₦airaland Forum

DubaiLandLord1:
Al Barnawi is more considerate than Boko Haram and the Nigerian military.

Boko Haram and Nigerian army operation is almost the same.

I hope All Barnawi will face the Nigerian military and politicians alone, and let civilians live their life in peace.

Yes brother. During his leadership with Mamman Nur they don’t attack Humanitarians. We could move around Lake Chad( Monguno, Kukawa, Damasak, Nganzai) easily without being hurt even when we come close to them when they are crossing.

Immediately he was overthrown the ideology changed and they started attacking Humanitarians.

The unconditional realese of hostages is definitely for public policy.
They seek for public support, Some of these hostages may have been brainwashed into aiding terrorist activities ...
It safer to consider the worst case scenario

GeneralFarouq:
The unconditional realese of hostages is definitely for public policy.
They seek for public support, Some of these hostages may have been brainwashed into aiding terrorist activities ...
It safer to consider the worst case scenario

I don discuss with some self on phone.

Jubilation mode activated since 5pm

DubaiLandLord1:
Al Barnawi is more considerate than Boko Haram and the Nigerian military.

Boko Haram and Nigerian army operation is almost the same.

I hope All Barnawi will face the Nigerian military and politicians alone, and let civilians live their life in peace.

Yesso, let us continue to celebrate terrorists. As if the group Al Nonsense was part of has not killed over 50k civilian. Terrorists are terrorists!

Xbee007:
Yesso, let us continue to celebrate terrorists. As if the group Al Nonsense was part of has not killed over 50k civilian. Terrorists are terrorists!

Are you surprised at the moniker vomiting such?

Odunayaw:
Are you surprised at the moniker vomiting such?

I'm not surprised. But this is a new low.

Thought i was the only one sensing the tone , like what the fvk? Are we supposed to say thank you because blood thirsty murderers released their kidnapped victims? damn

Xbee007:
Yesso, let us continue to celebrate terrorists. As if the group Al Nonsense was part of has not killed over 50k civilian. Terrorists are terrorists!

Sizzorkay:
Thought i was the only one sensing the tone , like what the fvk? Are we supposed to say thank you because blood thirsty murderers released their kidnapped victims? damn

Classic Stockholm syndrome.

JOSCOFELIX:
one thing you should know. in a gunfire or crime, any crime committed can not allocated to any of the group until detail, i will verify

you are biased.....very very ...

Say the truth. .. so it SPIRIT that burnt the houses ?

Xbee007:
Yesso, let us continue to celebrate terrorists. As if the group Al Nonsense was part of has not killed over 50k civilian. Terrorists are terrorists!

And how many has the army killed so far for doing nothing..? We just want the right thing to be done that's all..nobody is celebrating any terrorist...!! If you terrorize and bring pains to people for no just cause then you are a terrorist wether in uniform or not and all should be condemned...!!

Xbee007:
Yesso, let us continue to celebrate terrorists. As if the group Al Nonsense was part of has not killed over 50k civilian. Terrorists are terrorists!

E no concern me. All I know is that, the way the Nigerian army operate is not different from that of Boko Haram.

We saw it in Odi and Zaki Biam. In the North East, if Boko Haram attack the Nigerian army in any particular location, the Nigerian army will come back to level the community, killing anybody and burning their properties.

After the attack in Giwa barracks by Boko Haram, Nigerian army massacred all the prisoners that couldn't escape.

It happened in Benue again few weeks ago, it happened in a community in the south east few days ago.

I'm not here to sugar coat anything, I will keep on saying things as dey are. If you no happy, is your problem not mine.

There is almost no difference between the Nigerian army and Boko Haram operation. There are records to back it up.

Valkrie:
And how many has the army killed so far for doing nothing..? We just want the right thing to be done that's all..nobody is celebrating any terrorist...!! If you terrorize and bring pains to people for no just cause then you are a terrorist wether in uniform or not and all should be condemned...!!

Nah so!

GeneralFarouq:
The unconditional realese of hostages is definitely for public policy.
They seek for public support, Some of these hostages may have been brainwashed into aiding terrorist activities ...
It safer to consider the worst case scenario

The ISWAP terrorist leader is feeling the heat and this is only suggestive of an olive branch to slow down military operations or signs of a moderate form of Islamafascists jihad if anything like that which we don't know of.

But what do you say to people celebrating the release of captives by terrorists under whatever guise when such an organization is still holding on to a girl child like Leah Shaibu forcibly turned into a "woman and mother" against her will because of her faith. I can bet the Nigerian Army can not be equated with such atrocities as an official strategy of warfare. This tells you the kind of people we are dealing with here on Nairaland complete hypocrites.

