Troops from the Multi National Joint Task Force comprising Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic on Sunday stepped up the campaign to reclaim conquered territories form Boko Haram terrorists, engaging the insurgents in a fierce battle in Damasak, a border town close to Diffa Region in  Niger Republic

The strategic town was captured in November last year.by the insurgents who promptly raised the Boko Haram flag in the community..

The insurgents attacked the town and Ashigarchi, both in Mobbar local government area of Borno, in their hundreds shooting indiscriminately, burning houses and in the process killing over 50 persons and injuring others.

As at the time of filing this report, the multinational troops were still engaged in the mission to recapture the town.

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In other places, the efforts of Nigerian armed forces to crush Boko Haram insurgents continued as the Air Force sustained the pounding of identified camps of the terrorists Yobe and Borno States.

A statement issued on Sunday by defence spokesman, Chris Olukolade, a Major General, said that “sorties are being flown either in conjunction with on-going ground assault by troops or to dislodge any concentration of terrorists as follow up to intelligence reports. “

Musdapha Ilo, Maiduguri

Nigerian soldiers on Saturday averted a bomb attack on an Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camp in Maiduguri when they defused two bombs discovered on the camp grounds located at the Government Girls Secondary School, GGSS, Yerwa.

Following the renewed campaign by Nigerian and regional troops to crush Boko Haram terrorists and the reclaiming of territories previously captured by them, the insurgents have been attacking soft targets which in Borno State have included markets and motor parks.

Government Girls College, Yerwa, where the bombs were found is only a few metres from the Borno Express Motor Park which was recently targeted by suicide bombers.

It was gathered the bombs were defused by soldiers from the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri, following the arrests made at a bomb making site in the Borno State capital..

A source in the IDP camp told our correspondent that the soldiers had conducted a raid on a compound in Maiduguri metropolis after a tip off where they arrested many people, including some people from the camp.

The soldiers reportedly headed to the camp with one of the arrested youths who led them to the site where the bombs had been buried in the ground.

Our source said that several soldiers arrived at the IDP camp in the afternoon and asked all displaced persons and officials to gather at a point and explained to them that bombs had been planted in the camp but assured them that there was no cause for alarm as the culprits had been arrested and was helping in dealing with the situation.

A youth, whom the source said is well known in the camp but whom nobody had suspected to be a member of Boko Haram sect, was brought out of one of the military vehicles to identify the location where the bombs were buried.

The soldiers, it was gathered, opened fire on the location where the bombs were planted effectively defusing them

The IDP camp in Yerwa was set up in September, 2014 to accommodate people who had been displaced from Bama local government area after a terrorist attack on the town.

The military authorities had in the past called for vigilance, warning that some of the insurgents after carrying out attacks mingle with residents and equally seek refuge in camps set up by government to take care of displaced persons.

After the foiled bomb attempt, it was gathered on Sunday that the Borno state government had purchased some security equipment, including body scanners for all of the camps set up for displaced persons in the state.

Speaking on phone with journalists on Sunday, the chairman of Borno State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, Grema Terab who expressed dismay that anybody would want to harm or add to the sorrows of the displaced persons, said that the state government had bought scanners and other security gadgets for use in all IDP camps to prevent any future planned attack.

“These are people who have lost almost everything they had and are depending on government for the basics of life, what could they have done that after all the losses, someone is still interested in sending them to an early grave,”Terab lamented.

He said that the scanners had already been purchased and would soon be distributed to the camps While giving assurances that the state government was doing everything within its powers to secure the IDP camps, he added that the foiled bomb attack was a wakeup call for the government to do even more to ensure the security and safety of the residents of the camps.

“The Saturday foiled attack has further woken up all security operatives and has gone a long way to make us add more security checks,” Terab stated.

Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Borno State has called for an investigation into the foiled bomb attack on the IDP camp in Maiduguri, alleging that the explosive devices might have been planted by persons who are hell bent on scuttling the coming general elections

The party’s chairman in Borno State, Ali Bukar Dalori, said in a statement that there is an urgent need for an investigation to determine if the attempt has anything to do with the opposition expressed in some quarters against allowing the polls to be held in IDP camps

While commending the soldiers who foiled the bomb attempt, Dalori expressed concern that the insurgents could infiltrate the camp.

