Nigeria is going to try more than 2,300 suspected members of the Takfiri Boko Haram militant group in unprecedented mass trials behind closed doors.

The defendants, whose trials are to begin on Monday, have all been picked up and held in detention since the start of Boko Haram militancy eight years ago.

To date, just 13 people have been put on trial and only nine convicted for their links to the Takfiri group, according to official figures.

The most high-profile current case is that of Khalid Al-Barnawi, a leader of Boko Haram offshoot Ansaru, who is charged with the abduction and murder of 10 foreign nationals.

Nigeria’s Justice Ministry announced the start of the trials at the end of last month, saying four judges had been assigned and that defendants would have legal representation.

Some 1,670 detainees at a military base in Kainji, in the central state of Niger, will be tried first and will be followed by 651 others held at the Giwa barracks in the capital of the northeastern state of Borno State, Maiduguri.

The trials are seen as a positive step, as many of the detainees had been held in custody for years, without access to a lawyer or ever having appeared before a judge. Amnesty International said in a June 2015 report that more than 20,000 people had been arbitrarily arrested as part of the fight against Boko Haram.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected in 2015, has promised to look into repeated accusations of human rights violations, including by high-ranking officers.

At least two commissions of inquiry have been established but the army announced in June this year that no action would be taken against top brass accused by Amnesty.

Amnesty believes the mass trials of Boko Haram suspects were the result of international pressure on the Nigerian government.

Source: Presstv

At least 17 people drowned when a boat ferrying around 60 passengers capsized in northwest Nigeria, the National Emergency Management (NEMA) said on Wednesday.

The boat smashed into a tree trunk in the rain-swollen River Niger on Tuesday.

“So far 17 bodies have been removed from the water, 12 yesterday and another five this morning”, NEMA coordinator Suleiman Karim told AFP.

Another 17 passengers were rescued by emergency workers and local divers, Karim said.

“We are still searching for at least 26 people because the 60-passenger boat was full at the time of the accident”, he said.

The number on board may have been higher as ferries in the riverine region are usually overloaded, Karim said.

The boat had left Jilbabo village in Kebbi state and was heading to Tetebo village in neighboring Niger state in central Nigeria when the accident happened.

Capsizes are a frequent occurrence in Nigeria, where overcrowding is common and unscrupulous operators flout health and safety norms.

The accident rate typically rises in the May-September rainy season when rivers swell.

Last month 74 people were killed in three separate boat capsizes in northern Nigeria, according to emergency services.

In one instance 56 people drowned when an overloaded boat sank carrying 150 passengers in Kebbi state.

The boat was ferrying local traders from neighboring Niger Republic to a market in Nigeria.

(Photo by AFP)

Suspected Takfiri Boko Haram militants have killed at least 18 people in northeastern Nigeria near the border with Cameroon in the latest surge of lethal assaults by the terror outfit in the restive region, local sources say.
The deadly incident took place on Friday, when a group of knife-wielding terrorists launched a stabbing attack against people in Banki, a border town some 130 kilometers southeast of Maiduguri, the capital city of the northeastern state of Borno, said Modu Perobe, a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force, a regional vigilante group.

The death toll was also confirmed by Abor Ali, the leader of a local community. Boko Haram terrorists often launch deadly assaults against military convoys, unleash members with explosive vests and litter the surrounding roads with mines in the ravaged corner of the country’s northeast.

Last month, the Boko Haram militants killed at least 27 people in a number of rural areas in Borno, the epicenter of the eight-year-long conflict with the terror group. In the past few months, a number of bomb attacks by suspected members of Boko Haram have taken place in the capital of Borno state and its environs. Mosques, markets, camps for those displaced by the conflict in Nigeria and civilians have been targeted across the region.

The terror group has reportedly killed 190 people since June. In December 2016, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power the year before with a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, announced that the army had “crushed” the terror group by retaking its last key bastion, deep inside the thick Sambisa Forest in Borno.

The group has, however, resorted to sporadic shooting and bombing attacks in the northeast of the African country, spreading panic among local residents. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly terrorist attacks in Nigeria since the beginning of its militancy in 2009, which has so far claimed the lives of at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.7 million others displaced.

The United Nations has warned that around 8.5 million people in the worst affected areas of northeastern Nigeria are now in need of humanitarian assistance. Back in February 2016, the Lake Chad Basin countries of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, together with a contingent from Benin, launched a campaign to confront the threat from Boko Haram in the region.

