The Nigerian Army has blamed victims of Boko Haram attack in Auno, a village 25 kilometers away from the main town of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.



The military stated this while reacting to the accusation by the state governor, Babagana Zulum, that they were to be blamed for the attack that is reported to have claimed the lives of over 30 citizens.

Mr Zulum in blaming the military said the incident occurred due to the withdrawal of military personnel from the affected area.

“Since my inauguration as the governor of Borno State from May 29th to date, Auno town has been attacked for about six times now. And the reason is that the military has withdrawn from Auno town,” the governor said in anger when he visited the scene of the attack.



“We have made repeated plea to the military to re-establish a base in Auno since it is one of the flashpoints of the Boko Haram, but nothing has been done to that effect,” he added.

A military commander who was with the governor during the visit attempted to argue that soldiers were on ground in the area but the governor rebuffed him that “no you were not here.”

“Please we are not here to fight or argue; the fact is that nobody was here.

“There were no soldiers here; they have all withdrawn. We are not being confrontational or undermining the capacity of the Nigerian military, but the fact is that we have made several attempts for the Nigeria military to establish their unit in Auno but nothing was done.



“As soon as it is 5 o’clock and they closed up their gate, they abandon the people and move over to Maiduguri. You have to tell us if you are willing to establish your unit in Auno or not.

“If you are not willing to ask your soldiers to relocate and establish their unit in Auno so that the people here can return and live their normal lives, you can tell us, so that we can know what to do as government,” he said.

sarrki:
I am convinced than anyone that Buhari failed on security

THE Presidency on Sunday berated the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, saying that it does not have any credible membership.

The Presidency in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina described the association as a one-man show that is like a general without troops which revolves on Prof. Ango Abdullahi.

Adesina noted that the group had before the 2019 presidential elections expressed its hatred for President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that the candidate NEF supported in the election suffered defeat.

The statement read, “Professor Ango Abdullahi on Sunday signed a long-winding statement on many issues relating to the North, and purportedly to the country.

” The former vice-chancellor signed the statement under the banner of Northern Elders Forum (NEF). Hearing that title, you would think the body was a conglomeration of true elders.

“But the truth is that NEF is just Ango Abdullahi, and Ango Abdullahi is NEF. It is a quasi-organization that boasts of no credible membership, and its leader is akin to a General without troops.

” Before the 2019 presidential election, the one-man army called NEF had shown its antipathy against President Muhammadu Buhari, and its preference for another candidate. They all got beaten together.”

Continuing, Adesina said, “NEF is merely waving a flag that is at half-mast. President Buhari steadily and steadfastly focuses on the task of retooling Nigeria, and discerning Nigerians know the true state of the nation. They don’t need a paper tiger to tell them anything.

Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, has tactically mocked members of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF).

Mr Adesina made mockery of the NEF while reacting to the group’s stance on insecurity bedeviling the nation.

The NEF led by Ango Abdullahi called for the overhauling of Nigeria’s security architecture following multiple killings across the country.

Rising from a meeting in Zaria on Sunday, the NEF condemned the killings in the name of religion and urges Nigerians to unite and fight the common enemy.

But reacting, the presidential spokesman described them as losers who lost just the way Atiku Abubakar, who opposed his principal’s re-election, failed.

Mr Abubakar, a former vice president, was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general election.

President Muhammadu Buhari defeated him with over 4 million votes to secure another term of four years which is winding down in 2023.

“The Northern Elders Forum led by Prof Ango Abdullahi had always been anti-Buhari. So there’s nothing new in their antagonistic position,” Mr Adesina said in a tweet.

“They backed a candidate in the 2019 election, and they all bit the dust together. Case of sour grapes,” he added.

The NEF is not the only group the presidential spokesman has attacked over critics on his principal, he has extended similar treatment to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Shehu Sani, a former Senator, has opined why President Muhammadu Buhari shouldn’t take all the blame for the recent spike of insecurity across the country.

Criminal activities ranging from kidnappings, banditry, killings among others has recently been on the rise.

Critics are quickly to blame the president for failing in that aspect. Some geo-political zones resorted to self-help by setting up regional security outfits to safeguard their domain.

For the former representative of Kaduna Central during the last Senate, the president shouldn’t take all the blame.

Mr Sani said this is because other leaders in the country who are privileged to have met the president has refused to tell the Nigerian leader the true situation on ground.

