What should be done about Boko Haram? Difficult Dialogue with Nigeria's Violent Boko Haram Essential

Note: The views of three NDWG members are cited in this article just published by Voice of America:

VOA News

30 January 2012

Analysts: Difficult Dialogue with Nigeria's Violent Boko Haram Essential

Nico Colombant

Police say Boko Haram militants staged attack in Kano, Nigeria Jan 24, 2012 which left this market in ruins and left at lead 185 people dead. Even though Islamic radicals in northern Nigeria continue attacks and are so far resisting offers of dialogue, analysts closely following the violence say negotiations will be essential in any solution.

With deadly violence involving radicals in northern Nigeria taking place on a near daily basis, Boko Haram leaders appear on the Internet and are quoted in newspapers refusing recent Nigerian government offers of dialogue.

On the YouTube website late last week, an audio recording attributed to the self-proclaimed Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau warned that the radicals would begin bombing secular schools and universities in retaliation for recent security and vigilante attacks on mosques and Koranic schools.

Increasingly, Boko Haram leaflets calling for the imposition of Islamic Sharia law are being distributed in major northern Nigerian cities.

The new threats and communications strategy come amid increased warnings by government officials in Nigeria and neighboring countries that Boko Haram is linking up with outside terrorist organizations, such as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and Somalia's al-Shabab extremists.

Despite the deteriorating situation, Carl LeVan, a Nigeria expert at American University in Washington, says dialogue is the best solution.  He says any major security crackdown by Nigeria's government, with possible help from other African countries or the United States, would make the situation worse.

"A strategy that militarizes the conflict and reduces the opportunities for negotiations will, in fact, facilitate the internationalization of the conflict.  In other words, it is not clear that there are significant ties to some of the more global violent Islamist movements at this point, but solutions and strategies which push Boko Haram towards more violence and which make offers of diplomacy seem less credible will certainly become a problem down the road,” Levan said.

Analysts say the movement and its grievances are local, but that Boko Haram as well as Nigerian and regional officials have an interest in making it seem much broader to gain attention and possible outside funding.

Last week, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said he wanted to open a dialogue, but that he doubted Boko Haram leaders would come forward.  He compared them to the world's most elusive terrorists, such as former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

John Campbell, who studies Boko Haram at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, says that simplifying who the Nigerian radicals are might be part of the problem.

"I do not think Boko Haram is a coherent organization.  It is rather a movement, a grassroots insurrection against the secular government in Abuja, but also against the traditional northern Islamic establishment which its adherents see as not being really Islamic at all and one that basically exploits the poor populations in the north,” Campbell said.

Boko Haram grew out of a violent Muslim fundamentalist Salafist movement initially called the Taliban.  Its best known leader, radical cleric Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in 2009 while in police custody during a Nigerian security crackdown that killed at least 600 followers.  Analysts and Nigerian officials say that after the crackdown, several radical leaders struggled to become the head of the movement.

Criminal syndicates, some loosely affiliated and others not linked to the movement, have also claimed to speak on behalf of Boko Haram, which means “No to Western education.”  The name itself did not come from the radicals, but from Nigerian media and government officials who sought to make fun of them.

The escalating violence comes amid a sense of growing economic and political marginalization in northern Nigeria, following a series of controversial national elections.  Economists say the number of people living in poverty in the Muslim-dominated north is three times higher than in the mostly Christian south, which is home to President Jonathan.

Deirdre LaPin of the University of Pennsylvania took part in a recent Washington panel about Nigeria's problems.  She said a key to ending the Boko Haram threat should also involve main northern politicians.

"Their marked silence in the face of some of the most egregious attacks by Boko Haram and others in the north suggests that they are not using their authority to control these activities at all," LaPin said.

Analysts say new development policies in northern Nigeria and better local governance are also desperately needed.  Unless this happens, they warn, more young unemployed northern Nigerians could be attracted by Boko Haram's anti-government messages and violent tactics, making the problem even more severe.