The only thing the Nigerian Army or indeed any Army will do is to escalate violence equal to or above that perpetuated by any belligerent organization or enemy for a desired political objective in favor of the state albeit professionally. You don't go to a gunfight with cutlass and expect to be pampered. You meet violence with violence, it is simply the nature of warfare. If you carry a gun you ask to die.

The level of brigandage in Nigeria today by various groups in most cases have exceeded bare knuckle police action. Nigeria is where America was in the 1800s for reasons of birth pangs and honest President Abraham Lincoln the 16th president of the United States met violence with violence shelling in some cases whole states with warships from the coasts to bring back some level of sanity. Something I highly recommend under the present circumstances else their would be no Nigeria. And anyone castigating the restrained measures of the Nigerian military doing the utmost it can to restore order is an enemy and should be treated as such. Enough is enough.

First ISWAP should release Leah Shaibu and others like her and then we can talk TERMS of SURRENDER and nothing else will suffice otherwise the fighting and bombings will continue until every terrorist life within that radius they hibernate is wiped out totally.

But what does it tell us when grown men here whose reasoning is be-clouded by absolute hatred for Nigeria begin to equate civilised society however flawed with terrorists that are unforgiving, a complete neurotic breakdown.

Xbee007:
Yesso, let us continue to celebrate terrorists. As if the group Al Nonsense was part of has not killed over 50k civilian. Terrorists are terrorists!

These are sick people. We should first throw them to the terrorists to find out exactly what terrorists mean. I bet they would be crying for that same Nigerian Army to come save them

Btw false flag operations are paying off

Xbee007:
Yesso, let us continue to celebrate terrorists. As if the group Al Nonsense was part of has not killed over 50k civilian. Terrorists are terrorists!

Sense will never depart from you !
Whats your brand beer.....

SamuelAnyawu:
I don discuss with some self on phone.

Jubilation mode activated since 5pm

If you were in their shoes, would you accept to be a BH mole so your release is approved?

DubaiLandLord1:
Al Barnawi is more considerate than Boko Haram and the Nigerian military.

Boko Haram and Nigerian army operation is almost the same.

I hope All Barnawi will face the Nigerian military and politicians alone, and let civilians live their life in peace.

Jam talking!

JackWolfskin:
If you were in their shoes, would you accept to be a BH mole so your release is approved?

I’m happy they are back

JackWolfskin:
Jam talking!

k.

DubaiLandLord1:
We saw it in Odi and Zaki Biam. In the North East, if Boko Haram attack the Nigerian army in any particular location, the Nigerian army will come back to level the community, killing anybody and burning their properties.

After the attack in Giwa barracks by Boko Haram, Nigerian army massacred all the prisoners that couldn't escape.

It happened in Benue again few weeks ago, it happened in a community in the south east few days ago.

I'm not here to sugar coat anything, I will keep on saying things as dey are. If you no happy, is your problem not mine.

There is almost no difference between the Nigerian army and Boko Haram operation. There are records to back it up.

Una go wail tire

Boko Haram don massacre thousands of people, the Nigerian army too don massacre thousands of people, so wetin be the difference between the two. Boko Haram dey burn houses and cars, Nigerian army dey burn houses and cars... So wetin be the difference between the two

I can never cry to a military is personnel are also crying to civilians for help

Drones, Choppers Deploy to Combat Piracy in Gulf Off Nigeria
By William Clowes



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-10/nigeria-deploys-drones-choppers-to-combat-rampant-sea-piracy

SamuelAnyawu:
I’m happy they are back

You didn't answer the question sir.

US military guns keep vanishing, some used in street crimes

Pulling a pistol from his waistband, the young man spun his human shield toward police.

“Don’t do it!” a pursuing officer pleaded. The young man complied, releasing the bystander and tossing the gun, which skittered across the city street and then into the hands of police.

They soon learned that the 9mm Beretta had a rap sheet. Bullet casings linked it to four shootings, all of them in Albany, New York.

And there was something else. The pistol was U.S. Army property, a weapon intended for use against America’s enemies, not on its streets.

The Army couldn’t say how its Beretta M9 got to New York’s capital. Until the June 2018 police foot chase, the Army didn’t even realize someone had stolen the gun. Inventory records checked by investigators said the M9 was 600 miles away -- safe inside Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

“It’s incredibly alarming,” said Albany County District Attorney David Soares. “It raises the other question as to what else is seeping into a community that could pose a clear and present danger.”

The armed services and the Pentagon are not eager for the public to know the answer.

