The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi state, Mr. Abubakar Audu is dead. Mr. Audu died of undisclosed medical reasons shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared his victory at the elections inconclusive. Saharareporters could not determine the cause of Mr. Audu's death.

Source:
http://saharareporters.com/2015/11/22/abubakar-audu-apcs-governorship-candidate-kogi-election-dead

The Defence Headquarters has released a statement claiming to have killed a man posing as the leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau (or his impersonator) in an attack (both land and air) in Konduga Borno state between 12nd to 17th September.Nigerian troops have been conducting coordinated air and land operations in furtherance of efforts at containing the terrorists in the North East part of the country. Somehow, it became apparent that the terrorists in continuation of their campaign of terror were determined to take over communities around Maiduguri which is their prime target.
There was therefore the need to ensure that communities such as Konduga were protected. It is noteworthy that the terrorists made not less than four attempts between 12 and 17 September 2014 to violate the security and enter Konduga to perpetrate their atrocities. Air and land forces were subsequently deployed to handle the situation.
The convoy of combat vehicles typical of terrorists’ mission that involves their top commanders, were fiercely engaged by the land and air forces. Several of the terrorists including some of their commanders lost their lives in the encounters which lasted an average of about 5 hours each.
The troops captured some of the terrorists and their equipment. In the course of those encounters, one Mohammed Bashir who has been acting or posing on videos as the deceased Abubakar Shekau, the eccentric character known as leader of the group died. Since the name Shekau has become a brand name for the terrorists’ leader, the Nigerian military remains resolute to serve justice to anyone who assumes that designation or title as well as all terrorists that seek to violate the freedom and territory of Nigeria.
On restoring normalcy after the encounter, inhabitants of the community who were victims of terrorists activities corroborated information on the identity of Bashir Mohammed alias Abubakar Shekau, alias Abacha Abdullahi Geidam alias Damasack etc. Indeed, the recent devastation on the leadership of the insurgents is attributable to the renewed commitment to the mission of eradicating terrorism in our country.
Meanwhile, a total of 135 terrorists have yesterday evening surrendered along with equipment to troops around Biu Local Government Area. A group of 88 submitted themselves at Mairiga/Bun – Yadi while another group of 45 terrorists were taken in around Mubi – Michika. They are all being interrogated and processed in conformity with the dictates of standard best practices.
The Defence Headquarters applauds the gallantry of the Nigerian troops who have remained undaunted and professional in prosecuting this campaign against terror. The keen interest exhibited by our neighbours and allies is commendable and we appreciate them. All allies in the war against terrorism are hereby assured of the Nigerian military’s resolve to maintain momentum in the efforts to decimate and defeat terrorists. The invaluable efforts toward achieving sustainable peace and victory against the terrorists are highly appreciated.
[b][/b]
Statement signed by Defence spokesperson, Maj. Gen Chris Olukayode

military court-martial has sentenced 12 Nigerian soldiers to death after they were found guilty of committing mutiny in Maiduguri, Borno State last May.

On 14th May 2014, a group of soldiers fired shots at Maj-Gen Ahmadu Mohammed, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 7th Division, at Maiduguri’s Maimalari Barracks.

nigerian soldiers on trial
The soldiers becameangry when they saw the bodies of 12 of their colleagues being brought back from Chibok, where they were killed by militants who ambushed a convoy of soldiers returning from anti-terrorism duties.

The mutineers shot several times into the air and called senior officers “cowards”, accusing them of deliberately putting them in harm’s way.

The following day, the GOC of the barracks was removed.

However, the court martial, which was led by Brigadier-General Chukwuemeka Okonkwo, sitting at Mogadishu Cantonment in Abuja from Monday night to Tuesday morningnsentenced 12 of the 18 soldiers to death by firing squad,

The 12 soldiers were pronounced guilty of the offences of mutiny and criminal conspiracy to commit mutiny are Cpl Jasper Braidolor, Cpl David Musa, LCpl Friday Onun, LCpl Yusuf Shuaibu, LCpl Igomu Emmanuel, Pte Andrew Ngbede, Pte Nurudeen Ahmed, Pte Ifeanyi Alukhagbe, Pte Alao Samuel, Pte Amadi Chukwudi, Pte Allan Linus, and LCpl Stephen Clement

The court martial found five other soldiers innocent of all five counts of insubordinate behaviour, false accusation, mutiny, AWOL and conduct to the prejudice of service discipline. Therefore, they were discharged and acquitted.