A civilian self-defense group says at least eight people are dead after female bombers attacked two displaced persons camps in northeastern Nigeria’s main city.

Spokesman Bello Danbatta tells The Associated Press that the attack started late Sunday night in Maiduguri and left another 15 people wounded.

The Nigeria-based extremist group Boko Haram often targets the city with bombers and increasingly has been using female ones.

Danbatta says one bomber sneaked into the Dalori camp and detonated, and two other attackers exploded on or near the camp’s perimeter fence.

Boko Haram’s eight-year militancy has killed more than 20,000 people, spilled into neighboring countries and created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.

(Source: AP)

Nigeria’s air force accidentally attacked a refugee camp in January because the site was not marked in its maps, the military told the Reuters news agency.

Reuters adds that the investigation into the mistake found that the air force saw people gatehring in the area on satellite footage and assumed they were Boko Haram Islamist militants.

An official told the BBC at the time that 115 people were killed by the air attack on the camp in Rann which the army mistook for a base for Boko Haram militants.

All humanitarian sites should be marked on military maps in future, the investigators said.

Source: BBC

At least 33 people have been killed in clashes between cattle herders and farmers in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna state, a police chief says. Two days of violence between herders and farmers erupted on Sunday in Kajuru village, 50 kilometers outside the city of Kaduna, state police commissioner Agyole Abeh told AFP on Thursday.

“A total of 33 people were killed in the violence between Fulani herdsmen and farmers,” said Abeh. “The violence started when some villagers attacked a young Fulani man and his father, which led to the death of the young man after he was admitted in hospital.” The victim’s kinsmen gathered from nearby settlements and launched a reprisal attack on the village, killing six men, said Abeh.

In response, the youth from the farming communities “mobilized and went into the bush attacking and burning Fulani settlements they could find”, he added. “Our men were contacted but before they could deploy, the attackers had killed 26 people, mostly women and children and injured several others.”

Security personnel have since been deployed to the area to maintain peace. Nigeria’s Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has ordered reinforcements in Kaduna state following the clashes. He condemned what he said were the “needless deaths” and expressed frustration with the security challenges in southern Kaduna.

In a statement issued on Wednesday evening, Osinbajo promised to ensure that the “perpetrators of these dastardly acts” would be identified and brought to justice. Southern Kaduna has seen a spate of deadly clashes between the predominantly Christian farmers and Muslim Fulani herders, a historically nomadic people who graze their cattle on the land.

Originally, the clashes were over land and water rights disputes. But ethnicity and religion have been playing a larger role in the conflict after post-election violence in 2011 that saw hundreds of Muslims killed and forced to flee the area.

Without a national strategy in place to address the conflict, tensions between herdsmen and farmers have not subsided, and tit-for-tat killings have become common. Experts blame a heavy-handed, militarized response by the government, and incendiary comments from political and religious leaders for fanning the flames of animosity.

(Source: AFP)

A bomb attack has claimed the lives of at least eight people and wounded several others in Nigeria’s troubled northeast, officials say. The attack was carried out by a suspected female member of the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, local Nigerian officials said on Monday.

The head of the Borno state emergency management agency, Ahmed Satomi, said that the female bomber had detonated her explosives at a mosque in the London Ciki area of Maiduguri at about 5:30 a.m. local time (0430 GMT). “She killed eight people and injured 15 others. The mosque was being guarded by civilian JTF (joint task force) militia during prayers,” media outlets quoted Satomi as saying.

“Unknown to them, the girl was being pursued from another part of town by residents who were suspicious of her movement at the time,” he added, noting, “When she approached the mosque, they demanded that she stop to be searched but she suddenly bolted into the mosque and set off her bombs.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Satomi pointed out that three other female bombers were located in Maiduguri at about the same time. He went onto say that two were killed in Mammanti area as they tried to cross the ditch around the city perimeter. This is while another set off her explosives in the suburb of Simari.

It is the second time in a week that Boko Haram bombers have sought to cause carnage in Maiduguri. Last Monday, at least 19 people were killed and nearly two dozen others injured when four women set off their bombs in the Molai Kolemari area of the city. In recent weeks, a number of bomb attacks by suspected members of Boko Haram have taken place in the capital of Borno state and its environs. Militants have regularly targeted mosques, markets, camps for those displaced by the conflict and other civilians across the troubled region.

