Nigeria has named its fifth commander in less than 2 years to lead the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency, the army said on Saturday, a move military sources say was related to continued attacks by Islamists.

The attacks could hurt President Muhammadu Buhari’s chances of re-election in Feb. 2019. He campaigned in 2015 vowing to end the insurgency but the conflict is entering its 10th year with attacks by Boko Haram and a group that splintered from it, the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA).

Major General Abba Dikko, who in July took over command of Operation Lafiya Dole, has been replaced as the head of that operation by Major General Benson Akinroluyo, the army said in an emailed statement that outlined dozens of redeployments.

Dikko has been moved to the Department of Civil Military Affairs to fill the position of chief of civil military affairs.

“The Nigerian Army has redeployed some of its officers from Operation Lafiya Dole, Operation Delta Safe, as well as over stayed officers from the theatre as part of routine posting,” the army said in the statement.

Two military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was redeployed because of attacks by Islamists since he took over.

Since July, when Dikko was appointed, dozens of Nigerian troops have been killed in battles with militants and ISWA killed two abducted aid workers.

Soldiers also staged a protest at an airport in September.

An army spokesman did not immediately respond to text messages and phone calls seeking further details on the decision to replace Dikko as the head of the fight against Islamists just months after he took the role.

Reuter

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At least 16 civilians have been killed and several others injured after suspected Boko Haram terrorists staged multiple attacks on villages in northeastern Nigeria.

Militants in seven trucks attacked Bulaburin and Kofa villages as well as a camp in a village outside the Borno state capital of Maiduguri late on Wednesday, residents said Thursday.

“The terrorists attacked and completely burnt Bulaburin and Kofa villages and burnt half the Dalori two IDP (internally displaced persons) camp,” said militia leader Babakura Kolo.

In the village of Kofa, local residents counted five bodies burned inside the remains of their house.

A village chief in nearby Dalori said one person had been killed. Two residents of Bulaburin said nine people had died there.

Nigeria’s military said in a statement one civilian was found dead after militants had ransacked Dalori’s market, setting buildings ablaze and fleeing when soldiers approached.

Dalori, which is about 15 kilometers from Maiduguri, houses about 50,000 people in makeshift camps.

In January 2016, at least 85 people were killed when militants stormed and torched the Dalori village and tried to gain access to the camps.

Despite the Nigerian government’s statements since late 2015 that Boko Haram had largely been defeated, militants are still able to attack throughout much of the northeast.

In recent months, Boko Haram has carried out major attacks on military targets, killing dozens.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a former general, came to power in 2015 on a platform to stamp out the Boko Haram militancy, but the militants continue to stage attacks targeting both civilians and military targets.

Since 2009, the Boko Haram militancy has left at least 20,000 dead and made over 2.6 million others homeless.

The United Nations warned late last year that areas affected by the Boko Haram militancy face a humanitarian crisis.

Adamawa, Borno and Yobe in northeast Nigeria are the three states most affected by the Boko Haram militancy.

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The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

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In response to criticism of the killing of nearly 50 protesters near the capital city of Abuja, the Nigerian army has posted a video of US President Donald Trump authorizing troops to shoot migrants who throw stones over the US border.

Nigeria’s Defense Ministry spokesman John Agim defended the controversial tweet posted on Friday, stating that the marchers, belonging to the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), had tried “to take over the checkpoint” and were ” trying to harm our people, they are always meeting us…at security check points and trying to provoke us, they even burned a police vehicle.”

“Not only did they use stones but they were carrying petrol bombs, machetes and knives, so yes, we consider them as being armed,” added Agim, making further reference to Trump’s remarks.

The IMN claims 49 of its members were killed after the army and police opened fire on a group of about 1,000 demonstrators as they came close to a police checkpoint. The marchers were protesting the government’s previous brutal crackdowns and human rights infringements, alongside mourning the Shia ceremony of Arbaeen.

On Wednesday, Amnesty International released a statement condemning the brutal massacre, claiming to have gathered evidence proving the army brutally killed at least 45 protesters and injured another 122.

“Those injured were shot in different parts of the body – head, neck, back, chest, shoulder, legs, arms – and some of them had multiple gunshot wounds. This pattern clearly shows soldiers and police approached IMN processions not to restore public order, but to kill,” said Amnesty International’s Nigeria Director Osai Ojigho.

The Nigerian army, however, claims only six people were killed in the march.

Nigeria’s crackdown on IMN followers began in December 2015, when the army attacked a religious ceremony in the city of Zaria in northern Nigeria. State forces later raided the house of IMN leader Sheikh Zakzaky and arrested him after killing anyone attempting to protect him.

More than 350 Nigerian Shia were killed in the brutal onslaught, including three of Zakzaky’s sons, only to be later buried in mass graves.

A Federal High Court ordered Zakzaky’s unconditional release in 2016, but the Nigerian government has so far refused to abide by the ruling.

A spokesman for the Islamic movement stated back in March that the government in Abuja was planning to indefinitely hold the cleric and his wife in custody.