Gunmen attack police station in Kano (Sunday, January 30th)

This is the fifth attack on Kano in 10 days

Vanguard (AFP)

29 January 2012

Gunmen attack police station in Kano

Kano – (AFP) Gunmen attacked a police station on Sunday in Nigeria’s flashpoint city of Kano sparking a shootout with police, witnesses and police said.

The attack followed the January 20 assault by the Islamist group Boko Haram that killed at least 185 people in the city — and after a string of recent threats of more violence from the group.

“A large number of gunmen stormed the area at prayer time and opened fire on the police station,” local resident Kabiru Maikatako told AFP.

“The police fired back and a shootout has been going on for the past 30 minutes,” he added.

“I am now trapped in my (timber) shed. It is shooting all around and the whole area has been deserted. Only the police and the attackers are shooting at each other.”

Kano state police commissionner Ibrahim Idriss confirmed the attack.

“I am aware of the attack on the Naibawa police station,” he said referring to a district in Kano. “I am yet to get details.”

Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the coordinated gun and bomb attacks in Kano on January 20 — the group’s deadliest ever assault — which mainly targetted police.

In several recent messages, the group has vowed to strike again.

Most recently, in leaflets distributed around Kano overnight, it warned residents that it would continue to target the city’s security services leaflets.

The leaflets, which could not be independently verified as authentic, said that Boko Haram tried to avoid harming civilians.

According to the text, the group targetted only government officials, security personnel and those who support a group urging Christians to defend themselves against Islamist attacks.

Sunday’s shootout took place in the Naibawa motor park, a major bus terminal on the outskirts of the city, not far from where a German engineer was kidnapped by gunmen on Thursday.

“We were saying our evening prayers when shooting broke out around the police station,” said local resident Sule Adamu.

“We all dispersed without finishing our prayer and moved indoors while passengers who had left the motor park scampered for safety,” he added.

Earlier Sunday, security forces had deployed heavily around Kano guarding churches and frisking worshippers as they arrived to pray.

Some city residents told AFP they had decided to avoid church fearing that Boko Haram would deliver on its threat to carry out fresh attacks.

Abbas Saleh, a taxi driver said he was preparing for evening prayers “when gunshots filled the air with gunmen attacking the police station and shouting Allahu Akbar.”

“I abandoned what I was doing and hurried into a nearby shop. Where I am I can hear gunshots. I don’t know whether anybody has been killed or injured,” he said.

Boko Haram has been blamed for the deaths of more than 900 people in roughly 160 separate attacks since July 2009. It has claimed attacks that have killed more than 200 people since the start of 2012.

Boko Haram: And the mass exodus begins

Tribune

29 January 2012

Boko Haram: And the mass exodus begins

Whenever the popular saying “when there is life there is hope” is said, not many seem to know the full grasp but not residents of Kano. Many people that witnessed last Friday attack of the ancient city by members of the Boko Haram, would not fail to remember that the fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of mapping out strategy to avert irreparable losses of lives and properties.

Virtually all motor parks in the ancient city of Kano were jam-packed with hundreds of people trooping every day into different motor parks in Kano station to board buses and other vehicles to various destinations.

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It will be recalled that the Christian Association Nigeria (CAN) Kano chapter, while addressing pressmen on the catastrophe of Boko Haram invasion on Kano, called on non indigenes not to flee the city.

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“We have received tremendous support from Muslims in the state who have continued to assure us that they were not part of these dastardly acts.”

The body however called on both religions and traditional rulers to use their positions to dialogue with Boko Haram because they were not spirits or special creatures, saying “they are eating, drinking and living within us, so they are visible to some extent.”

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However, as relatives were claiming the corpses of their loved ones from respective hospitals, it has been hinted that there may be a mass burial for few corpses that would eventually remain unclaimed.

The late Bob Marley sang ‘exodus, movement of the people,’ and in Kano the song is being played out on a daily basis since the first day of the blast. The question is when would the present exodus of the people stop?

Exodus:We’re Leaving Babylon We’re Going to Our Father’s Land!

Bob Marley’s song Exodus (Movement of Jah People)

And look within

Are you satisfied

With the life you’re living?

We know where we going

We know where we’re from

We’re leaving Babylon

We’re going to our Father’s land.

