• We will defeat terrorists, says Minimah
• Kuku tasks northern leaders on security, insurgency
• Abuja indigenes fault comments on Chibok girls
• Borno raises panel to resettle displaced residents
CHADIAN troops have rescued 85 Nigerians kidnapped last week by the terror group Boko Haram, security and human rights sources in Nigeria said on Saturday.
Dozens of Boko Haram insurgents stormed the Doron Baga fishing and farming village on the shores of Lake Chad late Sunday through Monday and took away 97 young men and boys plus several women, residents said. The raiders killed 28 residents and burned scores of homes, according to residents.
The hostages were loaded onto motorboats and ferried into neighbouring Chad, with residents saying they feared the hostages would be forcefully conscripted as foot soldiers.
Chadian security officials reported intercepting a convoy of buses carrying 85 Nigerians “believed to have been kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists from Baga,” a Nigerian security source said.
“The convoy being led by six Boko Haram gunmen was stopped on the Chadian part of the border along Lake Chad for routine checks and the huge number in the convoy raised suspicion,” said the source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the issue.
An official of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Maiduguri confirmed the rescue of the 63 male and 22 female hostages.
The source, who asked that his name not be used, said more than 30 hostages were still being held by Boko Haram. He said their captors sped off with them in motorboats when they spotted the convoy being questioned by Chadian soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Kenneth Minimah, Saturday expressed confidence in the ability of the Nigerian Armed Forces to defeat the terrorists troubling parts of the country.
And with the jostle for positions ahead next year’s general elections and opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan’s bid for re-election mounting in some parts of the country, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and the Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Committee, Kingsley Kuku, at the weekend said that President Jonathan has developed the north more than former heads of state of northern extraction, asserting that some northern elements campaign against him from contesting for the presidency next year.
Also, a group loyal to the President under the name, Abuja Indigenes Coalition Group For Jonathan has described a recent statement by northern elders as an empty threat, even as the group affirmed that the re-election of President Jonathan in the forthcoming election is unconditional.
It would be recalled that the northern elders have stated that the only condition for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 is the release of the abducted Chibok girls who are still in captivity.
Speaking at the Nigerian Army Corps and School of Supply and Transport, Benin City during the Commissioning of its remodelled Officers Mess, facilitated by the state government, Minimah assured Nigerians that the Nigerian Army would overcome the current security challenges facing the country.
He said, “Let me reassure Nigerians that the current security challenges and others bedevilling the country are surmountable and will soon become a thing of the past. The Nigeria Army will not relent until all forms of terrorism and criminal activities are driven out of our shores. We cannot, we must not and we will not fail the nation.
“At this point, I want to thank the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for his untiring support for the Nigerian Army and the armed forces as a whole. I equally thank our political leaders in all levels of government for their solidarity of the Nigerian Army, particularly the governor and people of Edo State.”
He appealed to state governments to emulate the efforts of the Edo State government and support the Nigerian Armed Forces in its fight against terrorism.
In his response, Governor Oshiomhole commended the Nigerian Armed Forces for standing firm on the side of democracy and unity of the country.
He said: “I know for a fact as one of the senior players in the Nigerian politics, society and economy that no one can lay claim to supporting democracy much more than the Nigerian Army is doing. The Nigerian Army has stood firm on the side of democracy and above all, you have continued to build bridges of unity across all the divides of the country.”
Kuku spoke when he delivered a lecture “Challenging Current Security Issues for National Transformation: The Way Forward”, at the 10th convocation ceremony of the Benson Idahosa University, Benin City, where he accused North East leaders of being economical with the truth over the actual number of the missing Chibok girls. He said foreign assistance has not given any clear picture of how many girls were actually abducted by Boko Haram.
He asserted that it would be in the best interest of the North to back President Jonathan in 2015, insisting that the President needs a second term to be able to develop the Niger Delta where he comes from.
“The North East have leaders, they have elders, they have former generals, current generals, they have governors, they have ruled this country more than the Niger Delta, this is the first time we are ruling this country. They ruled this country for 39 years plus, they talk about under-development, come and see poverty in the Niger Delta.”
Describing President Jonathan as a wartime president, he said such distractions would not stop him from his second term ambition no matter the threats.
He recalled that during the militancy era in the Niger Delta, the OPC in the West, Niger Delta and Yoruba leaders met with leaders of the groups and they were able to stop the crisis in their various areas, wondering why it has been difficult for northern leaders to stop the Boko Haram insurgency.
His words: “Look at the issue of Chibok girls, they said there were 273 writing Physics, all of them girls in one common village called Chibok. I am from Ondo State and our only resource is education. Let us think well, I am not saying that there are no Chibok girls. But in your own village where education is revered, since 1970 have you really seen 50 girls writing Physics one day? Let us think about it, only 273 girls writing Physics, that means there is need for science in Nigeria.”
Abuja Indigenes Coalition Group For Jonathan described such condition by the northern elders as “unnecessary and unprogressive”, stressing that terrorism has no political or religious border.
The Coordinator of the group, Danjuma Bussa, told a section of the media in Abuja that the elders of the region should objectivity appraise Jonathan’s performance in office as a precondition for his re-election rather than attaching the release of abducted Chibok girls as a condition for 2015 election, adding that terrorism is a global trend that should not be blamed on any leader.
He maintained that no political blackmail would alter the position of Abuja natives as regards the 2015 general elections, pointing out that the developmental strides in the Federal Capital Territory are enough testimony for the natives to vote overwhelmingly for President Jonathan.
The group also used the occasion to harp on the proposed cultural fiesta to be staged by the Abuja natives in solidarity for the Transformation Agenda of President Jonathan in the Federal Capital Territory, even as he called on other Nigerians from different regions to ignore the threat by the northern elders.
To contain the humanitarian crisis caused by the displacement of over 45,000 persons from Gwoza following Boko Haram’s recent attacks, the Borno State government has raised a panel to resettle the victims.
Hon. Usaman Jana disclosed that resettlement camps would be established by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) at Madagali in Adamawa State.
Over 65 per cent of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are taking refuge at Uba and Mubi in Adamawa without food and water since they fled neighbouring towns and villages recently.
Speaking on Sunday, Jana said the Borno State government had distributed relief materials worth N10 million to displaced persons at Madagali, 40 kilometres south of the ravaged border town with Cameroon.
His words: “The people of Gwoza have fled into various directions to seek safety, as they were attacked by the insurgents who also torched many houses and looted shops. Some fled to Madagali while others went as far as Mubi in Adamawa and Uba for safety and shelter. Those who could not reach these destinations had to sleep in the mountain tops and hills of Gwoza, before joining others in the three resettlement centres at Madagali and Uba town.”
He said to contain the influx of IDPs into these centres, the state government has set up a committee headed by the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Zannah Umar Mustapha to fully resettle the victims.
The Guardian also learnt yesterday that some of the IDPs from Gwoza and other villages of Limankara, Pulka, Takaskala, Kwatara, Wala and Waraba still sleep in the bushes, because of the fear of further attacks by the insurgents.
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