DAMASCUS, SYRIA (7:00 P.M.) – The official Al-Qaeda branch in West Africa, a franchise group known as ‘Support of Islam and Muslims’ (JNIM), has conducted its first attack against the Nigerian Armed Forces, claiming it to be an act of retaliation.

JNIM, which operates almost exclusively in Mali, said it had conducted the rare raid on June 5, targeting a Nigerian military camp in Tsawah, Medal. This frontier village lies in western Niger, not far from the eastern border of Mali.

The Al-Qaeda affiliate said over a dozen Nigerian soldiers were killed in the cross-border attack which saw the army barracks overwhelmed and a handful of military vehicles torched. With other troops fleeing the military outpost, JNIM seized anti-aircraft guns, rocket launchers along with plenty of ammunition and light armaments. The militants later abandoned the site.



In early March 2017, three extremist factions based in Mali (Ansar Dine, Al-Mourabitoun and Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb) announced that they had merged into one group and pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda’s leader. The newly formed jihadist coalition is led by Iyad Ag Ghaly, a native of the Kidal region.

Islamic extremists linked to Al-Qaida took over northern Mali in 2012, exploiting a power vacuum after mutinous soldiers overthrew the president. French-backed forces pushed the extremists from strongholds the following year, but attacks have continued and progressed south.

The Nigerian Army since got involved in the battle for Mali, operating side-by-side with a French coalition to defeat Al-Qaeda, although it is also fighting the ISIS-linked Boko Haram at home.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/pictures-al-qaeda-insurgents-capture-loads-weapons-nigerian-army/

Editorial

President Muhammadu Buhari’s concise, succinct and straight-to-the-point national broadcast on Monday, August 21, 2017, delivered in a tone of generous gratitude to God and Nigerians, was visited by the sledgehammer of southern leaders last Wednesday. The president’s attempt to assure Nigerians that the country’s unity remains sacrosanct, just to calm frayed nerves and accompanying fears over the deluge of agitations while he was away, was loudly rejected by southern leaders.

Buhari had said, “Nigeria’s unity is settled and not negotiable. We shall not allow irresponsible elements to start trouble and when things get bad they run away and saddle others with the responsibility of bringing back order, if necessary with their blood.” That activities of ethnic and regional champions in the last few months have created fear and uncertainty in the air, the kind of suspense that put the unity and security of Nigeria at risk, is a known fact. In their response, the southern elders, led by Chief Edwin Clark, Albert Horsfall, Chief Nnia Nwodo, Prof. Joe Irukwu, Chief Reuben Fasoranti and Chief Ayo Adebanjo, opposed the assertion that the unity of Nigeria is ‘settled’ and ‘not negotiable.’ They said, “This is the time to renegotiate Nigeria along the federal lines negotiated by our founding fathers to stem the tide of separatist feelings and agitations.”

They supported their position by saying, “Fulani herdsmen have become much more ferocious in their attacks against farmers in the South and Middle Belt areas of the country, with security forces shying away from enforcing law and order.” They added, “The one sentence by the president that every Nigerian can live anywhere without let or hindrance, if meant to address the quit notice by Arewa youths against the Igbo, was rather too short to address the clear and present danger that the unwarranted threat represents. We are distressed by the refusal of the police to comply with the arrest orders given by the Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufa’i, and the vice-president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, while the president was away.” They insisted on another look at “the terms and conditions of the union.”

While their stance highlighted some of the predicaments facing today’s Nigeria, they were less than statesmen-like in their argument. Their statement spoke to crises linked to the northern part of the country, but treated with understatement, the huge and more dangerous tension created in the South-East and South-South by secessionist groups like the IPOB, MASSOB, MEND and others. The statement, therefore, smacked of a tacit endorsement of the sectional and secessionist agenda of these groups.

The fact is that the issues highlighted are national problems that require national attention. Therefore, every discourse with a thematic focus on solving our besetting problems should be elevated over and above sectionalism, negative framing and self-defense. For instance, the IPOB, led by Nnamdi Kanu, has established a “Biafra Secret Service (BSS),” ostensibly to perform ‘intelligence gathering functions.’ This is in addition to the roles being played by members of the IPOB in terrorising and inciting the people of the South-East, arrogating unfounded authority to themselves and declaring that the forthcoming Anambra State governorship election would not be held. These “southern elders” chose to look the other way from this dangerous development, with Professor Ben Nwabueze trying to explain it away by alleging that Kanu would halt Biafra agitation if the country is restructured. The term ‘restructuring’ is now a fuzzy buzzword that has lost even its dictionary meaning. It is a ready-made pavilion for insubordinate, rebellious and destabilising activities.