“We shouldn’t all blame the President for the deterioration of the security situation in the North and the escalation of Banditry and Kidnappings, because those leaders privileged to meet him are afraid of telling him the truth that hurts,” the former lawmaker said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

ALSO READ: Kill any IPOB member, we'll kill your children in retaliation, Nnamdi Kanu dares Police CP

In the South-West, the state governors from the region launched a security outfit codenamed Amotekun while youths from the North unveiled theirs as Shege Ka Fasa.

The latter is yet to earn the support of Northern state governors.

The newly formed regional security outfit in the North, Shege Ka Fasa, has been described as a bastard.



The description is coming from Shehu Sani, a former lawmaker who represented Kaduna Central at the 8th Senate.

The outfit was unveiled by northern youths under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) on Wednesday.

Barely a week after it was launched, dignitaries from the Northern region are distancing themselves from it.

First to condemn it was the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’adu Abubakar, who on Thursday, called for the restrain of the youths.

On Friday, Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, said his state does not need the security outfit in its domain.

Now, the former lawmaker is describing the outfit as a rejected bastard.

“Shege Ka Fasa”;A Northern bastard nobody wants to own,” he said in a tweet on Sunday.

Babagana Zulum, the state governor of Borno, has advised a Nigerian youth trekking in his honour to abort the mission.

Mr Zulum who expressed appreciation, also advised the trekker, one Usman Zubairu, who is said to be trekking from Jigawa State to Maiduguri, to rather embark on prayers for the state and the country at large.

“No, thank you, brother Usman Zubairu,” the governor said in series of tweets, Friday evening.

“Evening, everyone. I came across an interesting tweet indicating that a passionate brother, Usman Zubairu, has embarked on an adventurous trek from Jigawa to Maiduguri in my honour.

“I deeply appreciate Malam Usman’s daring support, I strongly appeal that he aborts his courageous mission.

“To me, he has reached Maiduguri already. I urge us to put Borno and the rest of Nigeria in our silent prayers. That divine way of support can be more effective,” he added.

TODAY POLITICS understands that the trekker who began the journey on Wednesday and has not arrived his destination as at press time, Saturday evening.

Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, has declared support for the establishment of regional security across the country.



Mr Adesina, the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, made this known on Friday, in an article he published on his personal website.

In the opinion article, he highlighted what his principal has done and is still doing to tackle the worsening security situation of the nation.

The rise in insecurity forced state governors from the South-West geo-political zone to float a regional security outfit they codenamed Amotekun.

The Federal Government, through Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation, initially declared it illegal but backtracked after the declaration was condemned by Nigerians.



In a similar vein, youths from the Northern regions under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) unveiled its own regional security outfit, Shege Ka Fasa.

At the unveiling on Wednesday, no notable dignitaries including state governors from the area graced the event. Northern elders have been advised to caution the youths over their action.

Backing the initiative, Mr Adesina said it was necessary because security of lives and properties needs the collaboration of the people and the government.

He never the less said this must be within the ambit of the law.

“Security is collective responsibility. It is a collaboration between the government and the people, and those who heap all the blame on government, for political capital, are missing the point,” he said.

“The people must be involved in securing their communities and country, but within the bounds of the law,” the presidential spokesman said.

Recruitment for Amotekun is billed to take place from next week.

A former Senator, Shehu Sani, has called on the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to show Nigerians the casualties of bandits it recently claimed to have killed in Kaduna State.

Mr Sani made the request on Thursday while reacting to the claim of the Police that over 250 bandits were killed during an early morning operation in the Northwest state.

“Special operatives of Operation Puff Adder of the Nigeria Police backed by the Special Forces of the Police Airwing, in a daring offensive operation, stormed one of the largest operational camps of the Ansaru Terror Group (also housing other bandits and kidnappers) located in Kuduru Forest, Birnin Gwari, Kaduna State and successfully neutralised over 250 high-profile members of the Ansaru Terror Group,” Frank Mba, the Force Public Relations Officer, said.

The force said the operation was necessitated by actionable intelligence linking terror and criminal elements in the camp to a series of terror-related violence, kidnappings, gun-running, cattle rustling, and other heinous crimes in the country.

ALSO READ: CAN disagrees with Buhari, says Boko Haram victims are mostly Christians

The terrorists were said to have attacked but were unsuccessful in their bid to pull down a police bell helicopter aiding the aerial operation in the area.

But the former lawmaker is demanding that evidence be presented to the public through the invitation of journalists to ascertain the claim of the police.

“My advice to our forces fighting the Ansaru in Kaduna;just invite the media and show them the ‘250 bandits casualties’ and those you captured during your operations; for most people nowadays, seeing is believing,” he said in a tweet.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said Nigerians are dying as if the country has no security forces.

