Nigerian media report the continuing orgy of violence
Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The unending orgy of violence, especially the non-stop bombing campaign (almost on a daily basis) by the Boko Haram Islamic sect members, filled newspaper front pages in Nigeria this week.
Ranging from the Christmas-Day bombing of a Catholic Church at Madalla, in Niger State, to the spate of bombings across the northern part of the country, hardly a day passed without stories of bombings here and there.
The Vanguard on Saturday headlined its story "Four killed as soldiers battle Boko Haram in Maiduguri".
The paper reported that four persons, including two soldiers, were on Friday evening killed during a bomb explosion and an exchange of gunfire between members of the notorious Boko Haram sect and the men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Maiduguri, the capital of the north eastern Borno State, the headquarters of the group.
The bomb blasts, which shook the ancient town, happened some minutes after 4pm near one of the popular markets in town, the Gamboru market.
Some residents of the area told journalists that the people had to scamper for safety on hearing the deafening bomb explosions, which made soldiers to barricade the place and subsequently engage members of the sect in gun battle.
Saturday Tribune, with the headline "4 Boko Haram Members Killed In Fresh Explosions...2 Soldiers Injured As JTF Arrests 3 Suspects In Borno", reported that there were three separate explosions in the area.
The paper quoted a witness as saying that the sect members had targeted members of the Operation Restore Order in Borno, but failed to hit their targets as their vehicle, loaded with Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded, killing the occupants.
JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Hassan Mohammed, confirmed the incident, saying that at about 4pm, some Boko Haram members, who were driving in a Honda CRV loaded with IEDs lost their lives when the device exploded with them in the car.
He said, “There were four of them in the car, it was a Honda CRV car. They were targeting our men when devices exploded. Two of our men sustained minor injuries.”
He also said three suspected Boko Haram members threatening people and extorting money from them, were arrested.
In its second story, Saturday Tribune screamed "Stop Press: Shootings In Kano". It said pandemonium broke out on Friday evening at Shagari Quarters on the outskirts of Kano following sporadic gunshots in the area."
The paper said the incident reportedly began around 6:30 p.m. but that the cause of the incident could not be ascertained as the curfew in the state had forced everybody to remain indoors.
In another development, the papers reported the capture of the brain behind the Christmas Day, 2011, bombing of Saint Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger State.
The Sun treated the story with the headline "SSS, soldiers re-arrest, parade Kabiru Sokoto" and the riders '…Keeps mum on his escape from custody', '…His protector couldn’t give him in for 50 million naira' and '...phone log shows links with top politicians, govt officials'.
According to the Sun, the State Security Service (SSS) in concert with soldiers Friday re-arrested and paraded the suspected Boko Haram member, Kabiru Abubakar Dikko, alias Kabiru Sokoto, the alleged mastermind in the Christmas Day, 2011 bombing of the Saint Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla, Niger State.
Kabiru Sokoto, born on May 9, 1983, was first arrested by the police in the middle of January, but escaped from lawful custody on 15 January at Abaji, a suburb of Abuja, under very questionable circumstances, leading to so much anxiety within the nation’s security circle and the country at large.
Consequent upon his escape, the Commissioner of police (CP), Zakari Biu, who was said to have sent a team of few policemen in a Toyota Hilux, to conduct a search in Kabiru’s residence during which he escaped, was suspended from service while the erstwhile Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hafiz Ringim was compulsorily retired from office after being queried by the Presidency.
Few days after his escape, the police declared Kabiru wanted and placed a 50 million naira ransom on his head for whoever could produce him, but it appeared that the moves were insufficient to have smoked him out from his hiding.
The Trust ran the same story on Saturday with the headline "27 days after escape… Madalla bombing suspect, Sokoto, re-arrested".
"Govt lists Boko Haram’s harm to economy, defence chiefs meet", the Guardian said, reporting that the Federal Government Wednesday warned of the threats that the activities of Boko Haram posed to the economies of Nigeria and its neighbours, apart from the destruction of lives and infrastructure caused by the sect.
The warning came amid plans by the government to investigate the tape aired on National Television on Tuesday in which some masked men declared their intention to negotiate with the government.
And the Nation on Thursday said "Boko Haram is killing North’s economy, says Fed Govt".
According to the paper, the activities of the Boko Haram insurgent group are killing the economy of the northern geo-political zone.
It quoted the Information Minister Labaran Maku as saying that the region was further being impoverished. He spoke after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Meanwhile, the sect is reported to have indicated its preparedness to enter into dialogue with the Federal Government, and has named Sheik Abubakar Gero, Dr. Shettima Ali Monguno and former governor of Yobe State, Senator Bukar Ibrahim, to hold negotiations on its behalf.
