Removed Gen Ahmadu Mohammed
Reasons for the sudden removal of the general officer commanding (GOC), 7 Division of the Nigerian Army located in Maiduguri, Borno State, Major-General Ahmed Mohammed, have been revealed.
It was exclusively reported yesterday that the former GOC had been removed following the mutiny by some soldiers under his command. The chief of defence staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, ordered the chief of army staff (COAS), Major General Kenneth Minimah, to immediately relieve Mohammed of his post in order to save the integrity of the military before the global community.
As soon as the order came from Abuja for his removal, Brigadier General M.Y. Ibrahim was named the acting GOC yesterday in order not to allow a vacuum in the ongoing operation against the insurgents. He was one of the lieutenants on the watch of Mohammed. Mohammed was the GOC, 7 Division, until his removal on Wednesday evening when order came for his redeployment because of the mutiny that took place: some soldiers under his command opened fired in protest against his leadership style. The Division was created primarily to fight the Boko Haram insurgency that was making life unbearable in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
According to a military source, since the emergence of General Mohammed as the commander of the Division, the counter-insurgency operation has been anything but successful. He was accused of being insensitive to the welfare and the aspiration of the soldiers under him. “General Mohammed is a fine officer, no doubt, and that was why the COAS (Gen Minimah) appointed him the GOC of that all-important Division but his appointment has failed to yield any visible dividends. It was then that those terrorists became daring, attacking communities and towns at will, and this did not go down well with the military authorities.
“The soldiers were grumbling over their welfare, as if something was missing somewhere. So, that unfortunate incident became an eye opener to Abuja and, because of the timing, when all eyes are on us over how to free those Chibok girls, he has to give way to another officer,” the source said, recalling the abduction of the students of Government Secondary School, Chibok. The attendant problems were a stain on the record of Mohammed, but “for the fact that the COAS was expecting a change from him, he would have been removed immediately during the crisis”. Meanwhile, the soldiers that mutinied against their commanding officer on Wednesday will be subjected to military disciplinary procedure that will forestall a future recurrence among officers, said the director of defence information, Major General Chris Olukolade.
Olukolade was in Maiduguri briefly on Thursday where he addressed newsmen on the incident that had also warranted the military top brass in Abuja, the nation’s capital, to remove the attacked GOC, Major General Ahmadu Mohammed. “Normal military procedures have been instituted by the Nigerian Army to forestall a repeat of the Maiduguri incident where protesting soldiers fired into the air last Wednesday over the death of their colleagues, Maj- Gen Olukolade said. Olukolade added further that, given the embarrassing incident, the Defence Headquarters had deemed it necessary to redeploy the GOC while an acting commandeer would take his place until a substantive GOC was announced later.
Why we approved extension of emergency rule – Reps
The House of Representatives yesterday said it approved the request forwarded by President Goodluck Jonathan seeking a six months’ extension of emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in order to create a legal framework for aid from France, America, the United Kingdom, Israel and other countries to come into force. Lawmakers in the Green chamber yesterday approved the request sent by Jonathan which was read on the floor by the speaker, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, on Tuesday and extensively debated on Wednesday by the House in plenary, before security chiefs were summoned to brief the House yesterday on progress made so far before a vote was taken on whether to extend emergency rule in the states or not.
The service chiefs comprising chief of army staff Major General Kenneth Minimah, chief of naval staff Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin, national security adviser Col. Sambo Dasuki, director-general of Department of State Services Eta Ekpeyong, inspector-general of police Mohammed Abubakar, chief of air staff Air Vice Marshal Adesola Amosu and the director general of NIA were present, but the chief of defence staff was absent from the closed-door meeting which lasted over two hours.
The lawmakers, rising from the executive session after the security chiefs had taken their leave, took a vote on the matter and the majority gave approval while a few members voted against it.
Briefing newsmen after plenary, chairman of the House Media and Public Affairs Committee Hon. Zakari Mohammed, flanked by his deputy Hon. Victor Ogene, Hon. Ibrahim Tukur El-Sudi, Hon. Ralph Nnanna Igbokwe and Hon. Yacoob Bush Alebiousu, said they could not afford to not approve the request after service chiefs informed them that Nigeria is at war and must be equipped in all ways to fight back.