Mr Gbajabiamila stated this when he met security chiefs and the joint House Committees on ‎Defence, Army, Navy and Air Force at the National Assembly complex in Abuja on Wednesday.

The speaker who bemoaned the rate at which Nigerians were being killed daily said the recent rise in insecurity seems as if the country has no security forces.

He thereafter charged the service chiefs to take the battle to the hideouts of criminals making the country ungovernable.

“People are dying everyday, they are dying callously in ways that you can only find in countries without security forces,” the speaker said.

“Back home our constituents are on our necks, as a country, we must think outside the box, we must take the battle to these criminals whatever they are‎.

“As I said at the State House the other day, Nigerians are anxious, but I do understand the limitations of the Armed Forces.

“I thought I should be here to encourage everybody that we’re all on the same page. We all know the situation in Nigeria today, we can’t hide from it; we can’t shy away from it, we cannot pretend that it doesn’t exist,” Gbajabiamila added.

The speaker also promised to give whatever legislative support the security chiefs will need to nip insecurity bedeviling the nation in the bud.

Present at the meeting are: Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.

lalasticlala

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has dismissed the assertion of President Muhammadu Buhari with regards to which religion are the most victims of Boko Haram insurgency.

Boko Haram terrorists which has been in existence for over a decade has killed and displaced thousands of Nigerians.

With its name translated to mean “Western education is sin”, the terror group are reportedly on a mission to forcefully turn the country which is a secular state to that of Islam.

But Mr Buhari while citing examples in an opinion article claimed the Islamic terror group were not out to islamize the country because most of its victims are those who share the same religious faith with the terrorists.

“Indeed, it is the reality that some 90 percent of all Boko Haram’s victims have been Muslims: they include a copycat abduction of over 100 Muslim schoolgirls, along with their single Christian classmate; shootings inside mosques; and the murder of two prominent imams,” Mr Buhari claimed.

But in its reaction, the Christian body disagreed with the submission of the president, claiming Christians are mostly the victims of the insurgency ravaging the Northeast region.

The body’s Director of Legal and Public Affairs, Kwamkur Samuel, expressed disappointment and challenged the president to present the reports which made him arrived at the conclusion.

‘I thought it was fireworks’ — ‘bomber’ who sneaked into Kaduna church speaks

Nathaniel Samuel, the suspected bomber caught in a church in Kaduna state, says he never knew what he had in his bag was an improvised explosive device (IED).

Speaking when he was paraded at the state police command, the suspect said he thought the items were fireworks.

Samuel was arrested inside Winners Chapel, in Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna metropolis, on Sunday, with an IED reportedly concealed in his bag.

Addressing journalists at the state police command on Monday, the suspect said the “fireworks” were meant for decoration and he only discovered it was an IED when his bag was searched.

He said: “I went to the church in the morning at about past 8 am, so while I was seating down, I was listening to the sermon from the man of God. All of a sudden, I had a stomach ache, so I decided to go and use the toilet.

“When I came into the church I was holding a bag which contained some of my items, some of my documents because a day before that day, I went for an event at Ngwamboro, Sabo.

“When we got to the station, they suspected they were fireworks meant for decoration.”

When further queried by the police, he admitted what he had was an explosive device.

He said: “We got it from the event through a lady I told them about and her name is Grace; when she gave it to me, I never knew what the devices were until after my bag was searched that I got to understand what they are. They are explosives.”

President Muhammadu Buhari says Muslims are the most victims of Boko Haram insurgency.

Mr Buhari stated this on Monday in an opinion article published on Christianity Today.

The Islamic terror group is said to be fighting for the islamization of the country which is a secular state.

But in the article, the president who recently said he was surprised at the continuous existence of the terror group, dismissed the notion that the terrorists were after Christians, saying most of the victims of the terrorists are muslims and that Boko Haram seeks to use religion in dividing Nigerians.

“Indeed, it is the reality that some 90 percent of all Boko Haram’s victims have been Muslims: they include a copycat abduction of over 100 Muslim schoolgirls, along with their single Christian classmate; shootings inside mosques; and the murder of two prominent imams. Perhaps it makes for a better story should these truths, and more, be ignored in the telling,” Buhari claimed.

“It is a simple fact that these now-failing terrorists have targeted the vulnerable, the religious, the non-religious, the young, and the old without discrimination. And at this point, when they are fractured, we cannot allow them to divide good Christians and good Muslims from those things that bind us all in the sight of God: faith, family, forgiveness, fidelity, and friendship to each other.

