LAGOS, Nigeria: Boko Haram offers to swap kidnapped girls for detainees

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria’s Boko Haram extremists are offering to free more than 200 young women and girls kidnapped from a boarding school in the town of Chibok in exchange for the release of militant leaders held by the government, a human rights activist has told The Associated Press.

The activist said Boko Haram’s current offer is limited to the girls from the school in northeastern Nigeria whose mass abduction in April 2014 ignited worldwide outrage and a campaign to “Bring Back Our Girls” that stretched to the White House.

The new initiative reopens an offer made last year to the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan to release the 219 students in exchange for 16 Boko Haram detainees, the activist said. The man, who was involved in negotiations with Boko Haram last year and is close to current negotiators, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters on this sensitive issue.

Fred Eno, an apolitical Nigerian who has been negotiating with Boko Haram for more than a year, told the AP that “another window of opportunity opened” in the last few days, though he could not discuss details.

He said the recent slew of Boko Haram bloodletting – some 350 people killed in the past nine days – is consistent with past ratcheting up of violence as the militants seek a stronger negotiating position.

Presidential adviser Femi Adesina said on Saturday that Nigeria’s government “will not be averse” to talks with Boko Haram. “Most wars, however furious or vicious, often end around the negotiation table,” he said.

Eno said the 5-week-old administration of President Muhammadu Buhari offers “a clean slate” to bring the militants back to negotiations that had become poisoned by the different security agencies and their advice to Jonathan.

Two months of talks last year led government representatives and Eno to travel in September to a northeastern town where the prisoner exchange was to take place, only to be stymied by the Department for State Service intelligence agency, the activist said.

At the last minute, the agency said it was holding only four of the militants sought by Boko Haram, the activist said.

It is not known how many Boko Haram suspects are detained by Nigeria’s intelligence agency, whose chief Buhari fired last week.

The activist said the agency continues to hold suspects illegally because it does not have enough evidence for a conviction, and any court would free them. Nigerian law requires charges be brought after 48 hours.

Thousands of suspects have died in custody, and some detainees wanted by Boko Haram may be among them. Amnesty International alleges that 8,000 detainees have died in military custody – some have been shot, some have died from untreated injuries due to torture, and some have died from starvation and other harsh treatment.

In May, about 300 women, girls and children being held captive by Boko Haram were rescued by Nigeria’s military, but none were from Chibok. It is believed that the militants view the Chibok girls as a last-resort bargaining chip.

In that infamous abduction, 274 mostly Christian girls preparing to write science exams were seized from the school by Islamic militants in the early hours of April 15, 2014. Dozens escaped on their own in the first few days, but 219 remain missing.

Boko Haram has not shown them since a May 2014 video in which its leader, Abubakar Shekau warned: “You won’t see the girls again unless you release our brothers you have captured.”

In the video, nearly 100 of the girls, who have been identified by their parents, were shown wearing Islamic hijab and reciting the Quran. One of them said they had converted to Islam.

International indignation at Nigeria’s failure to rescue the girls was joined by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. In a radio address in May 2014, she said she and President Barack Obama are “outraged and heartbroken” over the abduction.

Jonathan’s government initially denied there had been any mass abduction and delays of a rescue that might have brought the girls home became a hallmark of his other failures. He steadfastly refused to meet with the Bring Back Our Girls campaigners, charging they were politicizing the issue.

On Wednesday, President Buhari welcomed those campaigners at the presidential villa in Abuja and pleaded “We only ask for your patience.” He said “The delay and conflicting reaction by the former government and its agencies is very unfortunate.”

Campaign leader Oby Ezekwesili said, “The rescue of our Chibok girls is the strongest statement that this government could make to showg respect for the sanctity and dignity of every Nigerian life.”

There have been unconfirmed reports that some of the girls have been taken to neighboring countries, and that some have been radicalized and trained as fighters. At least three were reported to have died – one from dysentery, one from malaria and one from a snake bite.

Last year, Shekau said the girls were an “old story,” and that he had married them off to his fighters.

Lawan Zanna, whose daughter is among the captives, said this week that 14 Chibok parents have died since the mass kidnapping, many from stress-related illnesses blamed on the ordeal.

Some of the Chibok girls who managed to escape have been rejected by their community and now live with family friends, tired of hearing taunts like “Boko Haram wives.”

The assumption that all girls and women held by the group have been raped is a difficult stigma to overcome in Nigeria’s highly religious and conservative society.

Shekau had threatened in 2013 to kidnap women and girls if Nigeria’s military did not release detained Boko Haram wives and children. The government freed them in May of that year as a goodwill gesture ahead of failed peace talks.