Source: Presstv

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The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) says 42 of its members have been killed by Nigerian security forces during protests in the capital Abuja over the past two days.

IMN supporters have taken to the streets over the past two days to demand the government release their imprisoned leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky.

The number of fatalities caused by Nigerian fire previously stood at 25.

Nigerian army troops opened fire at protesters on the outskirts of Abuja on Monday. The police shot at marchers in the city center on Tuesday.

“The death toll of yesterday’s attack on our members has risen to seven as of now,” IMN spokesman Ibrahim Musa said Wednesday.

“They died as a result of the injuries they sustained yesterday. And the number of those killed on Monday at Maraba (an area on Abuja’s outskirts) has also risen to 35,” he added.

Nigeria’s crackdown on IMN followers began in December 2015, when the army attacked a religious ceremony in the city of Zaria in northern Nigeria. Nigerian forces later raided Zakzaky’s house and arrested him after killing those attempting to protect the prominent Muslim cleric.

A Federal High Court had ordered Zakzaky’s unconditional release in 2016, but the Nigerian government has so far refused to abide by the ruling.

A spokesman for the movement stated back in March that the government in Abuja was planning to indefinitely hold the cleric and his wife in custody.

Source: Presstv

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The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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Boko Haram militants launched a large assault on a military base in Nigeria’s remote northeast region and killed one soldier, defense officials said Sunday.

The attack on 145 Battalion in Gashigar, Borno State, began on Saturday and continued into early Sunday morning, said Nigerian air force spokesman Ibikunle Daramola.

“BHTs (Boko Haram terrorists) in 13 gun trucks…advanced towards the camp from two different directions,” Daramola said in a statement.

Nigerian troops supported by helicopters “forced the Boko Haram terrorists to retreat from the camp,” Daramola said.

“One soldier was killed in action while four others were wounded,” said the Nigerian army in a statement posted on its official Twitter account.

The army repelled an assault on Gashigar in September by militants in trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns.

There have been at least nine military base attacks since July, mostly in the northern part of Borno state, near the shores of Lake Chad.

Boko Haram has in recent months intensified attacks on military bases in Borno and nearby Yobe state, undermining repeated claims by the military that they have the upper hand.

Scores of soldiers have been killed, injured or missing in attacks but the military has repeatedly denied or played down losses to the militants.

More than 27,000 people have been killed in northeast Nigeria since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009, while nearly two million others remain homeless.

(Source: AFP)

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The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons.  The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers.    However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization.  It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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The lawyer for a missing pro-Biafran separatist leader on Saturday said he had spoken to his client, after a video and pictures emerged purporting to show him in Jerusalem.

Ifeanyi Ejiofor said he had “received a direct confirmation” about the whereabouts of Nnamdi Kanu, who has not been seen in public since September last year.

“My client is the very person seen in the pictures/video. That I can confirm authoritatively,” he added in a statement.

Kanu, a former London estate agent, heads the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement and the outlawed pirate radio station Radio Biafra.

He is facing treason charges and had been on bail at the time troops were deployed to his home city of Umuahia in Abia state, southeast Nigeria, in September 2017.

He then failed to show at his trial in the capital, Abuja, sparking speculation as to his whereabouts.

Ejiofor has previously accused the Nigerian Army of either holding his client incognito or having killed him. The military has denied the charges.

On Friday, a video live-streamed on the Facebook accounts of known associates of Kanu appeared to show him praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

He was dressed in sandals, white trousers, a white Jewish prayer shawl and skull cap.

“This is the supreme leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, the prophet of our time, Nnamdi Kanu, in the Holy City of David,” a voice off camera is heard to say.

Kanu maintains the Igbo people, who are in the majority in southeast Nigeria, are a lost tribe of Israel and it is his mission to lead them to the promised land of Biafra.

A previous unilateral declaration of independence by the Igbo people in 1967 sparked a brutal 30-month civil war that left more than one million dead.

Questions have been raised about how Kanu was able to get to Israel, as he had to surrender his Nigerian and British passports after his arrest.

Others suggested a link to next year’s election, as Kanu has previously called for a boycott of the polls in the southeast.

Peter Obi, the vice-presidential pick for the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), comes from the region. The southeast is traditionally a PDP stronghold.

There was no immediate comment from Nigeria’s government, military or security services.

But Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, told AFP the footage was of his brother and was shot on Friday. He also spoke to him directly and said he was “fine”.

The BBC Igbo language service also quoted one person as saying the man in the video was Kanu and another that he was headed from Jerusalem to Kiev, without elaborating.

Separate photographs of Kanu in Jerusalem do not appear to have been used previously, although it was not possible to extract a date from the images.

There was no immediate response from Facebook when contacted by AFP about the authenticity of the video.

Source:  AFP

Daesh-linked Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria have murdered yet another female aid worker, abducted earlier this year in the northeast of the country, a month after they killed one of her colleagues, officials said.

Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed announced the latest killing after the expiration of a deadline, noting that the government was “shocked and saddened” by the terrorist act, describing it as “dastardly, inhuman and ungodly,” AFP reported on Tuesday.

