We Are Working To Identify Boko Haram
External Sponsors - President Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that
his administration is working assiduously
on some available clues to identify the
external sponsors of the fundamentalist
Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
He said the recent large scale attack in parts
of Maiduguri, Borno State, including the Air
Force Base, had further confirmed the
government's suspicion that the sect enjoyed
international backing.
He spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria and
France 24 Radio at the close of a two-day
summit on peace and security in Africa, hosted
by President Francois Hollande in France on
Saturday.
Jonathan, who said the insurgents arrived in
Maiduguri with between 15 and 20 vehicles,
each mounted with rocket launchers,added
that he had approved N1bn for the
rehabilitation of detention camps of insurgents
across the country.
He stated that Nigeria was seeking the
collaboration of friends of the nation to
unravel the foreign sponsors of the insurgents.
The President said, "We believe that a lot of
assistance is coming (to the sect) from outside
the country.
"We have not been able to pin down the
sources and that is why we are talking to our
friends that we should collectively work
together to identify the source of their
funding.
"A terror on any part of the world is a terror
on all of us."
Jonathan said Maiduguri attack clearly showed
that the sect's operations had gone beyond its
classification as a local militia group.
"Initially, we felt that they were local and as
such, some people advocated that because of
poverty, these locals carried weapons against
the State. So you expect that sophistication
will be minimal and you will be able to contain
it easily.
"But looking at the calibre of weapons they
have, you will find out that they have gone
beyond the local expectation. For instance,
this last attack on Maiduguri, they came with
about 15 to 20 Hilux vehicles and each
mounted with two to four rocket launchers.
"They were over 100 and some of them were
carrying assault rifles and other weapons. The
question then is that, where do they get the
weapons? Definitely, these weapons cannot
come from the locals, they are coming from
somewhere.''
He said while military operations would
continue in the affected parts of the county in
order to protect lives and property, his
administration had not foreclosed the option
of dialogue with the sect .
Jonathan also said he approved the release of
the N1bn for the upgrade of insurgents
detention camps in response to a series of
complaints by local and international human
rights groups.
He said the development would ensure that
detainees were kept under normal human
conditions.
Specifically, the President said he was
concerned over a human rights report on the
situation of Giwa Barracks where some of the
detainees were kept.
The President added, "They were talking about
some conditions in the barracks and because
of that, not quite long, I released N1bn to
make sure that they expand the facilities in
detention camps, particularly the camp in
Giwa Barracks that they complained about.
"Boko Haram members that have been
arrested are being detained in a number of
places and not only Giwa Barracks.
"Following complaints that I received about
that particular barracks, I called the Chief of
Defence Staff to go and use the army
engineers to quickly expand and improve the
facilities so that people arrested will live under
normal human conditions."
Jonathan however added that the reports of
human rights abuses by the Joint Military Task
Force were grossly exaggerated.
He attributed most of the cases of torture and
killings the military is being blamed for to the
sect.
"The issue of human rights abuses is blown
out of proportion. Whenever they have a
major encounter, Boko Haram destroys at will,
they kill at will, some of these destructions
that are being ascribed to the Nigerian Army
are actually done by the Boko Haram sect,'' he
said.
The President said that the state of emergency
declared in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states
had helped tremendously in restoring sanity.
He recalled that before the emergency rule,
even the Federal Capital Territory was not safe
having had its share of terrorist acts with
attacks carried out on the United Nations
building, the police headquarters, a military
market and a newspaper house.
He said the nation had now reached a point
that the challenges were now in Borno and
Yobe states.
"Even Adamawa , the third state that the
emergency rule covers, within this period,
there are no issues unlike before that there
were repeated killings and bombings.
"Though, we are still having this issue of
occasional attacks, but definitely, the
emergency rule has helped,'' he said.
The President also said he had yet to receive a
comprehensive report on a French priest that
was kidnapped in Northern Cameroon and
reported to have been taken to Nigeria.
"No comprehensive information yet on this.
But what we know is that it is quite worrisome
that the issue of commercial hostage-taking is
now a global business. Though, we got the
information, but I cannot give any categorical
statement. But, we know that the tradition of
hostage-takers is mobility because when they
are being tracked, they move," he added.
The 42-year-old Priest, Georges Vandenbeusch,
was reportedly kidnapped on Thursday near
Koza, in Northern Cameroon.
Meanwhile, the Bishop of the Diocese of Osun
North East, Church of Nigeria (Anglican
Communion), Rt. Revd. Humphrey Olumakaiye,
has urged security agencies and people living
in the Southern part of the country to be
vigilant.
Olumakaiye told one of our correspondents in
Otan Ayegbaju, Osun State that the onslaught
against the Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe and
Adamawa states could force its members to
migrate southwards.
He said, "The security agencies and everybody,
especially in the South-South , the South-West
and the South-East should be vigilant. Those
who had been dislodged might want to migrate
southwards to continue wreaking havoc..
"Nobody ever thought that suicide bombing
could come to Nigeria, but here we are now
living with suicide bombers."
The military has been finding it difficult to
flush out members of the Boko Haram sect in
the North-East because no matter the security,
you can't defeat people who are ready to die."

source: naij.com

Talk is cheap!!!! Your actions will speak for you not intentions n speeches, Mr. President

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So it wasn't Buhari as Ibos and creek boys have been claiming for the past three years?

...and how about their internal sponsors? what if after investigation FG realize they are sponsored by Alqaeda, what will they do about it? .
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sigidi fe te, oni ki won gbe oun lo sodo lo we..

Pls sir we want you to reveal the internal sponsors of this evil group. We are tired of sacrificing our soldiers on the alters of greedy politicians. Its better you expedite action or you meet us in court. Thank you