Boko Haram has kidnapped hundreds more – girls, boys, women and young men. Some have become sex slaves, while others are used as fighters, according to former captives.

Nigerian opinion on negotiating with the extremists is mixed. Some say the group’s crimes are too heinous to be forgiven: The 6-year-old Islamic uprising has killed more than 13,000 people and forced about 1.5 million from their homes.

“A lot of people take a hard-line stance that you must never negotiate with a terrorist,” said Sen. Chris Anyanwu. She called it a “very complex” issue, balancing the lives of more than 200 girls against the dangers of freeing extremists.

The militants last year seized a large swath of northeast Nigeria and declared an Islamic caliphate. Nigeria and its neighbors deployed a multinational army that forced them out of towns and villages this year, but the bloodshed has risen at a fierce rate since Buhari’s May 29 inauguration amid pledges to crush the insurgency.

                                                                                                                          -changenigeria.org

Police parades fake medical doctor

(Nigeria) The Police in Abuja on Tuesday, paraded a 44 year old man for impersonating Dr George Daniel, a medical doctor working at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Plateau State.

Parading the suspect, the Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Emmanuel Ojukwu said that he used academic credentials of Daniel to secure a job with the Federal Ministry of Health.

Ojukwu, who was represented by the Deputy FPRO, Mr Abayomi Shogunle, said that the suspect had paraded himself as a medical doctor in the health ministry for almost one decade.

He said that the investigation into the matter followed a petition from Festus Keyamo Chambers to the Police.

``I find it very expedient at this time to address the press for the purpose of acquainting you as it concerns the case of impersonation of the identity of Dr George Davidson by the suspect,’’ he said.

He explained that the perceived unprofessional conduct and unwholesome behaviour by the suspect prompted the petition against him to the federal civil service.

``The actual medical doctor in Jos further exposed the true identity of the impostor,’’ he said.

He advised Nigerians to ensure diligence in keeping valuable documents to avoid falling prey to unscrupulous elements.

Ojukwu said that the suspect would soon be arraigned in court for impersonation, framing of incorrect document, breach of official trust, criminal intimation among others, contrary to the Penal Code.

``We have concluded our investigation and he will be charged to court in the next few days,`` he said.

Fielding questions from journalists, the suspect said that he got the credentials from Daniel when he visited him in his house in Karu to help him secure employment.

The suspect, a father of five children said that he had no university degree but had some training at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria while working in the ministry on grade level 13.

He said that he joined the ministry in 2006 because of the love he had for Nigeria to expose the corruption being perpetrated there.

The suspect hails from Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue.

    -innosreport.blogspot.com/

Nigeria's Boko Haram crisis: Zaria bomb 'kills 25'

School teachers were among the victims of the bombing

A bomb attack has killed at least 25 people and wounded 32 others in northern Nigeria's Zaria city, the state governor has said.

A suspected suicide bomber targeted civil servants at a government building in the city, witnesses said.

Emergency workers have rushed to the scene to help evacuate the wounded.

Militant Islamist group Boko Haram, which often targets northern Nigeria, has stepped up attacks since President Muhammudu Buhari took office in May.

The group has not yet commented on the latest attack.

It came a day after police chief Solomon Arase announced new measures to curb the rise in bombings. They include:

• banning street trading and hawking in the capital, Abuja

• strengthening security at all mosques and churches countrywide.

Witnesses in Zaria said people including primary school teachers had been queuing up seeking employment under Mr Buhari's administration when the bomb detonated in Zaria's Sabon Gari district.

Emergency services battled to cope in the aftermath of the bombing

"We call on our citizens to be vigilant and avoid crowded places like markets, mosques, churches and motor parks in the next few weeks," Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufa'i said on his Twitter account.

Mr El-Rufa'i said the government was working with the security agencies to end the wave of militant attacks in the country.

                                            -bbc.com

Interesting Details Of How The Ikorodu Bank Robbers Were Arrested (Must Read)

Four members of the robbery gang, which unleashed terror on two commercial banks in the Ipakodo, Ikorodu area of Lagos two weeks ago, have been arrested by the police.

Our correspondent learnt that the suspected robbers were arrested from Okitipupa, Ondo State, and Ikorodu, Lagos State, while three Sport Utility Vehicles allegedly bought from the proceeds of the robbery were recovered.

The suspects’ names were given as Monday Akpan, Bright Agbojule, the third identified simply as Jafaru, and one Baba Ibeji.

On Wednesday, June 24, the gang, which was reportedly led by a woman, had stormed the Ebute-Ipakodo branches of the First Bank and Zenith Bank at about 8.30am, and carted away millions of 
naira.

