(m): 11:56pm On Jul 01, 2014
dazangel11:

You can say that again.

The yorubas and hausas should know that the average Igbo man is only concerned about his business. I can assure you that they don't even care if an Igbo man becomes president.

Even if there is no second niger bridge or no bridge @ all an igbo man will get his goods across the river one way or another.

The only reason they are supporting GEJ is to piss off the supporters of APC nothing more.

This reeks of cowardice and inferiority complex
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by cbrass(m): 12:01am On Jul 02, 2014
Evergreen123:


y will we expect gej to give us jobs in the first place?

Like seriously
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by diamond4life: 12:35am On Jul 02, 2014
more apc members are still going to decamp
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by Btruth: 6:37am On Jul 02, 2014
PhockPhockMan:

https://www.nairaland.com/1793786/boko-haram-detainee-mustapha-kolo

https://www.nairaland.com/1793736/proscribing-boko-haram-wrong-lai

https://www.nairaland.com/1794185/boko-haram-armed-wing-apc

Are you ok now, all these threads are all trending today.
Ibrahim D Itsenyabi
If you read this story and still believe someone is "sponsoring" Boko Haram to make Nigeria "ungovernable", then either you are that someone or you need an appointment with a psychiatrist.

-----------------------
How Book Haram is beating U.S. efforts to choke its financing

BY PHIL STEWART AND LESLEY WROUGHTON
WASHINGTON Tue Jul 1, 2014

(Reuters) - When Washington imposed sanctions in June 2012 on Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, he dismissed it as an empty gesture.

Two years later, Shekau’s skepticism appears well founded: his Islamic militant group is now the biggest security threat to Africa's top oil producer, is richer than ever, more violent and its abductions of women and children continue with impunity.

As the United States, Nigeria and others struggle to track and choke off its funding, Reuters interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. officials who closely follow Boko Haram provide the most complete picture to date of how the group finances its activities.

Central to the militant group’s approach includes using hard-to-track human couriers to move cash, relying on local funding sources and engaging in only limited financial relationships with other extremists groups. It also has reaped millions from high-profile kidnappings.

"Our suspicions are that they are surviving on very lucrative criminal activities that involve kidnappings," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in an interview. Until now, U.S. officials have declined to discuss Boko Haram’s financing in such detail.

The United States has stepped up cooperation with Nigeria to gather intelligence on Boko Haram, whose militants are killing civilians almost daily in its northeastern Nigerian stronghold. But the lack of international financial ties to the group limit the measures the United States can use to undermine it, such as financial sanctions.

The U.S. Treasury normally relies on a range of measures to track financial transactions of terrorist groups, but Boko Haram appears to operate largely outside the banking system. To fund its murderous network, Boko Haram uses primarily a system of couriers to move cash around inside Nigeria and across the porous borders from neighboring African states, according to the officials interviewed by Reuters.

In designating Boko Haram as a terrorist organization last year, the Obama administration characterized the group as a violent extremist organization with links to al Qaeda. The Treasury Department said in a statement to Reuters that the United States has seen evidence that Boko Haram has received financial support from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), an offshoot of the jihadist group founded by Osama bin Laden.

But that support is limited. Officials with deep knowledge of Boko Haram's finances say that any links with al Qaeda or its affiliates are inconsequential to Boko Haram's overall funding.

"Any financial support AQIM might still be providing Boko Haram would pale in comparison to the resources it gets from criminal activities," said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Assessments differ, but one U.S. estimate of financial transfers from AQIM was in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars. That compares with the millions of dollars that Boko Haram is estimated to make through its kidnap and ransom operations.

LUCRATIVE KIDNAPPING RACKET

Ransoms appear to be the main source of funding for Boko Haram's five-year-old Islamist insurgency in Nigeria, whose 170 million people are split roughly evenly between Christians and Muslims, said the U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In February last year, armed men on motorcycles snatched Frenchman Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, his wife and four children, and his brother while they were on holiday near the Waza national park in Cameroon, close to the Nigerian border. Boko Haram was paid an equivalent of about $3.15 million by French and Cameroonian negotiators before the hostages were released, according to a confidential Nigerian government report later obtained by Reuters.

Figures vary on how much Boko Haram earns from kidnappings. Some U.S. officials estimate the group is paid as much as $1 million for the release of each abducted wealthy Nigerian. It is widely assumed in Nigeria that Boko Haram receives support from religious sympathizers inside the country, including some wealthy professionals and northern Nigerians who dislike the government, although little evidence has been made public to support that assertion.

Current and former U.S. and Nigerian officials say Boko Haram's operations do not require significant amounts of money, which means even successful operations tracking and intercepting their funds are unlikely to disrupt their campaign. Boko Haram had developed "a very diversified and resilient model of supporting itself," said Peter Pham, a Nigeria scholar at the Atlantic Council think-tank in Washington.