"Boko Haram Is A Multi-billion Naira Outfit", Security Source

Sahara Reporters

29 January 2012

"Boko Haram Is A Multi-billion Naira Outfit", Security Source

Several top security personnel in Nigeria have exclusively told SaharaReporters on condition of anonymity that the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, popularly known as Boko Haram, is multi-billion naira organization.

One source said the extremist Islamist group has a substantial financial base and has invested millions of naira to penetrate Nigeria’s security agencies, obtaining vital and sensitive data. In addition, Boko Haram reportedly is embedded with many other institutions in Nigeria and beyond.

Our sources revealed that the Nigeria police are the institution most penetrated by Boko Haram. “Both President Jonathan and National Security Adviser, Gen. Azazi, have vital reports about Boko Haram’s in-roads in the police and other security outfits,” said one source. He added: “We don’t know why they are not acting.”

One of our sources disclosed that all plans and security details concerning how to cripple the terror group are always leaked to the sect – because of their heavy investment in the security agencies.

“The least they are offering informants is about five million naira,” said a source, adding that “many senior security agents have been compromised and cannot speak about how Boko Haram can be contained.”

Several of our sources indicated that Boko Haram was now, in the words of one of them, “a very big organization with cells across the country, even though its strategic hub is in the North.”

Somali Trained Nigerian Suicide Bombers Arrive Nigeria, Kabiru Sokoto In Niger Republic

This report is not confirmed.

247 Reports

28 January 2012

Somali Trained Nigerian Suicide Bombers Arrive Nigeria, Kabiru Sokoto In Niger Republic

Information recently made available to 247ureports.com from source within the ranks of the terrorist Islamic group, the Boko Haram indicates not all is well with the federal governmentof Nigeria and it’s call to dialogue. The Islamic group has began preparations for another grand attack. Intelligence reports confirmed by Boko Haram source point the next attack at one of the northern states near the Bauchi tri state area.

Bauchi State was supposed to have been “destroyed” immediately following the black friday attack on Kano State. Personalities within the State government of Bauchi State calmed tensions. They approached the terrorist and suggested dialogue – of which - the source admitted that they stopped and dispatched their men to Kano to assist complete some “remaining assignment”.  It is not certain the extent the Bauchi State government reached to have placated the Boko Haram. What is certain is the group’s determination to ‘destroy’ Bauchi State once the operation in Kano State has been completed.

Adding the international linkage to Somalia, [the second home of the Al Qaeda king pin, Osama Bin Laden] is the ungaurded threat that ”we are 38 here, 109 more of us are coming from Somali ready for sucide missions. We want to destroy Nigeria, not separate Nigeria. Our men are already in Onitsha, in Lagos and Port Harcourt”. Adding also that ”the River Niger Bridge can be ‘done with’”.

This development, the State Security Service [SSS] in Awka confirms.  They have received intelligence pointing to Boko Haram activity near the River Niger Bridge. The SSS deputy director said the agents are monitoring the situation.

Meanwhile, the escaped mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing at Madalla, Suleja, Niger State, according to the source, has moved to Niger Republic to a town near Diffa - where he is well protected. Presently engaged in the planing of more sucide attacks against the police, prominent politicians and religious clerics [both christians and moslems] of Nigeria.

Sanusi: There is No Justification for Boko Haram

This Day

29 January 2012

Sanusi: There is No Justification for Boko Haram

Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Saturday identified poverty and marginalisation as being partly responsible for the growing violence in Nigeria, but this does not mean that he had justified Boko Haram’s activities to the uneven distribution or resources and derivation funds to the Niger Delta.

Sanusi, in a statement to clarify his interview published in last Friday’s edition of Financial Times, said the growing restlessness among the youth which makes them embrace a life of crime, could be traced to their disillusionment with the system.

According to him, “I have long held the view that ethnic and religious violence in Nigeria has its roots in poverty and deprivation and perceived marginalisation. I always said this about the militancy in the delta while fully condemning it, the truth remains that militants tapped into a groundswell of frustration.