The robbers, who overwhelmed policemen from the Ipakodo division, were said to have carted away about N60m from the Zenith Bank’s strong room, while N20m were stolen from the bank’s ATM room.

The suspects, who dared policemen to confront them, later escaped in two speedboats at the Ipakodo jetty, Ikorodu.

Four persons, including a bank customer, who were hit by bullets during the one-hour operation, were taken to the General Hospital, Ikorodu.

PUNCH Metro gathered that four members of the gang were arrested by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, in an operation involving a former SARS commander, SP Abba Kyari, and an officer, DSP James Okeke.

PUNCH Metro gathered that one of the suspected robbers, a week after the operation, had headed for the Okitipupa area, Ondo State, with a Lexus bought with the proceeds of the robbery.

A police source told PUNCH Metro that the suspect was arrested by soldiers, who were on a stop-and-search exercise in Ondo State.

It was learnt that the suspect was also found with bundles of new N1,000 notes with bank seals.

The police source said the arrest was the break that the police needed, adding that the suspect later led policemen to arrest other members of the gang.

He said, “The soldiers were on a stop-and-search and they found the suspect, identified only as Baba Ibeji, while on his way to his home town in Okitipupa, Ondo State.

“During a search, they found bundles of new N1,000 notes with bank seals in his bag.

“The soldiers, who were also aware of the bank robbery in Lagos, smelt a rat and contacted the Lagos State Police Command on the development.

“The former CP, Kayode Aderanti, immediately contacted experienced hands in SARS for the interview of the suspect. The suspect gave the contacts and names of other suspects. The operatives subsequently mobilised more officers to Ikorodu and made some arrests.

“Three suspects were picked up by the police in Ikorodu. Two of them had bought Sport Utility Vehicles with the proceeds. All of them had bought plots of land with their loots. Three vehicles have been recovered for now.”

Our correspondent learnt that the suspects would be paraded on Monday (today) at the state command headquarters, Ikeja.

It was learnt that efforts were still being intensified to get other members of the gang, which reportedly numbered about 15.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the arrests in a text message.

He said, “The Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, will parade the suspects on Monday, as he hands over to the new CP, Fatai Owoseni, at the command headquarters.”

                                                                                               -kevindjakporblog.com

Man narrates how his friend sold him to ritualists for N150,000

Timothy Lawani, 25, a trader at Suleja roundabout area, was kidnapped for ritual purpose but survived the ordeal.
Lawani, in an interview with LEADERSHIP Weekend, said it was God that saved him after he was kidnapped, tied up and was to be sacrificed in Kano.

The incident happened at about 4am on January 14, 2015. Lawani went outside his family house at Old Barracks, Suleja to ease himself, when suddenly he heard someone call his name. Walking towards a red Volkswagen Golf parked behind his house, he was surprised to see an old friend, Friday, comfortably seated in the car beckoning on him with two hefty men.
Narrating his story, Lawani said,

  “In my confused state, I greeted them. One of them held me and the other sprayed a powder on my face. That was the last thing I could remember.
I later saw myself in a very large hall with other young men who were tied up. The kidnappers kept bringing other people to join us. Sometimes, they even offered us food to eat which we all refused. They then said, whether we ate or not, we would die after all.
“After two days, we were made to put on white apparels and join a queue. I noticed that anyone who goes out never comes back; I was so scared. When it was my turn, I went outside, saw a large pool of water like swimming pool and a man standing by the side chanting incantations. He later ordered the guards to take me inside that they were not in need of someone like me.”

Continuing, Lawani said, “In my presence, the man called on Friday who came about 40 minutes later. After telling him that I was not acceptable for their rituals, Friday started flogging me mercilessly. He then ordered the men to take me out, but not before the ritualist got angry, and ordered the hefty men to bring Friday for sacrifice in my place. I heard him beg them to give him just 30 minutes to enable him bring another person, but the man said there was no time.
“With Friday’s hands and legs tied, the man began chanting incantations again. This time, I saw crocodiles coming out of the water. Friday was then thrown inside, the reptiles feasted on him. I was not myself because of the sight of blood and how such large reptiles ate up a whole human being. The man later ordered the men to throw me out, that I was useless to them. They sprayed a powder on my face again and I became unconscious.’’

On how he got back to his senses, Lawani recalled that he was sheltered by a Hausa man who saw him wandering in Gomoja area of Kano State.
After prayers were offered for him for about three days, he regained consciousness but could not speak. It was then he wrote down his father’s phone number which he easily remembered and with which they used to reach his family, that had been searching frantically for him.

LEADERSHIP Weekend later learnt from his elder brother, Theophilus Lawani, that his friend sold him to the kidnappers for N150,000. Theophilus further revealed that before the Hausa man called them from Kano, Lawani’s friend sent them several messages, telling them to forgive him for selling his friend.