“Section 180(3) provides that If the federation is at war, as the service chiefs has told us that the country is at war — it can be civil war or insurgency war — the territory of Nigeria is physically involved and the president considers that it is not practicable to hold election, the National Assembly by resolution could extend the period of four years from time to time. And no such extension shall exceed the period of six months at any one time,” the lawmakers stated.
“This is the only way we can bring an end to this reign of terror,” Mohammed said, adding: “We had a session with the service chiefs on the progress reports on the emergency extension as to how far has it gone and what are those things that have been defaulting their operations. Having listened to them, for the interest of stability and a stable nation, we have decided as the House to vote unanimously for the extension of the emergency in the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe for another period of six months. “We were told that there is progress that has been made; in the last extension it will soon be crowned with success, especially now that they have foreign collaborators who are helping in fighting this terrorism.
“As a responsible institution, we decided to give them approval to be able to get the desired result. It is their responsibility to provide us with the security of lives and property. We know that this is the only way we can end this terrorism. We have all the assurances by the service chiefs.” Commenting on the welfare of troops, which has come under scrutiny in the last few days, the spokesman said the top security heads assured them that their entitlements were being given to them along with other steps to boost their morale. Giving another reason they approved the request, he said that they wanted to provide “a legal framework to accommodate these people (countries offering foreign assistance)” and the amendment of the Emergency Powers Regulation Act will take care of it.
On rescue operations of Chibok schoolgirls, he said they were told that “they are making progress and very, very soon, they will unite with their families”. Speaking on how continued emergency rule would affect elections in the affected states, Hon. Tukur El-Sudi, who is a constitution lawyer and former attorney-general of Taraba State, said this was one of the fears of lawmakers from the states but that the constitution has already addressed the issue in sections 64(2), 105(2), 135(3) and 180(3) by providing for how tenure can be extended during war times.
He said, “One fundamental issue that was raised by the security chiefs is the fact on the Chibbok girls and the international community like the US, Britain, China coming to assist us. One of the primary demands of these countries is that they want a legal framework; as at now we don’t have any domestic legal framework to accommodate these people. The only legal framework we have is section 305, the emergency rule, where by the rules and the regulations we can amend to accommodate them.
“And they practically made it clear to us that operational frameworks are the international treaties. This is where the US and the other countries are coming in, but, as you know, section 12 … for the avoidance of doubt, I would read it to you for Nigerians to understand: ‘No treaty between the federation of another country shall have the force of law except the extent where the treaty has been enacted into law by the National Assembly’.
Abducted Schoolgirls: Jonathan Visits Chibok Today
President Goodluck Jonathan will today visit Chibok village, Borno State, the community where the schoolgirls of Government Secondary School were abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents on April 14. Coming 32 days after the girls were abducted, the president’s visit, LEADERSHIP Friday gathered, will create the opportunity for Jonathan to assess the situation in Chibok and also meet with the parents of the kidnapped girls as well as other stakeholders.
Jonathan is also scheduled to travel to Paris, France, this weekend to meet with heads of state and government of Benin Republic, Chad, Niger and Cameroon for talks on how Nigeria and their countries could strengthen and intensify collaboration against Boko Haram and other criminal organisations. Officials from the United States, Britain and the European Union are also expected to attend the Paris meeting to discuss a coordinated response to Boko Haram and terrorism.
Emergency rule: North-east would be overrun in 3 months without emergency, service chiefs tell Senate
The service chiefs, in a three-hour closed-door session with the senate yesterday, informed the lawmakers that the three north-east states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe would be completely overrun within three months without a state of emergency in place.
The service chiefs, sources disclosed, pointedly warned that even the state governors may not last beyond three months in the government house without the state of emergency, as the insurgents would run riot using everything in their arsenal to celebrate their “psychological” victory.
However, the senators bent backwards to accommodate the views of the northern senators that the Senate leadership broker a meeting between President Jonathan and the three affected governors on the emergency extension. It also directed Senator Ahmed Maikarfi to draft a list of conditions for the emergency before next Tuesday when the senators are expected to approve the president’s request. Maikarfi, the source revealed, had in addition to the request for wider consultations allegedly made by Senator Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe), suggested that some conditions like procurement of more weapons for the military be made before approval of the emergency.
Besides, the Senate resolved, after the service chiefs had left the chamber, to mandate its leadership to meet the president and the three state governors. The leadership, it was learnt, was specifically asked to encourage the president to formally meet the three governors on the emergency issue.
