Nigeria: Militants May Suspend Attacks After Obama's Plea

[Shogun]

Ahamefula Ogbu
Port Harcourt

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has said it is considering a temporary cessation of hostilities in the oil-producing region based on an appeal by United States presidential hopeful, Senator Barack Obama.

MEND also said in an e-mail that its ceasefire was to enable the federal government to have a rethink over the way it has handled the matter concerning its leader, Mr. Henry Okah.

The spate of attacks in the last two weeks has led to more volatility in the crude oil market with substantial production cuts in Nigeria.

The militant group also advanced reasons why it carried out several attacks on pipelines in the South-south region, saying it was "in chief" to prove to the oil companies and the Federal Government that they could not protect facilities by the "force of gunboats".

"The MEND command is seriously considering a temporary ceasefire appeal by Senator Barack Obama. Obama is someone we respect and hold in high esteem. The period of halting attacks, we hope, when considered, will afford the Nigerian government the opportunity to address the issues with Henry Okah, including improving his living conditions and having access to a bible which he has requested for but was denied," they said.

On the reasons why they stepped up attacks, especially in the last one week, on Shell facilities in Bayelsa State, MEND said: "This attack was prompted by four factors. (1) To support small cells like the ones that attacked Chevron in Delta state. (2) To let the oil companies know that we consider the military gunboats and soldiers guarding their facilities as mere ornaments and can confront them at will. (3) To dispel the assurances of ensuring peace by some compromised militants who have sold their birth rights. (4) The kangaroo court ruling insisting on a secret trial for Henry Okah".

In the statement signed by Gbomo Jomo, the militant group admitted that the man who led the attack on Chevron facility in Delta State, one Emmanuel Awala, died from injuries he sustained in the attack.

They however denied any involvement of its men in the kidnap of 56-year-old Mrs. Margaret Idisi, saying it is a taboo to take women into MEND camps where they perform their war rites, maintaining that they were not interested in taking local hostages.

They alleged that most kidnappings had "insider" involvement.

Meanwhile, Azuka, wife of Henry Okah, has said the refusal of her husband to concede to other means of settling the Niger Delta problem led to his being "set up" and incarcerated.

According to a statement she sent to THISDAY through the official e-mail address of MEND, said in an effort to resolve the problem, Vice- President Goodluck Jonathan, had met him at the Sheraton Hotel, Pretoria, South Africa on July 7, 2007 where her husband insisted in 50 per cent derivation "or nothing".

According to her, some other influential Nigerians also met and tried to represent Okah in the negotiations, but she said her husband rejected offers of oil blocks to abandon the campaign.

She wrote: "The vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in a presidential jet with other top government officials and other Niger Delta stakeholders visited my husband on the 7th of July 2007. They had a four-hour long meeting at Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria. There is a disparity between this visit and my husband's arrest at 1400hrs on the 3rd of Sept in Luanda, Angola, and the reason for his illegal extradition to Nigeria.

"Sometime in August 2007, before he travelled, my husband informed me that President Yar'Adua phoned him in [on] finding a lasting solution to the Niger Delta crisis. My husband will also avail [unveil] at the main trial, the taped telephone conversation he had on him on that fateful day the 7th of July 2007 in Pretoria South Africa and every taped telephone conversation he held with all politicians and stakeholders of the Niger Delta. He has instructed me that this must be done to avail [unveil] the political cloud that befalls him unjustly.

"My husband had told me back then that the discussion having hinged on the Niger Delta crisis, that he had bluntly refused any and all monetary inducement, including oil blocks. He stated that the lasting solution for him was fiscal federalism and the 50% derivation as obtained in the 1960/1963 Nigerian constitutions.

"The world, Nigerians, politicians and everyone concerned on this matter should know that this is a Northern agenda to keep on milking perpetually the resources of the oppressed Niger Delta minorities without any protest. This is my testament."


http://allafrica.com/stories/200805050165.html

 

[waltky]

Granny says it looks like Goodluck runnin' outta luck...

Nigeria Group Meets Thursday Over States of Emergency
May 29, 2013 > The Nigeria’s Northern Elders Forum (NEF) plans to meet Thursday to review a strategy toward the state of emergency recently declared in three northern states by President Goodluck Jonathan.

President Jonathan recently declared states of emergency in three northern states following an upsurge in violence carried out by the militant sect, Boko Haram. Forum spokesman Ango Abdullahi says the government did not consult the northern elders before declaring the states of emergency, despite seeking the group’s help to resolve the country’s internal security crisis. “The proclamation of the state of emergency came to us as a surprise because of the way it came about soon after a change of policy and strategy, which incorporated dialogue and reconciliation,” said Abdullahi. “We thought the proclamation was ill-advised and ill-timed because if really the government was serious about reconciliation and dialogue he won’t declare war on his on people.”