A photo illustration of semi-automatic weapons inside a U.S. Marine Corps arms room at Camp Foster. (AP Illustration)
A photo illustration of semi-automatic weapons inside a U.S. Marine Corps arms room at Camp Foster. (AP Illustration)
In the first public accounting of its kind in decades, an Associated Press investigation has found that at least 1,900 U.S. military firearms were lost or stolen during the 2010s, with some resurfacing in violent crimes. Because some armed services have suppressed the release of basic information, AP’s total is a certain undercount.

Government records covering the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force show pistols, machine guns, shotguns and automatic assault rifles have vanished from armories, supply warehouses, Navy warships, firing ranges and other places where they were used, stored or transported. These weapons of war disappeared because of unlocked doors, sleeping troops, a surveillance system that didn’t record, break-ins and other security lapses that, until now, have not been publicly reported.

While AP’s focus was firearms, military explosives also were lost or stolen, including armor-piercing grenades that ended up in an Atlanta backyard.

Weapon theft or loss spanned the military’s global footprint, touching installations from coast to coast, as well as overseas. In Afghanistan, someone cut the padlock on an Army container and stole 65 Beretta M9s -- the same type of gun recovered in Albany. The theft went undetected for at least two weeks, when empty pistol boxes were discovered in the compound. The weapons were not recovered.


Even elite units are not immune. A former member of a Marines special operations unit was busted with two stolen guns. A Navy SEAL lost his pistol during a fight in a restaurant in Lebanon.

The Pentagon used to share annual updates about stolen weapons with Congress, but the requirement to do so ended years ago and public accountability has slipped. The Army and Air Force, for example, couldn’t readily tell AP how many weapons were lost or stolen from 2010 through 2019. So the AP built its own database, using extensive federal Freedom of Information Act requests to review hundreds of military criminal case files or property loss reports, as well as internal military analysis and data from registries of small arms.

Sometimes, weapons disappear without a paper trail. Military investigators regularly close cases without finding the firearms or person responsible because shoddy records lead to dead ends.

The military’s weapons are especially vulnerable to corrupt insiders responsible for securing them. They know how to exploit weak points within armories or the military’s enormous supply chains. Often from lower ranks, they may see a chance to make a buck from a military that can afford it.

“It’s about the money, right?” said Brig. Gen. Duane Miller, who as deputy provost marshal general is the Army’s No. 2 law enforcement official.

Theft or loss happens more than the Army has publicly acknowledged. During an initial interview, Miller significantly understated the extent to which weapons disappear, citing records that report only a few hundred missing rifles and handguns. But an internal analysis AP obtained, done by the Army’s Office of the Provost Marshal General, tallied 1,303 firearms.

In a second interview, Miller said he wasn’t aware of the memos, which had been distributed throughout the Army, until AP pointed them out following the first interview. “If I had the information in front of me,” Miller said, “I would share it with you.” Other Army officials said the internal analysis might overstate some losses.

The AP’s investigation began a decade ago. From the start, the Army has given conflicting information on a subject with the potential to embarrass -- and that’s when it has provided information at all. A former insider described how Army officials resisted releasing details of missing guns when AP first inquired, and indeed that information was never provided.

Top officials within the Army, Marines and Secretary of Defense’s office said that weapon accountability is a high priority, and when the military knows a weapon is missing it does trigger a concerted response to recover it. The officials also said missing weapons are not a widespread problem and noted that the number is a tiny fraction of the military’s stockpile.

“We have a very large inventory of several million of these weapons,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in an interview. “We take this very seriously and we think we do a very good job. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t losses. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t mistakes made.”

Kirby said those mistakes are few, though, and last year the military could account for 99.999% of its firearms. “Though the numbers are small, one is too many,” he said.

In the absence of a regular reporting requirement, the Pentagon is responsible for informing Congress of any “significant” incidents of missing weapons. That hasn’t happened since at least 2017. While a missing portable missile such as a Stinger would qualify for notifying lawmakers, a stolen machine gun would not, according to a senior Department of Defense official whom the Pentagon provided for an interview on condition the official not be named.

While AP’s analysis covered the 2010s, incidents persist.

In May, an Army trainee who fled Fort Jackson in South Carolina with an M4 rifle hijacked a school bus full of children, pointing his unloaded assault weapon at the driver before eventually letting everyone go.


Surveillance video from a school bus hijacking involving an Army recruit in South Carolina. (AP Video/Courtesy of Richland County Sheriff's Office)

Last October, police in San Diego were startled to find a military grenade launcher on the front seat of a car they pulled over for expired license plates. The driver and his passenger were middle-aged men with criminal records.

