Nigerien Court sends 17 Boko Haram members to jail
A court in Republic of Niger has sentenced 17 members of the violent Islamist movement Boko Haram to between two and seven years in jail, a senior state prosecutor said Monday.
“Of 42 suspects on trial, 17 got between two and seven years in prison and 21 others were released” at the end of a six-day trial in the southeastern Diffa region, Chaibou Samna, prosecutor at the high court in Niamey, told AFP.
The trial of the four other suspected members of the jihadist movement, which originated in Nigeria and has launched bloody attacks in neighbouring countries, was postponed until mid-October, Samna said.
The men held for trial included Niger nationals and Malians as well as Nigerians, accused of “criminal association connected with a terrorist enterprise”, another judicial source said.
Some were “captured during fighting” or during security checks carried out under a state of emergency imposed on the Diffa region, across the border from Nigeria, according to a source in the security forces.
The first trials of Boko Haram suspects in Niger were held in the capital Niamey in March 2017. Some were convicted and jailed for up to nine years, while others were acquitted for lack of evidence.
The trials were moved this year to Diffa, which has endured many Boko Haram attacks since February 2015. Arrested men were transferred in from Niamey and the two southwestern towns of Kollo and Koutoukale.
Boko Haram has no rear bases in Diffa, but youths from the territory were lured to join the jihadists from 2015, when the movement offered them up to 300,000 CFA francs (almost 460 euros/$540) per month.
The Guardian reports that since December 2016, 200 Niger nationals have left Boko Haram and turned themselves into authorities in Diffa.
They are interned in a camp where they undergo rehabilitation before being allowed to return to their families under an amnesty. (AFP)
BBC Report says attacks by Boko Haram have been progressive
Boko Haram Attacks Progressive in 2016, 2017—BBC Report
A report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Monitoring released today shows that despite claims by the Nigerian government to have “technically defeated” the deadly jihadist terrorist group, the volume and victims of the attacks have risen progressively from 2016 to 2017.
The BBC said Boko Haram is the most incomprehensible terrorist group in the world, adding that January has remained the deadliest month in the history of the attacks.
The report said: “Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly said that the Boko Haram jihadist group has been defeated but BBC analysis of its attacks shows little change.
Research by BBC Monitoring shows the group killed more than 900 people in 2017, marginally more than it did in 2016”.
The BBC, in the presentation of its report, published online at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42735414 crunched the numbers to show in a series of graphs, the type of attacks Boko Haram stages, which areas they target and which month is most deadly.
Boko Haram launched an insurgency against the Nigerian government in 2009 with the aim of establishing an Islamic caliphate in West Africa.
Mostly focused in north-eastern Nigeria, the conflict has reportedly left around 20,000 dead and displaced at least two million.
The report said fatalities have increase while targets remain the same
“At least 967 people were reportedly killed by Boko Haram attacks in 2017, an increase on the previous year when 910 deaths were reported.
The highest concentration of fatalities in 2017 was in Maiduguri, which has seen its population double to two million in recent years as people flee Boko Haram violence in rural areas.
Elsewhere in Nigeria, there were also high concentrations of fatalities in the localities of Magumeri, Konduga, Damaturu and Mubi”
Following perceived incapacity to contain Boko Haram activities, Nigeria’s military on December 6th, 2017 removed Maj. General Ibrahim Attahiru, the commander leading the fight against Boko Haram in the North-East Nigeria.
He was the Theatre Commander of the Operation Lafiya Dole. The Government appointed a new Major General Rogers Nicholas to head the military anti-insurgency operation in the North-East.
That notwithstanding, the pattern of Boko Haram attacks remained unchanged and Nigeria recorded many deadly attacks from December 2017 to January 2018.
FILE- In this undated image taken from video distributed Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, an alleged Boko Haram soldier standing in front of a group of girls alleged to be some of the 276 abducted Chibok schoolgirls held since April 2014, in an unknown location. Twenty-one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamic extremists more than two years ago have been freed in negotiations, officials said Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. Some 197 girls remain captive, though it is not known how many of them may have died. (Militant video/Site Institute via AP File)
Chibok girls say ‘We won’t return’, in new Boko Haram video
Some of the school girls from Chibok, Borno State, North-East Nigeria have been seen in a new video on Monday, by Islamist militants Boko Haram on Monday, saying they won’t return to their parents since they lack nothing living with the terrorists.
The video shows at least 14 of the schoolgirls abducted from the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok in April 2014.
At least three of the group were seen carrying babies. One of the students said: “We are the Chibok girls… . By the grace of Allah, we will not return to you.”
The AFP says the 20-minute-long video is the first since May last year when a woman claiming to be one of the 219 schoolgirls was seen holding a gun and also refusing to return to her parents.
It was not clear when or where the latest message was recorded or whether those who appeared on camera were under duress. But the woman speaking, her face covered by a veil, said they had all been married by Boko Haram factional leader Abubakar Shekau.
“We live in comfort. He provides us with everything. We lack nothing,” she added. Shekau is also seen in the video, firing a heavy machine gun and making a 13-minute-long sermon.
The jihadists seized 276 students from the Government Girls Secondary School in the mostly Christian town in Borno state on April 14, 2014, triggering global condemnation. Fifty-nine of them managed to escape in the hours that followed.
A total of 107 girls have now been either found, rescued or released as part of government negotiations with the Islamic State group affiliate. On January 4, the Nigerian army said it had rescued one of the girls’ classmates in the remote Pulka region of Borno, near the border with Cameroon.