The elders have condemned the states of emergency as a declaration of war with residents of the country’s north. The government denies the accusation. “There is no reason why President Jonathan will declare war on any part of this country,” said Doyin Okupe, senior adviser to President Jonathan. “If there is anything that has been declared, it is a war against the insurgents, the rebels and the terrorists that have engaged in mindless killings of Nigerians, bombings of religious places of worship and institutions and killings of security agents.”

Nigerian soldiers are seen on the outskirts of Maiduguri in the north-eastern state of Borno

Abdullahi says the elders will also meet with the forum’s legal team, which has been gathering evidence about the recent killing of civilians at Baga. “They are working hard to ensure that our facts, evidence and so on, are sufficient on ground for us to be able to bring those that have been responsible for human rights violations, including criminal activities over this period,” said Abdullahi. The NEF wants to file a complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after accusing Nigeria’s government of human rights abuses.

Abdullahi says the government is to blame for the growing security crisis in parts of the country. “I don’t think anybody can convince me that Boko Haram has killed more people than the Nigeria military and the police as at this point in time. Yes, the government is mandated to protect life and property, but in doing so the government must not be seen to be the one that is killing more people than the insurgents that they are trying to attack,” said Abdullahi.

Some human rights groups have accused the military of using excessive force. Human Rights Watch says Boko Haram-related violence has killed an estimated 3,000 people since 2009, a toll that includes killings by security forces. The government has denied security agents are to blame for the security crisis.

Nigeria Group Meets Thursday Over States of Emergency

See also:

Boko Haram Chief Says Nigerian Offensive Failing
May 29, 2013 > The leader of the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram says his forces are beating back a military offensive aimed at stopping the group's four-year insurgency.

In a video released to news agencies, Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau said Nigerian soldiers encountering militants have run away and thrown down their arms in flight. Shekau called on like-minded Islamists in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Syria to join the fight to create an Islamic state in Nigeria.

Soldiers from Lagos, part of an expected 1,000 reinforcements sent to Adamawa state to fight Boko Haram Islamists, walk near trucks as they arrive with the 23rd Armoured Brigade in Yola, Nigeria

The video shows the militant leader dressed in camouflage with an AK-47 rifle beside him. The comments are his first since the start of the military's offensive against Boko Haram on May 15. Thousands of troops have been deployed to three northeastern Nigerian states where President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency.

The military says it has captured more than 100 Boko Haram militants, killed others, and destroyed many of the militant group's camps. The claims are impossible to verify, however, because of blocked roads and the fact that phone lines in the region are not working. Boko Haram launched its insurgency against the government in 2009. Boko Haram related violence, including deaths by Nigerian security forces, has killed more than 3,000 people.

Boko Haram Chief Says Nigerian Offensive Failing

 

[waltky]

Boko Haram threatens teachers after killing students...

Burn schools, kill teachers, not kids:Boko Haram leader
Mon, Jul 15, 2013 - Shaking a finger while cradling an assault rifle, the bearded leader of Nigeria’s extremist Islamic sect threatened to burn down more schools and kill teachers. However, he denies his fighters are killing children.

In a new video released on Saturday, Islamic radical Abubakar Shekau said he “fully supports” attacks on several schools in northeastern Nigeria in recent weeks. The UN Children’s Fund says at least 48 students and seven teachers have been killed since last month, with some burned alive in a dormitory this month. “We support the work they did at the school, at Mamudo and Damaturu, and other attacks on other schools,” said Shekau, who wore military fatigues in the video. “We are going to burn down the schools, if they are not Islamic religious schools for Allah.” However, Shekau insisted his fighters do not kill children. “We don’t touch small children, we only burn the schools,” he said. “Our religion does not permit us to touch small children and women, we don’t kill children.”

However, he said his fighters would attack teachers. “School teachers who are teaching Western education? We will kill them, we will kill them,” he said, wagging his finger. Shekau is the leader of the extremist group Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden” in the Hausa language. There are also splinter groups, so it was not clear if he was trying to distance his group from assaults targeting children.

A still from a video on Saturday shows Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau talking as he holds an AK-47.

Attacks on schools have continued although thousands of troops have deployed in northeastern Nigeria to put down the Islamic extremists’ violent campaign which poses the greatest threat in years to the security of Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on May 14 in the three northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

In the video, received by reporters through intermediaries, Shekau also denied he is negotiating a peace agreement with the Nigerian government. “We will not enter into any agreement with non-believers or the Nigerian government,” Shekau said in his native Hausa. “The Koran teaches that we must shun democracy, we must shun Western education, we must shun the constitution,” he said. At the end, he speaks in English to denounce the West, accusing it of trying to destroy Islam and working “to tactically make the Koran insignificant and unimportant.”

Burn schools, kill teachers, not kids:Boko Haram leader - Taipei Times