After publicizing the arrest, police got a call from a Marine Corps base up the Pacific coast. The Marines wanted to know if the grenade launcher was one they needed to find. They read off a serial number.

It wasn’t a match.

___

CRIME GUNS

Stolen military guns have been sold to street gang members, recovered on felons and used in violent crimes.

The AP identified eight instances in which five different stolen military firearms were used in a civilian shooting or other violent crime, and others in which felons were caught possessing weapons. To find these cases, AP combed investigative and court records, as well as published reports. Federal restrictions on sharing firearms information publicly mean the case total is certainly an undercount.

The military requires itself to inform civilian law enforcement when a gun is lost or stolen, and the services help in subsequent investigations. The Pentagon does not track crime guns, and spokesman Kirby said his office was unaware of any stolen firearms used in civilian crimes.

The closest AP could find to an independent tally was done by the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services. It said 22 guns issued by the U.S. military were used in a felony during the 2010s. That total could include surplus weapons the military sells to the public or loans to civilian law enforcement.

Those FBI records also appear to be undercount. They say that no military-issue gun was used in a felony in 2018, but at least one was.

Back in June 2018, Albany police were searching for 21-year-old Alvin Damon. They’d placed him at a shooting which involved the Beretta M9, a workhorse weapon for the military that is similar to a model Beretta produces for the civilian market.

Surveillance video obtained by AP shows another man firing the gun four times at a group of people off camera, taking cover behind a building between shots. Two men walking with him scattered, one dropping his hat in the street. No one was injured.

Two months later, Detective Daniel Seeber spotted Damon on a stoop near the Prince Deli corner store. Damon took off running and, not far into the chase, grabbed a bystander who had just emerged from the deli with juice and a bag of chips.


Surveillance footage of a shooting with an Army Beretta M9 pistol on the streets of Albany, New York. (AP Video/Courtesy of Albany County District Attorney's Office)

After Detective Seeber defused the standoff, officers collected the pistol. A check by New York State Police returned leads to four Albany shootings, including one just the day before in which a bullet lodged in a living room wall. In another, someone was shot in the ankle.

At the request of Albany police, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced the gun’s story. The ATF contacted Army’s Criminal Investigation Command, and a review of Army inventory systems showed the M9 had been listed as “in-transit” between two Fort Bragg units for two years before police recovered it.

And the Army still doesn’t know who stole the gun, or when.

The case wasn’t the first in which police recovered a stolen service pistol before troops at Fort Bragg realized it was missing. AP found a second instance, involving a pistol that was among 21 M9s stolen from an arms room.

Military police learned of the theft in 2010. By then, one of the M9s was sitting in an evidence room in the Hoke County Sheriff’s Department, picked up in a North Carolina backyard not far from Bragg. Another M9 was later seized in Durham after it was used in a parking lot shooting.

Another steady North Carolina source of weapons has been Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, where authorities often have an open missing weapons investigation. Detectives in Baltimore found a Beretta M9 stolen from a Lejeune armory during a cocaine bust. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service found in the 2011 case that inventory and security procedures were rarely followed. Three guns were stolen; no one was charged.

FROM THE STOLEN WEAPONS FILES:
– Stolen Army assault rifles keep showing up in California
– Military stumped by stolen box of armor-piercing grenades
– With Massachusetts armory theft, military guns went public
Deputies in South Carolina were called in 2017 after a man started wildly shooting an M9 pistol into the air during an argument with his girlfriend. The boyfriend, a convicted felon, then started shooting toward a neighbor’s house. The pistol came from a National Guard armory that a thief entered through an unlocked door, hauling off six automatic weapons, a grenade launcher and five M9s.

Meanwhile, authorities in central California are still finding AK-74 assault rifles that were among 26 stolen from Fort Irwin a decade ago. Military police officers stole the guns from the Army base, selling some to the Fresno Bulldogs street gang.

At least nine of the AKs have not been recovered.

___

INSIDER THREAT

The people with easiest access to military firearms are those who handle and secure them.

In the Army, they are often junior soldiers assigned to armories or arms rooms, according to Col. Kenneth Williams, director of supply under the Army’s G-4 Logistics branch.

“This is a young guy or gal,” Williams said. “This is a person normally on their first tour of duty. So you can see that we put great responsibility on our soldiers immediately when they come in.”


Armorers have access both to firearms and the spare parts kept for repairs. These upper receivers, lower receivers and trigger assemblies can be used to make new guns or enhance existing ones.

“We’ve seen issues like that in the past where an armorer might build an M16” automatic assault rifle from military parts, said Mark Ridley, a former deputy director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. “You have to be really concerned with certain armorers and how they build small arms and small weapons.”