S’Court judgement: PDP, acting govs may clash

Punch

29 January 2012

S’Court judgement: PDP, acting govs may clash

Indications emerged in Abuja on Saturday that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the acting governors of Bayelsa, Adamawa, Kogi, Sokoto and Cross River States may clash on the running of the affected states.

The party on Saturday said it was wrong for the acting governors to embark on any major structural changes in their states.

Until the sacking of the governors of the affected states on Friday by the Supreme Court, the PDP was the ruling party in the affected states.

The party therefore said that since the acting governors are to be in office for a few days, they should not alter the administrative arrangement put in place by the removed governors before the election of substantive governors.

Sylva’s cabinet records first casualty

Punch

29 January 2012

Sylva’s cabinet records first casualty

The cabinet of the deposed Governor of Bayelsa State on Saturday recorded its first casualty following the sacking of the Secretary to the State Government, Mr.

Gideon Ekeuwei.

Ekeuwei was relieved of his appointment by the acting Governor of the state, Mr. Nestor Binabo, who took over from Sylva after a Supreme Court verdict sacked five governors on Friday.

Binabo in a statement signed by the Assistant Director of Information, Mr. Chris Odi, announced Prof. Millionaire Abowei as the new SSG.

The statement which was made available to our correspondent in Yenagoa directed the former SSG to hand over government property in his possession to the most senior permanent secretary in the Governor’s Office.

The statement also announced the appointment of a new Chief of Staff, Mr.

Austin Adigio and Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Ebi Avi.

EFCC to probe sacked governors

Vanguard

29 January 2012

EFCC to probe sacked governors

We’ve petitions against them – EFCC

FOR allegedly mismanaging the finances of their states, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will go after some of the five former governors who were sacked by the Supreme Court on Friday.

The commission, at the weekend, disclosed plans to  invite some of the governors to answer questions regarding  management of state finances during their tenure in office amid speculations that some of them may be on their way out of the country to escape investigations by anti_graft agencies.

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Binabo gets cracking in Bayelsa

Acting governor of Bayelsa State, Nestor Binabo, yesterday, effected minor changes in his one day old administration with the appointment of a university don, Prof Millionaire Abowei as the new Secretary to the State Government (SSG). Abowei, an indigene of Angiama in Southern Ijaw Local Council takes over from Chief Gideon Ekeuwei, a native of Azuzuama also from Southern Ijaw Local Council. He will be sworn in tomorrow at Gloryland Castle, Governor’s Lodge. Binabo, in a statement by the Assistant Director, Information, Government House, Mr. Chris Odi, while thanking Ekeuwei for his service to the government called on him to hand over all government properties in his possession to the most senior government official in the service.  The Acting Governor also approved the appointment of Ebi Avi, a veteran journalist as his Chief Press Secretary and A. Austin as the new Chief of Staff, Government House. The duo will take over from Doifie Ola, erstwhile CPS to former Governor Timipre Sylva and Samuel Ogbuku, former Chief of Staff, Government House.

Sokoto gets acting gov

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However, 2007 and 2011 Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) governorship candidate in Delta State, Mr. Emmanuel Igbini, faulted the verdict, saying that it would create confusion in the polity.

In a statement made available to Sunday Vanguard in Warri, he said: “I do not agree with the judgment of the Supreme Court on this matter.

The fact remains that prior to the amendment of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution on January 10, 2011, the provision of Section 180(2) simply implies that any governorship election annulled by Court of Appeal and a re-run election conducted, the oath of office first taken is invalid, and unknown to law, despite the fact that policies and actions taken during the said invalid period remains valid. The reason for this is that the policies and actions taken are irreversible.

“However, I want to hasten to state that by this judgment of the Supreme Court, it follows that any governorship election to be held in the five affected states must be deemed to have been held on April 26, 2011 being the date fixed by INEC for fresh governorship elections.”

He continued:, “This judgment of the Supreme Court has now confirmed Timipre Sylva as PDP governorship candidate for the election to be held any time from now because by provision of Section 131 of the Electoral Act, 2010, he is the valid candidate for PDP in the January 2011 PDP Primary.