“Yet sadly, there is a tiny, if vocal, minority of religious leaders—both Muslim and Christian—who appear more than prepared to take their bait and blame the opposite religious side. The terrorists today attempt to build invisible walls between us. They have failed in their territorial ambitions, so now instead they seek to divide our state of mind, by pulling us from one from another—to set one religion seemingly implacably against the other.

“Translated into English, boko haram means “Western teachings are sinful.” They claim as “proof” passages of the Quran which state that Muslims should fight “pagans” to be justification for attacks on Christians and those Muslims who hold no truck with them. They are debased by their willful misreading of scripture—at least those of them who are able to read at all,” the president’s article partly read.

ALSO READ: Insecurity in Nigeria is very challenging - Osinbajo

But a former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, is not buying the idea of the president.

Describing the claim of the president as a lie, Mr Fani-Kayode said the terror group alongside Fulani militia are targeting Christians in the country.

“This is a lie.The overwhelming majority of communities that BH targets are Christian,” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain said in a tweet on Tuesday.

“The same with the Fulani militias.The killing of Christians in Nigeria is a common blood sport which shall continue as long as Buhari is President,” he added.

The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) has stated why his office withdrew the corruption case against Senator Danjuma Goje.

Mr Goje, a former governor of Gombe State has been defending an N8billion suit filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after he left the office in 2011. He described his prosecution as an embarrassing triviality.

The AGF gave the explanation in a statement signed by Umar Gwandu, his spokesman.

“As to the allegation of withdrawal of the corruption case of N25bn against former Gombe State Governor, Senator Danjuma Goje; the first point of correction is that the AGF did not withdraw a N25bn case,” the statement released on Friday read.

“The EFCC had filed a 21 charges of N8bn against Senator Goje and had been prosecuting same for over eight years without the AGF’s interference but after a no case submission filed by Senator Goje, 19 of the 21 counts making up the N8bn were struck out by the court leaving only two counts bordering on the manner in which the sale of some old buses belonging to Gombe State Transport Company between 2003 and 2011 were handled under the watch of Senator Goje.

“It was the said last two counts that the AGF thoroughly reviewed in 2019 and having found no prima facie case, withdrew in exercise of his constitutional power pursuant to Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution,” it added.

The attorney general did not give reason why the court was not allowed to decide on the merit or demerit of the case.

Backstory

Last year June, the office of the AGF under Mr Malami applied for the transfer of the case file to it and ultimately quashed the case going on for over eight years within a month.

This however did not happen until the lawmaker representing Gombe Central at the Senate who declared his interest to vie for the 9th Senate Presidency met with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Buhari was reported by Sahara Reporters to have persuaded the lawmaker to shelve his ambition and allow the current Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who was chosen as then consensus candidate by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) to man the position.

The online medium said the president was trying to avoid a repeat of what transpired during the formation of the 8th Senate which saw then Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who formed alliance with the help of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) emerging against the wish of the ruling party.

Mr Saraki despite belonging to the APC at the time survived several attempts to oust him. The former Kwara State governor has severally been blamed as the stumbling block to the programmes and initiatives of the ruling party.

The current Senate headed by Mr Lawan is widely referred to as a rubber stamp Senate by critics despite rebuttal by the top lawmaker.

voltron14:
Buhari has done a lot of positive things for this country.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been told not to see calls for his resignation as a demand to truly step aside.

Insecurity across the country has forced some critics of the present administration to demand the resignation of the president.

It started with Senator Enyinnanya Abaribe who spearheaded the call. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker was backed by his party while some Nigerians on social media are making similar demand by trending the hashtag #BuhariResign.

But weighing in on Friday morning, the president was advised by Festus Keyamo, the Minister of State, for Labour and Employment, to see the call as a demand to do more.

Mr Keyamo who said the demand was uncalled for noted that even the opposing voices are aware that their demand with regards to resignation is impossible.

“The hullabaloo over the call by the opposition for the resignation of the President is unnecessary,” the minister said in a tweet.

ALSO READ: Why Buhari should resign - PDP backs Abaribe
“It’s the usual singsong of opposition all over the world. They know it’s not going to happen. It’s just a way of telling govt to do more and we in govt. should see it in that light,” Keyamo added.

Meanwhile the president has been asked by the two chambers at the national assembly to sack his security chiefs and restructure the security architecture to improve the security situation of the nation.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has backed up Senator Enyinnanya Abaribe for calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign.

The opposition party made the backing in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Wednesday.