Instead of condemning the secessionists the way they did the ‘AK-47 rifle wielding Fulani herdsmen’ and ‘northern youths,’ the southern leaders justified the rebellious activities of youths from the southern part of the country. And to demonstrate their deliberate bias, they talked about farmers/herders conflict in the South and Middle Belt, ignoring the fact that similar conflicts occur in the North-West and North-East, where hundreds of deaths have been recorded, thousands of cattle have been rustled, and farmers prevented from accessing their farms. Katsina, Zamfara and Kebbi states have suffered heavily due to farmers/herders conflict, as much as any other part of the country. To paint the conflict as North versus South is gross mischief, to say the least.

The country certainly has many problems as evidenced by the many amendments to the 1999 Constitution and the feeling among many Nigerians that instead of depending on federal allocations, state governments should harness and develop their natural resources to meet their developmental challenges. The country needs to be reordered in such a manner that the systemic failures we have experienced over the years are appropriately dealt with.

But hate speech cannot bring about restructuring; rather it breeds disaffection and violence. We cannot hide behind the amorphous sense of ‘restructuring’ to paint and portray a section of the country in bad light. A civil war was fought and millions of Nigerians killed in order to achieve the current unity. Any action that would inch the country towards another disastrous conflict should be avoided by right-thinking elders and leaders.

If there is need to restructure some aspects of the country, this must still be done in conformity with the provisions of the constitution, which emphasizes the indissoluble status of the country. Any form of restructuring that would lead to the dismemberment of the country is absolutely unacceptable. As the southern leaders stated, “every country is in daily dialogue.” However, most countries that have engaged in ‘daily dialogues’ did not do so in an atmosphere of hatred, anarchy and intimidation.

President Buhari faces an urgent and arduous challenge of fixing Nigeria, but the task is not for him alone. Opinion leaders from all sections of the country must come to the table, unite and join forces to deal with the enormous burden of putting Nigeria on the pedestal of growth and harmony. The president was point-on when he said, “Every group has a grievance. But the beauty and attraction of a federation is that it allows different groups to air their grievances and work out a mode of co-existence.” The National Assembly, not any extra-constitutional body, is the right avenue for that dialogue.



https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/editorial/buhari-southern-leaders-and-hate-speech/211709.html

Very funny

Xoo presido

They scared the hell outta of Buhari

Every nairaland must watch

Hypocrisy is not a way of getting back to the moral high ground.

Pretending you're moral, saying your moral is not the same as acting morally.

Lake chad oil comes to mind .

Naturally, when one makes progressive steps,
there may be some who see it as a betrayal of their goals and interests.

Louis Farrakhan

Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom!
I hope you will make a good use of it.

John Adams.

kudos to nairaland

Some minds saw the game plan, Others are to Myopic

Lets see were we came from

Look no further for hate speech.


This is the bags of it

Read what some nairalanders said

I need interpreter !

I wonder what will be going on in the minds of educated citizens that help this man to power

Fellow citizens if you are expecting anything good from these combination, am sorry you are just wasting your thing.

Just because you have lost one leg during your time as Boko commander.

Had it been your are still fully able you wont like to surrender

In as much am not Kanu’s fan (Biafra) he must be applauded or thanked for unifying not only the whole South but the middle belt as well.

Buhari should be remembered for dividing the solid One-North and Unifying the South

Biafra is like a realy race (4X100) which will definitely will end with a victory. They pattern or the way the agitators are bringing in not only unborn bebies but children as well. Nigeria will never no peace again from what am seeing

f

ba wooo

Due to the Marginalization policies of the federal Government of Nigeria against the
Easterners especially in political, economic, education and other endeavours by introducing
measures like Quota system, federal character, etc. leading to unequal level playing ground
since the end of the Biafra – Nigeria war. These measures were introduced by Nigerian govt
with hope it will not only hinder but destroy the easterners on the other hand it is pivotal to the
current successes recorded by easterners all over the world. When one take a look at every top Universities,
Businesses, Trade, commerce, Political not only in America (South and North) but Europe, Asia and Africa you will
defiantly find an Easterner . It has really played very well for their progress and they remain indestructible by the
Nigerian machineries whilst the Northern Nigeria and to a large extent the Nigeria state wallow in poverty and tending
towards self-destruction as is the case today.

At least 27 people were killed and dozens are still missing after terrorists belonging to Islamist group, Boko Haram, attacked six villages in the northern part of Borno State on Wednesday night, security and civilian sources said.

The terrorists first stormed the remote villages of Abachari, Kote, Uda Lawanti and Wokilli, all in the Nganzi Local Government Area of Borno State, around 9:30 p.m., killing 15 people and leaving many wounded.

A source who is a civilian member of the Joint Task Force (JTF) said the besieged villagers yesterday came to the local vigilante group in Nganzi town. He said the vigilante group then mobilized its members to visit the affected villages on Friday morning, adding that the dead bodies had been brought to Nganzi for burial.