“Even before we got the text from Friday, we reported the case at A division Police Station in Suleja, but the Policemen demanded the sum of N70,000 in order to start investigation. Since we do not have such amount, we resorted to prayers, and God answered us. We have decided to take my brother for further prayers in Kaduna,” Theophilus stated.

-kevindjakporblog.com

Suspected cattle thieves kill 37 in Nigeria village

*Cattle

Gunmen suspected to be cattle thieves killed at least 37 people in a village in northern Nigeria’s Zamfara state, a local government official said Monday.

“The gunmen killed 37 people in the attack on Cigama village shortly after they attacked Kokeya village where they killed two people,” Muhammad Bala Gusami told AFP after Saturday’s violence.

                                                                                                                                                        -vanguardngr.com

44 dead, 47 others injured in Jos blast, says NEMA

At least 44 people were killed in twin bomb blasts in the central Nigerian city of Jos, the country’s main relief agency said on Monday, after a bloody week of violence blamed on Boko Haram.

“At the moment we have 44 dead bodies and 47 others injured from the scenes of the two attacks,” said Mohammed Abdulsalam, from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Earlier, police in Plateau state, of which Jos is the capital, said at least 18 people had lost their lives in Sunday night’s attacks at a shopping complex and near a popular mosque.

Discrepancies in death tolls are not unusual in Nigeria. The police, military and government authorities have previously downplayed death tolls in the Boko Haram insurgency.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks but religiously divided Jos has been targeted before by the Islamist militants.

Plateau, which falls on the dividing line between Nigeria’s mainly Christian south and mostly Muslim north, has also seen waves of sectarian violence that has killed thousands over the last decade.

Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks in northern Nigeria since the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, with a wave of raids, explosions and suicide bombings.

With the latest attacks, more than 500 people have been killed, according to AFP reporting.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a church in the city of Potiskum, in Yobe state, northeast Nigeria, killing five worshippers.

Last week, Islamist militants fighters raided a number of villages around the Lake Chad area, killing more than 150 worshippers as they prayed in mosques.

                                                                                              -vanguardngr.com

Man returns from mortuary after confirmed dead

•Today, he lives on charity without limbs, wife, kids

By GODWIN TSA

Bola Julius, a 38 years old man is a fashion designer and father of three. But his story is not about his prowess in creating apparels. That’s far from it. His is a touchy and emotional account of his misfortune and adventure into the dark alleys of life.

On December 21, 2010, he was dumped in the mortuary where he slept with the dead by those who picked him from the scene of a ghastly auto accident, on his way to Lagos to buy textile materials for his trade.

Today, those legs that used to dance on the sewing machines are shattered and his wife of many years had since bolted with his children and abandoned him to his fate.

On that ill-fated day, Julius had worked till the afternoon and when he closed his shop to prepare for the trip, he had no premonition of the stragedy that would befall him and change the course of his life.

Accomplished designer

Before the unfortunate incident, he was an accomplished fashion designer with a flourishing workshop by Tantalizers, in Garki, where he made clothes for the high and privileged in the nation’s capital city. Indeed, his design wizardry was renowned and attracted high class clientele in the elite circles including wives of governors, ministers, lawmakers, and other powerful Abuja residents. With perfection, he delivered styles that would have amazed renowned international brands in designing, a feat that made many doubt if his creations were actually from Nigeria.

But that was once upon a time. Today, the story is different. After several months in the hospital, the life of the once popular designer has changed from rich to penury, as he has sold everything including landed properties, sewing machines and his life savings to offset his accumulated hospital bills. Abandoned by his wife and children, Julius is now left alone in his rented apartment at Maraba, Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, at the mercy of good neighbours that assist him into the bathroom to take his bath and nature’s call.

Nevertheless, the distraught fashion designer said there is still light at the end of the dark tunnel of his life he wallows in because his creativity is still intact. He could still design clothes well, though at a slower pace, since he could no longer handle manual sewing machines because of the conditions of his legs.

Back from the dead

The story is better told by this victim of circumstances of life.

And he narrated to Abuja Metro that: “It was on December 21, 2010, a peak period of my business with Christmas just approaching. I boarded a luxury bus in the evening at Nyanya, a satellite town at the outskirts of Abuja.

“Once inside the bus, I quickly drifted into a very deep sleep as the vehicle journeyed at night and was oblivious of what was happening around me.  I only woke up in the morning in pains at the General Hospital Owo, Ondo State to discover that the vehicle had been involved in a fatal accident that claimed the lives of all the passengers on board but one. I was among those considered dead and already deposited at the morgue. It was at this point that someone noticed a twitch of my fingers and then a faint movement and quickly transferred me to the emergency ward. I am indeed lucky to be the second person to survive the crash. I actually came back from the dead.”