The sect’s offer to dialogue comes after multiple bomb blasts rocked the Kaduna metropolis Tuesday. The explosions occurred at the 1 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army (Dalet Barrack), the Nigeria Air Force Base located along Mando Road, and the flyover at Kawo, in Kaduna. The three places are almost within the same vicinity.
For that story, the headline in Thisday newspaper was "Boko Haram Names Negotiators, As Multiple Blasts Rock Kaduna". The Guardian saw it as "Blasts rock Kaduna army barracks"; the Nation (Boko Haram: Bombs rock military base in Kaduna); Punch (Suicide bomber in army uniform bombs Kaduna barracks); Trust (Suicide bombers strike Kaduna military bases); and the Sun's two headlines were (As Boko Haram hits Kaduna, soldiers blow up suicide bomber) and (We did it, Sokoto is next – Sect).
According to the Sun, the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnati Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for the series of attacks in Kaduna, Kano and Maiduguri this week, including the bombing of the Air force base in Kaduna, warning that more attacks were underway.
It indicated that Sokoto, in north West Nigeria, the seat of the Sultan of Sokoto, the spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims, Mohamed Sa'ad Abubakar, could be its next target.
"Boko Haram wants to kill me - Soyinka" was the headline of the Tribune which quoted Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, as saying that he is one of the prominent Nigerians on the hit list of Boko Haram sect marked for assassination.
Soyinka said he had reported the threat to the security agencies in the country and they confirmed the information, but expressed disappointment that they had not taken action on the threat.
Speaking, however, with the Nigerian Tribune on the issue, the spokesperson of the State Security Service (SSS), Marylyn Ogar, said she could not comment on it, as she was yet to read the interview granted by Soyinka.
The Sun ran more stories on violence with the headline "MEND resumes attacks…Military on red alert as group destroys Agip’s facilities and ...To target South African investments".
It said: "With the Boko Haram menace yet unresolved, the Federal Government may have additional crisis on its hands as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) resumed attacks on oil facilities last weekend."
According to the Sun, the militant group destroyed an Agip truck line in Brass, Bayelsa State, adding that as a result of the attack, soldiers are now on red alert.
Some members of the group, including its leader, Henry Okah, are standing trial over allegation of terrorism in South Africa and Nigeria.
The Vanguard, Tribune and Thisday also ran stories on the threat from MEND.
"MEND resumes hostilities" - the Vanguard; "MEND vows to attack MTN, SACOIL, others •Claims responsibility for Agip pipeline attack" - Tribune; and Thisday captioned its story on MEND as "MEND Attacks Agip Facility, Threatens MTN, SacOil".
Still on violence, the Nation headlined its story "Nigeria, EU agree to engage anti-terrorism experts", reporting that the Federal Government and the European Union (EU) on Wednesday agreed to engage experts that will effectively tackle the security challenges facing the country.
Saying that Boko Haram had claimed responsibility for suicide bombings and shootings which had killed close to 1,000 people in many parts of the country, the Nation wrote "This agreement formed part of the communiqué issued at the end of a two-day third Nigeria-EU Ministerial Meeting in Abuja."
The communiqué was signed by Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, and his Danish counterpart, Villy Soevndal, who inked the pact on behalf of EU.
The experts, they agreed will be saddled with the responsibility of identifying action plan to tackle the security challenges in the Northern part of Nigeria.
And to ensure continuous peace in the Niger Delta region, the meeting agreed on the need for the Nigerian government to fully implement its amnesty programme in the region.
The Guardian also ran the story under the headline "Nigeria, EU plan action against terrorism, others".
The media also reported the inauguration this week of the largest cement factory in sub-Saharan Africa, built at a cost of US$1 billion by the Dangote Group.
It was inaugurated by Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, in Ibeshe, South-west Nigeria.
The private Punch Newspaper reported Friday that the plant has an installed capacity of six million metric tons of cement per annum, which makes it the largest of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.
On the economy, the Trust, with the headline "Foreign reserves rise to US$ 35bn", reported that Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves rose to US$ 34.7 billion on 2 February, their highest level in four and half months.
It said a central bank data had raised hopes of a more stable exchange rate on the naira.
The figure was up on the US$ 32.98 billion of forex reserves at the start of last month, and also higher than the US$ 33.16 billion it had at this time a year ago.
Thisday newspaper headlined the same story "External Reserves Improve by US$ 1.803bn".
And on a sad note, the papers reported the deaths of three prominent Nigerians during the week -- Professor Samuel Adepoju Aluko, Ambassador Matthew Tawo Mbu, and Alhaji Abdulkadir Sanusi Dantata.
Aluko was professor of Economics and Chairman of the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC), Mbu, a renowned diplomat, and Dantata, Chairman and co-founder of one of Nigeria’s leading construction and engineering companies, Dantata
