By Umar Yila, Maiduguri

A prominent member of the youth vigilante group, otherwise known as Civilian JTF, was the brain behind the bombs discovered at an Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camp in Maiduguri, Borno State, last Saturday, the www.icirnigeria.org can authoritatively report.

The bombs were discovered at the Government Girls Secondary School, GGSS, Maiduguri and defused by soldiers of the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, also in the city, following arrests made at a bomb making factory in the Borno State capital.

This website reported last Monday that the arrests followed a tip off and that among those arrested was a young man suspected to be a member of the Boko Haram sect, who had been living in the IDP camp posing as a displaced person.

The youth, whose name was not given, was believed to have masterminded the planting of the explosive devises in the camp, ostensibly with a plan to blow them up at an opportune time.

The latest information gathered by our reporter, however, indicates that the mastermind of the foiled bomb attack is actually a member of the Civilian JTF simply identified as Abdulrahman.

He was arrested with eight others, including the suspected Boko Haram member who resided in the IDP camp who led soldiers to the site of the bombs, and they are all being detained at a secured location by the military.

According to a senior security source, who cannot be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media, Abdilrahman,  a member of the vigilante group in Bama, was known to have been a member of the Boko Haram insurgency group before he renounced the terrorist group.

However, he had left the group and its violent activities and had joined the Civilian JTF in Bama and was responsible for some of successes recorded by the military in the fight against insurgency.

“We did not know much about him until Bama came under frequent attacks,” the security source said, adding that the authorities “worked with him and he was instrumental in the military’s raid of more than 30 Boko Haram camps.”

Abdulrahman, it was learnt, attended a security meeting involving the Civilian JTF a day before he was arrested and his arrest was shocking to many people, including Nigerian soldiers, because of his popularity with the military JTF.

“The last time I saw him was on Friday when we had a security meeting, a day before he was arrested, our source said in Maiduguri a few days ago.

“The information I have is that he was with Boko Haram before he decided to join the Civilian JTF and it was as a result of his link with the group that we recorded a lot of success,” he added.

The www.icirnigeria.org also learnt that this is not the first arrest of Civilian JTF members on suspicion of having links with insurgents.

According to another source close to the JTF, who also cannot be named due to safety concerns, security operatives in the past were able to identify some persons pretending to be members of the vigilante group but who were actually working for the insurgents to gather information for the sect.

“Some Boko Haram members joined the Civilian JTF when it started. We discovered that some of them joined for the sole purpose of monitoring our activities and mode of operation, which would make it easier for them to attack us.

“We worked with them because they gave us very useful intelligence, while we monitored their moves,” the source said adding, however, that “lot of them were picked up after we gathered enough intelligence on them,” the source said.

Andulrahman, it was learnt, is currently being interrogated by the military in Maiduguri, along with the others arrested with him.

Read our earlier story here.

As part of multi-national response to threats of militancy and insurgency in Africa, leaders from Central and West African states are billed to hold a summit next month to draft and ratify a common strategy to combat the Boko Haram insurgency.

Ghanaian president John Mahama and his Chadian counterpart, Idriss Deby, confirmed this while speaking with journalists in Accra, saying that the April 7-8 summit, for which the host country has yet to be chosen, was needed to devise an effective strategy for combating the rising threat of insurgency in West and Central Africa.

Mahama chairs the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, while Deby heads the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS.

“Single-handedly, no country can overcome this threat and therefore through pooling our resources together …we are going to overcome this challenge,” Deby informed reporters.

Armies from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger have launched a multi-national counter-insurgency offensive to end the Islamic militant group’s six-year campaign of terror, which has claimed thousands of lives in northern Nigeria.

In recent times, the insurgent group has spread its activities into Cameroon and Niger.

The United States Vice President, Joe Biden, has thrown his weight behind the proposed use by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of card readers for authenticating Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs in the upcoming general elections in Nigeria.

Biden expressed his nation’s official position on the issue via a telephone conversation with President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday according to a statement issued on Thursday by the United States embassy in Nigeria.