"It can essentially 'live off the land' with very modest additional resources required," he told a congressional hearing on June 11.

LOW-COST WEAPONS

"We’re not talking about a group that is buying sophisticated weapons of the sort that some of the jihadist groups in Syria and other places are using. We’re talking AK-47s, a few rocket-propelled grenades, and bomb-making materials. It is a very low-cost operation," Pham told Reuters.

That includes paying local youth just pennies a day to track and report on Nigerian troop movements. Much of Boko Haram's military hardware is not bought, it is stolen from the Nigerian army.

In February, dozens of its fighters descended on a remote military outpost in the Gwoza hills in northeastern Borno state, looting 200 mortar bombs, 50 rocket-propelled grenades and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Such raids have left the group well armed. In dozens of attacks in the past year Nigerian soldiers were swept aside by militants driving trucks, motor bikes and sometimes even stolen armored vehicles, firing rocket-propelled grenades.

Boko Haram's inner leadership is security savvy, not only in the way it moves money but also in its communications, relying on face-to-face contact, since messages or calls can be intercepted, the current and former U.S. officials said.

"They're quite sophisticated in terms of shielding all of these activities from legitimate law enforcement officials in Africa and certainly our own intelligence efforts trying to get glimpses and insight into what they do," a former U.S. military official said. U.S. officials acknowledge that the weapons that have served Washington so well in its financial warfare against other terrorist groups are proving less effective against Boko Haram.

"My sense is that we have applied the tools that we do have but that they are not particularly well tailored to the way that Boko Haram is financing itself," a U.S. defense official said.

(Additional reporting by Tim Cocks in Abuja. Editing by David Storey, Jason Szep and Ross Colvin)
------- Have a re-think my friend. I believed you are such an educated fellow. Don't follow what the likes of FFK is saying. Those guys are only looking for means on enriching their pockets. Their words has no values.
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by Nobody: 6:46am On Jul 02, 2014
cbrass:

Like seriously

yes nah.
How many FG jobs can there possibly be in a country.
As we are speaking, there are even many ghost ministries and parastatals that should be scrapped already.
Govts esp FG should provide infrastructure that will drive entrepreneurship,
your state govt too should provide internal infrastructure
In fact, what has your state govt done concerning job creation and provision of social amenities, where are u from?
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by Nobody: 8:18am On Jul 02, 2014
slyzy: Must u call him a bastard?
yes I must, cos that's what he is.
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by austinreal1: 10:04am On Jul 02, 2014
we don't need to be told that this is an islamic party. APC will go into extinction.
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by backtosender: 10:18am On Jul 02, 2014
dazangel11:

You can say that again.

The yorubas and hausas should know that the average Igbo man is only concerned about his business. I can assure you that they don't even care if an Igbo man becomes president.

Even if there is no second niger bridge or no bridge @ all an igbo man will get his goods across the river one way or another.

The only reason they are supporting GEJ is to piss off the supporters of APC nothing more.
na u be dat for pix tongue
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by backtosender: 10:23am On Jul 02, 2014
Evergreen123:

yes nah.
How many FG jobs can there possibly be in a country.
As we are speaking, there are even many ghost ministries and parastatals that should be scrapped already.
Govts esp FG should provide infrastructure that will drive entrepreneurship,
your state govt too should provide internal infrastructure
In fact, what has your state govt done concerning job creation and provision of social amenities, where are u from?
Govt does not provide jobs for the people they provide an enable environment for people to progress.When you are naturally lazy and lack ideas there is nothing FG can do for those lot,this is why we have too many parasites in nigeria take note....

1 Like

Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by Goandie: 10:33am On Jul 02, 2014
backtosender: Govt does not provide jobs for the people they provide an enable environment for people to progress.When you are naturally lazy and lack ideas there is nothing FG can do for those lot,this is why we have too many parasites in nigeria take note....


guy tell me the enable environment your yeye govt don provide for us eh angry
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by backtosender: 10:39am On Jul 02, 2014
Goandie:


guy tell me the enable environment your yeye govt don provide for us eh angry
i jus give u an example things govt provide for the citizens...Nigerian case is different non of them are qualify to rule a house hold talkless of a village council,igbos go out there and bring wealth's to their region this is why igboland is most develop in the country compare to others ask me how.
Re: Senator Annie Okonkwo Dumps APC For Not Having Good Intentions For South-East by mekadinho(f): 10:45am On Jul 02, 2014
EVERYBODY EYES DON DEY OPEN, REMAINING OKOROCHA AND AMECHI.... KA CHINEKE MEZIE OKWU.

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (Reply)

Now Buhari’s Brain Is Bracing Up - VANGUARD / Fayose Gifts 3 Teachers Cars: Hyundai Xcent And KIA RIO [photos] / Jimi Agbaje Joins PDP Chairmanship Race, Visits Fayose

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 149
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.