The resolution, said the source, was based on the complaints made by Senator Lawan. He had told his colleagues that President Jonathan did not interface with the three governors to sound them out on his plans to extend the one-year-old emergency by six more months before he forwarded the request to the National Assembly.
The executive session, which was presided over by deputy Senate president Ike Ekwerenmadu, had in attendance Air Marshal Alex Badeh (chief of defence staff), Major General Kenneth Minimah (chief of army staff), Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin (chief of naval staff), Air Vice Marshall Adesola Amosu (chief of air staff), the inspector general of police (Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar), and the director, State Security Service, Mr Ekpeyong Nsah. Northern senators had on Wednesday vowed to vote against the extension and hinged their opposition on the grounds that the extension of the emergency rule was not the best way to combat the insurgency which had paralyzed social and economic activities in the affected areas. But the source revealed that they had a rethink after the briefing.
After the marathon meeting, Ekweremadu said the senators had a fruitful deliberation with the service chiefs.
Obama: War Against Boko Haram Requires Holistic Approach
United States President, Mr. Barrack Obama, yesterday said that the war against Boko Haram and the US resolve to counter terrorism in Nigeria requires a holistic approach, adding that his administration will continue to work with Nigeria and other international partners to help promote and support such an approach to fight the Islamic Sect which has been unleashing terrors on innocent citizens of the country. This was contained in a fact sheet made available by the White House. President Obama was quoted in the fact sheet as saying that the United States has been working to counter Boko Haram for many years and promised that his administration will continue to do so until the terrorist organisation is conquered totally.
We Wasted Time Looking For Scape goats — Gov Shettima
Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima has said that the Nigerian government didn’t react quick enough to the abduction of the Chibok girls insisting that precious time was wasted while the different parties traded blames and looked for ‘scape goats.’
Speaking in an exclusive chat with CNN anchor, Christiane Amanpour, Shettima said, “For the first three weeks, we were politicking. There is a whole world of difference between governance and politics. Instead for us to punctually address those problems, we were busy looking for scape-goats.”
The governor also said that all options will be considered to ensure the release of the girls even if it meant ‘speaking with the devil.’ “We need to get these girls back, and we don’t have the luxury of time. The issue of not negotiating with the terrorists is out of the question. If it means talking to the devil, if Mr Devil can come down and we can get back our girls,” he said.
When asked to describe the group, he said, “Boko haram is a bunch of raving lunatics who are taking cover because they have violated every single belief of the religion of Islam.” The governor, in an earlier interview stated that though he receives ‘periodic’ information regarding the abduction of over 200 school girls and the security issues in the North-east region, he will refrain from divulging them as it might jeopardise the lives of the girls being held captive. He however expressed optimism that the abducted girls would be found.
Sudanese nabbed Over Plans To Bomb Lagos
A joint team of riot policemen and other security agencies attached to the Lagos Business District (CBD) yesterday arrested a foreign national said to be a Sudanese for planting bombs to unleash terror in Lagos State bus terminal.
Our correspondent learnt that three substances suspected to be bomb explosives were discovered in the heart of Lagos Island in the early hours of yesterday by the Police. As the residents increasingly become uncomfortable with insecurity and predictions of bomb attacks, the security operatives revealed that the bombs found in Lagos have been programmed to explode around 1pm when passengers throng LAGBUS terminals to board buses to their respective destinations. The three explosives were immediately taken away by the Police bomb squad from Ikeja Police command.
Witnesses said the grenades planted in front of the Union Homes Company gate along Nnamdi Azikwe road, Tom Jones area, opposite Access Bank branch and LSDPC house was discovered by one of the Police Mobile security man attached to the Homes. They said the policeman who became suspicious of a man who earlier came in a Jeep and started distributing N1, 000 notes to beggars and later asked them to vacate the area before he drove off. In the ensuing milieu, a foreigner suspected to be an indigene of Sudan earlier sited in the area was trying to escape and he was apprehended by an official of the CBD identified as Kareem Saidi.
Chibok Girls: Jonathan Is half-hearted — ACF
The Northern apex socio-cultural organization, Arewa Consultative Forum(ACF) yesterday descended heavily on President Goodluck Jonathan saying that the President’s prosecution of the insurgency war in the North has been hesitant, feeble and half-hearted. This is just as the forum declared that the one year-long state of emergency declared in the North East states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa was a complete disaster and cautions the National Assembly to only approve theextension of the emergency on the basis of the success recorded over years.