The five acquitted soldiers are Cpl David Luhbut, Cpl Muhammed Sani, Pte Iseh Ubong, Pte Sabastine Gwaba and Pte Inama Samuel.

The 18th soldier, Privatwe Ichocho Jeremiah, was found guilty of going AWOL (absent without leave) and he was sentenced to 28 days in prison with hard labour.

Jeremiah was also found guilty of conduct to the prejudice of service discipline, but he was only reprimanded for this offence.

Source: http://saharareporters.com/2014/09/16/nigeria-sentences-12-soldiers-death-mutiny

Yungwizzzy: can you add sauce/link or go to hell?? or both

Did you read the article at all ? if so, you would have seen the source.

An investigation by SaharaReporters has revealed that a Nigerian private jet caught in Johannesburg with $10 million belongs to Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the head of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Mr. Oritsejafor is also a close confidant of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Ayo Oritsejafor
The CAN leader’s private plane with US registration number N808HG was one of two jets cited by South African officials on September 5 Mr. Oritsejafor's jet arrived South Africa with $9.3 million cash loaded in several suitcases. News of the seizure of the cash broke over the weekend, triggering questions about the ownership of the jets and weapons they intended to purchase.

Nigerian aviation authorities disclosed that one of the jets belonged to Pastor Oritsejafor while the second one was registered to Felix Idiga, the owner of Jafac Aviation Limited.

Two Nigerians and an Israeli defense contractor, Eyal Mesiaka arrived in the jet when they were accosted in South Africa authorities. A South African source disclosed that Mr. Oritsejafor's jet was released after top Nigerian officials intervened, claiming that the weapons to be purchased had the official blessing of the Nigerian government. The jet arrived with two plastic suitcases and two hand luggages with combination locks only known to the Isreali contractor, according to CityPress

Earlier today, SaharaReporters rang the mobile telephone number of Mr. Idiga. At first, he pretended and claimed that he was the Aide De camp to Mr. Idiga. But when our correspondent identified himself as a reporter from SaharaReporters, he owned he started answering questions relating to the issues but claimed the jet we published on our site wasn’t his own. Asked if he knew of another private jet named in apparent arms buy in South Africa, he asked where we got our information after we read the jet registration number to him. He then denied that his jet was involved, before hastily hanging up the phone.

Source: http://saharareporters.com/2014/09/15/arms-smuggling-jet-caught-10million-south-africa-linked-can-president-ayo-oritsejafor

Lagos (AFP) - When Nigeria's new chief of defence staff was appointed earlier this year, he promised a swift end to the deadly violence being waged by Boko Haram Islamists.

"If we do our work cohesively, I can tell you we will finish that thing (the counter-insurgency) in no time," Air Marshal Alex Badeh said at his investiture on January 20.

Eight months on, Boko Haram look stronger than ever, having seized towns and villages in Nigeria's northeast at a rate which has drawn comparisons to Islamic State militants' rapid gains in Iraq.
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The military in contrast seems far from cohesive: some soldiers have reportedly refused to deploy, complaining they are ill-equipped to fight the better-armed rebels.

Hundreds of others are said to have shouldered arms and fled their posts; [color=#006600]salaries have reportedly gone unpaid; and soldiers left without proper food. The military denies the claims.[/b]

- 'It is shameful' -

On Thursday, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned that the worsening security situation must be reversed.

"The reputation of Nigeria's military is at stake," she told a bilateral security meeting in Abuja. "But more importantly, Nigeria's and its children's future is in jeopardy.

"Failure is not an option."

Africa's most populous nation and leading economy also has one of its largest militaries.

There are 80,000 personnel on active service and 82,000 paramilitaries, according to the International Institute of Security Studies' "The Military Balance 2014".

[b]Out of this year's federal budget of 4.962 trillion naira ($30 billion, 23 billion euros), 968 billion naira or nearly 20 percent went to defence -- the highest since the 1967-1970 civil war.
[/color]
Boko Haram is estimated to have between 6,000-8,000 fighters and is largely reliant on criminality for funding and looting the places it attacks, including military barracks.

Why the militants appear to have the upper hand has left many Nigerians baffled and politicians demanding answers.

- Years in the making? -

"This is not the military that we used to know," said one former officer, who participated in Nigeria's first military coup in January 1966.

"How can a rag-tag group of dissidents overpower trained Nigerian soldiers? It is shameful," he told AFP. "Our military are just wallowing in self-denial."