“The attacks happened in the villages on Wednesday night, but it was this morning that we brought fifteen of the corpses and buried them in Nganzi town,” said the source. He added, “As I am speaking with you many women and children are still missing.”

A military source corroborated the account. “The Boko Haram fighters burnt down the villages. They looted livestock and grains. Nothing was left in the villages. Some of the lucky ones are now taking refuge in Nganzi,” said the source.

In a related development, the suspected Boko Haram terrorists also invaded Mallam Moduri and Kijimatari, two villages in Guzamala Local Government Area, about 2 a.m. on Thursday. A security source disclosed that at least 12 persons were killed and dozens wounded in the two communities.

“At least seven people lost their lives in Kijimatari village when the terrorists opened fire on the civilians who were sleeping and six others sustained various kinds of injuries,” said another security source. “Five others were killed and many wounded at Mallam Moduri village around 3 a.m...”



http://saharareporters.com/2017/08/25/27-killed-dozens-missing-after-boko-haram-attacks

Due to the Marginalization policies of the federal Government of Nigeria against the Easterners especially in political, economic, education and other endeavours by introducing measures like Quota system, federal character, etc. leading to unequal level playing ground since the end of the Biafra – Nigeria war. These measures were introduced by Nigerian govt with hope it will not only hinder but destroy the easterners on the other hand it is pivotal to the current successes recorded by easterners all over the world. When one take a look at every top Universities, Businesses, Trade, commerce, Political not only in America (South and North) but Europe, Asia and Africa you will definitely find an Easterner . It has really played very well for their progress and they remain indestructible by the Nigerian machineries whilst the Northern Nigeria and to a large extent the Nigeria state wallow in poverty and tending towards self-destruction as is the case today.

As President Muhammadu Buhari is being expected back from medical vacation in the United Kingdom, there are some major issues he will deal with upon resumption of his duties. Here, we highlights five of them.

1. Cabinet reshuffle:

Talks about the possibility of President Muhammadu Buhari reshuffling his cabinet have been there even before he went on medical vacation. There were reports a cabinet reshuffle had been in the offing before May 29 when the administration marked its second anniversary. Those expecting a reshuffle believe that some members of the cabinet have abysmally performed below expectations, hence the need to ease them out. Indications that the cabinet would be reshuffled emerged a few days ago when Osinbajo swore in two new ministers, Professor Stephen Ocheni from Kogi State and Alhaji Suleiman Hassan from Gombe State, without assigning portfolios to them. They were sworn in more than two months after the confirmation of their nominations by the Senate.

Professor Osinbajo had, after inaugurating the new ministers, assured that their portfolios would be announced shortly. But almost two weeks after their inauguration, the portfolios are yet to be named, though they have been attending the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings.

It is believed that Osinbajo was only directed by President Buhari to inaugurate the new ministers and wait for him to assign them portfolios when a cabinet reshuffle is effected.

Since Ocheni and Hassan were sworn in, fears have gripped most cabinet members who are not sure of their fate in the event some changes are effected in FEC. There is a tendency that some of them will be shown the way out while others will have their portfolios swapped.

2. Babachir, Oke’s fate

The fate of the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Engr Babachir David Lawal and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayo Oke, is still hanging in the balance. The report of the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo-led three-man panel that investigated allegations of infractions again them has not been implemented.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on April 19 suspended Babachir and Oke and set up the committee to investigate alleged financial frauds against both officials within two weeks.

Babachir was investigated for allegedly awarding millions of naira contracts to a company in which he had interest, Global Vision Limited, under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).

A Senate Committee on Humanitarian Crisis in the North-East, which had earlier specifically found the suspended SGF culpable of alleged complicity in a N200 million grass-cutting contract to clear “invasive plant species” in Yobe State, had demanded his resignation and prosecution.

Oke was probed for alleged $43.4m operations cash found by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at apartment 7B in Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos. He had reportedly claimed that the money belonged to the NIA and was approved by former President Goodluck Jonathan for some covert operations.

In accordance with Buhari’s directive, the most senior permanent secretary in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Dr Habibat Lawal and Oke’s senior deputy, Ambassador Arab Yadam, are currently acting as SGF and Director-General of the NIA respectively.

There are reports that the presidential panel recommended that Babachir and Oke be sacked and replaced.

3. Ibrahim Magu

President Muhammadu Buhari must have been told that the Senate has not shifted its ground on the appointment of the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu. The upper legislative chamber had drawn the battle line with the Presidency long before Buhari embarked on medical vacation. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has demonstrated both in words and action that the Presidency would not budge an inch on the issue.

Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai on July 6 said both President Muhammadu Buhari and Acting President Yemi Osinbajo told him that Ibrahim Magu would not be removed.