Rising from its rapid response Committee meeting, the forum said that the response of the President and his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan to the abduction of over 200 students by Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno is disappointing.
As soon as the order came from Abuja for his removal, Brigadier General M.Y. Ibrahim was named the acting GOC yesterday in order not to allow a vacuum in the ongoing operation against the insurgents. He was one of the lieutenants on the watch of Mohammed. Mohammed was the GOC, 7 Division, until his removal on Wednesday evening when order came for his redeployment because of the mutiny that took place: some soldiers under his command opened fired in protest against his leadership style. The Division was created primarily to fight the Boko Haram insurgency that was making life unbearable in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
According to a military source, since the emergence of General Mohammed as the commander of the Division, the counter-insurgency operation has been anything but successful. He was accused of being insensitive to the welfare and the aspiration of the soldiers under him. “General Mohammed is a fine officer, no doubt, and that was why the COAS (Gen Minimah) appointed him the GOC of that all-important Division but his appointment has failed to yield any visible dividends. It was then that those terrorists became daring, attacking communities and towns at will, and this did not go down well with the military authorities.
“The soldiers were grumbling over their welfare, as if something was missing somewhere. So, that unfortunate incident became an eye opener to Abuja and, because of the timing, when all eyes are on us over how to free those Chibok girls, he has to give way to another officer,” the source said, recalling the abduction of the students of Government Secondary School, Chibok. The attendant problems were a stain on the record of Mohammed, but “for the fact that the COAS was expecting a change from him, he would have been removed immediately during the crisis”. Meanwhile, the soldiers that mutinied against their commanding officer on Wednesday will be subjected to military disciplinary procedure that will forestall a future recurrence among officers, said the director of defence information, Major General Chris Olukolade.
Olukolade was in Maiduguri briefly on Thursday where he addressed newsmen on the incident that had also warranted the military top brass in Abuja, the nation’s capital, to remove the attacked GOC, Major General Ahmadu Mohammed. “Normal military procedures have been instituted by the Nigerian Army to forestall a repeat of the Maiduguri incident where protesting soldiers fired into the air last Wednesday over the death of their colleagues, Maj- Gen Olukolade said. Olukolade added further that, given the embarrassing incident, the Defence Headquarters had deemed it necessary to redeploy the GOC while an acting commandeer would take his place until a substantive GOC was announced later.
Why we approved extension of emergency rule – Reps
The House of Representatives yesterday said it approved the request forwarded by President Goodluck Jonathan seeking a six months’ extension of emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in order to create a legal framework for aid from France, America, the United Kingdom, Israel and other countries to come into force. Lawmakers in the Green chamber yesterday approved the request sent by Jonathan which was read on the floor by the speaker, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, on Tuesday and extensively debated on Wednesday by the House in plenary, before security chiefs were summoned to brief the House yesterday on progress made so far before a vote was taken on whether to extend emergency rule in the states or not.
The service chiefs comprising chief of army staff Major General Kenneth Minimah, chief of naval staff Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin, national security adviser Col. Sambo Dasuki, director-general of Department of State Services Eta Ekpeyong, inspector-general of police Mohammed Abubakar, chief of air staff Air Vice Marshal Adesola Amosu and the director general of NIA were present, but the chief of defence staff was absent from the closed-door meeting which lasted over two hours.
The lawmakers, rising from the executive session after the security chiefs had taken their leave, took a vote on the matter and the majority gave approval while a few members voted against it.
Briefing newsmen after plenary, chairman of the House Media and Public Affairs Committee Hon. Zakari Mohammed, flanked by his deputy Hon. Victor Ogene, Hon. Ibrahim Tukur El-Sudi, Hon. Ralph Nnanna Igbokwe and Hon. Yacoob Bush Alebiousu, said they could not afford to not approve the request after service chiefs informed them that Nigeria is at war and must be equipped in all ways to fight back.
“Section 180(3) provides that If the federation is at war, as the service chiefs has told us that the country is at war — it can be civil war or insurgency war — the territory of Nigeria is physically involved and the president considers that it is not practicable to hold election, the National Assembly by resolution could extend the period of four years from time to time. And no such extension shall exceed the period of six months at any one time,” the lawmakers stated.