The Chibok abductees are among thousands of women, girls and boys kidnapped during the conflict, which began in 2009 and has killed at least 20,000 people and displaced more than 2.6 million.
Reverend Edet E. Umo, warns against politicising war against Boko Haram
Why Governments Should not Play Politics With War Against Insurgency
By Rev. Edet E. Umo
It is sad to note that insurgents have continued to wreak havoc in Nigeria, particularly in the Northern parts and it seems as if our political leaders are not in touch with this reality. Observers put the figure of deaths caused by Boko Haram from 2009 to date at 12, 000. But on each passing day, we are made to celebrate purported victory over Boko Haram while in the actual sense, the war is far from being over.
It sounds, and unfortunately so, as if some ill-hearted people are playing dubious politics with insurgency. And Nigerians are the ones paying dearly for it. Responsible and responsive government should find an end to insurgency in Nigeria and take the credit for that instead of this blame-game we are experiencing every day.
“Never sing songs of victory until the head of your enemy is in your hand” has been an old adage. This is the mistake our country is making. We claim that Boko Haram has been defeated yet this satanic group is still wreaking havoc in the North East, killing citizens, destroying communities and abducting many.
Boko Haram is a terrorist group and the government should know that terrorism is never defeated anywhere in the world. The more you destroy them, the more they become strong. We must be at alert always and not living anything for chances.
The truth is that most Nigerians will always say evil about those who will counter the false claim of the government at every time and will be called “wailers”. However, we must always call a spade a spade.
When the Information Minister, Lai Muhammad as well as the All Progressive Congress (APC) led government were talking about TECHNICAL DEFEAT of Boko Haram, observant people noted that it was not so true, many used so many wrong nomenclatures on us, but today, the story is worst on every passing day.
The government should understand that it is the lives of innocent people that are being wasted. Government should not be talking about ‘technical defeat’ because it is a known fact that more people are dying. It seems to me that ‘technical defeat is the biggest fraud, insult and deceit the APC led government is using on some citizens of this country. This itself is corruption and must be fought by all.
Has the government of the day not yet been shown the market where arms are sold? Or is it that the government is yet to budget for that, while more Nigerians continue to die and former administration continues to take the blame? The problem is that, out present government is a government of propaganda, what a pity?
Even if they have defeated the Boko Haram as proclaimed by the government, why can’t we be quiet and continue the defeat. When a government is proud of itself at the detriment of sincerity, they will kill one and report that they have killed 50. They will also claim all is well, even when the terrorists are on the military.
Its indeed becoming worse than it was in the previous years. Boko haram is becoming more daring and emboldened by the day. Despite the quick claim that they have been defeated. Now we turn around to claim that they attack soft spots. Is military barracks they are over running soft spots? We should minimize those newspapers propaganda and face the challenges squarely.
The nephew to Boko Haram, the herdsmen are worse than their uncle. They go about openly into communities, destroy crops and farmlands, source of waters, women/female in their host communities and even engaged the communities in an open combat with sophisticated weapons and ammunitions.
The approach to governance is different from playing opposition. Whereas, the former deals with impacting the life of the citizens through a sincere and record proven drive, the latter deals with attack and condemnation of the activities of the led. Whereas the former calls for deliberate responsive and prompt action/ pro-activism of the led, the latter calls for continual suggestions on what is expected of the government which they have not done. It therefore becomes worrisome that the government is rather playing the opposition rule while they are in the ones in government.
Reverend Edet E. Umo, an Abuja based minster of God, sent in this piece from Abuja, Nigeria.
Maj Gen Attahiru Ibrahim was expected to make sure that his troops defeated Boko Haram Islamists militants. Credit/BBC
Nigeria Sacks Boko Haram Fighter
Nigeria’s military, yesterday removed Maj. General Ibrahim Attahiru, the commander leading the fight against Boko Haram in the North-East Nigeria.
He was the Theatre Commander of the Operation Lafiya Dole. Government has appointed a new Major General to head the military anti-insurgency operation in the North-East.
The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Sani Usman, confirmed the development to PUNCH, noting that Maj. Gen. Rogers Nicholas has been named as his replacement.
Usman said, “It is true that a new commander has been appointed for Operation Lafiya Dole. I can confirm the appointment.”
Until his new appointment, Nicholas was the Chief of Logistics at the Army Headquarters, Abuja.
Although militant authority did not give any reason for his removal, the activities of the dreaded Islamist group have stepped up in the recent times, including the killing of at least 50 people in a mosque last month.
Attahiru had a deadline by Army Chief Gen Tukur Buratai, in July to deliver Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau dead or alive within 40 days.
The BBC writes that at least 20,000 people have been killed and thousands more abducted since Boko Haram launched its insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009.
“President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May 2015 with a pledge to beat back the militants.
About seven months later, he declared that Boko Haram had been “technically defeated” after the army recaptured most territory that had fallen to it.
However, Boko Haram has continued carrying out bomb and gun attacks in the north-east.
In July, more than 40 people died during a military operation to free people who had been ambushed in a convoy by the militants.
The dead included soldiers and an oil exploration team.
Maj Gen Attahiru Ibrahim was appointed to lead the offensive against Boko Haram in the north-east in May this year.
He has been replaced with another general, Nicholas Rogers, who led a special military and police force to tackle ethnic clashes in the volatile central region”, the report said.
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