The Senate had on July 4 passed a resolution suspending all issues relating to the confirmation of nominees and urged Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to respect the constitution and laws as they relate to nominees’ confirmation. But the executive argued that certain federal appointments should not require Senate’s confirmation.

That was the position of a legal advisory prepared by judicial and legal experts as a working document in the Presidency on the differences in the constitutional interpretations on matters of certain federal appointments. The Presidency is said to be considering approaching the Supreme Court over the refusal by the Senate to confirm the appointment of Magu, alleging that had more to do with politics than with the law.

But the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, had while featuring on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum in Abuja on Tuesday clarified that the Senate had no pre-meditated plan to reject Magu as chairman of the EFCC. The Senate president explained that Magu’s rejection was prompted by a report from the Department of State Services (DSS) among other issues, emphasising that the decision to reject Magu’s confirmation was in the interest of democracy.

4. Boko Haram resurgence:

President Muhammadu Buhari must be worried that Boko Haram militants who his administration was hitherto pleased to have degraded, have staged a comeback. The administration had last December announced that the Boko Haram stronghold in the Sambisa forest had been captured.

A fortnight ago, the governor of Borno State, Kassim Shettima, while speaking to State House reporters after a closed-door meeting with Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and the service chiefs, cautioned that though the terrorists had been sufficiently decimated, their capacity for attacks should not be underrated.

The service chiefs have, in compliance with the directive handed down by Osinbajo, relocated to the command centre in Maiduguri.

In spite of the pockets of attacks in Borno State within the last one month, the Defence Headquarters denied a Boko Haram resurgence.

Nigerians would like to see how President Muhammadu Buhari will fast track the rescue of the officials of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) and the staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) abducted recently by the sect while carrying out oil exploration research in the Lake Chad Basin Frontier Exploration.

Osinbajo had last weekend directed the military and all security agencies to intensify counter-terror efforts in Borno State in order to have a strong control and secure lives and property. He charged them to continue the search and rescue missions to locate and free all the remaining abducted persons as soon as possible, “using all available and expedient means in the circumstances.”

He was said to have assured that despite the resurgence of terrorist attacks in Borno, “the federal government is not only on top of the situation, but will define the end of these atrocities by both winning the war and winning the peace in the north-east.”

5. APC internal crisis

All is obviously not well with the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). The party seems to have been engulfed by internal wrangling which, if not properly and perhaps urgently handled, may spell doom for it in the coming elections.

Things seem to be falling apart at the various state chapters of the APC. In Bauchi State, Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, are apparently not on the same wavelength at the moment. In Kaduna State, Governor Nasir el-rufai and Senator Shehu Sani appear to have poised for ‘war’.

The battle of supremacy between Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and his predecessor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, is far from over. In Rivers State, the recent party “restructuring” which the former governor of the state and Minister of Transportation Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, reportedly did with his own political caucus is generating ripples at the state chapter of the party.

There are rumours that a former vice president and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Kwankwaso and other bigwigs of the ruling party may return to the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as they were reported to have been approached. Atiku, while speaking at the second Inter Party Advisory Council of Nigeria (IPAC) annual conference recently, flayed the failure by the All Progressives Congress to organise statutory meetings for its organs. He also observed that lack of internal democracy had made the APC and other political parties “undemocratic.”

Osinbajo had on Wednesday kick-started what appeared to be a peace deal process in the All Progressives Congress with a meeting with state chairmen of the party.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/politics/5-major-issues-buhari-will-tackle-after-resuming/209647.html

read this very insightful

This man is something else. You need to watch before commenting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOlUoSK9tas

Why are they deceiving themselves

This is never a new fertilizer plant..

It was former the National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria Limited (NAFCON) that was sold to NOTORE at a give away price of $150m after FG intial pumped in about $400 million. The so called INDORAMA is part of NOTORE which have Gen Gowon as one of the Board member


http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=14529
http://www.notore.com/index.php/board-of-directors

By Michael Olugbode In Maiduguri

Facts have emerged that 48 persons died in the attack by Boko Haram on the oil exploration team to the Lake Chad Basin.

Sources at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) and the Maimalari Army Barracks revealed Thursday that 48 corpses were brought into Maiduguri from the scene of the attack.

The details of the corpses showed that 18 soldiers were lost, 15 Civilian JTF members were killed alongside five university staff and four Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) drivers.

It was also gathered that six persons who were wounded in the attack but escaped to somewhere in Yobe State were later found dead and brought to Maiduguri.

Apart from the wounded soldiers admitted to the military hospital in the town, two members of the Civilian JTF was at Thursday on admission at the UMTH.

Details later…

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/07/27/boko-haram-ambush-48-killed-in-oil-exploration-team/