“This is the only way we can bring an end to this reign of terror,” Mohammed said, adding: “We had a session with the service chiefs on the progress reports on the emergency extension as to how far has it gone and what are those things that have been defaulting their operations. Having listened to them, for the interest of stability and a stable nation, we have decided as the House to vote unanimously for the extension of the emergency in the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe for another period of six months. “We were told that there is progress that has been made; in the last extension it will soon be crowned with success, especially now that they have foreign collaborators who are helping in fighting this terrorism.
“As a responsible institution, we decided to give them approval to be able to get the desired result. It is their responsibility to provide us with the security of lives and property. We know that this is the only way we can end this terrorism. We have all the assurances by the service chiefs.” Commenting on the welfare of troops, which has come under scrutiny in the last few days, the spokesman said the top security heads assured them that their entitlements were being given to them along with other steps to boost their morale. Giving another reason they approved the request, he said that they wanted to provide “a legal framework to accommodate these people (countries offering foreign assistance)” and the amendment of the Emergency Powers Regulation Act will take care of it.
On rescue operations of Chibok schoolgirls, he said they were told that “they are making progress and very, very soon, they will unite with their families”. Speaking on how continued emergency rule would affect elections in the affected states, Hon. Tukur El-Sudi, who is a constitution lawyer and former attorney-general of Taraba State, said this was one of the fears of lawmakers from the states but that the constitution has already addressed the issue in sections 64(2), 105(2), 135(3) and 180(3) by providing for how tenure can be extended during war times.
He said, “One fundamental issue that was raised by the security chiefs is the fact on the Chibbok girls and the international community like the US, Britain, China coming to assist us. One of the primary demands of these countries is that they want a legal framework; as at now we don’t have any domestic legal framework to accommodate these people. The only legal framework we have is section 305, the emergency rule, where by the rules and the regulations we can amend to accommodate them.
“And they practically made it clear to us that operational frameworks are the international treaties. This is where the US and the other countries are coming in, but, as you know, section 12 … for the avoidance of doubt, I would read it to you for Nigerians to understand: ‘No treaty between the federation of another country shall have the force of law except the extent where the treaty has been enacted into law by the National Assembly’.
Abducted Schoolgirls: Jonathan Visits Chibok Today
President Goodluck Jonathan will today visit Chibok village, Borno State, the community where the schoolgirls of Government Secondary School were abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents on April 14. Coming 32 days after the girls were abducted, the president’s visit, LEADERSHIP Friday gathered, will create the opportunity for Jonathan to assess the situation in Chibok and also meet with the parents of the kidnapped girls as well as other stakeholders.
Jonathan is also scheduled to travel to Paris, France, this weekend to meet with heads of state and government of Benin Republic, Chad, Niger and Cameroon for talks on how Nigeria and their countries could strengthen and intensify collaboration against Boko Haram and other criminal organisations. Officials from the United States, Britain and the European Union are also expected to attend the Paris meeting to discuss a coordinated response to Boko Haram and terrorism.
Emergency rule: North-east would be overrun in 3 months without emergency, service chiefs tell Senate
The service chiefs, in a three-hour closed-door session with the senate yesterday, informed the lawmakers that the three north-east states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe would be completely overrun within three months without a state of emergency in place.
The service chiefs, sources disclosed, pointedly warned that even the state governors may not last beyond three months in the government house without the state of emergency, as the insurgents would run riot using everything in their arsenal to celebrate their “psychological” victory.
However, the senators bent backwards to accommodate the views of the northern senators that the Senate leadership broker a meeting between President Jonathan and the three affected governors on the emergency extension. It also directed Senator Ahmed Maikarfi to draft a list of conditions for the emergency before next Tuesday when the senators are expected to approve the president’s request. Maikarfi, the source revealed, had in addition to the request for wider consultations allegedly made by Senator Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe), suggested that some conditions like procurement of more weapons for the military be made before approval of the emergency.
Besides, the Senate resolved, after the service chiefs had left the chamber, to mandate its leadership to meet the president and the three state governors. The leadership, it was learnt, was specifically asked to encourage the president to formally meet the three governors on the emergency issue.
The resolution, said the source, was based on the complaints made by Senator Lawan. He had told his colleagues that President Jonathan did not interface with the three governors to sound them out on his plans to extend the one-year-old emergency by six more months before he forwarded the request to the National Assembly.