It was not clear what the terrorists had requested in return for the potential release of the aid worker. Mohammed did not specifically explain.

Three female health workers were kidnapped by Boko Haram on March 1 during an assault on the remote town of Rann in Borno State that also killed three more aid workers and eight Nigerian troops.

Two of the kidnapped women, identified as Hauwa Liman and Saifura Khorsa, worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the third, named Alice Loksha, worked for the United Nations (UN) Children’s Fund, or UNICEF.

Mohammed did not initially identify the latest victim but noted later in a tweet message that he had “commiserated with the family of Hauwa Liman.”

“It is very unfortunate that it has come to this. Before and after the deadline issued by her abductors, the federal government did everything any responsible government should do to save the aid worker,” he said.

There had been no news of the three kidnapped aid workers until last month, when ICRC said it had received footage of Khorsa’s killing from a new faction of the Boko Haram.

The faction threatened to kill Liman and Loksha, as well as a 15-year-old Christian schoolgirl named Leah Sharibu, who was kidnapped from the town of Dapchi, in Yobe State, in February.

Boko Haram terrorists have used abduction as a weapon of war during their militancy in Nigeria, kidnapping thousands of women and girls, and forcing young men and boys to fight in their ranks.

The infamous mass abduction of over 200 schoolgirls from the Borno state town of Chibok by Boko Haram in April 2014 attracted international attention and was widely censured. Nearly 107 of the girls have since been released or escaped from their captors.

Source: Presstv

Nigeria has declared a national disaster after severe flooding left about 100 people dead across 10 states, the country’s main relief agency said on Tuesday.

Heavy seasonal rains have caused the Niger and Benue rivers to burst their banks, inundating communities and farms and trapping tens of thousands of people in their homes.

“We have declared a national disaster in four states — Kogi, Delta, Anambra and Niger. Eight other states are on the watch list. All these states have been the worst hit by the flooding. About 100 people have lost their lives in 10 states,” Sani Datti, from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told AFP.

Kogi and Niger are in central Nigeria while Delta and Anambra are in its south.

The Kogi state capital, Lokoja, lies at the confluence of both rivers and has been virtually submerged because of the rising waters.

NEMA said water levels on Monday were continuing to rise in Lokoja and had reached 11.06 meters — approaching those of similar devastating flooding in 2012.

Then, hundreds of people died and about two million others were left homeless in 30 of Nigeria’s 36 states.

More rains are forecast on Tuesday, according to the Nigerian Meteorological Agency.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday he had approved the release of three billion naira (8.3 million dollars) to buy medical and relief materials.

Flooding along the rivers is a frequent occurrence during the annual rains, which fall from May to September.

Datti said military personnel and equipment had been seconded to help the relief effort, as well as the evacuation of trapped residents from their homes.

(Source: AFP)

At least 35 people were killed on Monday and hundreds injured when a gas tanker exploded in northern Nigerian state of Nasarawa and started a blaze, the state emergency agency said.

Footage from Nigerian Television Authority NTA shows fire, smoke rising and injured people being carried on stretchers.

The State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) official said the accident happened at a petrol station along the Lafia-Makurdi road linking the capital city of Abuja with northern and southern Nigeria.

Usman Ahmed, acting director at SEMA, said the truck exploded at the point of discharging the gas, citing a witness account. The agency was investigating the incident, he said.

The number of Nigerian soldiers killed in a Boko Haram attack in northeastern Nigeria has reached forty-eight, the AFP news agency reports citing military sources.

The terrorists are said to have overran a military base in the northeast near the border with Niger, two military sources told AFP on Saturday. They are reported to have stormed the base at Zari village in northern Borno state late Thursday and briefly seized it after a fierce battle.

“They came in large numbers in trucks and carrying heavy weapons and engaged soldiers in a battle that lasted for an hour,” a military officer said.

The latest development means the toll has risen by more than half of the initial figure reported. Boko Haram has intensified attacks on military targets in recent months, the army or government has yet to speak on the casualty figures.

“They overwhelmed the troops who were forced to temporarily withdraw before reinforcements arrived,” said the officer who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak.

The attacks appear to undermine repeated claims by the military that Boko Haram had been defeated. The militants took weapons and military equipment before they were pushed out of the base by troops with aerial support.

The militants were pursued and bombarded by a fighter jet, said the military sources. “The terrorists also suffered heavy casualty from the bombardment”, one of the military officers said.

Zari is located 30km from the town of Damasak on the border with Niger.

In a statement late Friday the Nigerian military confirmed troops fought Boko Haram “insurgents…on rampage to loot the community and extort money from villagers”.

“Troops…have successfully routed Boko Haram insurgents in an encounter that ensued yesterday evening at Zari village,” the military said in the statement.

It did not speak of military casualties and the raid on the base but maintained “several Boko Haram fighters and weapons” were destroyed in the fight. The Nigerian army has on several occasions disputed reports on losses to Boko Haram and has in some cases played them down.

Source: Africa News