In 2014, NCIS began investigating the theft of weapons parts from Special Boat Team Twelve, a Navy unit based in Coronado, California. Four M4 trigger assemblies that could make a civilian AR-15 fully automatic were missing. Investigators found an armory inventory manager was manipulating electronic records by moving items or claiming they had been transferred. The parts were never recovered and the case was closed after federal prosecutors declined to file charges.

Weapons accountability is part of military routine. Armorers are supposed to check weapons when they open each day. Sight counts, a visual total of weapons on hand, are drilled into troops whether they are in the field, on patrol or in the arms room. But as long as there have been armories, people have been stealing from them.

Weapons enter the public three main ways: direct sales from thieves to buyers, through pawn shops and surplus stores, and online.

Investigators have found sensitive and restricted parts for military weapons on sites including eBay, which said in a statement it has “zero tolerance” for stolen military gear on its site.

At Fort Campbell, Kentucky, soldiers stole machine gun parts and other items that ended up with online buyers in Russia, China, Mexico and elsewhere. The civilian ringleader, who was found with a warehouse of items, was convicted. Authorities said he made hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Often though, recovering a weapon can prove hard.

A photo illustration of an arms room at Malmstrom Air Force Base. (AP Illustration)
A photo illustration of an arms room at Malmstrom Air Force Base. (AP Illustration)
When an M203 grenade launcher couldn’t be found during a 2019 inventory at a Marine Corps supply base in Albany, Georgia, investigators sought surveillance camera footage. It didn’t exist. The warehouse manager said the system couldn’t be played back at the time.

An analysis of 45 firearms-only investigations in the Navy and Marines found that in 55% of cases, no suspect could be found and weapons remained missing. In those unresolved cases, investigators found records were destroyed or falsified, armories lacked basic security and inventories weren’t completed for weeks or months.

“Gun-decking” is Navy slang for faking work. In the case of the USS Comstock, gun-decking led to the disappearance of three pistols.

A photo illustration of U.S. service members in Afghanistan. (AP Illustration)
A photo illustration of U.S. service members in Afghanistan. (AP Illustration)
Investigators found numerous security lapses in the 2012 case, including one sailor asleep in the armory. The missing pistols weren’t properly logged in the ship’s inventory when they were received several days before. Investigators couldn’t pinpoint what day they disappeared because sailors gun-decked inventory reports by not doing actual counts.

___

ROOM FOR DISCREPANCY

Military officials shied from discussing how many guns they have, much less how many are missing.

AP learned that the Army, the largest of the armed services, is responsible for about 3.1 million small arms. Across all four branches, the U.S. military has an estimated 4.5 million firearms, according to the nonprofit organization Small Arms Survey.

In its accounting, whenever possible AP eliminated cases in which firearms were lost in combat, during accidents such as aircraft crashes and similar incidents where a weapon’s fate was known.

Unlike the Army and Air Force, which could not answer basic questions about missing weapons, the Marines and Navy were able to produce data covering the 2010s.

The Navy data showed that 211 firearms were reported lost or stolen. In addition, 63 firearms previously considered missing were recovered.

According to AP’s analysis of data from the Marines, 204 firearms were lost or stolen, with 14 later recovered.


To account for missing weapons, the Pentagon relies on incident reports from the services, which it keeps for only three years.

Pentagon officials said that approximately 100 firearms were unaccounted for in both 2019 and 2018. A majority of those were attributable to accidents or combat losses, they said. Even though AP’s total excluded accidents and combat losses whenever known, it was higher than what the services reported to the Pentagon.

The officials said they could only discuss how many weapons were missing dating to 2018. The reason: They aren’t required to keep earlier records. Without providing documentation, the Pentagon said the number of missing weapons was down significantly in 2020, when the pandemic curtailed many military operations.

The Air Force was the only service branch not to release data. It first responded to several Freedom of Information Act requests by saying no records existed. Air Force representatives then said they would not provide details until yet another FOIA request, filed 1.5 years ago, was fully processed.

The Army sought to suppress information on missing weapons and gave misleading numbers that contradict internal memos.

A photo illustration of a gun in a U.S. Air Force arms room. (AP Illustration)
A photo illustration of a gun in a U.S. Air Force arms room. (AP Illustration)
The AP began asking the Army for details on missing weapons in 2011 and filed a formal request a year later for records of guns listed as missing, lost, stolen or recovered in the Department of Defense Small Arms and Light Weapons Registry. Charles Royal, the former Army civilian employee who was in charge of the registry, said that he prepared records for release that higher ups eventually blocked in 2013.