“The Vice President further expressed the United States’ support for the Nigerian Independent National Electoral Commission and its work to deliver free, fair, and credible elections, in part through its essential efforts to distribute Permanent Voter Cards and help ensure that electronic voter card readers are in place and fully operational,” the Mission’s statement read.

Biden also spoke on Thursday with the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari.

He commended President Jonathan and Buhari for signing the Abuja Accord in mid-January to express commitment to non-violence throughout the election process.

The US Vice-President however expressed concern about violent incidents that have trailed election-related events and urged both candidates to make clear that such violence has no place in democratic elections.

By Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin

Aisha Buhari, wife of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari,  has said that First Lady Patience Jonathan needs not fear  going to jail should the ruling People’s Democratic Party, lose in the presidential poll slated for March 28, as Nigerians only want a change in the way the country is being run.

Buhari’s remark is in response to Jonathan’s recent comments that the APC candidate will jail his political opponents if elected president.

The wife of the APC presidential candidate, who spoke on Thursday at a mega rally in Benin, Edo State, described PDP’s attempt to paint her husband black with the tar of religion as a desperate attempt to hoodwink the people, saying only those who want to loot the treasury campaign with religion which is at variance with politics.

“For those that are campaigning, saying that he is coming to jail Nigerians, I don’t know what their fear is. But they shouldn’t be afraid, because we are all yearning for change. The insecurity in the country, the very poor healthcare system, lack of education and other basic necessities that people are lacking I believe Nigerians need somebody like General Muhammadu Buhari now,” she stated.

Buhari expressed relief that Nigerians have realized that many politicians use religion as a cover to loot Nigeria.

“Any politician who talks to you about religion is a liar, he only wants to loot the treasury and the little resources you ought to enjoy. So say no politics merging it with religion to deceive the people.

“I’m here today to let Edo women know that when my husband is elected into office as President, all these will be history. The insecurity, the girl-child trafficking, suffering of the widows in the South East will come to an end,” she said.

She further stated that it was necessary to create a cultural design that can accommodate the widow and help the girl-child feel comfortable wherever she is in this country.

“The girl-child doesn’t have to leave her country to go and prostitute abroad, it’s not her portion. Her portion is to have a highly standard and moral society for her to live in. Get married, have children, train them and also mould them to become the future leaders.

“We are here today to also let you know that the collection of your PVCs is important and don’t ever sell it. It’s like selling your future. If you sell it for N5,000, you won’t see N5,000 again until after four years which will be bad. Get your PVC, vote for APC, vote for freedom, vote for a new Nigeria with good security, good education, good healthcare, good roads and all the basic necessities,” she said.

The Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, who spoke at the rally also urged the people to vote for the APC since the PDP had failed in 16 years to deliver on electricity and other basic infrastructure, adding that the PDP government fleeces even the poor through kerosene sale.

“In sixteen years, PDP didn’t not provide light, we provide the transformers to the communities but the PDP Federal Government cannot power the lights. They collect fixed charges from the people when there is no fixed light,” the governor observed.

The Edo State governor urged the public to understand the issues, stating that “our call for change and for people to vote for the APC and vote out the PDP is because the PDP has completely failed and deceived the people for 16 years. So they must go home”.

He asserted that the people must vote for APC to return Nigeria from darkness to light, from unemployment to employment and from insecurity to security.

The governor also berated some religious leaders for polarizing the country along religious lines, stating that the problems confronting the country affects both Christians and Moslems so Nigerians should ignore the attempt to hoodwink them using the religion card.

Earlier in her welcome address, wife of the state deputy governor, Endurance Odubu, said Nigerians have made up their minds to vote massively for the APC.

Noting the achievements of Adams Oshiomhole in Edo State, she said that when voted into power, the APC presidential candidate will replicate same at the national level.

Odubu further assured the wife of the APC presidential candidate that Edo women will vote massively for the APC.