Eight months in hospital

I was transferred to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, UATH, Gwagwalada, the third day after the crash. I spent the next eight months there and as bills kept mounting, I had no choice but to dispose of my landed property, some sewing machines in addition to the money I had in the bank in order to raise over a million naira. I even lost my shop and all the textile materials of several customers plundered by my apprentice that did not ever think I would survive the accident.

My legs were badly crushed and when medical treatment seemed not to avail much after gulping all my savings and livelihood, I travelled to Osun State for traditional treatment.

Crashed from height

I used to design clothes for some people of high standing in the country – ministers’ wives, some other clients were who were members of the National Assembly. As a matter of fact, I used to sew clothes for the family of the governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson.

Most of my customers thought I was dead and long buried when in fact, it was my leg that is seriously affected and I still want to make the best out of life.

Wife absconds

He told Abuja Metro how Mrs. Seriake Dickson helped to get his wife a job with the Nigerian Civil Defence out of compassion for the family but his wife reciprocated by deserting him when he most needed her.

With cold tears dripping from his eye, Bola said, “my wife, Monisola Julius who had stayed with me since we got married in 2001 and who endured my travail for two years, picked everything in the house

together with our three children; our first daughter is 14 years old and in SS1, the second is a boy that is 12 years old while the last child is only eight years old. She relocated to another place entirely with our three children during my trip to Osun State.

Rude shock

When she told me she was leaving on the phone, I thought it was a joke but I returned to Abuja only two weeks ago to discover it is true.

This heightened my sense of loss and made me to despair of life itself initially.

I am resolved now to pull through by God’s grace and by the help and support of people. My wife’s behaviour changed dramatically when she got the job, which was meant to bring relief to our family. She started coming home late and even left our church and started attending another church despite warnings not to do so. Honestly, I did not see this coming and she rebuffed all efforts to get her back to the path of reason

I will bounce back

I have accepted all that happened as my fate and I am determined to come out this dark path into the light someday, soon. I thank God I still have my creativity intact. I can still design clothes very well.

I have been doing it though at a much slower pace because I can no longer handle manual sewing machine because my legs are no longer functional and I do not have a shop where customers can locate me. It is never my desire to be an invalid relying on charity to survive.

So, I want to use this medium to appeal for help. All I need is a shop in town where I can have constant electricity and use electric sewing machines instead of manual ones and I am sure that some of my old customers will come back and bring many others with them. About N600,000 will pull my business back on track, he solicited.

                                                                                 -sunnewsonline.com/

Boko Haram Relocation: Military take over security in Anambra prison

Following the relocation of Boko Haram detainees to the Ekwulobia Prisons in Anambra State, the military have taken over the security of the facility.

Boko haram in Borno

SUNDAY PUNCH investigations showed that security operations in the Federal Government facility are no longer the exclusive preserve of the officials of the Nigeria Prison Service.

The development, sources told our correspondent, is not unconnected with the calibre of the detainees being held behind the walls of the facility.

A visit by our correspondent to the prison on Saturday showed that armed military personnel were located in strategic locations around the prison.

The development has also brought some form of hardship to residents of the host communities of the prison.

Free human and vehicular movement is no longer allowed around the place. Our correspondent sighted soldiers compelling passers-by to raise up their arms and get frisked before they were allowed passage. Vehicles were also searched.

Residents of Anambra had last week taken to the streets protesting against the relocation of the detainees. But the Federal Government had reacted saying it was a mere rumour.

But happenings around the facility on Friday further learnt credence to the report that the Boko Haram detainees had been relocated to the quiet Anambra town.

“It is like a war situation. We no longer move freely; we don’t even talk freely because you don’t know who is who now. Armoured vehicles are everywhere” Stanley Ezechukwu, a primary school teacher in the area told our correspondent.

One of the soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “We are here to ensure that the prison is not attacked by the people who have demonstrated their resentment over the transfer of the detainees.”

Professor Chuwuemeka Ike, the traditional Ruler of Ndikerionwu, a neighboring community to Ekwulobia , condemned the transfer of the detainees to the area.

He acknowledged, however that prisons transfers are normal, but maintained that with the sensitive nature of the prisoners, the transfer of the Boko Haram detainee could have been avoided.

A press statement on Saturday by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on Media, Mr James Eze, was not specific on whether the detainees had been relocated or not.

The statement titled; “The Transfer of Boko Haram Detainees to Ekwulobia Prisons:   the true position,” maintained that the governor had not made any official press statement on the issue as reported in some national dailies.