Nigeria's military woes are all too predictable for some.

Former army general-turned-lawmaker Ahmed Saleh believes the rot set in after a failed coup attempt against military ruler Ibrahim Babangida in 1990.

Babangida got rid of experienced senior officers and handed more control to the military high commands in Abuja, leading to "decay" in the ranks in terms of training and skills,[color=#990000] he said.

Front-line operations were impossible without weapons and ammunition shortages, he was quoted as saying in Nigeria's media on Friday.

"We have a duty to rebuild the armed forces and unless we understand these basic facts, we are not going anywhere," he added.

The IISS said that despite refit and repair programmes in recent years, much of Nigeria's defence equipment is "unfit to be deployed for prolonged periods of time".

Procurement has not focused on counter-insurgency while analysts blame widespread graft and management failures for the lack of improvement, despite the increases in defence spending.

Some reports have said less than $100 million of the nearly $2 billion defence budget actually gets to deployed troops.[color=#990000][/color][b][/b]

Ryan Cummings, chief Africa analyst with Red24 risk consultants, said the fact that members of Nigeria's "anti-Boko Haram" unit -- the 7th infantry division -- had refused to deploy was telling.

It showed "just how poorly the insurgency is being addressed from a military perspective", he said.

- Demoralising effect -

Virginia Comolli, a West Africa security and extremism specialist at the IISS, said she was unsurprised that the military was demoralised and struggling to defeat Boko Haram.

The better equipped rebels were gaining confidence and beginning to fight more like a conventional army, "intimidating (and possibly) overwhelming... the soldiers battling them", she added.

Rights abuses, including extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detention and torture, have meanwhile eroded civilian trust in the military, losing them a vital intelligence asset.

On Friday, the military indicated that it recognised the seriousness of the situation, calling the insurgency a threat to national sovereignty that needed to be reversed.

Cummings suggested, however, that regional support was now more important than ever, given the frequent cross-border raids from camps outside the country.

Without regional help, "it is likely that Boko Haram will continue to expand its operational presence across Nigeria's northeast and possibly into neighbouring countries", he said.

Yesterday, a former governor of Borno state, Mr. Modu Ali Sheriff, addressed a press conference at Abuja where he attempted to play on the collective intelligence of Nigerians by denying any link with the dreaded Boko Haram sect. He was apparently reacting to his indictment by Rev .Stephen Davies, the international negotiator engaged by the federal government to dialogue with the Boko Haram sect with a view to to securing the release of the abducted Chibok girls.

In his press conference Mr. Sheriff claimed that he only met the late Mohammed Yussuf, the leader of the Boko Haram sect after he had been arrested by the army in 2009. As the Chief Security Officer in Borno State at the material time the ex-governor should throw some light on the bizzaire circumstances surrounding of the extra judicial killing of Muhammed Yusuff and his father-in-law, Alhaji Baba Fugu Mohammed. In a judgment delivered on April 13, 2010 the Borno State High Court ordered the Federal and the Borno State governments to pay N100 million damages for the illegal killing of Alhaji Baba Fugu Mohammed and exhume the corpse and release him to the family for a decent burial.


Former Governor Ali Modu Sheriff during the press conference in Abuja yesterday
Sahara Reporters Media
More importantly, Mr. Sheriff should explain to Nigerians the basis of the appointment of Alhaji Buji Foi, a boko haram leader as the Commissioner for Religious Affairs by his government. Alhaji Foi was made a cabinet member as a compensation to the boko haram sect for supporting the governor’s re-election in 2003. He later resigned from the Sheriff government. He too was extra-judicially killed after his arrest by the soldiers.

Before the revelation of Rev. Davies the Goodluck Jonathan Administration had set up the Ambassador Usman Galtimari Panel to investigate the genesis of the insurgency in the North East region. After a detailed investigation the Presidential Panel found inter alia:

“Findings

The Report traced the origin of private militias in Borno State in particular, of which Boko Haram is an offshoot, to politicians who set them up in the run-up to the 2003 general elections. The militias were allegedly armed and used extensively as political thugs. After the elections and having achieved their primary purpose, the politicians left the militias to their fate since they could not continue funding and keeping them employed. With no visible means of sustenance, some of the militias gravitated towards religious extremism, the type offered by Mohammed Yusuf.

Recommendation

It recommended that the Federal Government should direct the security agencies to beam their light on some politicians who sponsored, funded and used the militia groups that later metamorphosed into Boko Haram and bring them to justice.