By Mustapha Ilo, Maiduguri

Following the recovery of Bama from the control of Boko Haram insurgents, a series of horrendous atrocities perpetrated by terrorists while their hold on the town lasted are being uncovered.

Reports from the North eastern town which was occupied by insurgents until recently, indicate that a large number of dead bodies have been discovered in wells by Nigerian soldiers during a search of the area.

It is believed that the corpses are bodies of hostages or civilians who resisted the insurgents’ occupation of their town.

Some other bodies were discovered on the River Bama Bridge, perhaps executed as the terrorists fled the town.

Survivors within the town have also reportedly narrated horrific tales depicting the brutality of the terrorists while they ruled Bama, executing their own version of religious jurisprudence.

The cordon and search operation in the town is reportedly ongoing while some persons in the town are also being interrogated by troops.

Some reports indicate that as troops advanced on Bama to recover the town from Boko Haram occupation, the terrorists embarked on a killing and maiming spree.

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• 2015 ELECTIONS: JOE BIDEN BACKS INEC’S USE OF CARD READERS
• CENTRAL, WEST AFRICAN LEADERS MEET OVER BOKO HARAM IN APRIL
• Civilian JTF Member Masterminded Foiled Borno IDP Camp Bomb Attack
• Nigerian Troops Repel Another Boko Haram Attack On Bama

Military medical teams and emergency workers have been attending to survivors and evacuating internally displaced persons as screening of the town continues.

Defence spokesman, Chris Olukolade, is reported to have declined commenting on specific atrocities by the terrorists, saying details will only be provided after the ongoing search of the town and the surrounding terrain is concluded.

By Musdapha Ilo, Maiduguri

In a bizarre twist, Boko Harm insurgents have reportedly retaken the Nigerian/Chadian border town of Gamboru-Ngala on Thursday, just few days after the Chadian troops liberated the town from the control of the insurgency group.

According to some reports, Gamboru-Ngala was left unguarded for days after its liberation as the Chadian troops moved ahead in pursuit of the fleeing terrorists.

The insurgents on Thursday also led attacks on three Borno villages, killing not less than 20 people near the Cameroon border while many Nigerians from the area fled for safety into Kusihri village in Cameroon.

The insurgents reportedly stormed Gamboru-Ngala town and set many homes ablaze, shooting indiscriminately, killing 20 persons in the process.

Members of the youth vigilante in the area reported hearing heavy gunfire from all angles, stating that they had to flee into Cameroon.

A member of the youth vigilante reported seeing as many as 15 corpses lying on the path and said many residents of the area are missing.

According to a BBC Hausa Radio news broadcast monitored in Maiduguri, the Chadian troops confirmed the attack, stating that 18 people were killed and many home razed down by insurgents.

The attacked border towns- Gamboru, Ngala and Foyi- are Nigerian territories recently reclaimed from Boko Haram insurgents ‎by Chadian troops.

The extremist terrorist group, the Islamic State, ISIS, announced Thursday that it is behind Wednesday’s Tunisian museum attack in which 19 people were killed.

Announcing the claim in an audio recorded in Arabic language posted on YouTube by France 24, the group which has been largely operating in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen described the attack as “the first drop of rain”.

“We tell the apostates who sit on the chest of Muslim Tunisia: Wait for the glad tidings of what will harm you, o impure ones, for what you have seen today is the first drop of the rain,” the group announced in the audio recording.

The Tunisian prime minister, Habib Essid, announced in a press statement that the two gunmen killed by the country’s security forces during the siege have been identified to be Tunisians, giving their names as Hatem al-Khashnawi and Yassin al-Abidi.

The prime minister who spoke with journalists at French RTL radio however stated that their affiliation was unconfirmed at the moment.

“We have identified them; it is indeed these two terrorists. Their affiliation is not clear at the moment,” he said.

The prime minister further stated that Yassin al-Abidi had been under surveillance prior to the incident, while a statement from the president’s office disclosed that soldiers would be deployed to streets in major cities to prevent future occurrence of such terror attacks.