The statement read in parts, “We wish to inform the general public that Governor Obiano never made any comments to these publications. Since the eruption of this controversy, Governor Obiano’s position has been consistent. This was fully reflected in the two press Statements issued on Sunday, June 28, 2015 and Wednesday July 1, 2015. In both statements, his message was simple – he re-assured Ndi Anambra that he was on top of the situation and that he was speaking with the relevant authorities to achieve a peaceful resolution of the issue. Governor Obiano’s commitment to this extremely sensitive issue remains the same.”

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr Uche Eze in his reaction said the police would not want to comment on the matter as “it is purely an affair of the Nigerian Prisons Service.”

The member representing the area in the House of Representatives, Mrs. Eucharia Azodo however urged the Federal Government to rescind the decision in view of its security implications on the people of her constituency.

In a statement in Awka on Saturday, Azodo said the Boko Haram detainees would be better taken care of in a maximum security prison, arguing that Ekwulobia Prison did not have the capacity to accommodate such high risk prisoners.

She said, “The rising tension following rumours that Boko Haram suspects were relocated from some Northern prisons to the South-East, precisely, Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government of Anambra State, gives me great concern.

“We all are aware of the fact that Ekwulobia Prison in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State is not a maximum security prison.

“Whereas a large number of prisoners, about 134 inmates, are there already in a prison built to accommodate 85 inmates, a total number of 47 Boko Haram prisoners were brought to Ekwulobia Prison in the dead of the night of Sunday, June 28, 2015 amidst tight security.”

The youth wing of the apex Igbo socio- cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has flayed the Federal Government over the relocation.

The National President of Ohanaeze Youth Council, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro who spoke with our correspondent in Umuahia, described the action as “ exportation of terrorism to the peaceful South-East region.                                   

                                                                     -naijacenter.com

Six female suicide bombers kill dozens, death toll hits 650

Scores of people have been killed in Zabarmari village, 10 kilometres from Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, north east Nigeria after at least six female suicide bombers loyal to the Boko Haram terror group blew themselves in the middle of a huge crowd.

The latest carnage in series of attacks that have claimed more than 200 lives in just three days happened Friday. According to an AFP tally, no fewer than 650 people have been killed since President Muhammadu Buhari took over in May.

Nigerian soldiers at Zabarmari village after the attack in which dozens were killed by suicide bombers

Local resident Haladu Musa, who fled the attack, told how ‘large numbers’ of fighters poured into the village, overpowering government forces deployed to prevent the insurgents reaching Maiduguri.

Then, as people began to flee, a number of female suicide bombers started blowing themselves up in their midst, killing large numbers of people, he said. 

‘Most of the casualties came from the suicide bombings,’ he said, without being able to give a precise figure for the dead and injured, Mr Musa said.

‘A total of six suicide bombers detonated themselves… killing scores of people while some people were also wounded. A soldier also died,’ the Nigerian army said in a statement without specifying the sex of the bombers.

The army said a jeep full of improvised explosive devices was recovered by troops, adding there was an ongoing search ‘for any bombs that might have been hidden or left unexploded in the area.’

Musa said the militants looted shops and torched ‘almost half the village’ before eventually being repelled after the military sent in reinforcements.

Danlami Ajaokuta, a civilian vigilante helping the military battle Boko Haram, who also witnessed the attack, spoke of heavy casualties.

‘The main concern now is to evacuate and attend to the injured and later recover the dead bodies now lying in the village,’ he said, adding that more than 100 injured had been taken to hospital.

Boko Haram, which is fighting to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria and has sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group, has intensified its campaign of violence since President Muhammadu Buhari came to power on May 29.

The Zabarmari attack followed a string of attacks across restive Borno state since Wednesday that have been blamed on the jihadists.

Earlier this week, militants gunned down worshippers at evening Ramadan prayers, shot women in their homes and dragged men and boys from their beds to kill them in the dead of night.

A young female suicide bomber also killed 12 worshippers when she blew herself up in a mosque.

Buhari condemned the attacks as ‘inhuman and barbaric’ and again vowed to end the Islamists’ six-year-old insurgency which has killed at least 15,000 people and displaced 1.5 million others.

Buhari’s spokesman Femi Adesina said Saturday the president would keep his pledge to defeat the Islamists but added that the government did not rule out talks with the insurgents.

‘If Boko Haram opts for negotiation, the government will not be averse to it,’ Adesina said a statement.

‘Government will, however, not be negotiating from a position of weakness, but that of strength,’ he said.

‘President Muhammadu Buhari is resolute. He has battled and won insurgency before, he is poised to win again,’ he added.

The spike in violence has sparked concern that earlier gains by the armies of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon against the militants were being eroded.