The executive session, which was presided over by deputy Senate president Ike Ekwerenmadu, had in attendance Air Marshal Alex Badeh (chief of defence staff), Major General Kenneth Minimah (chief of army staff), Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin (chief of naval staff), Air Vice Marshall Adesola Amosu (chief of air staff), the inspector general of police (Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar), and the director, State Security Service, Mr Ekpeyong Nsah. Northern senators had on Wednesday vowed to vote against the extension and hinged their opposition on the grounds that the extension of the emergency rule was not the best way to combat the insurgency which had paralyzed social and economic activities in the affected areas. But the source revealed that they had a rethink after the briefing.
After the marathon meeting, Ekweremadu said the senators had a fruitful deliberation with the service chiefs.
Obama: War Against Boko Haram Requires Holistic Approach
United States President, Mr. Barrack Obama, yesterday said that the war against Boko Haram and the US resolve to counter terrorism in Nigeria requires a holistic approach, adding that his administration will continue to work with Nigeria and other international partners to help promote and support such an approach to fight the Islamic Sect which has been unleashing terrors on innocent citizens of the country. This was contained in a fact sheet made available by the White House. President Obama was quoted in the fact sheet as saying that the United States has been working to counter Boko Haram for many years and promised that his administration will continue to do so until the terrorist organisation is conquered totally.
We Wasted Time Looking For Scape goats — Gov Shettima
Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima has said that the Nigerian government didn’t react quick enough to the abduction of the Chibok girls insisting that precious time was wasted while the different parties traded blames and looked for ‘scape goats.’
Speaking in an exclusive chat with CNN anchor, Christiane Amanpour, Shettima said, “For the first three weeks, we were politicking. There is a whole world of difference between governance and politics. Instead for us to punctually address those problems, we were busy looking for scape-goats.”
The governor also said that all options will be considered to ensure the release of the girls even if it meant ‘speaking with the devil.’ “We need to get these girls back, and we don’t have the luxury of time. The issue of not negotiating with the terrorists is out of the question. If it means talking to the devil, if Mr Devil can come down and we can get back our girls,” he said.
When asked to describe the group, he said, “Boko haram is a bunch of raving lunatics who are taking cover because they have violated every single belief of the religion of Islam.” The governor, in an earlier interview stated that though he receives ‘periodic’ information regarding the abduction of over 200 school girls and the security issues in the North-east region, he will refrain from divulging them as it might jeopardise the lives of the girls being held captive. He however expressed optimism that the abducted girls would be found.
Sudanese nabbed Over Plans To Bomb Lagos
A joint team of riot policemen and other security agencies attached to the Lagos Business District (CBD) yesterday arrested a foreign national said to be a Sudanese for planting bombs to unleash terror in Lagos State bus terminal.
Our correspondent learnt that three substances suspected to be bomb explosives were discovered in the heart of Lagos Island in the early hours of yesterday by the Police. As the residents increasingly become uncomfortable with insecurity and predictions of bomb attacks, the security operatives revealed that the bombs found in Lagos have been programmed to explode around 1pm when passengers throng LAGBUS terminals to board buses to their respective destinations. The three explosives were immediately taken away by the Police bomb squad from Ikeja Police command.
Witnesses said the grenades planted in front of the Union Homes Company gate along Nnamdi Azikwe road, Tom Jones area, opposite Access Bank branch and LSDPC house was discovered by one of the Police Mobile security man attached to the Homes. They said the policeman who became suspicious of a man who earlier came in a Jeep and started distributing N1, 000 notes to beggars and later asked them to vacate the area before he drove off. In the ensuing milieu, a foreigner suspected to be an indigene of Sudan earlier sited in the area was trying to escape and he was apprehended by an official of the CBD identified as Kareem Saidi.
Chibok Girls: Jonathan Is half-hearted — ACF
The Northern apex socio-cultural organization, Arewa Consultative Forum(ACF) yesterday descended heavily on President Goodluck Jonathan saying that the President’s prosecution of the insurgency war in the North has been hesitant, feeble and half-hearted. This is just as the forum declared that the one year-long state of emergency declared in the North East states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa was a complete disaster and cautions the National Assembly to only approve theextension of the emergency on the basis of the success recorded over years.
Rising from its rapid response Committee meeting, the forum said that the response of the President and his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan to the abduction of over 200 students by Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno is disappointing.
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