Comment

Government accepts this recommendation and directs the National Security Adviser to coordinate the investigation of the kingpins and sponsors to unravel the individuals and groups that are involved.”

Furthermore, the ECOMOG militia group set up and funded by Governor Sheriff along with similar bodies were said to have constituted the roots of terrorism in the North East region. According to the Presidential Panel:

Findings

(a) It was reported that members of the sect have transformed themselves into dreaded criminal groups recently and were now known by various pious sounding Islamic names.

The groups, which had hitherto employed the use of crude and locally made arms with few automatic weapons, are now linked to highly sophisticated weaponry and explosives imported or smuggled into the country. Equally, their modus operandi had drastically changed from mere confrontation with security agents to modern day terrorism with a high precision rate.

(b) Politicians in the country have employed the services of thugs and other groups and associations with large youth membership to intimidate their political opponents during electioneering activities. The roots of terrorism, especially in Borno, Gombe, Yobe and Bauchi States, could be traced to groups or associations such as ‘ECOMOG’, ‘Yan Kalare’ and ‘Sara Suka’ which have links to prominent politicians in these States. However, similar to the militant groups in the Niger Delta area, the groups usually grow out of control and become a threat to the politicians that supported and financed them

Recommendation

States where sect members thrive should exercise the necessary political will to deal with this problem, notwithstanding the perceived implications to their sponsors.

Comment

Government accepts this recommendation and directs the Security Agents to work with the State Government to deal with this matter.”

Owing to the connection of Alhaji Sheriff and other sponsors of the boko haram sect with the Presidency the security agencies have failed to implement the directives of the Federal Government which were handed down since May 2012. Rev. Davies’ revelations have merely confirmed the findings of Galtimari Presidential Panel. The purported denial of Alhaji Sheriff’s links with the boko haram sect should not be taken seriously by Nigerians.

It would be recalled that Governor Sheriff had told the whole world in a press conference sometime in 2006, that he was not bothered by criticisms of his administration for non-performance because less than 5 percent of the people of Borno State were literate. It has since been confirmed that majority of the youths who “gravitated towards religious extremism” come from the over a million children who were denied basic education by the Borno State government under Governor Sheriff.

In the light of the foregoing, the security forces should, without any further delay carry out the directives of the Federal Government by investigating and prosecuting all the indicted sponsors of the boko haram sect. If the directives are not carried out forthwith I shall apply to the Federal High Court for a Writ of MANDAMUS to compel the security agencies to discharge their duties in the public interest.

FEMI FALANA, SAN

The Airforce jet was there to destroy the weapons left behind by fleeing soldiers. The military barracks in Bama holds a huge cache of weapons and God forbid Boko Haram lays their hands on the weapons, Maiduguri wil definitely falls to BH in a few days.

heavenmade: What still baffles me is how the Airforce jet had to hit a wrong target. It is such a shame that we have found ourselves in a country where nothing is ever done right. We keep exposing to the whole wide world how incapable we are to get anything right . I wonder when Nigeria will wakeup and become countries like Iran and Israel that took their destinies into their own hands and look inwards to tackle their problems,and not always running to these pretentious enemies we call friends(west) who ofcourse have their own challenges too,believing that they have the panacea for all our problems. I submit

Reports emerging from Bama, in Borno State, indicate that Boko Haram militants have taken over control of the city.

The state’s second-largest city was attacked earlier today by the militants. That first attack was initially repelled by Nigerian troops, but the militants appear to have returned in greater force, leading some of the soldiers to follow fleeing civilians in an effort to escape.

Nigerian soldiers
Residents are saying tonight that Boko Haram has completely overrun the city and hoisted its flag in the city center.

A Nigeria military statement credited to General Chris Olukolade didn’t offer much hope for Bama, as the terse statement merely stated that the attack on Bama was “being repelled.”

An intelligence source said reinforcements were underway to Bama from Maiduguri, but our own sources said only a few soldiers, in four armored tanks, were seen near Yezaram River. He added that the unit was in no way capable of re-taking Bama from the militants.

SaharaReporters had reported earlier about soldiers fleeing the battle into Maiduguri after being overwhelmed by the invading Islamists. Their barracks also received friendly fire from an Air Force jet.

Over 100 injured soldiers are receiving treatment at the MRS Hospital in Maimalari Barracks. Several soldiers have died while others are still missing.
Source:http://saharareporters.com/2014/09/01/boko-haram-takes-over-bama