The four countries – all of which border Lake Chad, a focal point of Boko Haram unrest – took the fight to the militants early this year to try claw back some of the territory they had gained in the northeast.

The armies managed to push the militants out of several towns and villages, but the recent attacks show the group to be far from defeated.

A new regional force comprising 8,700 troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin is due to deploy at the end of the month.

                     -thenewsnigeria.com.ng/

Sexually-Harassed Policewomen: Our Male Bosses Punish Us for Refusing their Sexual Advances

This moving report on sexually harassed policewomen was culled from Punch. You won’t believe the horrors you are about to read.

In 2002, after 35 years of service, she retired as a deputy superintendent from the Nigeria Police Force, while her squad mates did as superintendents, assistant commissioners and deputy commissioners. Wine glasses were raised up on the day they retired, all laughing and dancing to have served in the Force and retired alive, and not killed while on the job. Some others were not that lucky. Nonetheless, she wasn’t happy and maybe she still isn’t. 

Thirteen years are gone now since her retirement, but anytime she remembers the treatments meted out to her by her male bosses, the agony returns. But for the passion she had for the job, she would have long quit, but she stood up against them, fought them with everything at her disposal – for the most years she spent in the Force. 

They were bent on frustrating her – and they succeeded, at least to some extent.

First, her promotion through the ranks was always delayed; second, her name was dropped at least twice from the inspectorate and assistant superintendent of police calls – promotional training courses for members of the Force; and finally, she was always asked to perform duties that were below her capability and strength.

Whether her female colleagues succumbed to the threats of their senior male colleagues for them to have retired at higher levels in the Force than her, she couldn’t tell.

“What I know is that I kept myself pure, I never compromised,” she looked in the eyes of our correspondent and managed to flash a brief smile.
A victim

A Victim

Clara – not her real name – joined the Nigeria Police Force when she was around 25. The Enugu State indigene, who pleaded not to be named for fear of being a target of attack, was young, pretty, slim, with a chocolate skin colour and a great dress sense. Unknown to her, these qualities endeared her to many of her male bosses. 

“I was getting too much attention from almost every senior male officer, and before I knew what was happening, I was being asked out by most of them. It took a while for me to know I was going to pay dearly for turning down their proposals,” she said.

She joined as a recruit, a spinster at that time, and immediately, she became a victim of sexual harassment. To make matters worse, she didn’t marry a policeman, which she said could have helped in stopping the harassment, but she chose to marry someone else, her true lover.
She said:

 “It was my passion while growing up to be a police officer. I just loved anyone in uniform. Thankfully, I had the requirements to join, so I applied and it was successful. I joined as a recruit at that time. But it wasn’t funny. I started becoming an object of attraction from my male bosses, which I really didn’t like. But it wasn’t mere attraction; they wanted to sleep with me. They asked me out many times, tried to lure me through gifts and promises of speedy promotion. I am glad to say it anywhere that I turned them down. 

“To make it worse, I didn’t marry a member of the Force. Another man owned my heart. Probably if I had married a member of the Force – at least one of those I got proposals from – it would have been easier. The harassment wouldn’t have been as tough as I experienced.

It wasn’t long before I realised I was going to pay for not giving in to them. Many times I was posted to places like the police cooperative, where my skills and knowledge were rendered useless. I had the physique and the intellect to be at better posts, even in the field. But they did not allow me to be at such posts. At least twice they removed my name from the lists of officers to go and study abroad. And to my surprise, they made it obvious to me that they were punishing me for refusing to have sex with them.”

These treatments ultimately led to her depression, but she found a way around it to still get on, without letting it affect her work.

“When it was becoming too obvious that I was suffering from depression, my husband asked me what was happening and I told him, but he kept on encouraging me. Of course, he couldn’t have done anything to stop them if he wanted me to stay in the Force,” she added. 

“He reminded me of the passion I had for the job and that kept me on. So at a point in time, after spending about 10 years in the Force, I got used to the threats and developed a stronger mind. My squad mates all left me behind because I was the only one that I knew whose promotion was delayed. Today, I’m a victor; I fought and I won. I didn’t let them determine what happened to me.”

Maybe she retired as a fulfilled police officer, but not as a happy one – an assumption based on her expression when she spoke with Saturday PUNCH in her Lagos residence on a cold evening past weekend.
Caught between two options
Clara is retired now, but there are presently other female police officers who are being sexually harassed by their male bosses; some of them spoke to our correspondent on the issue on the condition of anonymity.