Occupy Nigeria: Group petitions UN

Punch

29 January 2012

Occupy Nigeria: Group petitions UN

Spaces for Change, a human rights group, have petitioned the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the National Human Rights Commission, urging both agencies to intervene by providing remedies for persons who suffered human rights abuses during the protests against fuel subsidy removal.

In the report titled, Occupy Nigeria Protests: A Documentation of Human Rights Abuses by Nigerian Security Forces, the group documented the findings of their investigation into several incidents of molestation, maiming and killing of protesters in the six-day protest against the removal of fuel subsidy and corruption in the petroleum downstream sector.

The group says it has forwarded the report to the two agencies as “part of a broader strategy to demand accountability for the massive human rights abuses that characterised the recent Occupy Nigeria protests.”

Victoria Ohaeri, who coordinates the Report Injustices Project of the group, said the report documented the human rights abuses that occurred across Nigeria’s 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja during the protests.

The Supreme Court Ruling and Senator Imoke’s Second Term Bid

African Examiner

29 January 2012

The Supreme Court Ruling and Senator Imoke’s Second Term Bid

By Otei Oham

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It is true that the Supreme court, the highest arbiter of law in the land has

given judgement on the tenure of five Governors: Ibrahim Idris of Kogi, 

Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, Aliyu Wamako of Sokoto, Temipre Silva of

Bayelsa and our own Liyel Imoke. It is also true that these Governors

have been ordered by the Court to vacate Office immediately, but lessons

must be learnt from all this, as well as its implication on the non-relented

bid of Senator Imoke to re-contest the governorship election.

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There is also a need for the judiciary to always be prompt with their

pronouncements and verdict rather than give room for tension and shocks

before judgements are reeled out on sensitive issues such as this.

Regrettably, delayed judgements, such as this one given in Friday, are

capable of causing confusion and disaffection among political players in

the affected States. For instance, in Kogi State, as soon as the

judgement ordering the swearing in of Speakers of the affected Houses of

Assembly, both the House and Speaker and the Governor-Elect were

immediately sworn in, thereby throwing the State into the state of

bewilderment.

Besides, many questions are also being asked about certain

interpretations of the judgements, considering the urgency such

elucidation demands at the moment. The affected States are eager to 

vote in their preferred candidates as Governors.

In the case of Cross River, the PDP has conducted its gubernatorial

primaries, where Senator Imoke has emerged as the preferred flagbearer,

under the watchful eyes of Independent National Electoral Commission

(INEC) as required by law. The electoral body, through its Resident

Electoral Commissioner in the State, Barr. Mike Igini, who was at the

venue of the exercise, has described it as fair and transparent.

It was not the first time Senator Imoke will be getting the nod of the

people to fly the flag of the party. Ahead of the gubernatorial election he

was to stand for in 2011, he also got the flag, which was duly recognized

by INEC.

Interestingly, the choice of Senator Imoke by the people is always

anchored on the fact that he understands what it takes to serve people.

No wonder the people are resolving again that this recent judgement will

not change their preference for the Senator as they get set to cast their

votes for him in the coming election.

Nigeria’s northern capital: The terror they dare not name

Economist

28 January 2012

Nigeria’s northern capital: The terror they dare not name

Globalisation and jihadism intersect in the little-known metropolis of Kano

A YEAR ago arrivals on the outskirts to Kano had to pass a sign forbidding alcohol consumption and banning women from riding on motorbikes. Now it is gone.

Kano may be the sixth-biggest Muslim city in the world—after Karachi, Jakarta, Dhaka, Cairo and Istanbul—but it is far from the most conservative. Women lift their hemlines to get on the back of achabas, motorbikes that are the main source of transport. Mini vans carry both sexes to their destination. It is possible to get a cold beer to wash away sand inhaled during a day on the edge of the Sahara.

The relaxation of sharia rules has come gradually, but it has accelerated with a recent change of guard. Ibrahim Shekarau, the former governor, liked to please radical clerics. He put up pious signs even as prostitutes plied their trade and policemen took bribes from alcohol merchants. When Rabiu Kwankwaso took over last year, he dropped the charade.