“You’re dealing with millions of weapons,” Royal said in a recent interview. “But we’re supposed to have 100% recon, right. OK, we’re not allowed a discrepancy on that. But there’s so much room for discrepancy.”

For Full Article Please Follow Link
https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-business-gun-politics-crime-6caba27108d05a8b7c1860959d1ae130

Roan77:
You didn't answer the question sir.

That’s not a question.

He should ask himself if his brother or his Mother is in Bokoharam captivity. And Bokoharam tells his brother or Mum he/she will be a mole for them before release.

Will he as part of the Negotiating team agree his mum/Brother should remain in Captivity?

If he answers this I’ll answer mine.

E Dey easy to cap when no be your person them hold

SamuelAnyawu:
That’s not a question.

He should ask himself if his brother or his Mother is in Bokoharam captivity. And Bokoharam tells his brother or Mum he/she will be a mole for them before release.

Will he as part of the Negotiating team agree his mum/Brother should remain in Captivity?

If he answers this I’ll answer mine.

E Dey easy to cap when no be your person them hold

There is a Yoruba adage that says "Ogbon ju agbara lo"

If am in your friend position, I will agree to always give them intel just for them to release me, immediately I am released, I will let the authority know about it.

I've forgotten the name of the girl that was kidnapped by Boko Haram, the only thing she needed to do to gain freedom was to convert to a muslim, her class mate wey convert, her now with their family and friends at home. I'm sure most of them still go church and didn't even bother to convert back to christianity after gaining freedom. While she wey no gree to convert to a muslim is still with the terrorist den. She don even give birth to like 2-3 pikin.

What is the essence of telling them you can't work for them? Only for them to keep on holding you captive, dem fit even shoot the person dead sef.

Just because you agree to work for them no mean say you go work for them.

Well, I'm happy your friends are not DUMB.

Military Gunships ‘Kill’ Over 1,000 Cows In Nasarawa
The attacks were launched between Thursday and Sunday...

Two military aircraft have killed over 1,000 cows in multiple attacks on Fulani settlements in Keana and Doma local government areas of Nasarawa State.

Fulani leaders and some of the victims told Daily Trust that the attacks were launched between Thursday, June 10 and Sunday, June 13.

Some young Fulani herders tending the cattle sustained injuries while over 500 cows that strayed into neighbouring Benue State have not been recovered yet, victims and witnesses said.

Some sources said hundreds of cows were killed in Giza Development Area of Keana Local Government on the grounds that the military operation was to dislodge bandits from the areas.

It was gathered that Sunday’s operation lasted for three hours and caused tension in the areas as farmers and Fulani herders deserted their homes for fear of being killed.

Our correspondent in Lafia, Nasarawa State, was told that over 1000 cows were killed and several others left wounded.

“The aircraft that carried out the operation were under the command of Operation Whirl Stroke of the Nigerian Air Force Base Makurdi in Benue State,” a source said.

The sources said “some bandits shot at a military aircraft; that was what triggered the bombardment of the entire area. One of the gunships was painted in Nigerian Air Force colours while the other one was painted in army green colour.”

However, some Fulani leaders said the attack was without any provocation.

The acting Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Nasarawa State, Bala Mohammed Dabo, said hundreds of cows were also killed between Kwatanbala and Akwanaja in Doma LGA.

“In a separate attack on Thursday in Kuduku of Keana LGA, Alhaji Jigawa lost many cows during the siege. We sat with military officials in Nasarawa State. The commander here represented the overall commander in Benue and he promised that he will escalate the matter to the relevant authorities.

“We pleaded that they should halt the unprovoked siege and killing of cows in Nasarawa State. A governor from neighbouring Benue should stop dictating what is happening in Nasarawa. The Fulani are the most hated people in Nigeria because nobody is speaking for us. We are being killed and maimed and our source of livelihood destroyed without provocation.

“The anti-grazing law in Benue State is just an alibi…It is meant to force the Fulani to extinction. The federal government should rise up to the challenge and salvage our people,” he said.

The Fulani leader also denied encroaching into Benue territory where there is an anti-grazing law.

“There is no justification for gunships to come to Nasarawa territory and kill cows. It would have been different if they were killed in Benue,” he said.

Another victim, Ibrahim Adamu from Akwanaja ward in Kwatanbala of Doma LGA, said 40 of his cows were killed by the gunships on Thursday.

“Our cows had come back home from grazing when the aircraft came and killed them around 6pm. We are in real pain and we pray for help from whatever quarter we can get it. The cows are our source of livelihood,” he said.