Mr Abaribe had called on the president to step down from office having failed to address insecurity bedeviling the nation.

While reacting to the call of the opposition lawmaker, the presidency said the Abia South representative at the Senate ought to have been in prison if the president should resign.

But supporting its lawmaker, the PDP said the recent comments of the president on insecurity shows he lacks power to nib it in the bud.

The opposition party said by admitting that he was surprised at the worsening security situation of the country, the president has displayed a disheartening dereliction of duty, directly admitted that he is overwhelmed and lacks the required capacity to articulate and implement any solutions to the escalated insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, bloodletting and increased wave of violence under his administration.

ALSO READ: I'm surprised Boko Haram is still existing - Buhari
“Our party holds that such a statement from a Commander-in-Chief, who promised to lead from the front, is distressing as it further exposes an abdication of duty and shows that Mr. President is not even abreast of his major task in governance which is the security of lives and property,” the statement partly read.

“The PDP is particularly worried over this apparent display of leadership failure as Mr. President ought to be receiving a daily brief from his service Chiefs on the actual situation on ground.

“His comment therefore speaks volumes on the manner with which the security of our nation is being handled at the highest levels despite the huge resources reportedly committed to security issues by the Buhari administration.

“The PDP notes that such development has further eroded the confidence Nigerians repose on the Buhari Presidency for solutions, especially given his failures to rejig his security high command in the face of failures and demands by well-meaning Nigerians.

“The party therefore backs the call by the Senate Minoriry Leader, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, asking President Buhari to resign,” the PDP added.

The presidency has attacked Senator Enyinnanya Abaribe who represents Abia South at the Senate for calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign.

Mr Abaribe while making his contribution bordering on challenges of national security at the floor of the red chamber on Wednesday, called on the president to relinquish his office having failed to tackle insecurity bedeviling the country.

The country has witnessed a spike in criminal activities ranging from kidnappings, farmers and herders clashes, terrorist attacks etc.

But responding, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said if the president should resign over insecurity then the lawmaker should be in prison having failed to produce Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) in court.

Mr Abaribe alongside two others stood as a surety for Mr Kanu when the latter was granted bail. The IPOB leader charged for treason has jumped bail and currently out of the country.

“If a leader like President Buhari needs to resign, there are millions of other Nigerians who need to resign, including Senator Abaribe who unlocked the door to enable the escape of traitorous and treasonable suspects,” Mr Shehu said in a statement.

ALSO READ: I'm surprised Boko Haram is still existing - Buhari
“He signed the bond for the court to release Nnamdi Kanu on bail, from which moment the suspect disappeared into the thin air. Senator Abaribe has failed repeated deadlines to return Kanu to the court for trial, yet he has the effrontery with which to accuse someone of failing to the bidding of the law.

“This is a man who should have replaced the suspects he failed to produce in the correctional facility.

“Abaribe’s party raped the nation and left it collapsing in 2015 and President Buhari is fixing things up all the years he is in office,” the statement partly read.

Mr Shehu who said the resignation call does not represent the opinion of those who re-elected his principal for another term of four years, claimed only President Buhari can stop the insecurity going on.

“President Buhari is working hard to keep Nigeria and Nigerians out of the harm terrorists have unleashed in the entire Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa with the support of Nigerians and our foreign friends, he is going to finish off these terrorists. He alone can do it,” he added.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said he is surprised that Boko Haram terrorists are still existing.

Mr Buhari stated this in Abuja when he played host to Eminent and Respected Citizens of Niger State.

The delegation led by Governor Abubakar Bello, visited the State House, on Tuesday.

“I was taken aback by what is happening in the North West and other parts of the country,” presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, in a statement, quoted his principal as saying.

“During our campaigns, we knew about the Boko Haram. What is coming now is surprising. It is not ethnicity or religion, rather it is one evil plan against the country,” the president added.

The Nigerian leader promised to increase the war tempo against the terrorists and bandits.

“We have to be harder on them. One of the responsibilities of government is to provide security. If we don’t secure the country, we will not be able to manage the economy properly,” the statement partly read.

His visitors said they visited to show appreciation to the president for his interventions on infrastructure, security, and appointment of indigenes of the state into key positions of government.

Boko Haram, a terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria has killed many and displaced thousands of Nigerians since it was formed in 2002.

When he sought to be president in 2015, Mr Buhari vowed to wipe out the terrorists by leading from the front. Despite efforts being made by his administration which claimed to have decimated the terror group, the terrorists are still carrying out pockets of attacks here and there.