Meanwhile, Reuters has reported that Tunisian security have arrested four people who are directly linked to the attack, along with 5 others who have indirect ties.

“We arrested the father and the sister of the terrorist Hatem Al-Khashnawi in their home in Sbiba City,” Reuters reported that a security source revealed.

The attack which occurred at the antiquity-rich Bardo Museum in Tunis Wednesday claimed the lives of Tunisians, Italians, Spaniards, Japanese and Britons.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has scaled another hurdle in its bid to use the Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, in the upcoming general elections, as a Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a suit filed by a group, Society for Advancement and Protection of Public Rights, seeking an order to stop the use of the cards.

The presiding judge, Justice Abdulkadir Abdul-Kafarati, struck out the suit following the application of discontinuance filed by the group.

The counsel to the group, Olatunji Salawu, said the suit had been overtaken by events because of the latest developments of wider distribution of PVCs, pointing that there was no need to continue with the suit.

Meanwhile, the group had since filed another suit before Justice Gabriel Kolawole, opposing the use of card reader machine in the forthcoming polls scheduled to hold on March 28 and April 11, 2015.

Hinging its prayers on the grounds that the use of the card readers was likely to lead to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters, the group is seeking a ruling directing INEC to revert to the use of temporary voter cards, which it said, had been tested during previous elections.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has sued Premium TImes and 10 other individuals and organizations to restrain them from further reporting on the controversial missing $20billion oil money involving the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

The minister’s counsel, Godwin Obla, sought and obtained an interim injunction restraining the online newspaper and 10 others from “publishing or causing to be published any further defamatory statements” stating or suggesting that the minister “stole, misappropriate or colluded in the stealing of $20billion crude oil revenue” in an application brought before Justice AFA Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Obla warned the persons and organisations to desist from “further publishing any disparaging defamatory or otherwise salacious materia (sic) as it relates to or affects our client.”

Other defendants in the case include the All Progressives Congress, APC, Vanguard Media Limited and its editor, Mideno Bayagbon; Leadership Newspapers Group Limited and its editor Ekele Peter Agbo; Premium Times Services Limited and its editor in chief, Dapo Olorunyomi, and Vintage Press Limited and its editor, Lekan Otufodunrin, while the National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, and the Nigerian Press Council, NPC,  were also joined in the application.

The court directed the two government regulators to ensure that Alison-Madueke is not linked in any report regarding the alleged missing $20 billion either on broadcast media, internet, print or radio.

The court specifically ordered the media houses to “desist from publishing any materials or running any programmme alluding to the complicity or collusion” the minister in respect of “$20billion, $49billion or any other figure, howsoever computed or arrived at, which are purportedly/allegedly missing or ‘unaccounted’ for”.

“You are hereby advised to immediately ensure total compliance with the order of the Hon. Justice Ademola and to further cease and desist forthwith from publishing any material, howsoever titled or presented and irrespective of its form and content, which alludes to any amorous, immoral, salacious and defamatory matters connected to or related with our client, including anything to do with any allegation(s) or insinuation that our client colluded, was involved with or is complicit in the matter of a purportedly/allegedly missing $20billion, $49billion or any other amount whatsoever, until the determination of the substantive suit,” it stated.

Alarm over the missing $20 billion oil money was first raised by former Central Bank of Nigeria governor,  Lamido Sanusi, who accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, of not accounting for the amount.

A forensic audit of the NNPC was consequently carried out by PriceWaterHouseCoopers Limited but President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered that the report be withheld from the public.

Alison-Madueke, in an interview with Financial Times of London, explained that the government was sitting on the report to ensure a “rabid” opposition does not exploit every of its detail to ridicule the government ahead of crucial polls March 28.

Due to pressure and agitation from Nigerians, the government released highlights of the report in which it was stated that the NNPC was indebted to the government, but at a much lower rate of $1.49billion which the petroleum minister has since directed to be paid into the federation account.

The House of Representatives and many Nigerians have continued to demand the release of the full report but the petroleum minister and her finance counterpart, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, have ignored the calls for a public release of the audit report.