The Chairman of Coalition of Fulani Youths Groups of Nigeria (CFYGN), Abdulkareem Bayero, said terrible things were happening in Nasarawa State and have not been reported.

“We are calling on the authorities to intervene on the terrorism against the Fulani. There is no anti-grazing law in Nasarawa and therefore no justification for the air force gunships to come and bomb hundreds of cows of innocent Fulani herdsmen.

“The onslaught has been ongoing for long, the latest started on Thursday. Apart from the cows killed in Awe and Keana LGAs, hundreds of others have fled into Benue State and the locals there have rustled them.killed our cows.

“When they came for the second time, around 9am, at a time our people were trying to salvage some of the injured cows, they started bombing them again. More than 500 cows are now missing apart from the hundreds killed.

“We are in distress, we need urgent intervention. Government must talk to the military to stop the offensive. We are compelled to suspect that the government at the centre is also complicit because only the federal government has the power to dispatch aircraft to go and bomb a target.

“We are living peacefully in Nasarawa, we don’t have any case with the host communities and we have never been suspected of banditry or kidnapping but our people are now the target of attacks; we are in serious disarray,” he said.

Another victim, Idrissa Zakaria, said he lost over 50 cows, adding that the first attack was launched between Katanbala and Akonoja.

He said the gunships moved to Giza in Keana LGA. “The gunship will come low and shot at the cows; some of the boys tending the cows were also injured.

“We suspect Governor Samuel Ortom of having a hand in this…He is the one who is giving the military resources to attack us,” he said.

Military aware of Buhari’s shoot-on-sight order

Governor Ortom in his response to the allegation that the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) aircraft was bombarding and killing cows belonging to herders in border areas of Benue and Nasarawa states said that the military was aware of President Muhammadu Buhari’s order to shoot-on-sight.

Ortom, through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, added that the people being chased out of the forest were terrorists and not law-abiding Nigerians.

“Remember that Mr President recently gave an order that anyone with AK-47 should be shot. The military is aware that terrorists and bandits bearing AK-47 have occupied the forests from where they come to attack and kill innocent people. Those people being chased out of the forests are terrorists, not law-abiding Nigerians,” Akase said.

On the part of NAF in Benue, the Command Public Relation Officer (CPRO), Wing Commander Chris Erondu, when contacted, directed our correspondent to the media office of NAF headquarters in Abuja for comments on the matter.

When contacted on Sunday, the spokesman of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, told one of our correspondents via telephone that it was not the personnel of the force that carried out the operations.

He said: “That operation in Makurdi is a Defence Headquarters’ operation not an Air Force operation. I wouldn’t even want to comment on that. It was operation Whirl Stroke under Defence Headquarters. It was a joint operation. The best person to talk to is DHQ.”

But the Acting Coordinator, Defence Media Operations (DMO), Brig.-Gen. Bernard Onyeuko, when contacted, did not answer calls to his phone.

Gabkwet, however, described the report that anybody or any animal was killed as “false” noting that banditry activities were already spiralling in the Benue State capital, Makurdi, where some bandits wielding AK-47 were mingling with the locals.

According to him, “the story is totally false. There are some banditry activities not far from Benue State; somewhere very close to Makurdi. It is between Makurdi and Lafia. So, our helicopter went there and tracked some bandits we saw with AK-47.

“In fact, nobody was killed and nothing happened. The bandits ran into the city. Of course, our trackers picked them out but they later went back again. In clear terms, bandits ran into the city and mingled with the locals.”

Farmers, herders affected

It was gathered that farmers and Fulani herdsmen in Giza Development Area who are living at the border area between Nasarawa and Benue states have started migrating from their respective homes of abode to the state capital for fear of the military bombs.

Sources said many of them have abandoned their farmlands and cattle as a result of the alleged bombardment of bandits and kidnappers’ camps.

When contacted, the Director of Personnel Management in Keana LGA, Galadima Abubakar, said he was not aware of military presence or bombardment of bandits and kidnappers.

Efforts to reach out to the Commissioner of Information, Culture and Tourism, Dogo Shama, to get the Nasarawa State government’s side of the story proved abortive as several calls to his phone did not go through as of the time of filing in this report.

Also contacted on phone, the Police Public Relations Officer, Nasarawa State Command, ASP Nansel Ranham, said the command was not aware of bombings in Giza and other locations.

https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/military-gunships-kill-over-1000-cows-in-nasarawa

The only difference between Fulanis herdsmen and bandits is just the name. They are the same.

Nigerian Army, Police Kill Father Of Two Attending Funeral, Parade His Corpse As Unknown Gunman

Police and Nigerian Army operatives have shot dead a 48-year-old father of two, Ifeanyi Obi, who was attending a funeral in Owerri, Imo State.