Another victim

They want to keep quiet – and say nothing about what they are passing through, especially if they want to keep their jobs. They cannot write petitions; they are scared – they said even if they do, the petitions might eventually land on their bosses’ tables, which could lead to an end of their careers ultimately. They don’t know whether they would be believed even if they complain. Hence, they are living with it.
Some weeks ago, our correspondent approached two policewomen, who retired in their booth after spending some time controlling the traffic along the Lagos-Ikorodu Expressway, to seek their thoughts on the issue. At first, they looked confused, but after being assured that their identities were never going to be disclosed, they caved in, and gave Saturday PUNCH an address where they could talk about it.
On the agreed day and time, they showed up in muftis.

“You can help us write about it, but don’t ever quote us, don’t show our faces. Don’t disclose where we live or our duty posts,” one of the two instructed. They agreed that Saturday PUNCH could take their pictures only if it would not implicate them in any way.

Deal was done.
One of them, a dark-skinned woman, probably in her late 30s, told our correspondent that if she knew another job that was free of sexual harassment from male colleagues and bosses, she would opt for it.

“But it is difficult getting such. Getting this one was not easy in the first place, not to talk of looking for another one,” she said.

When she was recruited into the Force a few years ago, she said she had no idea that apart from having the right skills, her fate on the job would depend on whether she could sleep with senior male officers. She said,

 “I’ve been asked out several times by my bosses; they know I’m married, yet they still want to sleep with me. This is not something so strange to me because even before I joined the Force, it happened. Men like to ask ladies out whether they are married or not; they just don’t care. Unfortunately, I cannot do it. I am a faithful Christian and no matter the threat, I will never let them have their way. It’s not normal, I suppose. 

“The only challenge I’m having right now is that my husband is not here in Lagos, so many of them don’t believe I am married. They usually ask me to produce my husband; meanwhile, I am not the type who wears wedding ring every time. I have told a senior female colleague about this many times, seeking advice on what to do, but it’s like there is nothing to do than to either maintain my stand or compromise. 

She told me if I compromise, it would help my career, but if I don’t, I will be persecuted. I have chosen the latter. I can never sell my body to climb the ladder of any career in life, no matter how juicy the offer is. When you are here, you cannot write petition against any boss like that, except if one is asking for trouble. A boss will always be a boss. When the matter goes up, it will still come down and one will be hurt more. That’s what this is all about. I think it happens in most organisations.”

Yes, it does happen in many organisations in the world, but that doesn’t make it right. A psychologist, Mrs. Moyo Owolabi, said depression and work stress are often some of the by-products of sexual harassment.

“Such female officers need counselling and they should go for it. It is sickening that you have a job you have passion for, but instead of enjoying it, you are being harassed. It leads to depression, which leads to low productivity. It is everywhere, but I hope the Nigeria Police does something about this quickly,” she said.

The other victim, who volunteered to speak to our correspondent, said she was already looking for another job, in the absence of which she would start a business, so as to escape the trauma.

“I cannot say I’m enjoying this anymore. If you cannot do what they want, you are oppressed. If I get another job today, I’ll quit,” she affirmed.

Perpetrators go unpunished
In a recent report by The PUNCH, it was found out that cases of sexual harassment of policewomen by their superior officers are usually not investigated or addressed by the police authorities.
According to the report, the phenomenon is rampant at the divisional level, and is frequently perpetrated by Divisional Police Officers and Divisional Crime Officers against their female subordinates.
However, investigations showed that a huge number of petitions against DPOs and DCOs submitted to the Police Service Commission by the rank and file have been largely unattended to by the commission.
An official, who spoke on the issue on the condition of anonymity, explained that the police authorities do not bother to investigate allegations of sexual harassment. He said many of such petitions by female complainants had ended up in the dustbins. He said,

 “There are so many cases of sexual harassment, especially at the divisional police level; we have cases of DPOs forcing themselves on junior female officers and if such a lady refuses, she would be oppressed. 

If she agrees to the DPO’s sexual advances, the DCO also would demand for sexual gratification, but if she refuses, she would be oppressed or punished and if she petitions the commission, the allegation would not be investigated and the errant officer would not be queried or punished.”

In The PUNCH report, the Police Service Commission, an arm responsible for constituting actions against perpetrators, complained that there were no funds to carry out its operations and maintain discipline in the Force.
It was also learned that the PSC does not have the capacity to probe allegations of misconduct against police officers, but relies on the police to probe themselves.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, would not agree that policewomen are being harassed by senior male officers. He said he had not heard of such cases in the police, but promised to sanction any perpetrator of the act.
“Nigeria Police is concerned about the welfare of its officers. We don’t tolerate oppressive conduct in the Nigeria police, even if the petition is against a CP, it would be investigated by the X-squad or his superior officer,” he maintained.
Read more on Punchng.com