In December 2016, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in 2015 with a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, announced that the army had “crushed” the terror group by retaking its last key bastion, deep inside the thick Sambisa Forest in Borno. The group has, however, resorted to sporadic shooting and bombing attacks in the northeast of the African country, spreading panic among local residents.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly terror attacks in Nigeria since the beginning of its militancy in 2009, which has so far claimed the lives of at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.7 million displaced.

The United Nations has warned that areas affected by the Boko Haram militancy face a humanitarian crisis. Back in February 2016, four nations of the Lake Chad Basin — Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria –launched a campaign, together with a contingent from Benin, to confront the threat from Boko Haram in the region.

Source: Presstv

The Nigerian police say multiple bomb attacks have claimed the lives of at least 19 people and wounded about two dozen others in the country’s troubled northeast. Police said on Wednesday that the deadly attacks were carried out in the city of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, on Tuesday night.

Borno state police commissioner Damian Chukwu said 12 of the dead were members of a civilian self-defense force and the other seven were killed when they gathered to mourn them. At least 23 others were wounded in the fatal attack, he added. Danbatta Bello, a spokesman for the self-defense force, said at least one of the bombers was female. He said the bombers specifically targeted his colleagues while they were on duty.

“A teenage female suicide bomber actually crept to the sandbag post of our boys at Molai and before they could realize what was happening she detonated herself and killed three of our boys,” the Associated Press quoted Bello said as saying. “That happened simultaneously with the one that occurred at the tea vendor’s, where seven of our members who took their time off to eat their dinner were killed,” he said.

Media reports said mourning residents were preparing the bodies of the victims for burial. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the latest attacks but they have the hallmark of the Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group, as it in the past employed radicalized women on multiple occasions to conduct bombings against people or army troops.

In recent weeks, a number of bomb attacks by suspected members of Boko Haram have taken place in the capital of Borno state and its environs. In December 2016, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in 2015 with a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, announced that the army had “crushed” the terror group a day earlier by retaking its last key bastion, deep inside the thick Sambisa Forest in Borno.

The group has, however, resorted to sporadic shooting attacks and bombings in the northeast of the African country, spreading panic among local residents. Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people and abducted thousands of others.

Northeastern Nigeria is part of what the United Nations has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis in more than 70 years, with the World Food Program estimating that more than 4.5 million people in the region need emergency food assistance. The United Nations has warned that areas affected by Boko Haram face a humanitarian crisis.

Source: Presstv

Nigerian first lady, Aisha Buhari has reportedly traveled to the UK today Monday the 3rd of July 2017 to see her husband, President Muhammadu Buhari for the second. Rumour circulated late yesterday that Buhari had died in a London hospital.

According to a statement made public by Suleiman Haruna, Aisha Buhari’s Director of Information, Madam Buhari the wife of the President left for London, United Kingdom on Sunday, July 2, 2017 to visit her husband.

The statement also stated that Aisha Buhari will convey to the President the best wishes of the Nigerian people and their fervent prayers for his speedy recovery. Buhari’s wife will make a stopover in Addis Ababa to attend a meeting of the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV / AIDS (OAFLA).

The big man himself left Nigeria on May the 7th for medical reasons. No date has so far been announced for the return of Buhari to Nigeria.

By Chi Prudence Asong
Cameroon Concord News

A Nigerian presidential jet that transported President Muhammadu Buhari to the UK for treatment has been stationed in London for more than two months raising questions about its cost to the state. Cameroon Intelligence Report understands the official airplane of President Muhammadu Buhari has been in a small airport nearer the city of London for more than fifty days with the cost of parking estimated at thousands of dollars in daily charges.

President Buhari’s spokesman was quoted as saying that the head of state’s comfort is a top priority. “You are dealing with the president of Nigeria and in all the countries of the world, no one abandons the president. There must be a possibility for a quick return or an evacuation, “he said.

“No one should do that.” Nobody is doing this. The Nigerian Armed Forces represented by the Nigerian Air Force, who runs the President’s plane, have a duty to be with their Commander-in-Chief, wherever he is,” he added.

The biggest doubts hang over the health status of Muhammadu Buhari aged 74. Nothing is being said of his bill of health ever since the retired soldier traveled to London in May for medical reasons. Earlier this year, Mr. Buhari spent nearly two months in the UK for health concerns.

By Chi Prudence Asong