“The APC is deeply worried that buried explosives were found at an IDP camp established at Yerwa Girls College in Maiduguri just when it is known to all citizens of Borno State and other Nigerians that members of the PDP affiliated to a former Governor of Borno State have consistently disapproved on-going plans by INEC to hold elections in all the camps being managed by the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigerian Red Cross and the military so that citizens displaced as a result of insurgency attacks and occupation in affected local government areas can exercise their voting rights,” he stated

The APC chairman also observed that in its opposition to the holding of elections in the IDP camps, some PDP members in the state had called for the return of displaced persons to their homes in territories that have been liberated from the insurgents, but warned that their safety must be guaranteed.

“A serving member of House of Representatives under the PDP recently reaffirmed PDP’s opposition to elections holding in camps. Another serving member of House of Reps even went as far as speaking at plenary trying to get the House to push for IDPs urgent return to liberated communities for the purpose of elections as against conducting elections at IDP camps,” Dalori observed.

He said further that the APC does not “have the slightest opposition against elections holding in liberated communities” noting that ‘the same persons that will vote in the camps are the same persons to vote if they are returned to liberated communities.”

The concern of the party, he said, “is that of safety of these liberated communities given the fact that insurgency attacks were only recently recorded along Ngamdu in Kaga local government area, which is near Maiduguri, the safest part of the state.”

“The possibility of fleeing insurgents hiding in some villages outside headquarters of local government areas is something to be concerned about hence the need to take some time to get over these threats where they exist,” he cautioned.
 

By Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin

Eligible voters in four local government areas of Edo State have not received their Permanent Voter Cards, PVCs, two weeks to the general elections which starts on March 28.

The administrative secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Edo State, Brown Ulucha, made the disclosure on Friday when the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, House of Representatives candidate for Egor/Ikpoba Federal Constituency, Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma, led a protest to the commission’s office over what he described as shoddy distribution of PVCs in the two local governments under his jurisdiction.

Ulucha said that all PVCs in Owan West, Owan East, Ovia South West and Uhunmwode, were yet to arrive from the INEC headquarters, adding that the State Resident Electoral Commissioner had gone to the Abuja to sort out the problem.

The INEC secretary, who assured Agbonayinma that he would look into his complain, disclosed that he had issued seven queries to members of staff of Ikpoba-Okha INEC office for various offences.

Agbonayinma, who protested to INEC with his supporters armed with a petition, said that while the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan want free and fair elections, some INEC staff were trying to sabotage the polls.

“Some INEC staff do not deserve to be here to supervise the distribution of PVC. If INEC want to succeed electoral officers of Egor and Ikpoba-Okha must not be allowed to stay,” he said.

By Musdapha Ilo, Maiduguri

More than 200,000 Nigerians, mostly from Borno State, have fled their homes for neighbouring Niger Republic due to terrorist attacks by the Boko Haram sect, the governor of Nigerien Diffa Province, Yacuba Usmana Gawo, revealed on Friday.

Speaking to journalists during the visit of Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, to the province to see residents of the state who fled the Boko Haram insurgency to Niger, Gawo said that about 50,000 persons were displaced during the recent capture of Baga by the insurgents, bringing the total number of refugees in the area up from 150,000 to over 200,000.

Gawo said that the government of Niger had no choice but to accommodate and provide for the refugees because they were neighbours many of who had families in his own country.

Governor Shettima visited three camps established in Sayam, Kabalewa and Gudumariya, all in Diffa province, where he assured the refugees that the Nigerian government was doing everything possible to reclaim their communities from insurgents and return them home.

He also assured them that even while in Niger, his government would ensure that they are adequately taken care of.

Shettima also thanked the government and people of Niger, especially the governor of Diffa Province, for opening doors for Nigerians to take refuge at a desperate time, adding that the government and people of Borno State would be eternally indebted to Niger for offering protection and support to the refugees..

Governor Shettima told the displaced persons that he was setting up a task force on evaluation, reconstruction, rehabilitation and re-integration of victims of the insurgency which would assess the damage in all liberated territories and commence reconstruction works to prepare for the return of the refugees to their homes.