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For now religious homogeneity in Kano creates harmony, one resident says. “It allows people to communicate. There is little bitterness or resentment.” But as 10m souls are confined to their homes during a newly imposed night-time curfew following this month’s attack, many will wonder how long until BH strikes again.

Northern Governors Declare War On Boko Haram

The Moment

28 January 2012

Northern Governors Declare War On Boko Haram

GOVERNORS of the 19 Northern states yesterday, rose from a meeting at 2 a.m. with Vice President Namadi Sambo, vowing to put an end to activities of the Boko Haram sect.

The governors noted that after an intense brainstorming at the meeting which held at the Aguda House, residence of the VP in the Presidential Villa, it became clear that what the sect intends to do is to divide the country.

To identify and crush the group, the governors said they have resolved to "go back to the old traditional way of gathering information and gathering intelligence by using people."

In attendance at the meeting of the 19 northern state governors with the Vice President were the Minister of Police Affairs, the Minister of Defence and the representative of National Security Adviser.

Nigeria: fundamental issues: Boko Haram's gruesome rise

Guardian (UK)

27 January 2012

Nigeria: fundamental issues: Boko Haram's gruesome rise

has prised open crevices where ethnic, religious and socioeconomic fault lines intersect

Editorial

A bombing campaign is reductionist by design. Complex societies with long and painful histories end up being reduced to simple dichotomies : north v south, Muslim v Christian, poor v rich. Or in Boko Haram's case, the righteous v the apostate. There is something particularly chilling in the interview which we publish today with a representative of the Islamic militant group, whose campaign of violent jihad has claimed hundreds of lives already this year. It is when he claims that Nigeria's 70 million Christians would be "protected" under the group's envisioned Islamic state but goes on to deliver the following threat: "There are no exceptions. Even if you are a Muslim and you do not abide by sharia, we will kill you. Even if you are my own father, we will kill you."

Three fault lines crisscross Nigeria's troubled land: ethnic, religious and socioeconomic. Boko Haram's gruesome rise to prominence – it has graduated from drive-by attacks on beer parlours to bombing the United Nations headquarters in Abuja – has prised open crevices where all three intersect.

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Boko Haram's campaign is a clear and growing national threat. To prevent it swelling further and channelling the separate grievances which have fuelled its rise, the president will have to address a situation which Nigeria's security forces previously dismissed as an internal northern squabble. That will mean redistributing state resources. Years of corruption have meant that 70% of the population live in extreme poverty despite an oil industry that produces 2m barrels per day. It will mean addressing the religious divide and providing protection for all. Above all, Nigeria should not confuse counter-terrorism with counter-insurgency. The only community that will see Boko Haram off is the one from which it came.

U.S. citizen freed a week after kidnapping in Nigeria

Reuters

27 January 2012

U.S. citizen freed a week after kidnapping in Nigeria

YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - A U.S. citizen working for Marubeni Corp who was kidnapped in Nigeria's oil rich Niger Delta on January 20 has been released, police and the U.S. embassy said Friday.

Gunmen kidnapped the man last Friday in the southeastern [?] town of Warri. They killed his driver and demanding a 50 million naira ($310,300) ransom, a security source said.

"The US citizen kidnapped a week ago has been released by his captors," Charles Muka, police spokesman for Delta state, said, identifying him as William Gregory, 50. "We are informed by the company he works for that no ransom was paid."

A spokeswoman in the U.S. embassy said: "I can confirm he was released, but can't comment further."

The Niger Delta, heartland of Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, is prone to bouts of unrest and riven by militant factions. Gangs use guns and speedboats to run criminal fiefdoms that profit from kidnapping, robbery and oil theft.

Militant activity decreased after an amnesty for several commanders in 2009, but the region remains volatile.

Gangs in the region usually kidnap for ransoms rather than for political or ideological reasons.

The German Foreign Ministry confirmed Friday that a German citizen had been kidnapped in northern Nigeria, where a violent Islamist sect is waging an insurgency against President Goodluck Jonathan's government.