He was shot dead during a raid by the security operatives.

SaharaReporters gathered that Obi, a shoe manufacturer based in Aba, Abia State, rather than being arrested and properly interrogated, was shot dead at the scene by the security agencies, his attire was stripped off him and he was paraded alongside others as an unknown gunman belonging to the Eastern Security Network (ESN).

Sources and residents familiar with the incident told SaharaReporters that the victim hailed from Oguta in Imo State but resided in Aba, Abia, and it was the funeral that brought him home – he had nothing to do with the crisis in Imo. He was shot dead while still in the attire he wore to the event.

A top security source said, “The deceased was a prospering shoe manufacturer at Powerline Women's Shoes Market in Ariaria Market, Aba. You can go and verify from his fellow traders. He was married with two kids. He had travelled to his hometown in Oguta for a funeral alongside his in-law who is married to his sister.

“That was on Friday, June 4, and two days after, on Sunday, June 6, they boarded a bus to Aba and on getting to Alvan Ikoku College of Education area in Owerri, there were rains of gunshots. The driver hurriedly discharged all passengers and asked them to find their way to safety and the passengers ran in different directions, including Ifeanyi and his in-law who ran in separate directions.

“It was where Ifeanyi ran to and was taking refuge and dodging the flying bullets that soldiers stormed and shot him dead instantly. His corpse was picked up and the trousers he wore were removed.”

SaharaReporters learnt that the army and police took all the persons shot dead at the scene to the police command headquarters in Owerri.

“The next thing was that his corpse was paraded later by the security operatives with a gun placed on him as one of 'the five unknown gunmen or Eastern Security Network (ESN) or Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) members killed during an exchange of gunfire' while attempting to attack the Imo State Police Headquarters. We were so infuriated. How could the army and police do this? Is it because the dead don’t speak?” another source queried.

SaharaReporters had on Saturday also exposed how the police and the army in carrying out mass raids and arrests of South-East residents shot dead some of the suspects, allegedly labelled as gunmen terrorising the region.

SaharaReporters had obtained the photographs of two of the victims, who were living in Umuahia, Abia State, whom residents confirmed to be part of them and not unknown gunmen as they were labelled by the police and the army.

The first victim had been identified as Obinna Ejekwu, 30 years old, and Onyebuchi Amadi, 27 years old.

Both men were killed by the security operatives on May 29 and thereafter labelled as ESN members.

“Rather than using intelligence-based crime detection and investigation to go after criminal elements, the Nigerian security forces are let loose on unarmed and defenceless Igbo citizens, hatefully targeting and killing them and labelling them as terrorists,” the source who released the photographs to SaharaReporters had lamented.

A civil society organisation, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, said it called on the international community not to fold their arms amid the “silent massacre” going on in the South-East region but must prevail on the Nigerian government to respect the rule of law and sanctity of life.

http://saharareporters.com/2021/06/15/nigerian-army-police-kill-father-two-attending-funeral-parade-his-corpse-unknown-gunman

Lurker4Long:
Sending off parade for a South African soldier killed in a friendly fire incident during an op in the DR Congo.

Minister of defence, her deputy and SANDF officers handing over the remains to the soldier's family at Air Force Base Waterkloof...

...last.

Lurker4Long:
Minister of defence, her deputy and SANDF officers handing over the remains to the soldier's family at Air Force Base Waterkloof...

All these activities for one soldier!

Notice the woman with her hand on her heart. Even in her pain she's still making the national pledge.

That's true patriotism to country.

Covert1:
It often comes down to courses passed to out rank a course mate. It's a reality the soldiers know however in this case the president used his constitutional powers of prerogative.

I knew the issue of finance will come but the money spent in retiring these officers every few years its humongous. A little addition to it will do the trick. In West Africa there are many options for a command HQ likewise in other regions of Africa. Nigeria actually has more clout than you may think. The Military High Command can actually have some of these combatant commands for a start domiciled at Ship House and Defense HQ. The idea is not to go and start wars. The military is not all about fighting all of the time. Instead of a fire brigade approach like we had in Mali we can be ahead of the game. Countries we never thought of are now filling in the military gaps in most of these African countries that we used to do.

Defense costs money. This is a reality the present administration is slowly waking up to.

That cost will rise exponentially in a regime where mediocrity is enthroned and corruption rife.

In addition competence is measured by unquestionable loyalty to the regime without question.

Loyalty is a perceptive led deduction thats why nepotism, tribal and religious affiliation count more than capacity and competence in the PMB regime.