He assured that basic necessities of live such as water, healthcare facilities and shelter would be provided while all areas in such communities would also be fumigated.

Governor Shettima also gave the refugees a piece of good news, announcing that the four local government areas from which they fled , Abadam, Mobbar, Kukawa and Monguno, all in northern part of the state, had been reclaimed by the multi-national troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has refuted the allegation in some sections of the media that it was ordered by the presidency to secretly investigate key opposition figures including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and All Progressive Party, APC, leader Bola Tinubu.

In a statement issued on Friday by its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, the anti-graft agency described the letter purportedly written by the Chief of Staff to the President, Jones Arogbofa, which allegedly directly the EFCC to “clandestinely investigate” opposition leaders as a forged document.

The statement urged Nigerians to ignore the letter, observing that it was meant to misinform the public.

The EFCC spokesman pointed out that the letter is markedly different from a “genuine” one from the office of the President’s Chief of Staff a sample of which is provided.

The letter now termed fake by the commission, purportedly written on February 19 by Arogbofa listed a number of opposition figures including Abubakar, Tinubu, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, governors Rotimi Amaechi, Magatakarsa Wammako, Rabiu Kwakwanso, Adams Oshiomole, Bukola Saraki, of Rivers, Sokoto, Kano and Edo states respectively senator.

Also on the list are former governor of Kwara and Gombe states, Bukola Saraki and Dnjuma Goje respectively.

Below are the “fake” and genuine letters

By Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin 

Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomole, has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to serve only one term in office in emulation of late South African President, Nelson Mandela, noting that it would earn him respect at home and abroad.

The governor spoke in Benin, the Edo State capital, on Friday when residents and various associations in Egor local government area visited him to thank him for the construction and dualisation of the Upper Siluko Road.

Osjiomole who noted that an advertisement on television stations across the country was comparing President Jonathan with Mandela and other great world leaders, said that the best thing for him to do is to emulate the late African statesman who spent only one term in office but impacted on the lives of many South Africans.

“Like in the PDP jingle, the PDP says our President is like Nelson Mandela, it was not easy, but he did it. Then they talked of Martin Luther King, it was not easy but he did it, but they didn’t know Martin Luther was never president,” Oshiomole observed.

But he continued: “So how many terms did Nelson Mandela spend as president? Is there any black man who does not respect Mandela? Dead or alive, Mandela is respected. He is respected in America more than they respect American President. He is respected in Europe more than they respect any European President.”

Governor Oshiomole observed further that it not the number of years that the President spends in office that matters but how well and impactful his tenure is.

He posited that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had spent 10 years in power in Edo State but did not do as much as the All Progressive Congress, APC, which has been only six years at the helm of affairs.

“In Edo State, PDP did 10 years. We in APC have only done 6 years. In those 10 years, PDP did not do your road, they blamed it on Water Goddess (Mammy water), but you have come to thank us for using APC bulldozers to chase away the mammy water and now we are constructing the road,” Oshiomole stated.

While urging the people to bring about change in the next general election by voting for the APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, the governor also called on them to shun divisive campaigns based on religion.

He said that what is important in the election is not whether a candidate is a Christian or Muslim or from the North, South, East or West but about whether he or she has the capacity to deliver dividends of democracy to the Nigerian people.

“In Edo State, religion is not a problem. Let them not deceive us at all, this matter is about truth. 16 years ago, N75 was equivalent to $1 but today, it is N230 to one dollar. The hike in the value of the dollar against the naira will have spiral effect on the economy. If the dollar goes up, it affects all other segments of the economy. Prices of other products will go up,” Oshiomole stated.

Speaking at the occasion, chairman, Egor branch of the Sawmillers Association, Lucky Odeh, who spoke on behalf of the residents of Upper Siluko, said the visit was to show appreciation to the governor whom he said had taken steps to better the lives of residents of Upper Siluko and its environs.

“The fear of the unknown, the appearance of Mammy Water, the goddess of water, had prevented previous governments from even attempting to work on the road because no one was willing to die for the people. You took the bull by the horn, approached it with courage and determination and today, the story is better told than imagined,” Odeh said.