FG, Labour Resume Talks

This Day

27 January 2012

FG, Labour Resume Talks

The Justice Alfa Belgore-led committee on the deregulation of the downstream sector set up by the Federal Government to harmonise issues with the organised labour on fuel subsidy has commenced talks, with cost of governance on the front burner.

The committee, which met Thursday at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), also decided to continue deliberation next week with the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, expected to be in attendance.

Speaking to journalists, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, noted that the meeting was an exploratory one where several issues were addressed especially the cost of governance.

Omar said the situation where 70 per cent of the national budget go to recurrent expenditure was detrimental to the progress and development of the country.

Boko Haram gunmen attack police post in Kano

This is a fresh attack - Friday night, January 27 - the fourth in a week

AFP

28 January 2012

Boko Haram gunmen attack police post in Kano         

Gunmen in Nigeria have killed at least one officer after opening fire on a police station in the city of Kano, where attacks claimed by Islamists left 185

 dead last week, police said Saturday.

Security forces in Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer are struggling to contain the menace by the Boko Haram Islamist sect that has used increasingly bold tactics to kill more than 200 people this year alone.

The latest attack in Kano, the economic heart of Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, occurred just before 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Friday, police said on Saturday, confirming the assault first reported by residents.

Gunmen "opened fire on our men and the policemen on duty fired back leading to a shootout," city police spokesman Magaji Majia said, adding that one officer was killed.

Text of Boko Haram Broadcast in connection with the event in Kano

Elombah.com

28 January 2012

Text of Boko Haram Broadcast in connection with the event in Kano       

First 30 seconds of clip is opening prayer in Arabic.

Brothers and Sisters in Islam, May Peace be upon you.

Grace be to God.

This briefing is begun in the name of Allah. This is an in-depth briefing released to the muslim community of this land, known in its entirety as Nigeria.

Particularly to the people of Kano State, to them, I issue this briefing as a dispatched message.  Also, for the benefit of those generally interested in the certainty of what we do.

Well, Grace be to God!  Brothers and Sisters, this briefing is not issued in vain. But done so because we received certain messages which are shrouded in ambiguity. So we ask,  what is the clarity behind this message?   Certainly, Almighty God, the bearer of the universe, He who owns everything and everyone, has dominion over everyone, He who delivers on the promised, He has victory over everyone, He witnesses what transpires on this land and He knows on whose side truth stands.

God hears the lies that the President of this country, that is the leader of a militant group of people of this country that have gone astray from the path of God, . . . . God has witnessed his lies. I am referring to Jonathan!  I don’t mean anybody else but that person called Goodluck Jonathan, that’s who I am referring.  Without doubt, God has heard his lies!  God heard also the lies told by his followers, meaning those who aid him in his lies.

Abugu: Dialogue With Boko Haram? A National Dialogue More Like It .

Guardian

28 January 2012

Abugu: Dialogue With Boko Haram? A National Dialogue More Like It .

WHOEVER these Boko Haram members are, they must be people so angry about certain goings-on in the society that they would not be placated until they have destroyed almost everything and everybody in their path to demonstrate this anger. But, what, really, are their grievances? What are they so mad about?

Personally, I refuse to believe that all these bombings, the chilling, remorseless destruction of lives and property that appear to have become a national pastime of the Boko Haram insurgents are carried out merely to show anger at the arrest and detention of some leaders and members of the dreaded sect, as we have been made to believe. After all, Boko Haram, from the very beginning, had emerged from its hitherto shadowy existence in an orgy of violence: it did not adopt violence as its modus operandi merely as a protest against the reported arrest of some of its leaders and members.

Nor am I convinced that these people are this violent because they need to show their abhorrence of Western education and culture as the name Boko Haram suggests—aren’t we interpreting their philosophy rather too literally? It means, then, permit me to say, that Boko Haram’s grievances against the rest of society are much deeper than members of the insurgent group appear prepared to expressly state. But, again, what are these grievances? What are these people really aggrieved about?

We may never know. But, what I do know, indeed what everybody in Nigeria knows, is that so many other people and groups in this country are aggrieved about one thing or the other that we have got to deal with the issues holistically. In the Southeast, for instance, the complaint is about marginalization and seeming deliberate underdevelopment of the region by the federal government over the years; the Niger Deltans are angry at the decades of despoliation of their environment by oil companies, which, in collusion with the federal government, have taken so much wealth from their soil but given them little or nothing in return; the majority Yorubas in Kwara complain about minority Fulani lordship over them; the Beroms in Plateau complain about perceived Hausa/Fulani conspiracy to destroy and take over Jos; Idoma in Benue are aghast at Tiv’s seeming iron-clad domination of the politics and economy of Benue State, etc, etc.

Other examples abound—of the many grievances that virtually every group in Nigeria nurses against the federation. Which is why it has become imperative, perhaps more than ever before, that we hold a national dialogue to discuss these grievances, as many as they come, and find amicable solutions to them, rather than discuss separately with groups as cases arise. We have enough evidence to show that our federalism as presently constituted is just not working—there are far too many stress points. Interreligious and inter-ethnic relationships have largely broken down, giving rise to inter-group suspicion and hate mongering among the population; persons whose responsibility is to superintend callously plunder our commonwealth and institutions, showing no love of country at all in the way they carry on. So, we can’t continue to pretend that all is well when we know that all is not well.

Many influential citizens (some would say those who profit from the rot) routinely talk about the indivisibility of the country—which is what most Nigerians actually wish. But, that is only when the state can guarantee justice, equity, equality and security for all its peoples. Indivisibility must not be seen as a take-it-or-leave thing, an imposition that every citizen must accept willy-nilly. For, we can never have a happy and progressive country where citizens are kept together by force.

Yes, the average Nigerian does not want a divided country. Yes, we all, or at least most of us, want this huge, sprawling giant in the sun to one, a potential African superpower. But, we must be able to sit down together and spell out the terms of that togetherness; we must sit down and agree on how to live as one indivisible entity. Having found ourselves together through the accident of colonial history, irrespective of our cultural, religious and ethnic diversities, it is only natural that we sit down to agree on how we can live together, if we must continue in that forced relationship. That, in my view, is the irreducible minimum that any citizenry can ask of its leadership in a country faced with such existential challenges as Nigeria is.

Whether we have ‘strong or weak’ leader, the truth is that this country will never make progress until it has been redesigned in accordance with the collective wishes of its constituent nationalities. From Murtala to Obasanjo, we have had strong leaders most of the time but where has that left us? We had as many crises in Obasanjo’s administration as we have today, meaning that, in reality, the problem we have at the moment is not so much because President Jonathan is ‘weak’ as because Nigerians who should protect the system deliberately and unabashedly sabotage it for selfish gains.

I have heard people say that the solution to the problem lies in fighting corruption to a standstill. Which is true. But, then, who will fight who? Who will wage a successful anti-graft war in a country where people are prepared to shield corrupt men from the law simply because they are their kinsmen who are only being ‘witch-hunted’, where financial malfeasance is even applauded because the thieving public official is ‘one of our own’?

Is anybody, therefore, under any illusion that we can go on like this for too long? Those who speak arrogantly about the indivisibility of Nigeria should cut the rhetoric and rise to the challenge of building a virile, progressive, socially and economically just nation that citizens will be ever willing to defend its integrity not because anybody says so but because they are proud of the land and flag.

So, let the Babangidas, the Obasanjo’s and all those other more-Nigerian-than-the-rest-of-us compatriots begin to read the hand-writing on the wall and drop their ill-advised opposition to a national conference so that Nigerians can sit down and discuss their future as citizens of a truly one, indivisible country!

BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court sacks five governors

The Nation

27 January 2012

BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court sacks five governors

The Supreme Court on Friday sacked five state governors whose tenure elapsed in May 29 last year.

The governors are Ibrahim Idris (Kogi), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Liyel Imoke (Cross River). They are all members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The decision was taken by a seven-member panel chaired by Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher.

Other members of the panel are Justices Mahmud Mukhtar, Walter Onnonghen, Chukwuma Ene, Ibrahim Coomasie, Olufunlola Adekeye and Mary Peter-Odili.

The judgment is in an appeal by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) governorship candidate in Adamawa State, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).